Friday, December 9, 2016

Review: Maze of Souls (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #6) by J.L. Bryan

Maze of Souls (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #6)
Title: Maze of Souls

Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #6

Previous books in this series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (#1) | Cold Shadows (#2) | The Crawling Darkness (#3) | Terminal (#4) | House of Whispers #5

Author: J.L. Bryan

Publication date: February 2016

Published by: J.L. Bryan

Source: For review from author

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Buy it: Amazon

Synopsis:

It's October, and down at newly opened Pine Hollow Farm, the ghosts are running wild!. This “genuine” old-time family farm offers a big heap of fun fall activities. You can drink cider fresh from the orchard, enter a pumpkin-carving contest, and explore the five-acre corn maze. At night, if you aren't too scared, join the haunted hayride through the woods, featuring a genuine eighteenth-century cemetery. According to local legend, the ghost of a horseman has ridden the old dirt road through the woods for nearly two centuries, menacing travelers. Hayriders beware!

Then the real ghosts start to come out, threatening visitors to the farm and the family who live there. Paranormal detective Ellie Jordan travels out to the remote farm to root out the dangerous spirits. Ellie and her assistant Stacey must move fast, because the night is coming when all ghosts will be at full strength and free to roam—the night of Halloween.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I love a good ghost hunt, and Maze of Souls was as great as the previous books in the series! I really loved the setting and atmosphere of this one. I just love Halloween, okay? Lol. It’s one of the aspects that made this book awesome!

Another thing I love, about Ellie in particular, is that even though she’s been doing this for a while, she goes into every investigation as a skeptic, but with an open mind. This time around, Ellie, Stacey, and Jacob are investigating a farm with a haunted hay ride... no, literally. The farm is actually haunted! Talk about being authentic, eh? ;) Lol. I’ve never liked history, hated it in school, but for whatever reason these books make it interesting! Seeing where all these ghosts come from and why they’re doing what they’re doing is so fascinating! Jeff does such a wonderful job making history fun!

Also, one of my favorite characters, Jacob--he is such a geek... and I love that about him!

Stacey: “How about the Flash?”
Jacob: “You want me to wear a skintight red suit? In public?”
Stacey: “Um... Spider-Man?”
Jacob: “Not if you’re Supergirl. You can’t randomly mix Marvel and DC universes like that. It’ll be anarchy.”
[...]
Jacob: “I guess we need to head for the woods. Maybe my Spidey senses will find more there.”
“See? You should be Spider-Man. It’s perfect,” Stacey said.
“Different universes!” Jacob countered. “You’re playing with fire, Stacey.”
“Says the guy who’s leading us into the haunted woods late at night,” she replied.

He is always fun to have around--Stacey too! I love all the characters, actually. But I’ve already mentioned that (many times!) in previous reviews ;)

“Ellie spends a lot of time around ghosts, so now she acts like one,” Stacey said. “Moving silently, creeping up on people, draggin chains around in attics--”
“She’s joking,” I said. “Mostly...”
“So we’re looking for He Who Walks Behind the Rows, huh?” Jacob asks, squinting through his glasses at the high corn maze.
“Or maybe She Who Walks Behind the Rows,” Stacey said. “You never know.”
“We should keep an open mind where gender roles and agricultural demons are concerned,” Jacob said, nodding.
Jacob: “What do you call a group of ghosts, then?”
“Oh, that’s a...” Stacey hesitated, then glanced at me. “A fright? Right? A fright of ghosts? I’ve heard that somewhere.”
“If you’ve heard it somewhere, it must be true,” I said.
“What else could it be? A gaggle of ghosts?” Stacey asked.
“That’s geese,” Jacob said. He reached across the ditch and touched the old wrought-iron gate. He inhaled sharply and drew his fingers back. “It’s cold. I can tell you this particular posse of poltergeists is not happy about being trapped in there.”
[...]
Jacob flicked the shiny new padlock on the filthy, rusty gate and nodded. “Very recent. That would explain the intensity of their anger. You’ve just rounded up one furious flock of phantoms.”
[...]
Jacob: “If they have telekinetic powers... I’d just rather not be torn apart by a weyr of wraiths.”
“What’s a weyr?” Stacey asked.
“That’s what you call a group of dragons,” Jacob said.
“I see.” Stacey nodded, then held her fist to her mouth and coughed, “Nerd!
“You’re just embarrassed you don't know more about dragons,” Jacob said. “It’s okay.”
“I’m embarrassed for both of us. Hey, what are you doing?” Stacey frowned as Jacob stepped across the ditch and stood on the recently churned earth where we’d dug the gate free.
Jacob: “Just trying to get a closer look at this badelynge of bad-tempered spirits.”
“Great,” Stacey said. “What’s badel... thing? A group of trolls holding hands with a group of elves?”
“It means a group of ducks,” Jacob said. “From my SAT vocabulary workbook. I think it was called Fun with Memorizing Massive Lists of Useless Words That You’ll Never Possibly Need Again.

Overall, Maze of Souls was great! It was so intense and intriguing! This one actually hit a little closer to home for Ellie. Higher stakes, crazy plot twists, killer cliffhanger... gah! I cannot believe that happened! I need to find out what happens next!


Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)

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