Igenlode Wordsmith

I've just started reading Lockwood & Co. Book 2: The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud, but I'll talk about Book 1 of that series The Screaming Staircase and, because they sound superficially similar, The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu. (Both novels are probably classed as YA.)

When I say superficially similar, both novels are about teenage girls who can see ghosts and make their living from this supernatural ability. Both are in first person from the girl's viewpoint. Both are set in British cities. The Lockwood & Co. book is set in London while The Library of the Dead is set in Edinburgh. However, the books have a very different feel.

The The Whispering Skull is set more or less in the present, but it's a world that had diverged considerably from our own. Back in the mid-20th century, ghosts started becoming a problem. In fact it's referred to as the Problem with a capital letter. Society is therefore very different. Children can see, hear or sense ghosts, but that ability is lost as they grow into adults. Therefore many young children work in the ghost detecting and removal business. The youngest form the night-watch who simply warn the adults if ghosts manifest. Teens can become agents who work for the Psychic Investigations Agencies which are called in to deal with ghosts when they become dangerous. The whole of society lives in dread of ghosts and there is a curfew with everyone hiding safely in their homes at night. Anthony Lockwood, George and Lucy Carlyle are the entire staff of Lockwood & Co. while the Fittes agency, their main rivals, employs many agents. Because of the Problem, many of the things we take for granted like mobile phones and the internet don't exist.

Meanwhile The Library of the Dead is set in a future where there has been some sort of catastrophe (unspecified) but Britain now seems to be ruled by a king. That was one aspect I found it difficult to accept. The probability that the royal family (given the current state of it) could somehow regain total power is probably zero. Ropa lives with her gran and younger sister Izwi in a caravan, under which lives River her semi-tame fox. The writing is very much in Ropa's voice, which is both vividly and written and also where I had some problems. Ropa, although of African heritage, was born and brought up in Edinburgh yet doesn't, to me, sound Scottish enough. Kids will pick up the local accent, even if their caregivers speak English with different accents. Having said that, T. L. Huchu has written a pretty convincing 14 year-old girl, which considering his native language is Shona not English, is quite an achievement.

Regarding dealing with ghosts, Lockwood & Co. have what might be called a scientific approach. Other than their ability to sense ghosts, there is no magic used in dealing with them. Iron, steel, silver, salt and Greek fire are all useful weapons in dealing with the spectres that have been classified as to how dangerous they are. Ghost touch can kill, though if you can receive an injection of adrenaline quickly enough, you're likely to survive. The ghosts Ropa deals with are more random in appearance and level of danger. In fact many are benign. She uses the music of her mbira to calm them in some cases, in others she can use the instrument to banish them. She makes money mostly by taking messages from the recently dead to their bereaved loved ones who pay her for bringing news and information. Her grandmother tries to teach Ropa her traditional magic, but she doesn't take to it. Then a friend from school takes her to the library where people are taught magic. Despite the title, the library doesn't feature much. Racism and prejudice against the poor mean that the librarian simply gives Ropa a book to read and then sends her away. The main story is about trying to find out what happened to the son of one of the recently deceased ghosts.

I did enjoy both stories. Lockwood & Co. is rather in the adventure yarn tradition of being given a problem and dealing with it by logic, research and using suitable weapons and defences. Lockwood, Lucy and George get into some deadly situations, but extricate themselves using courage, determination and the weapons they carry. Ropa's story, on the other hand, shows a much more emotional way of dealing with the supernatural. If I have a criticism of The Library of the Dead it's that when it comes to the pinch, the bad guys are dealt with a little too easily, considering that Ropa is completely untrained in the use of magic, I'm already on Book 2 of the Lockwood series, but I'll certainly consider reading the sequel to this book too.