Title: Ghosts I Have Known
Author: Nhys Glover
Series: Greyworld #1
Meh characters, predictable plot, too much “telling”
Thanks to Maria Inot for offering me the opportunity to review this book, and thanks to Nhys Glover and TCK Publishing for allowing me to read a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Buy link: • Amazon •
This is a well-intentioned but poorly written story that doesn’t develop a romance so much as act as a platform to explore metaphysical theory. It gets points for involving ghosts and supernatural phenomena—because fun!—but the execution isn’t great, the romance and characters are underdeveloped, and the plot is predictable and cliche.
The first chapter is an overlong exposition dump that uses present tense and breaks the fourth wall from start to finish. The rest of the book is in past tense and normal first person, never directly addressing the audience—that I recall; admittedly, I was often bored and therefore inattentive while reading. I can understand how beginning a story like this might seem like a good idea, and it could maybe work if one’s writing is charismatic enough, but that doesn’t mean it is a good idea. It’s lazy, disorienting, and can easily tempt the author to ramble, covering information the reader either doesn’t need to know or could learn in more involved ways during the story. I can kind of give a pass to successive installments in a series, because they have the task of concisely reminding readers—or explaining to new readers—what’s happened to date. But in a first installment or stand alone… It’s an ill-advised choice.
There was too much inner monologue, often seeming to ramble or repeat sentiments or information we were already aware of. At one point I highlighted a page I kept having to reread because my mind would wander, and I made the note, “blah blah blah.” And when Beth and Jake were actually interacting and exchanging dialogue, a lot of it was discussing the what-ifs and maybes of their situation; i. e. more “blah blah blah.”
Their situation was utterly confusing, by the way; all of it. I followed that Beth could see Greys and enter their personal realities by touching them, but once Jake entered the fray and they were trying to figure out possibilities and limits and explanations, I was lost. I long to poke holes in the theory, but I’d have to understand it first.
Beth and Jake were sort-of-not-really developed. Beth didn’t have an arc, or at least not a good one, but Jake more or less did. I didn’t dislike Beth but I’m not sure I found her all that likable, either; I couldn’t shake the woe-is-me pushover vibe I kept getting from her. She started the book self-pitying and resigned to being alone and weird all her life, and she ended the book the same way—except, wait! A beautiful man may find her attractive after all. With his validation, life may just be worth living!
*deadpan*
Jake was a straight-up douche until he became aware of that fact and made an effort not to be one. I got the feeling it was kind of ingrained in him by a life of privilege, though, so it might be hard for him to kick. I felt a little chemistry between him and Beth, but I can’t buy that they fell in love with each other, not genuinely. Beth seemed like she was ready to love the first guy who gave her the slightest bit of attention, and Jake, on the heels of realizing he was a spoiled jock, grabbed onto love with both hands, as if being in love with a weird beta was proof that he wasn’t spoiled or shallow. As if dating her made him feel better about himself.
Lastly, a small nitpick, but it REALLY irritated me: During the first chapter exposition dump, there was a line: “Chuck is the only Grey who lives—for lack of better word—in this house…” And it was like my brain slammed on the breaks—tires screeching, horns blaring, people screaming, sirens wailing. I thought, “Seriously? There’s no word you could use to imply Chuck is occupying the space while not actually being alive? What about ‘occupies,’ as stated a moment ago? How about ‘resides’? ‘Dwells,’ ‘inhabits’? Or even just ‘hangs out’?” If Glover was going for irony, fine, but then just say “—ha ha—” or “more or less” to acknowledge it, rather than leading readers to believe she doesn’t know how to use a thesaurus.
Overall—I wanted to like this book, I really did. But as soon as I read the first chapter, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was curious about the rest of the Greyworld series for about two seconds after finishing this one, but I’ll pass.
