Book Review: AFTERLIFE: GHOSTLAND 2.0 by Duncan Ralston

Last year. I was pleasantly surprised by a book called Ghostland. I saw a cover reveal on social media and was so blown away, I bought the book the day it came out. I was even more surprised when I read the book and it turned out to be one of my favorites that year.

Enter Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0 the sequel to Ghostland, and middle book of what will now be a trilogy.  I had zero clue if turning a self contained story about an amusement park of ghosts would be able to translate into a sequel, never mind a trilogy, but after reading afterlife, I’m not worried about book 3, I’m highly anticipating it.

Afterlife drops the small scale of one central location and a few characters and weaves a tale that stars numerous characters at varying points in the timeline. The transition brings about higher stakes as well. There is more at stake than a theme park. I enjoyed the time spent getting to know the new characters, as well as spending more time with Ben and Lillian. There’s a lot of book here, and all of that time is spent fleshing out a story with much more depth than the first book hinted at. Corporations, Rights groups, ghosts, humans. There are a lot of different moving parts that coalesce into something really great here.

This book is a phenomenal follow up to Ghostland, which you absolutely need to read. I enjoyed the entire thing cover to cover, and while I don’t believe the conclusion had the same emotional impact of the first book, it left me feeling satisfied of what I had read, and ready for what’s next.

5 stars