Isla Rising: A Tale of Love, Death and Destiny

by P.J. Johnson

It is 1833, and fiery Edinburgh widow Isla is dying. Ready to meet her maker and eager to reunite with the love of her life, she is not afraid of passing, but Isla's death is only the beginning of a series of otherworldly adventures that she must undertake on her quest to find her husband. As a spirit, Isla must deal with grave-robbers, ancient mysteries and earth bound ghosts in order to protect her granddaughter and locate her love. Culminating in the glowing bonfires of a lawless and blistering Samain, when the bold dead walk among the living, Isla Rising ranges from the arcane to the humorous, as the wild widow stalks through the shadowy depths of Edinburgh's homes and cemeteries, pubs and plots.

Genres: Historical Fiction

174 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Crystal Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept my attention from the first page! Isla is such a strong and sassy older lady who passed away and is a ghost who has things to settle before she passed over to the other side. She can not figure out why she can't find her husband who died years before. It was so cool to read from the cat, Belle's perspective. Full of twists and turns, it was a delight!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

I really appreciated the atmosphere and I'm interested in exploring spiritual ideas, so this was an interesting read. I was hoping for something a bit spookier, to be honest, but the character relationships are endearing. I just felt it didn't deliver enough. It's rather short and anti-climactic and it felt like there were some loose ends. Also, I feel like the only characters with a lot of depth are the two narrators.

I enjoyed it but I'm not sure if I'll read it again.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pleasure to read. Thoughtful, strong characterisation and wonderful humour in what seems to be a grim topic - robbing graves and selling bodies in a time of poverty. Two narrators gave it more texture, (one narrative is the cat, Belle, who has some interesting observations about her humans), and the plot moved along well, never letting me lose interesting.

[Rydia Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isla Rising
by PJ Johnson

Books more than a story offer us a window to the life and situation of those involved. Isla Rising begins with death, proving that death is not the end. The death of one of the protagonists. Can we really call her protagonist if the book has more to offer to us than her story? It tells us also the story of those around her, like her family. It not only let us see the lives of them but also the life (?) of those not living.

Isla rising shines light on the secret world of spirits, on the importance of dates and rites, on the point of view of those some would not normally care, like cats and how they now more than we think. How they see us and our actions and the esoteric link cats share with the spirit world.

The reading might prove hard to some of us who don't know much about Scottish idioms and words, of distinct locations and this is actually a good thing since it can expand our view of the world and our vocabulary. We can also learn about Samain a holiday I didn't knew before this book.

It might be confusing since the beginning of the book starts with death and there's much we don't know about the protagonists (a spirit and a cat!) before this and does it really end when there's so much things happening in the world even before they're gone to the afterlife?

Truly this book is a windows to the paranormal world. The world of the unknown. The spirit world. To places never visited before and reminds us to be wary of our actions, of how our absence might affect others, of how the dead are not really gone and how pets can be much more but more importantly the relevance and frailty of our stay in the material world.

A quite enjoyable read told through several characters that will make your afternoon much more entertaining and it could also teach you a thing or two!