Fieldnotes:
The Highways, 2016
1 Hitchhiker Ghost and Urban Legend
1 Boyfriend Turned Car Ghost
1 Banshee (bean sidhe)
1 James Dean-style Predator
1 Elaborate Trap
1 Enemy Turned Tentative Ally

Queen of the Routewitches
The Grecian Underworld

The Short Version:
Rose Marshall - hitchhiking ghost and urban legend - is enjoying some time with her boyfriend/car ghost Gary when she is summoned into an elaborate trap by her nemesis Bobby Cross. He has been fixated on her since she escaped his soul-guzzling car when he killed her 60 years ago.

Rose has to participate in a terrifying Halloween ritual in an attempt to restore the protection placed on her by Apple, Queen of the Routewitches in the last book. She then finds herself forced to rely on Professor Laura Moorhead - who holds her responsible for the death of her boyfriend Tommy years ago and has dedicated her life to destroying Rose. They must journey to the Underworld to restore Rose to her place as a hitchhiking ghost.

The most fun bits are the re-imagination of the Grecian Underworld with the London Underground taking the place of the River Styx and tricking her way past Cerberus. I enjoyed this installment, though I preferred the more episodic out-of-order format of the first that worked to reinforce the idea of Rose as the urban legend. ( )

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting and engaging, and has memorable characters. The world building and magic systems are very cool and intriguing. I did prefer the more unusual structure of the first book, and I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming. There was also the Halloween scene, which repeated numerous passages and scenes from the first book which I found annoying and repetitive. I might not have noticed, had I not read them back to back though. Overall, I found this a very good sequel to the first book, and would recommend. ( )

You know what I think? I think that Seanan McGuire's books would be a helluva lot better if she wrote fewer of them. Apparently she can't quite keep track of what she's written, so she always needs to make sure. How else would you explain the fact that she keeps explaining and repeating the same things in EVERY.SINGLE.CHAPTER.

This is something that becomes prevalent in her series rather than her standalone books. It always annoys me in her InCryptid series, and it almost knocked me out while suffering through the goliath that was the Parasitology series. And I'm sad because I thought she'd found a way to work through it. In the first Ghost Roads book, that's essentially a short story collection -unlike this one that is one story- it wasn't much of a problem because that's how collections of gathered tales go. It was charming, added character to the stories and helped intensify the feeling that they were tales about an urban legend. Maybe that's why it's one of my favorite books of hers under the Seanan name (because nothing will ever compare to killer friggin mermaids, NOTHING!).

My minds scatters and I'd forgotten much of the details from the first installment, even though I've read it twice thus far and plan on reading it again. Even so, the repetition killed me. Not repetition of events, people and relationships. The repetition of the premise, the pointless description of how one walks, enters a plane, does the smallest of things.

Ah, yeah I wish she wrote a bit better or maybe that she had a more severe editor. In all honesty Seanan is an amazing creator and I think, were she not a woman, she would have the fame she deserves, at least under her Mira Grant pen-name. But she doesn't and because of that I always feel uncomfortable criticizing her. Her books, current one included, are the ultimate comfort for me, action, fun, with strong women, queer people, feminist politics, sometimes magic, sometimes gore. And truly, what more can a girl ask?

I outta write a spoilerific synopsis of what happened, so I can remember it later on, but I'm out of time. This will probably be rectified sometime in the near future.


*the spoiler edit*
Ok so, infodump time for future granny Anelis who forgets everything.

In this book Rose is chilling with her boy, maybe Gary is his name? He’s the one who loved her when they were teens, and somehow managed to become a ghost car just for her, after he died. So Rose and the Car are hanging out in a diner, er, don't remember the name, which is run by her friend who's a banshee, but we spell it the proper way, something like bean sidhe? She also has a name; maybe someday I'll remember it. Rose also has a friend who's a ghost rider, Tony or Tommy, maybe Tommy. Tommy was with Laura when alive. In the previous book Laura fixated on Rose thinking her the cause of Tony’s death. Bobby Cross is the James Dean-type actor who killed Rose. He's a forever not dead prick that has a car that instead of diesel runs on souls or ghosts or something and he is also fixated on Rose because plot reasons. There are also route witches, Apple is their Queen, and a highway called the Ocean Lady is like their goddess or something.

Rose has had a tattoo that's a seal that's Persephone’s' blessing and protects her from Bobby Cross. Bobby finds a way, through a ritual that requires the self-sacrifice of a young witch, and damages her seal, while also managing to lock her away from the twilight, for some time, the twilight being the place where she's safe from Bobby. So to set things straight she needs to do a thing on Halloween. Dammit future self, don't ask me what it was because hell if I understood.

Some ghost hunt in a farm. Ghosts are set lose and whoever kills them -for good- earns another year of life, and if the ghosts kill a human they become human again. The owners of the farm are being coerced by Bobby to resurrect her and so they do. When she wakes up she barely escapes, finding shelter in a diner. Not knowing anyone in the mortal world –apart from the Price family- she calls Laura for help, who for some reason comes. Rose promises Laura she will be her psychopomp when she dies so she can be reunited with Tommy. Laura agrees to help and pretends she is Roses’ aunt. Girl-bonding happens, but we know not to trust Seanan. Ensue hillaridink jokes about Rose pooping herself and forgetting how to pee because she was dead for way too long.

She and Laura walk the Ocean Lady to find Apple who tells them to go through Hades’ gates like Persephone did, so Rose can die again. Rose now, alive, is a powerful witch, it's handy. Important: Rose needs to die in a way that will ensure she’ll be the same kind of ghost as before, hence the trouble. So they go to London, to look at all the stoles greek marbles and such. They are accompanied by a creature. They meet Hades and Persephone and Cerberus. Once they are close to the finish line Laura reveals she betrayed her and cooperated with Bobby. WHY? IT DIDN’T MAKE SENSE. WHY GO THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE? –Anelis, calme-toi, just state the facts dammit.-

Ahem, so, just before they exit the gates of the underworld Bobby comes, crashes Laura with his car, Rose is kinda trapped but at the last moment Laura looks at her, just before dying, so Rose not only dies again and becomes the same kind of ghost she was before, but she also has Persephone’s blessing intact again. She tells Bobby to fuck off and guides Laura’s spirit to Tommy and they unghost, or die-die, or go towards the light together. Kinda the end. ( )

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown
By Sean McGuire

This is actually book two in the series. I didn't know that so I read this first then the Sparrow Road. It didn't matter too much but I do wish I had read them in order. Needs a bigger notification on the book.
It continues the story of our ghost friends. There is much more suspense in here and it is not a bunch of short stories about ghosts Rose has encountered. There may be a few thrown in but this is a novel. There is a way to kill a ghost and a ghost and a human is after Rose! Pretty good! ( )

Loved the story, felt like the book sorely needed an editor -- it's possible that this is the result of listening to it as an audio book rather than reading the regular edition, but holy hell was there a lot of repetition. I mean _a lot_ of repetition. If the point of that was to emphasize how whiny Rose is when mortal, point made. Point made about 4 hours in, actually, and by hour 7, point was irritating. By hour 10, I just wanted the damn book to end. That makes me sad, because really, I'm quite enjoying Rose's adventures. I think the point of view of a psychopomp is rad. This seems likely to lead to a book 3, given the lack of resolution at the ending, and I'm torn between excitement over hearing more of Rose's story and dreading another speech on how she's exactly where she's meant to be -- riding the ghost roads, living in the cold and the twilight, after all she's the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Diner, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown... etc, etc, etc....sigh. ( )

I cannot even express how much I absolutely LOVE everything I've ever read from this author. I happened upon her works and have devoured everything I can find since.

This whole series is so creative and funny and thought provoking. I am obviously terrible at words but anything Seanan writes you should read!! ( )

This is a ghost story but it’s also so much more than just a ghost story.
Meet Rose Marshall, the girl in the green silk gown, the phantom prom date and so on. She’s a hitchhiking ghost.
Add the person who already killed her once and want to kill her again and you’ve got a prober adventure in your hands.
This book is amazing, the book pulls you in from the first words and keeps you in until the very last period. I loved every second if this book.
Add all the amazing characters and you’ve got a marvelous novel in your hand that just hooks you in.
All in all, this book is amazing and my only regret is not reading the first book in the series.
I recommend this book from the very bottom of my heart.

*ARC received from the publisher via First to Read. ( )

This second book in the psychopomp business of Road Magic is well worth sticking a thumb up for. Or two.

But beyond the wonderful ideas of putting on the miles to get more powerful or always having a place to stay in ghostly diners or being friends with a bunch of dead people and half-cognizant ocean gods, I have to say I kinda fell over backward for the wonderfully wicked twist on Orpheus and Euridice. :) Seriously.

Where else could we twist the events changing Rose's "life" into a quest to end it by literally going to Hades and making a similar deal?

Only with Seanan. Totally cool.

I really wanna see the pretty boy Bobby get his. Maybe the next book.

You know what? I think I may like this new UF of hers even more than the Incryptid series! It has so much solid going on and even though it IS tied to the Incryptid, at least obliquely, it certainly doesn't depend on it.

Go psychopomp, go! :) ( )

To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

78 points/100 (4 stars/5)

Rose Marshal is...alive? After being dead for sixty years, Rose has gotten a handle on death. Now, Bobby Cross is back, and he has cursed her into a living body once again. She will stop at nothing to return to the home she has known for these past 60 years, especially if it kills her.

While I really liked Sparrow Hill Road, I procrastinated reading this for a few days. Probably because I was still trying to come to terms with Rose dating a ghost car. Car ghost? Whatever you want to call it. In reality, it was probably because while I enjoyed reading the first book in this series, I was also bored by large stretches of it.

That didn't really change with Girl in the Green Silk Gown. I was bored in the beginning. It wasn't until Rose became alive that I became alive with attention. I went from meh to "oh my god this is the best thing ever" with one sentence. “Now that you’re here . . . how do you pee?” I started laughing so hard, and it just kept getting better and better from there.

I have a soft spot for stories where someone who wasn't human becomes human and has to figure out how to be human. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown hit a spot for me I had entirely forgotten even existed because it is so rare. I loved how Rose had to adjust to being human. I loved that she fucking hates being human. I loved how she complained the entire book about it, and how it never ceased to be funny.

And...I love the idea of Home. I love how Rose's Home isn't being human. Her Home is where she has lived for the last few decades, and that isn't a Home a human can have. This isn't the first time that Seanan has played with the idea of Home. For example, I especially loved how she handled it in her Newsflesh series under the Mira Grant pseudony. In Newsflesh, it wasn't where you were, it was who you were with. Here, home isn't where you are, but what you are and where you belong. I like it.

I also like the expanded mythology. As this series is part of the InCryptid world, I mostly just expected to see more things from that idea. Only, it wasn't. It was something new, something I didn't expect. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown expands on what we learned in Sparrow Hill Road in a way that, to me at least, was entirely unexpected.

My one real complaint is the end, I suppose. It isn't really a complaint so much as an observation. This is the second book in the series, and the second book with the same bad guy. I realise now that all of the books in this series are probably going to follow this mold, since Bobby isn't dealt with yet. The series won't end until Bobby Cross ends. While I understand, I just kinda hoped he'd be dealt with sooner and we could go on to magical Rose Marshall and car boyfriend adventures across America instead. ( )

The sequel to Sparrow Hill Road is one long story instead of a series of vignettes like the previous one. Rose is ghost thanks to a man that made a deal at the crossroads and killed Rose in order to fuel his eternal life. But Rose got away and for more than 60 years has been living in the twilight, hitchhiking across America and helping drivers in the way only she can. Bobby hates that Rose is the one that got away and is obsessed with getting her any way he can and he sets up a scheme to finally capture her and end her to continually pay his way for an eternal life.
This book covers more about routewitches and other types of ghosts that Rose comes into contact. This is set in the InCryptid universe you don’t have to know anything about it since there is only a passing mention to people from those books. A great story and I can’t want to see more of this setting.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
( )

Here in a more linear novel, Rose Marshall is still an excellent protagonist. I love the spooky setting and ghostroads mythos. Rose's outdated knowledge of the world is handled well -- enough to remind us who she is, without taking over what the story is about. The Underworld part was great. ( )

First - you really should read Sparrow Hill Road to get the full story. It's where you find out who, and what, Rose Marshall is. Second, this is a ghost story, not a horror story, so it's a good read for people who want something a little "spooky" but don't want to be terrified out of their minds.

Rose Marshall, perpetual 16-year old hitcher, is the source of many urban legends/ghost stories. She's the Phantom Prom Date. She's the Girl in the Diner. She's the Girl in the Green Dress. She's not a killer some make her out to be - she happens to be seen near a lot of accidents. If she can save you, she will but if not, don't worry because she'll stay with you. Most importantly, she's most definitely dead. Until one day she isn't. Bobby Cross, the man who took her life in return for the ability to live forever as he is (you have to watch out for those crossroads deals), is out to get her because she's the one who got away. But Rose has a lot of friends for a dead girl and one way or another she's getting back her death.

There are a lot of fairy tale retellings out there and in a lot of ways this series is similar - McGuire takes what might be familiar, a ghost story, and gives it life with a backstory and a future. In Sparrow Hill Road we learn who Rose is and the rules of the road, so to speak. in the second book of the Ghost Roads series we find out how those rules really work and how they can be twisted to suit a man's goals - or a ghost's.

This is a wonderful combination of American ghost story and Greek mythology. I'm enjoying the series and can't wait for a third book.

(I received an ARC of this book from Penguin's First to Read, thank you! The words here are my own). ( )

Excellent book, fascinating story, a lot more info about the Twilight and the beings that inhabit it. And some very interesting angles on Rose - her disgust at being alive is really amusing. The solution is amazing. Unfortunately, I can't believe in the climactic betrayal - because I can't believe she could act that well. She's planning betrayal all along - and neither Apple, nor Emma, nor even Persephone and Hades figure it out? Rose is a little distracted, she might be fooled. But I doubt the others could be. And just to top it off - how does Bobby know where they're going to come out? He's limited to the roads and driving speed, right? Rose says so. So he has to have known in advance to be there. But no one knew where they'd come out... It's a great story, really it is. But the gaping plot holes downgrade it to merely good. ( )

This is the 2nd book in the Ghost Roads series about Rose Marshall (the Phantom Prom Date). I enjoyed it a lot, although it got a bit slow at points. I loved venturing back into this ghostly world in between worlds and learning more about Rose Marshall.

In a way this is kind of the first Rose Marshall book; the first published book “Sparrow Hill Road” was actually a collection of stories about Rose. This book is the first novel length story about Rose. It involves Rose trying to flee and stay safe from the man that killed her, Bobby Cross.

I love this world and the characters. There are a ton of amazing and creative ideas in here and I loved that as well. Although, I will say the idea of the Ghost Roads and how they work can get a bit complicated and ambiguous. At times I had to reread parts to understand exactly what was going on.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and love that it ties in a little bit with the Incryptid series. This is a very creative world and series with intriguing characters. I plan on continuing the series. ( )

I got a review copy of Ghost Roads #1 (Sparrow Hill Road> earlier this year and when this came available through First to Read, I requested, and got, an advance review copy.

Ghost stories are far outside my wheelhouse, but the first had me intrigued with alien vernacular that I still have a hard time sorting, and rules of an unfamiliar universe that may or may not be easier to assume while reading. I found this to be a better story, and a better read - maybe I'm starting to understand? - and though I had a week's worth of distractions taking me away from reading more than a few pages at a stretch, I was finally able to dedicate time to reading it.

Note: I almost never spoil fiction with synopses - I feel that is unfair to the author; let the reader unravel the story herself. What I will share is that rare is the book that is a true page-turner (epages...it is a modern world, now) for me. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next - remember, this is unfamiliar landscape - and Ms. McGuire gave her titular character depth, connection, threw wrenches, even caught me with a rarer "didn't see exactly that coming, though expected something" twist. For both of those characteristics, I give a higher nod in my rating.

I was only a few months to hang for the sequel that others had to wait four years for. I hope that the next - and there has to be...unfinished business, and all - comes sooner. Regardless, I shall find it and read it as the outlier in my eclectic but still focused reading interests. ( )

Yeah, really. Five-star rating for a ghost story. I love this book so much! OK, so I read and loved [Sparrow Hill Road] and always wished for more Rose Marshall, more ghostroad tales. Then - voila! Along came The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. I admit I was afraid it wasn't going to live up to the first book about the Phantom Prom Date who travels the twilight as a hitcher on the ghostroads, but oh! It does. Best of all, though it ends in a very satisfying, very touching way (that made me cry), it is obvious that there is going to be another book, and I already can't wait. (ARC provided free in exchange for an honest review.) ( )