Spirit Hunters #2: The Island of Monsters

Written by Ellen Oh

Narrated by Amielynn Abellera

The thrilling sequel to the Texas Bluebonnet Award-nominated Spirit Hunters!

We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh delivers the next haunting tale in her acclaimed middle grade series Spirit Hunters, a mix of captivating mystery and chilling ghost story.

The perfect spooky listen for Halloween, this pulse-pounding adventure will leave you shocked at every twist.

Harper Raine faces new challenges ahead when her parents take the whole family to a remote tropical island for vacation. As Harper starts to have visions of the resort’s history of disappearances and discovers more about the island’s dark and fabled past, she must use her newly acquired spirit hunting talents to save everyone on the island from murderous spirits on the attack.

An exciting and spooky middle grade series, perfect for Halloween.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062978011

Ellen Oh

Ellen Oh is the cofounder of We Need Diverse Books and author of the award-winning Spirit Hunters series for middle grade readers and the Prophecy trilogy (Prophecy, Warrior, and King) for young adults. Originally from New York City, Ellen is a former adjunct college instructor and lawyer with an insatiable curiosity for ancient Asian history. Ellen lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband and three children and has yet to satisfy her quest for a decent bagel. You can visit her online at ellenoh.com.

Reviews for Spirit Hunters #2

[Dawn Turner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook: don't like the narrator, but listened as I liked the stories.

[Ayu Zaid · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

it was great adventure & spooky book . i really enjoyed it .

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Harper goes with her family to a very haunted Caribbean island and must break a curse. I found this more gory than the first one and slightly less creepy. However, the sacrificial deaths on the haunted island are pretty dang terrifying. Glad to have the gang all back together and working on a new adventure. Love the continuing exploration of Korean Shamanic powers.

[milliehennessy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I hate to say it, but I was disappointed by this sequel. It lacked the emotional depth of the first book, which dealt with Harper's mental health, her family relationships, and the possession of a young child by evil ghosts. Now that Harper and company have overcome those challenges, this story felt pale in comparison.

There is one "emotional" scene at the start of the book. But it happened before I could really get my footing and honestly had almost no impact. I think that event would have been better saved for halfway through or even the end of the book.

Without the character development, what's left is a solid ghost-hunting mystert. Harper builds up her Scooby gang, as she figures out the grim and grisly past of the island her family is vacationing on and moves to stop it. I guessed the "villain" as soon as it was clear there was one, though I wasn't trying to. Those of you who actively think about what's happening in a mystery will probably figure it all out immediately.

There is quite a bit of gore mentioned, so be aware if that's something you'd like your middle-grade reader to avoid. There's also a ton of infodumping too. Harper is privy to visions from the past and they're basically all big chunks of exposition. Some of the same information was repeated several times, which was tedious. The ending also felt like a big, convenient rush to wrap everything up in a neat bow.

I think there will be more in this series, and I'll certainly keep reading, but I've adjusted it expectations. I'm on board for a growing gang of kids becoming spirit hunters and solving ghost mysteries, I just won't expect any more of the depth the first book had.

To end on a really positive note, the cover art is still gorgeous and I can't wait to see more of it.