Genre: Middle-grade horror, Adventure
Published: Amazon Crossing, October 2024
My Rating: 2/5 stars
There has been a disturbing lack of middle-grade fiction among my favourites of the year so far, so going into spooky-season I made an attempt to change that. Lenny Among Ghosts, although being a decently fun read, won’t crack the top though. The combination of some fun ideas, “average” execution and a very poor ending landed it at a 2-star for me.
The Story:
When Lenny’s parents set off on a 6-month research trip to the Amazon forest, Lenny is enrolled in a boarding school, until they return. With such a last-minute plan, there aren’t many options left to choose from, so Lenny is enrolled into the first place available, without much research. Once he arrives at Shadowsnout Castle Academy, he soon realized there has been a grave mistake… Welcomed by a talking skull to a haunted castle, Lenny realizes he’s the only human student enrolled in a school for ghosts…
What I liked:
The story itself is delightfully Halloween-y, and strikes a great balance between being spooky, whimsical and humorous. The author almost seems to go with a vibe of “Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book meets Captain Underpants”. As an adult, it’s not as enjoyable as Gaiman’s work, but I can absolutely see the appeal to kids of 8-10 years of age.
There’s a cute and whimsical cast of side characters, a vivid setting of a creepy castle converted into a boarding school with an equally creepy and quirky staff, and a mystery to be solved.
The book is available as a physical copy, e-book and audiobook, allowing for maximum accessibility for readers of all abilities, which I always appreciate.
What I didn’t like:
Although nothing about the story stood out to me particularly, until the 90% point I was happy to give it a 3-star and call it a day. Then the ending came and…
Let’s play a little game; think of the top 3 most hated tropes and ending-twists that any writing-1.01-course will tell you to avoid. Got them in mind? Go to the bottom of this post, below the spoiler warning to see if you've guessed it, because I'm fairly sure a majority of you will be able to. “Even in a kids-book” (and mind you, I don’t believe in that argument to begin with), this is such a disappointing twist that undercuts so much of what came before.
Speaking of very prevalent tropes that I personally hate in middle-grade: this strongly has the “absent/uncaring-parent” trope. I understand it’s a tool to get them out of the way so our protagonist can have an all-kids-adventure, but it still sends such a sad message to kids to see adult and parents only portrayed as useless and uncaring…
Many thanks to Amazon Crossing for providing me with an (audio-)ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
You can find this book here on Goodreads.
SPOILERS BELOW
Did your list of hated tropes include the “it was all a dream” twist"? Congratulations: you've guessed the ending of this book...
