Review: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire (Ghost Roads #2)

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads #2)
Seanan McGuire
Published: July 17, 2018 (DAW)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Sparrow Hill Road.

For nigh on sixty years Rose Marshall has been “living” the urban legend life as “The Girl in the Green Silk Gown” or sometimes “The Phantom Prom Date,” maybe even “The Girl in the Diner.” Whatever incarnation she takes, Rose has had a long time to come to terms with her death and she’s content right where she’s at, helping travelers on their way across the country, or if not, then helping to lead them on to the next great adventure. Plus, now that her high school sweetheart Gary has joined her on the twilight roads, there’s very little she’s left wanting that a milkshake and a cheeseburger from the Last Dance Diner can’t cure.

Unfortunately for Rose, it appears that Bobby Cross, the one who drove her off the side of the road all those years ago, isn’t quite finished with her yet. He’s determined to get his hands on Rose, and no one wants to find out what his intentions are; seeing as how Bobby sold his soul for immortality, they can’t be anything good. But when Bobby ends up cutting off Rose’s only line of defense against him and sends her into the world of the living, she’ll be faced with the decision of finally getting the future she was denied, or trying to figure out a way back to the Ghost Roads.

Where Sparrow Hill Road felt like a lamentation for the life and the future Rose lost, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown goes in the opposite direction as her “death” life is the one that’s threatened. I kind of liked the juxtaposition of the two.

I was really excited when I learned that Seanan McGuire had more stories for Rose as I was completely sucked in to her life and death the first time around. I’ll admit this second book surprised me in terms of where the storyline went, but I loved feeling the vastness of the open road, that there’s still so much we have yet to learn about Rose’s world and the various beings she comes into contact with. And that Rose herself—despite being alive for sixteen years, and dead for around sixty—has missed out on so many experiences for obvious reasons. I really liked seeing her trying to come to terms with her own potential mortality and the vulnerability that sparks.

I was a smidgeon disappointed with the way Rose’s sweetheart Gary was dealt with. For anyone who’s read the first book, you’ll remember that when Gary passed in the real world, he was able to bring himself back as Rose’s muscle car in the twilight. A completely interesting twist to their relationship. Through various magics, we do get a human-form Gary in Silk Gown, but I wanted a little more to be settled between him and Rose since the struggle for them to be together went on for literal decades. Fingers crossed these are things that will develop over time.

Despite Bobby Cross being the catalyst for all of Rose’s problems—both in life and in death—he still doesn’t detract from the fact that this is Rose’s story first and foremost. Where I felt Sparrow Hill Road ended on a more final note (probably in case a sequel never happened), I feel like Silk Gown makes no mistake that things between Bobby and Rose are far from finished.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait so long for the next book, but I guess time has no meaning to The Girl in the Green Silk Gown so she’ll get to it when she’s good and ready.

Sexual content: references to sex