A Story of Time and Change in Angel of the Overpass

Angel of the Overpass is the third novel in Seanan McGuire’s Ghost Roads series. If you haven’t read this series, I strongly recommend picking it up, especially if you’re a fan of ghosts, legends, and urban fantasy.

Rose Marshall – the woman with a hundred names. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. The Phantom Prom Date. The Ghost of Sparrow Hill Road. It’s been fifty years since she died, and her story has had plenty of time to change.

Rose herself has changed since that time. She may be a ghost, but that doesn’t mean she’s a static being. Granted, she has been on the run from Bobby Cross this whole time. He’s the one who killed her, and even now, he’s still hunting her. Yet now, he’s lost his protection, which evens the score.

A quick note: The events in Angel of the Overpass are heavily impacted by another series of Seanan McGuire. InCryptid and Ghost Roads share the same world, and the events of That Ain’t Witchcraft, in particular, will change things up. Of course, you can read Angel of the Overpass without having read it. But it will add a lot to the story. Take it from somebody who only this year binged all ten of the InCryptid novels.

Writing

Angel of the Overpass is the perfect third novel in this series. It’s poetic, dark, and beautiful in equal measure. More than that, it allows readers to see the Ghost Roads. These roads are infinitely complex and will always be fascinating to learn about.

They are an amalgam of all of our lore plus a bit (read: a lot) of imagination from Seanan McGuire’s side of things. The result is an expansive world that I, for one, will never grow tired of.

This world feels more precarious and open to change than ever before (see my note above). It’s added a new source of tension, but it’s also added some hope. All of which is kicking off change left and right, not just in the world – but for many of the characters we’ve also come to know.

Seanan McGuire’s writing is pure perfection in Angel of the Overpass. You can practically feel the notes she’s trying to bring home – the emphasis she’s making on certain points. Okay, the fact that this is one of the more epic (literally) novels in the series didn’t hurt.

Development

One of the dominant themes in Angel of the Overpass seems to be change. The world is changing, so it only makes sense that everyone and everything in it is changing. We already know that ghosts don’t automatically stay the same from the moment they come into existence.

Now McGuire is simply driving that point home. Rose’s quests have taken her to all different realms for the dead, yet there hasn’t been a quest quite like this one. Not for Rose, and I highly doubt any other ghost, either.

There was something so fascinating and empowering about what Rose went through in this novel. More than that, it felt so…well, I was going to say human, but perhaps that isn’t the right word in this instance.

Angel of the Overpass is a compelling read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until you finish the book. So plan ahead, and leave yourself plenty of room to read. Trust me on this one.

Conclusion

Angel of the Overpass is a novel that I have happily been waiting for ever since the last novel (The Girl in the Green Silk Gown) dropped. It was well worth the wait, bringing about change and understanding in equal measure. It’s a novel that does justice to the characters and fans who have been looking forward to seeing what happens next.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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