Linghun is a book about ghosts but rather than rely on the same old familiar tropes we've become accustomed to in this genre, Ai Jiang goes a different route. And this makes the book fresh, original, and unique.
Based in a small city named Home, we learn early that this city has some very special qualities. Namely, if you own a house there you'll be able to communicate with the spirits of your deceased loved ones. You'll get to speak to them, spend time with them, have meals with them as if they've never died in the first place.
There are rules to living here though. The spirits aren't allowed to leave the houses their living loved ones inhabit. And you don't invite non family members inside, lest they use some of that "power" for their own spirits.
The town of Home is stuck in the past. It's as if the passage of time has left it to its own decay. Technology is scarce, the local school is something straight out of the past, and time seems to be stuck a perpetual loop of sameness.
But because this book deals with the grief of losing someone close to you, the town acts as the physical representation of that grief. As we've all experienced, grief can seem to stop time. The rest of the world keeps moving forward even as we stay still dealing with our sorrow and not wanting to move past it.
There are people in this town called "lingerers", who actually live in the yards and streets of Home as they all await someone to move out of one of the houses so they can claim it and finally be able to spend time with their dead loved ones.
But in order to claim one of these houses, they will have to win an "auction" event. And these events are bloody and brutal affairs where only the most cunning or physically able people will survive to be declared the winner. It's everyone for themselves and it shows how far people will go to deal with their grief.
This book has several characters and families and we'll learn about their circumstances and how they deal with living in such a strange city. And it's these characters that make this such a sad emotional read. Some were forced to move there, some may never get over their grief, and some have given up on not only ever seeing the spirits but on life itself.
Linghun is a very effective, creepy, and sad exploration of death and grief. It's written with such a keen eye on those themes and it truly packs an emotional punch. It's a shorter book and can probably be read in a day or two but it'll stay with you once you're finished because it's about subjects we can all relate to in one way or another.
You can pick up your copy of Linghun at this link.
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Dave from Horror Reads
