Between Ghosts and Gods

This intriguing and eventful story takes the reader to Ghost City, the under-realm of ancient Chinese mythology, peopled by demons, ghosts and living curses. Katsu has been unfairly condemned to this dark world for three hundred years for selling her soul to buy a jade pendant which her mother insisted would save the life of her dying sister. Her greatest wish is to return to the mortal world and she tries to appease the gods by living according to the many hundreds of Heavenly Principles, hoping that they will notice and relent.

Enter Arun, a beleaguered young prince from the mortal realm, looking for his lost mother, Sunan. Kasu befriends him and helps him in his search by teaching him how to navigate the complexities and horrors of Ghost City as a living person among the desperate ghosts. The hint of an attraction is between them is there from the start. The final protagonist is the teleporting cat, Ruo, a curse -that is, a spirit born from a human heart and with the gift of speech.

The three unite to help Arun discover what has happened to his mother. Their journey takes the reader through the many terrors of the under-realm; its gruesome practices and rituals, its many tragic ghosts and demons and its hopelessness. This is not merely a physical journey, but also a philosophical one:  The narrative is action-packed and full of twists and turns but also brings the protagonists and their many enemies vividly to life. Tension and danger are ever-present and the consequences of making a mistake are repeatedly and graphically emphasised.

When the three friends gain access to the mortal realm by unravelling a sinister plot revolving around one of its gods Kasu’s initial reaction is delight-this is where she longs to return to.  But little by little, following Sunan’s trail and discovering the truth behind her disappearance, she realises that the judgements made by the gods who she respected unequivocally are not governed by principle but by a determination to seize power-whatever the cost to both their subjects and their contemporaries-and their heavenly realm is as rife with corruption as the ghost world which they have condemned her to inhabit. The Heavenly Principles are not instructions to improve oneself but invented by the ruling gods as a means of keeping absolute control.

The developing relationship between Arun and Katsu is skilfully and touchingly handled so that when they return together to the under-realm, knowing that their present lives will end and they will be born again with all knowledge wiped out a brief epilogue confirms that they will meet once more. When Katsu is again a new-born baby there is a mysterious cat by her crib promising ‘And when you’re grown, let’s find the boy and raise hell, shall we?’