Review: The Spirit Chaser

The Spirit Chaser by Kat Mayor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually read The Spirit Chaser a month ago, yet I held off on writing my review until it was my turn to post on the blog tour of book two. I did have some notes of what I wanted to say, yet as is always the way I cannot seem to find them. Thus, I apologise that this review won’t be quite as in depth as my review of book two, which I read much closer to the writing of the review.

Anyway, onto the good stuff!

The Spirit Chaser is the first in what is promising to be a wonderful series of ghostly tales. I’ll admit that I was tentative with this one at the start as I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about what I was going to receive.

Was it a horror story? Not by my usual standards. It wasn’t the keep you up at night kind of read that you get from old school King and Koontz. Nor did it have that true feeling of unease that I associate with Herbert reads. Despite this, it did have many horror elements. There were ghostly events. There was demonic creatures. There were many visits to places you should not be going if you wish to remain safe from the evil of the world.

Was it a paranormal story? Yes, this is what I’d lean towards calling it. It’s not your vampire and werewolf story; rather, it goes for something less mainstream. We’re giving ghost hunters and psychics, and all the goodness that comes from the two of them together. Think the Ghostfacers from Supernatural, only with real talent.

Was it a romance? It was, and this aspect of the story took centre stage more than I’d initially imagined it would. Such a thing annoyed me at the start, as I’d been hoping for a truly terrifying read, but when I came to terms with this story being more of a paranormal romance I was perfectly fine with such a tale. In fact, I came to enjoy it much more than I’d imagined. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly enjoyable.

The story starts by throwing us headfirst into the supernatural world, and I loved this. Although, I did have a bit of trouble getting into the story. Throughout the first chapter, we flickered between perspectives so much that I feared I wasn’t quite able to keep up with all that was going on. I’m really picky with actions scenes: I favour it when we follow one person, yet with this we flickered between paragraphs. Such left me uneasy, but when we stepped away from the action in the next scene it didn’t seem to happen quite as much. It continued to happen throughout the story, yes, especially when a lot was happening, but my inability to be drawn fully into those scenes is due to my dislike of such a way of storytelling.

Nevertheless, I was really pulled into the story. Things slow down after our first big introduction to the evil of the world, allowing us to come to terms with the characters and the show. I came to really enjoy them, finding myself pulled into their world and curious to see what would come next for them. They really were a great cast, and I loved the way there were such bonds between the characters. It made them seem much more real, the show an actual possibility.

Not to mention the way things slowly came together. For a while, I wasn’t sure what the big ending would be, how we’d have a real climatic moment. I knew something had to come, but I wasn’t quite sure how it would all link together. Then bam – things really started to move. Once everything was pulled together and we found out how things were intertwined, I found I couldn’t put the book down. It was so much fun, leaving me unable to put the book down.

Then that ending. Personally, I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t quite as hard hitting as it could have been, but it was a great way to end things. I know a lot of people will dislike the way things ended, but I always love it when authors do the unexpected. I like it when they take risks with their choices, and such is what happens here. Moreover, it sets up so well for the next book.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this one. I came to enjoy it a lot more than I’d anticipated. I’ll admit that it’s not quite a solid four star rating, but it was so close that I had to round it up. After all, it left me super eager for book two, showing I’ve been pulled completely into this world.

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