Nicole Field’s Reviews > The Immortal City > Status Update

Ghosts tended to form ecosystems of souls as they settled into local haunting patterns. Some streets were nothing but effusive hives of vibrant ghosts, joining around their own ethereal brand of needs. A very haunted area of the city might be like a town unto itself, concerned with the ghostly politics of singing or object possession or storytelling instead of flesh-and-blood concerns like food and shelter.

The trouble with being a ghost is that you start your afterlife with a curse—with a chain. But you can purify a curse. Most of the ghosts that control the gates are chained to it, but I think that’s only because they aren’t ready to let go of their curses. The pieces of life that still weigh on them. But once those chains are broken? No one is more free. A liberated ghost can go anywhere.