The Clackity
Ratings5
Average rating4.2
Reminiscent of Doll Bones, this deliciously eerie middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must enter a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences and rescue her aunt. Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor—the seventh-most haunted town in America—with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn’t have many rules except one: Stay out of the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. But when her aunt disappears into the building, Evie goes searching for her. There she meets The Clackity, a creature who lives in the shadows and seams of the slaughterhouse. The Clackity makes a deal with Evie to help get Des back in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor a hundred years earlier. Evie must embark on a journey into a strange otherworld filled with hungry witches, penny-eyed ghosts, and a memory-thief, all while being pursued by a dead man whose only goal is to add Evie to his collection of lost souls.
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Series
2 primary booksBlight Harbor
Blight Harbor is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2022 with contributions by Lora Senf.
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As much adventure with quest elements as horror, a good mix.
Protagonist is managing grief, anxiety/panic attacks even as she is coming up against other less everyday challenges. Central message appears to be that empowerment is gained not only by how you brave and conquer new experiences alone, but also how you are supported by active efforts of friends as well as known love from family, how that allows you to move forward with confidence.
Thread of animal welfare/vegetarian concerns running through the story which I appreciated.
Credit to Alfredo Cáceres for the cover and the illustrations within.
Very happy to read further in this series whenever the next is published.
I could quibble at the relative ease of the journey's stops: obstacle met, obstacle overcome, helped by most who are first glance were adversaries, check, onto the next. But it kept a refreshing pace and I've suffered through enough tales that get bogged down with the minutiae of sidelines to appreciate the opposite problem. Also, middle grade means easier reading in a lot of senses, and my brain needs that today.
This is exactly what I needed. I haven't been feeling some of my books lately so a friend and I decided it was time for some spooky middle grade fun. I LOVE some spooky MG reads when I'm feeling blah. They are like the cozy mysteries of the horror genre.
The Clackity is a FUN read too. I absolutely adore Evie. The journey she takes to save her aunt is spooky too! A few times I was loke...ummm are we sure this is for MG?
