Book review: Cast No Shadow by Nick Tapalansky

Cast No Shadow by Nick Tapalansky

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Source: Borrowed

Greg has lived in Lancaster his whole life. The town’s always had its quirks, and being born without a shadow means he’s counted among them. When Greg discovers an old mansion in the woods just outside of town, he didn’t expect to meet a smart, beautiful, funny, and…very dead teenaged girl named Eleanor.

Yeah. He’s in love with a ghost.

And before he knows what’s happening, Greg finds himself at the wrong end of a history lesson when the town’s past, and his own, threaten to pull the two of them apart permanently!

From acclaimed comics writer Nick Tapalansky and phenomenal newcomer artist Anissa Espinosa, Cast No Shadow is a teen romance with humor and heart. 

I told myself that I was done with graphic novels (after all, I’ve read a ton of them recently) but then I saw this on display at my library and impulsively checked it out. I read it in one sitting that same night and… it was fine, I think?

I guess that I expected a book about ghosts and a haunted house to be at least a little spooky. This wasn’t really spooky. It also wasn’t particularly romantic or particularly deep. I think my favorite part was Greg’s struggle to come to terms with his father’s new girlfriend moving in. (I’ve been there and I get that.)

I also understood Greg’s reluctance to accept Layla, his best friend, dating his former bully and his annoyance at his town’s constant flow of roadside attractions. I felt like both of these ideas were brought up and kind of swept away with little resolution. I especially wish that the conflict with Layla had been dealt with better since it seemed to me that Greg had a really legitimate complaint and Layla just didn’t care.

Overall, I guess I just wish that the book would have looked at the issues it brought up in a little more depth, but the art was cute and it was a quick read.

#mm19: cover love
#ps19: a ghost story

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Have you read Cast No Shadow? Can you recommend any good spooky graphic novels?
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