It’s time to review the Cassidy Blake series by V. E. Schwab. But first…
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Series Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Middle Grade, 5 Star, Paranormal, Series
City of Ghosts: 5 Stars
Tunnel of Bones: 5 Stars
Bridge of Souls: 5 Stars
People who should read this: If you want something spooky but not too scary (think cozy/spooky), you love best friend tropes, atmospheric writing, and ghosts.
Bring on the cozy spooky. I didn’t know this was a thing, but now I’m fully on board and combing the shelves of Goodreads to find them all.
In other news… Why did I wait so long to finish the Cassidy Blake Series????
Right… because I had to reread the first two books. I’m happy to report that they were better the second time around. Now that I knew the story, I was able to dive into the world building which is one of Schwab’s strengths. I could still kick myself for taking so long to return to the series because the ending was near perfect. I don’t think there was a better ending out there. But now I want a YA version. An adult spinoff. Another middle-grade trilogy. I’ll take whatever form if it means more.
As I already said. V. E. Schwab is a master at the atmosphere. It’s like magic. If you like things like Ninth House and Nevernight then The City of Ghosts is for you. It’s the type of writing that seeps into your soul. It’s its own character in the story. And I can personally attest that she was spot on for Endinburg, making me believe that every other city was just as well researched.
I feel bad for anyone who can’t binge these books in a day.
But I am excited for the young readers who get to be hooked on Schwab at an early age.
Not that you have to be in middle grade to read this series. It’s really for everyone.
Cassidy was given the right amount of courage for her age (something that a lot of us older readers complain about). But on the flip side, as much as I found her adversities matched her capabilities, I also didn’t feel Cassidy’s age. The writing kept this even keel of interesting the middle-grade crowd while not writing down to them. The biggest expectation you can get out of the genre is that the story wasn’t going to go there in terms of the scare factor. Scwab has this range in her writing that is almost god-like. It’s how she can keep her readers across every genre. We’re reading her books because of her style, not because they match a specific genre.
As to the story, I was worried about how the Cassidy Blake series would wrap up. We meet Lara in The City of Ghosts, but how was she going to be carried through the series? Lara is Cassidy’s only connection to understanding her gift and responsibilities. We get text messages between the two of them in Tunnel of Bones. That’s a fine solution, but not a strong option for the whole series. Some people might find her sudden appearance in book three a stretch. However, Schwab built Lara’s character to be very independent from the start. There wasn’t something thrown in at the last minute to explain how this was happening. And this is a note for my series writers… you have to build your characters from the start.
Jacob was a whole different story. Almost the common thread that linked the books together. Schwab was deliberate in building tension around him from the start and used him to bridge the gap. He created questions that made us want to keep reading. But since the book was also middle-grade, I knew that Schwab wouldn’t be able to go there in the story. Schwab showed her mastery of the craft again though because she gave an ending that was extremely satisfying.
Also… is it a middle-grade thing to give a recap of the series at the beginning of every book? I could have lived without that part. There was no way I forgot anything in the three days I read the series.
I want to make one last comment from a technical point. It would have been easy to fall back on the episodic storytelling that we get with a lot of shows on local TV. Think Law and Order or similar. We find the “object of interest” and then spend the rest of the show figuring out the “crime”. Same with the Cassidy Blake Series. Her parents come to a new town, Cassidy finds the big boss ghost, and then she spends the rest of the book figuring out how to get rid of it. But the story fled from that pretty quickly. I would even say that the filming aspect was the largest in Bridge of Souls. Schwab made each book leave the standard structure while sticking to the structure of a new town and discovery in every book.
Why are you still reading this blog? Why aren’t you rushing to get her hands on The City of Ghosts? Or, maybe, this is your call to finish the series. October is a perfect month.
Happy Reading.
Love,
Kait