Book Spotlight: The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett

Welcome to book spotlight where instead of giving you another book review, I’m just going to talk about books I’ve read recently that I enjoyed. Prepare yourself for the fangirl gushing.

Sometimes I think I might like middle grade more than I like YA. There’s just something so fun and innocent about middle grade that YA books have moved beyond. As I’ve said before, middle grade has all the sense of adventure and coming of age-ish emotions but without all the drama and teen angst. It’s fabulous.

And The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett, a middle grade fantasy, captures that fun and adventure while also addressing important issues of life.

First and foremost, the magic in this book is so fun. Magicians can speak “languages” that then affect certain elements, such as water or bones or plants or light. But, as the title suggests, Noa and her siblings discover a new language that has long been buried by magicians of the past. Pairing new magic languages with the adventure of trying to find them before the evil bad guys find it makes for a fantastic and fun story. I really liked how the magic was explored and connected with the plot and Noa’s character arc.

I also really love the setting of a island pirate ship mash-up. It’s so crazy but so creative. I could spend volumes reading about this island and all the adventures Noa and Mite have. I also wish there was a detailed map of the world and the island so I could follow along with the girls as they go about their adventures. Every fantasy book needs a good map!

Then there are the characters. Anything from Noa and her determination to save her brother from turning dark to Mite and her obsession with weird gross things to the sassy, cake-loving sea serpent. This book is chock-full of so many wonderful characters, both good and bad. Seriously, Heather Fawcett has such a vivid imagination that is perfect for writing middle grade.

The Language of Ghosts is a lot of fun and I love how the story turns out. I honestly expected this to be a series with the way events unfold, but I’m actually glad it’s a standalone. I mean, if the author chose to write more, I wouldn’t be opposed, but I also don’t think every book ever needs a sequel.

Waffle recommendation: Alright, I’m going to shock you with this one because unless you can somehow make cake batter work in a waffle maker, I’m going to instead recommend you just make cake and eat it while you read this book. Because it’s necessary to the plot, duh.