Kuolleetkin ghostaa

by Mintie Das, Kristiina Vaara (Translator)

Violet tahtoisi vain sulautua joukkoon, mutta se ei ole helppoa. Hän on yksi Meadowdalen harvoista ruskeista tytöistä ja kuuluu koulussa suosittuun porukkaan. Kaiken lisäksi hän sattuu näkemään henkiä, sillä hän on Aiedeo, soturikuningattarien perillinen.

Kun koulun huutosakin kapteeni tapetaan pian hänestä kuvatun seksivideon päädyttyä sosiaaliseen mediaan, Violetin on aika osoittaa kykynsä ja näyttää, että hän on valmis seuraamaan soturiesiäitiensä jalanjäljissä. Violet joutuu tulikokeeseen, ja hänen on löydettävä tappaja – tai muuten hän on seuraava uhri.

Kuolleetkin ghostaa on yliluonnollinen #metoo-trilleri ilkeistä tytöistä, murhasta ja henkimaailman sotureista yhdysvaltalaisessa pikkukaupungissa. Kirja on ensimmäinen osa uutta ya-sarjaa.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Horror, Thriller, Ghosts

299 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2020

Reviews

[s]

this sounds so amazing and i’m so excited to see brown girls like me but the reviews r scarin me bc yall said there’s a lot wrong w this. ugdhdhdhdh this is so disappointing. i’m going to read it anyways bc i rlly want to & am determined to love it 😟

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I'm not with the crowd on this one. This was different than I expected but I really enjoyed it! I found it to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Netflix's Never Have I Ever. It was fast paced and intriguing! I enjoyed Violet's sense of humour and found her struggle and desire to fit in relatable not weak.
I adored Violet's best friend and their relationship; I liked that they hung out in different groups but still remained close. Her best friend does not take any BS and knows Violet well. Also, it was nice to see a YA character that fills her best friend in on the supernatural happenings in her life as too many try to handle it alone. I would love to see this become a series!

[Renata · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was billed as "We Were Liars meets Riverdale" and I was like SIGN ME UP, but that is......not at all accurate?! I think something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be a better (if older) comp. But, fine, that's not the author's fault. What is the author's fault is the reallllllly weak character and worldbuilding. The premise--Violet Choudhury is called to be an aideo, an ancient order of warriors trained as guardians against demons & other supernatural baddies, but she rejects it because a) her mom died (or did she?) on aideo affairs and also b) she's one of very few kids of color in her small midwestern town so she doesn't want to do anything that would make her stand out...ok, sure, I can work with that premise! Honestly would LOVE to work with that premise, I'm always looking for more diverse urban fantasy-type books to read.

But then it's just like...we learn SO little about Violet beyond the fact that she doesn't want to stand out in a crowd. And we learn so little about the aiedeo itself--like at first I assumed it was tied to Indian culture but then the main other aiedeo figure we see is a rando white dude named Lukas (who has a really weak enemies-to-romance going with Violet). also--I think this was just because of an error in the ARC formatting that abruptly inserted Lukas's POV into the middle of chapters, but it was off-putting.

Also I searched for the term "aiedeo" to see if that was an actual tradition from India, and the ONLY matches I found for it are for this author's full name, Aideo Mintie Das. Honestly kind of a baller move, if confusing, since other terms used are from aspects of Indian culture/religion (BTW I know "Indian culture/religion" is like a really broad term) like "bhoot" (Sanskrit for "ghost") are used.

Anyway then the PLOT involves her having to solve the rape and murder of the school queen bee, and Violet learns Valuable Lessons about slutshaming and not running away from her ghosthunting duties.

It's just kind of a mess and also wasn't even very entertaining (which, say what you will about Riverdale, it's ALWAYS entertaining.)

[Sacha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. Here is that review (updated 3/26/20):

Not even one star

I do not normally rate books that I DNF, especially when I do so this early on (I had to FORCE myself to get to 15%), but I would like for folks to consider this a warning not to waste their time. Also, I skimmed the rest to see if I should persist. NO.

This novel needs so much editing. The flow of information is nearly impossible to follow. The main character sounds like a 40-year-old trying to talk like a teenager. The word choice, the interactions between characters, and so on are ridiculous. My mom might as well have run into the room while I was reading and yelled, "That's like totally tubular!" in 2019. I laughed repeatedly and inappropriately several times during the first couple of chapters due to the bizarre choices demonstrated throughout.

Like many other reviewers (I HAD to know if others were having the same extreme reactions), I thought the premise sounded super interesting and was excited to read this. However, it is a complete disaster, and that is apparent from the jump. I truly dislike writing negative reviews because I know how much work and heart go into producing a text. That noted, I'm having a hard time understanding how this is making it to publication. I hope to see much more polished, organized, and focused work from this author in the future.

There is NO chance I'll be recommending this to my students or colleagues.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great companion for "Undead Girl Gang" and "The Babysitter's Coven." And any novel where POC talk about the "no, where are you REALLY from?" game and being described as "exotic" as a negative has my heart.

[Seanean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this book at about 70% because I just couldn't force my way through it anymore. The author just kept changing the rules to suit the story and it was driving me nuts. Spirits can only affect the people who can see them. Wait! Spirits can affect the physical world. Nope! Spirits can go through everyone's personal belongings as if they were physically there, BUT the people don't notice because it's done in some alternate space? And, apparently because the author couldn't think of any other way to do it, boys are just dumb and always set their phone passwords to 1234. All of them. Every single one. Even her crush.

The perspective would also shift on a dime with one character having about 2% of the story with no warning of when it was his perspective vs. hers. Even the main character's time and location would shift with no warning. Part of this may be an ARC Kindle formatting issue, but there were quite a few times that I had to scroll back and reread to try and figure out what the heck was going on.

This was just not well done. I strongly recommend avoiding this one.

ARC provided by NetGalley

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mean Girls meets the supernatural was exactly what I needed right now! It was laugh out loud funny and called out racism, sexism, and misogyny in a light but meaningful way. There were some pretty heavy issues involved but it never felt dark or sad. The murder mystery was really good and I did not guess the identity of the murderer. Violet was a likable and relatable main character and I loved her sense of humour, her awkwardness, and snark . I listened to the audiobook and the narrator completely nailed Violet's voice and did a great job with all the characters. It was a really entertaining listen and especially after that ending I'm hoping we'll see more of Violet in the future.

[Meredith Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A YA thriller that's Mean Girls meet Supernatural, and was exactly the kind of fictional reality break my brain needed.

[D]

Where did I stop? 21% in

Why? The blurb made it sound so interesting and the concept had so much potential. I didn’t want to believe the low ratings and bad reviews. Unfortunately, you better believe them. It read more like a first draft than anything even close to being pub-ready. The book’s about a girl who abandons her supernatural warrior history yet the book doesn’t start with that. No. You get that, in total passive voice, in chapter 3. The book starts with a tropey mean girl scene and the MC constantly referencing back to things that happened in the past as a way to dump as much exposition on you as humanly possible. All this book does is look backward. I know nothing about who Violet is as a person in the present day but I have her entire life story. Except I know she uses slang that ranges about 30 years (I promise no one uses wack anymore and hasn’t since Justin Timberlake lost his bad bleach job) and is an encyclopedia of pop culture references. So many pop culture references. This book is trying so hard to be relevant and hip it’s like the paper version of Amy Poehler’s character in Mean Girls. It’s just so horribly pandering it’s uncomfortable and unnatural. Violet is a caricature of a teenager, has no depth, and does nothing to endear the reader to give a damn about her story. The story isn’t bad in an enjoyable way. It’s just bad and to call the writing mediocre would be a kindness. I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Marko Suomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lukioikäisten maailman hierarkioita, ihmissuhdedraamoja, pikkukaupungin pakonomaista kasvojensäilytystä sekä ihonvärin ulkossulkevuutta elävästi kuvattuna. Mutta, sen lisäksi myyttisiä hirviöitä, esiäideiltä perittyjä vahvoja supervoimia, verta, suolenpätkiä ja kuolemaa ja sen toisella puolella seikkailua. Aikamoinen paketti!

[vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

wtf did i just read skskajsjsjshsh

[vilma · Rating 4 out of 5]

alku eteni vähän hitaasti, mutta sadan sivun jälkeen olin ihan koukussa!

[Lea McMahan · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could rate this book any lower, I would. I'm really disappointed to be saying that, as this book seemed so promising! "We Were Liars meets Riverdale", powerful female characters, murder mystery, supernatural forces... sign me up! Unfortunately, this book did not deliver on ANY of those fronts. This book is completely lacking in tact and nuance, and it was frustrating to read from beginning to end. The dialogue and references are dated, inconsistent, and completely off the mark of how a high schooler would talk in 2020. The plot themes are confusing, and lack stakes; the supernatural and worldbuilding elements are lacking and contradict each other; the mystery-solving element and all the steps to get there have no impact WHATSOEVER on the solution; the bullying, sexism, and racism faced by the characters are blatant and loud in a way that seems unrelatable to the more subtle (but just as insidious) microagressions that many young girls and poc face today...

All in all, try as hard as I might to find some semblance of a silver lining in this book, I really can't. This book is overall inconsistent, ham-handed, lacking in stakes, and if I wasn't reading for a book club, there is no way that I would have finished. If you are contemplating reading this book, or part of the way through trying to decide if you should finish in case it gets better, don't bother. As someone who has finished the book, let me tell you that the ending leaves just as many questions as answers (and not even in a good cliff-hanger sort of way). The biggest lingering question of all: how did this book get published?

[Amanie Johal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I think the low average rating is unfair, but understandable.

A "brown girl ghost story" sounds like something that would be completely up my alley, but I'm not sure it totally delivered.

There were some really good parts to this, like the discussions of victim blaming, but the overall story seemed to suffer from astounding lore that was constrained to a ~200 page ebook. Namely, the concept of the Aiedeo and the impending war seemed completely disconnected from the day-to-day mystery and life for Violet. I thought the war with the destroyers was something that would come into play during THIS book, but it ultimately seemed irrelevant (maybe it was supposed to be sequel setup, though I think this story does fine as a standalone despite the epilogue). Also, making the love interest/other mystical being be a white guy in a very brown story seemed..an interesting choice, but I let it slide. I don't know how the ARC was formatted, but in this final copy, his POV vignettes weren't distracting to me and I thought they added to the story.

Overall, I hope Mintie Das has the opportunity to publish another book because I'd be interested in seeing what she comes up with next!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brown Girl Ghosted is an interesting combination of storytelling elements all thrown together under a title that doesn't quite work. (Yes, the author clearly knows what "ghosted" means in slang terms. No, it doesn't work as well as it could.) The second half - when the mystery portion of the story begins - is much, much stronger than the beginning, which reads a bit like someone adult trying very hard to write for teens without entirely trusting that they'll enjoy a good book on its own merits. Lots of pop-culture-name-dropping, partying, and "oh, I'm a freak" lamenting don't a good teen novel make, so it's a relief when Das digs into the meat of the story - Violet's supernatural heritage and the mystery of who killed Naomi - becomes the focus. From about the 150-page mark, this becomes hard to put down.

I love the overarching message here - that even if you're the "right" color, race, religion, socio-economic group, you can still feel like a freak and life like a performance. I can't wait to read what Das writes next, either, because once she really gets her feet under her, she's going to be an author the world should keep an eye on.

[Rachel Sharpe · Rating 1 out of 5]

The rules in this fantasy world change from chapter to chapter... even page to page. Ghosts can interact with physical objects and yet they can't. The plot has more holes than my dog's chew toy, and the mystery element is almost nonexistent. Characters are flat and undeveloped, and the ending seems to have come straight from r/thathappened. Pop culture descriptions are dated, and most of the book could be deleted without losing key information. The book claims to be a #metoo book, yet the males accused of rape never see any punishment. It's an unfulfilling and confusing read that I only finished because I had to read it for a book club. The summary has promise, but, unfortunately, the book itself needs a lot of editing to be decent. Avoid.

[Cass Vandersyde · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was clumsily written, including confusing prose, multiple unnecessary scenes, and poorly utilized or explained supernatural elements. It tackles themes of intense importance- racism and rape culture specifically- but only has a surface level analysis of any of them at best. At worst, the book's shallowness and deeply problematic execution sabotages anything that might possibly be worthwhile in it.

I read the entire book and I can only hope that I will forget it. Do yourself a favor and give it a pass.

[Sarah Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A teen thriller with emotional depth and authentic heart. Takes apart the mean girl and misfit girl of color stereotypes, all through an intriguing mystery with supernatural adventure elements. I seriously hope the author is planning a sequel - something I don’t often say. Highly recommended for high school and up!

[Niina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dasin teoksessa käsitellään paljon raskaita teemoja, #metoo -hengessä ei-suostumuksellisesta seksistä ja nettiin vuotaneesta videosta, jossa eräs alaikäinen tyttö on sängyssä kahden pojan kanssa sekä päähenkilö Violetin intialaisen ulkonäön mukanaan tuomista haasteista (rasismi, täytyy tehdä asiat paremmin kuin kantaväestö, miksi sana "eksoottinen" on ongelmallinen jne.).

Kaiken lisäksi Violet ei ole aivan tavallinen teini vaan vuosituhantisen perinteen jatkaja. Hän on voimakkaiden naisten, Aiedeojen, perillinen. Hän pystyy näkemään henkiä ja joutuu tulevaisuudessa taistelemaan hyvän ja pahan välisessä sodassa. Paitsi ettei Violet halua tätä. Hän on pakottanut itsensä unohtamaan kaiken.

Violet oli todella ärsyttävä hahmo. Onneksi tarinan aikana hän kasvaa hieman ja oppii ymmärtämään empatian voiman. Kaksi kolmasosaa kirjasta oli hieman sekavaa haahuilua, mutta viimeisessä kolmanneksessa tarina muuttui kiinnostavammaksi ja Das käänsi tapahtumien volyymi- ja kauhunupit kaakkoon. Epilogi päättyy niin kiinnostavasti, että saatanpa lukea jatko-osankin.

Ei hammaslääkäripelkoiselle + emetofobiavaroitus. En pitänyt yhtään siitä, kuinka tytöt ämmittelivät ja lehmittelivät toisiaan. Teos vilisee populaarikulttuuriviittauksia laidasta laitaan. Kuolleiden näkeminen ja Violetin ystävän perheen omistama hautaustoimisto vertautuvat Sini Helmisen Hurmeeseen. Taikavoimat ja niiden periytyminen puolestaan muistuttavat hieman Toni Adeyemin Veren ja luun lapset teosta.

[Janina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Älyttömän mielenkiintoinen tarina! Ah, rakastin tätä kirjaa!

[Kacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are not affected by the free copy.

This is a really difficult one to talk about, because it does touch on a lot of things that are important and worth discussing. The main character brings up a lot of racial issues, sex issues, gender issues, nationality/heritage issues, and that's all really well done. But something about the writing style never quite clicked with me. The mystery was pretty lackluster, and the ending was just plain terrible. But I'll get to all that.

Let's first tackle the overall style and plot. A lot of it is infodumped by way of the main character explaining things. She does it in an odd way, too, making it feel like she's interrupting the natural flow of dialogue to give more exposition on things. And it never seems to stop. Even when it gets closer to the climax she's still explaining stuff. How about showing us rather than telling us? The plot is also really strange. I do like this different take on ghosts-- bhoots, as they're called here-- and the more vicious nature of them. I like that Violet was in actual danger because of them. But with all the exposition and set-up, the actual plot doesn't really happen until almost halfway into the book.

Since this is a murder mystery, starting the plot at the halfway mark doesn't leave much time for setting up clues, suspects and so forth before the reveal. All of that on its own would be difficult to do without adding in the Aeideo and this bigger battle Violet is going through. It reminded me of Charmed and how demons were influencing people to kill each other. That set-up really rubbed me the wrong way here. Like all of this was just a test for Violet to embrace her powers. It puts a completely different perspective on the murderer, the victim, and the search for the killer. Again, it is different having someone forced into investigating a murder, but I can't say I liked it. Then there's the conclusion and the ending, which are both terrible. I didn't like having the demon influence being a factor into the murder, and I definitely did not like the cliffhanger ending that is obviously a segway into a sequel. That is not a way to end a book, guys. It's a way to finish a chapter.

All the pop culture references got on my nerves a little bit, too. Some of them are a little strange. What teenager would know who Hercule Poirot is? And since Violet is so extremely pop culture savvy, how is it she doesn't know about Kamila Khan, Miles Morales, John Stewart, America Chavez, Sam Wilson and so forth?

But as I said, there are a lot of good things in this, too. There's a big examination of slut-shaming and the gender divide on sexual activity, there's a great and infuriating scene where authorities argue over whether or not a girl has been raped and what to do about the boys who raped her. There are some great bits about small town politics and how who you are and your sphere of influence can affect the justice system's treatment of you. Violet's struggle with her heritage is something I think a lot of people will relate with.

So I'm torn. Obviously the ghost angle was a reason why I requested this, but I wish it didn't play as big a role as it did. I also wish the plot happened a little sooner and there was more focus on the mystery. I think there are some great things in here, and if there's more focus on that in future novels, then this will be a great series.

[Wendy Bunnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was fun and I liked the characters. There were distractingly weird things happening with the POV in some of the chapters. Maybe it wasn't as bad in the printed form, but it didn't "read" smoothly in the audiobook format, when suddenly we shifted from Violet to the creepy guy who works at the undertaker's place, etc. Overall it was interesting.

[Dianthe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️


Genre: YA Thriller
Age group : Young Adult
POV : First person / third person / dual POV
Characters: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Plot: 4/5 ⭐️
Setting/Themes: 2/5 ⭐️
Writing: 2/5 ⭐️

• Please check TWs & CWs
• degradation, death, substance abuse, drugging, violence, sexual assault & harassment, rape
• Cliffhanger

”“My name is Violet Choudhury. I descend from an ancient royal heritage. Since the days when India was the enchanted playground of gods and maharajas, the women in my family were queens—Aiedeo.”


I loved The premise of the story. It actually got a tad confusing but it all actually made sense to me. I truly believe that this could’ve been executed in a neater and orderly manner but I think the chaotic layout gives the book its charm.

It took me a while to get into it, especially having a white washed, mean girl lackey desi girl. Did I grow into loving Violet? Yes, but super super late into the book. The book’s worldbuilding was also a lot longer which makes it slightly draggy.

I really do hope there’s a follow up to this book. I really would love to explore it more.

[Allie Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like a really polarizing book for some reason? It was nice brain candy! It was a teen mean girls/buffy/etc fun mystery and I don't think it ever pretended to be anything else. Yes, it deals with some serious topics (consent, bullying, slut-shaming, being a part of a diaspora) but it did it in a fun way! I was kind of reminded of Ready Player One (which I haven't read, fully admit) with all the pop culture references, which was apparently ok there but not here, maybe because one is pop culture references that appeal to men in their 30s and up and here they were designed mostly to appeal to teen/20s girls and women? (Though throwing in stuff like Poirot was cool to see too).

Did it have problems? Sure. Could Violet's voice have been tightened up a lot? Yeah (but show me a teenager who never rambles about anything, or who doesn't insert cultural references into their speech and thoughts. Heck show me anybody who doesn't do so). Did the "romance" plot line seem like it was either thrown in as an afterthought or edited down to such an extent it should just have been cut? Yeah probably. Did I enjoy listening to it? Yeah. Would I listen to a sequel? Possibly!

Do I want to hear more from points of view like Violet's, that aren't sure where they fit in the world? To see characters with different levels of social privilege (minority but a cheerleader, rural but not a farmer, etc) absolutely yes!

I dunno, I just feel like this one got a lot of hate for things that are allowed to slide in a lot of other books.

[Shandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a little surprised to see how low the ratings are for this book! I do agree that the blurb was a little misleading… And it did take a while for the story to really get moving, but overall, I liked Violet (even more at the end) and am curious to learn more about the supernatural side of her world in hopefully subsequent books.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mean girls meets a whodunit with a bonus mini lesson on indian culture. I liked the characters and the quick pace. Get the feeling this is the first of a series. Look forward to the next one.
Recomended for 9th grade and up.

[McKayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hey! I discuss my thoughts on this book over on booktube. Feel free to check it out!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little disappointed. I clicked with Brown Girl Ghosted right away. The voice is really strong, and I loved the concept. Mintie Das did a spectacular job balancing a story about seemingly normal high school girls with deep exploration into #metoo and racial relations in a small town with the supernatural twists. But while many parts made me sure this would be a 5 star read, many more seemed rushed and underdeveloped. I think this book could have benefitted from another round or two of developmental edits and an additional 30-50 more pages. I'm loving the fact that shorter YA seems to be making a comeback, but it can't do so at the expense of the stories. I'm hoping for a second book because I think Violet deserves one.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mulla on vähän ristiriitaset fiilikset tästä. Tää nostaa paljon tärkeitä teemoja esille, mutta ne välillä tuntuu olevan vähän levällään. Tuntuu siltä, että on yritetty ottaa liikaa asioita mukaan ja lopputulos kärsii siitä. Välillä tuli fiilis, että lukijalle saarnataan, vaikkakin ihan asiasta. Mä tykkäsin tosi paljon tästä Aiedeo/fantasiapuolesta! Kirjan meininki oli välillä niin kärjistettyä ja periamerikkalaista, että puistattaa. Kokonaisuus on rönsyilevää ja ontuvaa, mutta kirja onnistui pitämään otteessaan.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5