Lauren James’ book The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker is about a scheming ghost named Harriet who sets out to cause chaos in an abandoned building filled with ghosts.

I was very intrigued by this story because it’s not what Lauren James normally writes. You can definitely see her science background shine through however, especially with the character of Qi, and her experiments.

I found the time scale of this book didn’t quite work for me, as the events happening in the presence only seem to last over a week, yet we keep looking back to Roman times to show how long the ghosts have been around. I feel that it would have been better if the ghosts had no real sense of time, so the character development worked more.

I liked Harriet, but after reading Lauren James’ Fan Treaty, I would say that her and Gottie are pretty much the same characters. They both talk the same, and both scheme and plot to get their own way. I liked having a ‘bad’ protagonist, but some of her thinking was very simple, especially when she’s trying to manipulate people into doing her own thing.

I really loved the narrator twist- Lauren James had mentioned that the narrator would be important in a tumblr post, and I was very surprised when I found out who it was! I thought it was a really interesting twist, and it means re-reading with a whole different viewpoint.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the main cast of characters, but I loved the Tricksters. Maybe it’s because I’m a villain kind of person, but I thought Rima, Felix, and Kasper were incredibly boring and twee. I find most friend groups in YA fiction boring however, so another reader may love them.

I also wasn’t sure about the whole ‘powers’ thing. I feel like it didn’t work in a book about ghosts, which seems strange to say, but I found it really strange? I’d much rather read about physical scheming than Harriet being invisible (that she hardly uses), and Rima randomly turning into bats.

*Spoilers* I was also very surprised by the ending! Lauren James often leaves her books open ended with the potential for sequels (Which I’m not entirely sure about anyway), but to leave on an actual cliff hanger? I definitely understand that there is more story to tell, but I’m not sure what other readers will think.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.