Oh man, OK. So I just finished
Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean Hicks. It's his first novel and a hell of a debut!
It's basically about a failing town that's overrun by ghosts, some of whom "possess" residents and control them or imbue them with unusual abilities or qualities against their will. Something happens that puts the town's main place of employment in jeopardy, causing agitation amongst both the populace and the ghosts. And as one can imagine it's rarely a good thing when the spirits are restless...
Anyway, fantastic. Great ending too.
It happens to be one of two first-novel fantasies I have out from the library. This one is contemporary fantasy set in essentially "the real world," the other is a Game of Thrones-type universe with swords, foul magic, conspiracies, squires, and Failed Heroes Trying to Do The Right Thing, etc. "Break the Bodies" really works - the other is ... not too good. I was just thinking, I wonder if "Break's" more original setting helped it come together more successfully, if the other book suffered from its high fantasy-type setting and it just became too easy to indulge in traditional tropes. Anyway, it was interesting to me the dichotomy of reading these two books at the same time (I'm not going to finish the other one, I don't think).
But! Check this one out for sure!!
