Review: Ghostcloud

Ghostcloud is a dark, thrilling adventure set in a dystopian future London which absolutely gripped me from start to finish.  It is a brilliantly engaging and exciting read for those of 9+ who don’t mind their reads a little more on the scary, supernatural side!

Twelve-year-old Luke has been working as a shoveller for two years at Battersea Power Station where he was taken after his kidnap two years before.  He and his best friend Ravi live in the hope that they will be given a precious amber ticket which is their way to freedom.  However, when a new girl, Jess, finds herself facing the wrath of the Power Station’s cruel owner, he shares the blame and finds himself sharing the punishment.  Jess and Luke are taken to the dreaded East Wing where Luke makes a discovery that changes his life … he can see ghosts!  After rescuing ghostcloud Alma, she shows him what he is capable of, and takes him on an adventure on a cloud above the city.  He is half-human and half something else that allows him to travel with Alma. 

This sense of freedom which Alma gives Luke makes even more determined to escape, but in his efforts to find freedom, he learns a terrible truth, the truth of why children are being kidnapped to work in the power station.  Could the smog which is choking the city have anything to do with the Power Station?  Will Luke be able to save the children, and find freedom and his family, before Tabatha’s appalling plans come to fruition?

I really enjoyed the richly imagined atmospheric, smog-filled future London with landmarks which are familiar, but ruined.  I enjoyed following the trail of what had happened to cause this disaster and how this links to what is happening in the present. 

This is a fantastically action-packed adventure with some unexpected twists and so much danger for the main characters that makes it a real page-turner.

Luke is an incredibly sympathetic character who is living in terrifying conditions as he faces the threat of almost constant danger, yet he is prepared to put himself at risk in order to help his friends, Jess and Ravi.  These two give him hope and strength as together they face, Tabatha Margate.  She is coldly cruel, sees the children as commodities, and is keeping terrifying secrets that threaten everyone.  I really liked Luke’s friendship with the ghost Alma who shows him the city outside of the Power Station and opens his eyes to the possibility of a different route to escape. 

This is a brilliantly exciting, action-packed adventure. with dark and scary moments, which children of 9+ will enjoy. 

Thank you To Toppsta and the Publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.