Review: Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab is the third, and maybe final but maybe not, book in the Cassidy Blake series. This series follows Cassidy Black and her best friend Jacob through Edinborough, Paris, and New Orleans as they travel over the summer with Cassidy's parents as they film a show about ghosts and ghost stories in various places. Cassidy's mom is a believer, her dad a skeptic, and Cassidy can actually see ghosts, including Jacob.

I am obviously outside of the age range targeted by this series, but I find the series absolutely delightful to read. I am sure I would have loved this series as a young person. 10/11/12 year old me would have had an excellent time with this series. I do try to review middle grade keeping in mind that I am very much outside the targeted age range; I find reading reviews of middle grade that penalizes the books for being targeted to young readers to be sort of insufferable. Yes, narratives aimed towards younger people focus on different parts of a narrative; this makes sense.

I really loved the atmosphere of this book; that has been a constant throughout the series. The way New Orleans was written was just a lively and delightful and mysterious as Schwab's renditions of the other cities. I especially love how the settings serve character and plot. What Cassidy notices about the world around her and the way the lore of a city is so nicely woven into each book. I just really like the travel part of this book, especially the me who hasn't gone anywhere because pandemic.

I will say I don't think this book has as much creepy or scary as previous books did. But this could be a symptom of age. I remember being legitimately scared in the first book, and I thought the second has excellent creepy vibes. This book defiantly has some serious history references and some somber or worrying character moments, but I was never actually scared.

I do really hope its series is extended; I think that Schwab wrapped it up well if it is never added to, but I really want more! I want to see what's going to happen with the character in the future. Especially with the way the book resolves with both of Cassidy's friendships. And I love her parents and really want to keep seeing that relationship, and maybe see how it changes if they learn more about their daughter. One of the strengths of this book is how loving the parents are and the overall involvement of adults in the lives of children. Some of the adults are oppositional, some are helpful, some are supportive, but I love how many adults are shown in this series.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would recommend this book to anyone in the middle school age range that wants a good ghost story, to older folks who love middle-grade fantasy or just Victoria Schwab in general, and to folks who also miss traveling!