Rory - Book Review

Rory (The Ghosts of Palladino #1)
by Ciye Cho

What is it about:
Far beyond heaven, earth and hell is a city known as Palladino, a place ruled by ghosts and filled with demons, magic, and all sorts of darkly beautiful things. A city where no one can ever escape.

Eighteen-year-old Rory is a cake decorator who makes stunning confections. But no amount of frosting or miracles can save her when a demon kidnaps her—and carries her to Palladino. Here, Rory ends up in a deadly charm school where young women are forced to become companions for the Ghost Lords. And for her to survive, Rory must become everything that she isn’t: graceful, elegant... and perfect.

But nothing is what it seems in Palladino. Not the magic. Not the ghosts. And definitely not Martin Marius, the bizarre Ghost Lord-slash-inventor who is drawn to Rory. For amid a thousand machines and a hundred cats, Martin holds a secret that could change everything. A secret that could either free Rory... or destroy her.

What did I think of it:
I will confess I have a weak spot for boarding school stories. I blame Enid Blyton and her St. Clare's series.

So when I was asked if I wanted to read and review Rory and saw the mention of a Charm School I jumped at the chance.

And even though large parts of this book don't take place in the mentioned Charm school, this is a very enjoyable read.

I really liked Rory. Apart from the strange upbringing she had, Rory could be your next door neighbor. When she's abducted she has only her wits to get her through the trials she has to face,

The school and the weird lessons Rory has to take are very intriguing and that part of the story could have been twice as long without me getting tired of it.

And then there's Martin Marius. He's mysterious, weird and Dutch! I liked him from the start and loved reading about his weird contraptions and the house filled with cats. The growing friendship between him and Rory was fun to read.

The overall storyline was suspenseful and although sometimes character development slowed down the action, it never got boring. There were some things I wondered about, but for most part I enjoyed the story and the characters that peopled the world of Palladino.

I think I'll keep an eye out for book 2 in this series to see what happens next for Rory and to see if some of my questions about this world will be answered.

Why should you read it:
It's a fun YA Fantasy read.


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