Second paragraph of third chapter:
His personal bully.
I was a big fan of Hartman’s previous YA books, and I liked this one a lot too, set in the same universe but about a hundred years earlier. The 13-year-old outsider protagonist starts by seeing two of his bullies horribly killed by magical forces, and then finds his village entangled with ghosts, a plague, a dragon and an enigmatic nun. There is a lot here, and Hartman keeps it all under control, while hinting at the broader issues and currents of her world. My favourite so far in this category. You can get Among Ghosts here.
2026 Hugos: Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Professional Artist | Poem
Best Novel: The Incandescent | Shroud | The Raven Scholar | The Everlasting | Death of the Author | A Drop of Corruption, and my votes
Best Graphic Story or Comic: The Invisible Parade | three more finalists | A Wizard of Earthsea, and my votes
Best Related Work: Colourfields | The Cuddled Little Vice | Inventing the Renaissance | Positive Obsession, and my votes
Lodestar: Holy Terrors | Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe | Among Ghosts | They Bloom at Night | Oathbound | Sunrise on the Reaping, and my votes
Where to get them | Goodreads/Librarything/StoryGraph stats
