Nightspell

Many reviews here already summarize what the story is about. Being a writer myself, I could go at length on Nightspell's excellent worldbuilding and plot structure. Instead, I'm going to offer two reader reactions.

My daughter picked up Nightspell after having thoroughly enjoyed Mistwood by the same author. Her initial reaction was less enthusiastic, apparently because it had been easier for her to identify with the main character in Mistwood right from the beginning. So the first quarter of the book went along slowly. But then, she got hooked and finished the last three quarters in a single all-night reading session. She slept through the next day, waking up toward the evening (she's on vacation), in a pattern that made me ask her if she was going to emigrate to Ghostland.

More recently, I had a dream of visiting my daughter's college dormitory as a ghost. For some reason, her roommate was totally freaked out. I regret not having enough presence of mind (hey, I was dreaming!) to tell her that it was perfectly normal and that she should go read Nightspell.