Sixteen Souls

I knew this was going to be a good one, solely based on how much I love Rosie Talbot's tiktoks.

Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot is a YA paranormal novel about Charlie Frith who has a butt ton of problmes. Including the likes of, his crush dating someone else, his sisters glitter-bombed his prosthesis (again), and he's a seer-of-spirits in York, the most haunted city in England, and all his friends are ghosts. But when those ghosts start to go missing, Charlie wants nothing to do. Until one of his close ghost friends goes missing, and Charlie has no other choice to find out what's happening.

What I liked most about this book, was the way Talbot was able combine spooky with adorable. I can name plenty of scenes that I should have been freaked out about, but finding myself fawning over. I also really liked how Talbot created the world to appear like an onion, because they have layers of course, and that there was plenty of story and setting to peel away chapter by chapter. I felt like that was the best course of action in terms of breaking down the intricate world she built. I wish other authors did the same.

The only thing that I found to be confusing, was the introduction of some characters. I feel like some randomly appeared for five seconds, and then were swept off the page, never to be seen again. And as fast-paced as the plot was, I felt like some scenes were too rushed over, and ultimately made me go back and re-read some things to ensure that I didn't miss something.

Even though I read this book much earlier in the year, I think I will be re-reading right in time for spooky season. While also anxiously waiting for Twelve Bones, as I needed it like yesterday. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone in need a light yet spooky fast-paced read.

Life is hard for Charlie Frith, who lives in York, England with his busdriver father, hairdresser mother, and two much younger sisters. His aunt is struggling with cancer, so her three children are often at the house. After a battle with meningitis when he was young, Charlie lost both of his lower legs. He has prostheses, but occasionally uses a wheelchair. He's gay, but hasn't really come out to his family at all, but some of his friends, like his crush Mitch who is now dating Leonie, have some clue. All of that would be manageable, even with exams looming, but there's more; Charlie is a seer, who can see and communicate with ghosts. This power descended on him when he died briefly, but was saved by a young doctor, Heather. She was attacked as she left the hospital and died herself right after dealing with Charlie, so appears to him as a ghost and is very helpful. He also has Ollie, a young boy who died 100 years ago, as a friend. Dealing with these abilities is a challenge at the best of times, since ghosts sometimes seek him out to either communicate or, in the case of "moldy oldies", try to kill him. There's also the threat of being caught in a ghost's "death loop" and experiencing their death, which has brought him to the attention of parents and teachers who witnesses an episode when he was on a school trip. His mental health was questioned, and he had to go through therapy and be on medication, so he is not keen to mention that this was not a one time episode. When Audrey, another ghost with whom he is familiar, warns him against another seer, Charlie takes this seriously, but when he meets Sam Harrow, he seems to be helpful. Not only that, but Sam needs Charlie's help: the historical ghosts of old York are going missing, and Sam is trying to figure out who is responsible. Worried that he hasn't seen Audrey or a couple of other well known and benevolent ghosts in a while (and because Sam is rather cute), Charlie joins forces with him to try to figure out what is going on. Suspicion falls on a local tour guide, and Mitch and Leonie join the group to help figure out the mystery. When the tour guide is found dead, things become even more dire. Fighting both the spirits and the humans who are trying to control him often ends in Charlie being wounded, which makes his parents very concerned. When it seems likely that there is a concerted effort to collect ghosts and use their essence for evil, Charlie knows he has to keep investigating no matter what the cost, but it may be higher than he expects.