The Girl With Ghost Eyes Review

I love urban fantasy and I have a tendency to forget how much I enjoy it until i finally end up reading a new book and voila!

The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M. H. Boroson

It is 1898 in San Francisco. When a sorcerer mainms Chinatown’s Daoshi exorcist, only his daughter Li-lin can protect the immigrant community. With a peachwood sword and a sarcastic talking eyeball to help her, Li-lin must confront evil spirits, gangsters, and soulstealers before the sorcerer summons an ancient evil that could burn Chinatown to the ground.

Full of creepy Asian monsters and authentic Chinese rituals, this critically acclaimed urban fantasy also tells the story of a young immigrant trying to find her place. In a Chinatown torn between tradition and modernity, one woman might be the key to holding everything together.

Rating:

Even though the synopsis has a slightly misleading bit in it, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. (I chose it because it was recommended by Patricia Briggs, and she’s one of my favourite Urban Fantasy writers).

It starts off with Li-lin meeting a sorcerer and entering very quickly the spirit world, and it gets a bit confusing at first if you’re not completely familiar with Chinese spirit lore (I knew some of it but not as much as there is here). It felt a bit overwhelming at first, and confusing because I kept waiting for the synopsis to happen and it just didn’t so I was doubly confused. However, it got interesting quite quickly and the “complicated bits” got easier and more familiar the more I read.

It was hard to put down as there was a lot of action, and I have to say I absolutely loved the ending and was surprised by several of the twists that happen in the book (and surprising me so much is hard to do nowadays).

Moon recommends

If you like urban fantasy and Chinese folklore, give this book a go. You can also try Written in Red by Anne Bishop, or any book by Patricia Briggs (the first one I read from her was The Hob’s Bargain and it is still one of my favourites).