Genre: Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Story Form: Novel; 302 pp

First Published: 2014; Revised 2018 — DAW Books

I hesitated over the genre for Seanan McGuire’s Sparrow Hill Road because primarily it’s a ghost story—or a series of linked ghost stories, in fact, tied together into novel form. Yet the story of restless ghost, Rose Marshall, is definitely set in the contemporary urban America—albeit from the 1950s to the present—of highways, truck stops, and diners. So in that sense it’s Urban Fantasy.

But in the end, with so many folklore elements weaving in and out, such as the power of crossroads, and with references to myths such as Persephone as well, the safe call is just to say it’s Fantasy—and very enjoyable Fantasy at that.

So what did I enjoy about it? Well, I really liked the character and “voice” of Rose Marshall, dead at sweet sixteen on the way to the prom, and thereafter a “hitcher ghost” and psychopomp—i.e. a conductor of (other) souls to the afterworld. The essence of Rose’s character is her humanity, which she manages to hang onto despite being not only dead but a ghost with a mission, which is to sort the person who murdered her by forcing her car off the road (on Sparrow Hill Road, the title of the book.)

And then there’s that person who murdered her: Bobby Cross, one-time heartthrob of the silver screen who has made a crossroads bargain for eternal youth, which is fueled by feeding the souls of his victims to his soul-sucking car. In short, he’s a satisfying antagonist in the context of a ghost story.

Probably the best “character” in the book, though, is the world itself, which is one of highways and truck stops woven into the supernatural realms of the dead, from the Twilight down to the Midnight and back again. The other great element is the many flavours of ghost, from “hitchers” like Rose to the “crossroads ghosts”—and the crossroads itself, but to find out more you’ll have to read the book!

As you can probably tell, I really liked the worldbuilding in Sparrow Hill Road. Another thing that struck me, as a non US-ian, was how the story was a celebration of Americana in the context of road culture and associated folklore. However, since I am not only a non US-ian but have never touched down in the Americas, north or south, I stand to be corrected by those who are and have. But from the outside looking in, that’s how it seems… 🙂

If you’ve enjoyed novels like Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and/or The Graveyard Book, Charles de Lint’s Newford novels, Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books, Melissa Marr’s Graveminder, or Tim Powers’ Fault Line series, then you may well enjoy Sparrow Hill Road, too.

—

Disclosure: I purchased my reading copy of Sparrow Hill Road from a local independent book shop, Scorpio Books. And like All Systems Red two weeks ago, yes, it’s also a keeper. 🙂