Book Review: Through the Nethergate

I was eagerly awaiting this novel’s arrival since Cheadle announced it on her blog. Then, one day, I saw the announcement – it was on Amazon, and thus I could get it! So I went and bought it.

The Book

Through the Nethergate
Author: Roberta Eaton Cheadle
2019
Amazon Link

This novel was billed as a paranormal horror about a young girl – Margaret – who is flung into a horrifying experience with ghosts, monsters, and historical people. By the existence of Heaven and Hell as mentioned in the blurb, I expect there’s some Christian mythology involved, but that doesn’t bother me! Tally ho!

Non-Spoiler Review

Fantastically researched. Spooky as hell. I’ve never had to put a book down because I was too freaked out, but now I have. If you want to know more about some really horrible people and horrible circumstances, this book is full of them.

Something strange about this book that I rather enjoyed but which might not appeal to everyone was the piles of stories about the ghosts and “incarnates”. Many ghosts or groups of ghosts had a story behind them, and Cheadle put together a well-researched summary of their lives and why their souls were trapped on Earth or in Hell. In effect, this book often felt like a compilation of historical stories, but that was right up my alley. There was also not as much dialogue as you might expect in a novel, but a lot of it was tied into this historicity.

That’s not saying that the overall plot wasn’t good – it was definitely good – but it wove more like a thread into and between all these other stories. It held everything else together like a glue. The main premise – that ghosts gained bodies when they were around Margaret – was also a lot of fun. Margaret wasn’t overpowered, so the stress you feel at failures and difficulties was very worthwhile.

5/5 Discoball Snowcones

SPOILERS REVIEW

The main thing I’d like to talk about in the spoilers review is the role of Margaret. Though she was a main character who has things happen to her rather than drive the story on her own, and though I usually rip a book and take off a snowcone for it, Cheadle did a good job with it. Though Margaret was the focal point, other characters’ points of view were used well. The changing protagonists gave a good view of the overall problems and challenges, and it didn’t feel like Margaret had to be the main character. I thought it worked.

I was, however, a little confused why Lucifer became the main villain about halfway through. The ghost Hugh Bigod was a great villain, and I was into it. Though Lucifer was also a good villain and was definitely a more difficult foe, I wasn’t sure I liked that switch. It worked out, but my investment in Bigod’s story felt like it just kind of evaporated.

Still, that opened up to awful, awful (and spooky!) things like the story of Amelia Dyer. That was freaky stuff, and I’ll never forget that part.

Next week:

Next week, I’ll be reading the short story compilation, Ashes to Magic! It’s got a lot of Twitter-Famous people in it, so stay tuned!