Hi, I lost the eARC of this book so I won't be able to review this book. I hope you understand. I really wanted to read it but unfortunately my phone got formatted and I lost the copy.

Wow. So I absolutely LOVED this book!! It is such a fun, fascinating concept. Basically Jurassic Park but with ghosts. But it also has some elements of The Shining? I love all of those things so I was 1000% on board with this from the get go. But then the wonderful writing just made this even more impressive.

I deeply enjoyed just how well this was written and how much effort went into creating this story. Creating the park itself but also coming up with the technology behind it was probably no easy feat but I was so impressed by all of it!! And I honestly wish this park existed. (Well, not this park ~exactly because not really interested in dying there, haha. But something similar.) I think an assembly of very haunted buildings with some rides and even some holograms for ~backstory with the opportunity that ~maybe you'll see a ghost would be FANTASTIC. Can someone make that happen please? I know there are others like me who would love that!

*ahem* Anyway. I really enjoyed all of the different elements of this story. Because there wasn't just the park. There were the ghosts themselves as well. I really loved all of the footnotes throughout with more information about the ghosts and the haunted locations (though my only issue with this story was that sometimes the footnote contained the exact same information you would immediately read after it in the story. So I just wish there hadn't been quite so much overlap there?) But I really enjoyed the mixture of real ghosts and haunted objects with the ones created for this story.

And I can't even express how much I loved the story itself. Ben and Lil are amazing and I loved following them on this adventure. I love the writing style of this book and how it just sucked me in from the get go, fascinated and wanting to know more about this world, and didn't let me go until I finished the book. And I can't tell you how happy it makes me that there will be more books in this universe. Because I am so not ready to be done with Ghostland and I can't wait to read more!

If you're looking for a good spooky read for the season, I highly recommend this one!! It is such a fun time. I didn't want it to end!

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Work Publishing for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review!

i always enjoy theme parks gone wrong, I really enjoyed reading this book. It reminded me of another book that I really enjoyed.

What a clever and unique read- this book was both creepy and creative. I saw at the end of the book that the author said he was thinking of building a "Jurassic Park for ghosts" and I thought that was very fitting. The story centers on 18 year old Ben, a horror movie/game fanatic who had a near-death experience 4 years ago- the Ghostland theme park is opening after years of planning and he drags along his former best friend Lilian, as well as her therapist, Allison, to opening day. Ghostland is a theme park with holographic ghosts wandering around, which they claim are real ghosts with real energy.

As you can imagine, things don't go as planned and the ghosts get a little out of control. Ralston did a great job at creating an atmosphere that was both scary and very easy to picture. Ben, Lil, and Allison have to run for their lives, with a few others that they picked up along the way, to escape while outsmarting the ghosts.

The book comes with a ghost guide that is also really well done- I actually looked a few of them up to see if they came from real ghost stories, but looks like Ralston came up with all of those creative backstories on his own. The book moves at a very fast clip the whole way through with an ending that made sense and fit the story well

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would enthusiastically recommend it to fans of horror and ghost stories. I am going to track down some other books by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ghostland is a fun romp through a haunted theme park. As soon as the second part starts, though, it becomes a bloodbath. This was much akin to Jurassic Park or The Cabin the the Woods, and it was really amusing. It was also occasionally a bit immature, and it strongly relied on very graphic depictions. That’s not a problem for me, but it didn’t fully work. Therefore, I’m giving this one three stars because it clicked just enough to be fun, but wasn’t really something I’ll remember a few months from now.

I really enjoyed this book, and the story set in an amusement park filled with ghosts and haunted objects. I loved the cars in the haunted automotive area - the small Christine car, and the doll on the trike. Made me think back to Saw and of course Stephen King. The two MCs, Ben and Lilian, were also great young adults in a really bad situation.
1 like

When I got this book I was unsure about it because I thought it was 'just' a YA book, an easy going YA thriller that would have a few horror elements but be cheesy and fluffy.

Oh my god how wrong was I!?

It started off slow, the easy build up of the plot, the introduction of the characters, the interplay between them and the main plot flowed well until suddenly, all hell broke loose! it went from 20 to 100 real fucking quickly and I loved every minute of it!! I originally got this through NetGalley but very quickly listened to the audiobook and got it as a physical copy, I needed this in my life and needed it in as many formats as I could possibly get!

I absolutely loved the setting (maps always get me excited!), the fact that it was in a theme park dedicated to the 'horror' genre with different sections about different areas really drew me in, haunted vehicles, an asylum, a prison etc had me hooked. The onset of extreme violence was very well placed, it was at an unexpected yet crucial part of the story, it both shocked and moved the story on in a way that was comfortable yet horrific, it set the tone for the rest of the story and kept me on edge yet engaged throughout.

Absolutely LOVED this book, it is one I will go back to time and again and I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series! It better be a series! A duology would suit me fine but I absolutely definitely need more, it is so good!!!

*Huge thanks to Duncan Ralston, Victory NetGalley Editing Co-op and Shadow Work Publishing for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

Jurassic Park for ghosts with some 13 Ghosts thrown in for good measure. Ghosts have recently been discovered to be real so someone comes up with the idea to move all the most haunted buildings in the world into one location and create a theme park for them. Nothing could go wrong with that! An inventor has come up with a way to trap the ghosts and people can view them through special glasses. Don't pay much attention to the junk science because the author didn't either. Of course the ghosts take over the park leaving Ben, Lillian and some friends they meet along the way scrambling to escape the park before they are viciously murdered. Oh yeah, this is very bloody and graphic.

It's a cool concept. There were a lot of logic leaps and unclear story elements that brought this down for me though. The ending is also terrible. It's all built up for a final confrontation that I was quite enjoying when we flash to an epilogue. If this was a movie, I would have thought they ran out of money before they could film the ending. Major things happen between the ending and the epilogue and it's all left unexplained with just a setup for a sequel. That ending was ridiculously frustrating.

Wow!  What a ride!  What could be more fun than a theme park centered around haunted buildings and objects?  One that also features the actual spirits attached to them, of course!  And when a computer glitch allows the evil, revenge-seeking spirits to wander freely throughout the park to wreck havoc and reenact their own brutal demises on unsuspecting tourists, well, that's when all hell breaks loose.  Fair warning:  this is not for the squeamish.  I've read my share of splatterpunk and gore and even I was feeling a bit of ewwwww with a few scenes.    There were a couple of times I thought the story slowed down a bit, but overall this was a great introduction (for me) to Ralston's work........and after reading his end notes, could a sequel be in the future??  Thanks to NetGalley for sending me an ecopy for review.

This book needs to be longer! In the beginning Ben and Lil visit a theme park, with the main feature being ghosts. I loved the descriptions of the rides and how the writer immersed the reader in the experience of being in the park. Unfortunately, (you knew this was coming!) the ghosts break free and cause all sorts of mayhem. I would have loved more of a description of how the park was made, and the ghosts trapped there. Don't skip reading the footnotes about the park and the characters- the park manual may have been my favorite part. I'm hoping this is the first of many in this series.

“The most volatile waste energy is released when a person passes on. All of that waste energy-or dead energy, as we like to call it-has to go somewhere.”-Sara Jane Amblin, inventor.

That somewhere is Ghostland, a theme park utilizing augmented reality to connect visitors with orbs, revenants, poltergeists, elementals, possessors, doppelgängers, and tricksters. Just pop on the VR headset and you can view these various entities through some of the most appalling and abysmal exhibits-a prison, a mental hospital, a haunted mansion (original structures transported to the property, I might add)-that were functional at one point, and housed some of the most abhorrent and vile figures. There even more disgusting when they’re dead and virtually taunting park goers, but it’s all part of the thrill and chill, right?

The plot begins with a plausible backstory involving two reconciled teenagers, Ben and Lilian, who have their own undisclosed reasons for attending Ghostland on opening day. The relationship between the two is contrastingly charged-Lillian’s bullying and sarcasm accompanies Ben and his weakened. adolescence. The fun begins once the two pass through admissions, and Ralston uses every reference at his disposal to engage ebook readers, particularly the park map and ‘know your ghost’ exhibit index (my favorites were Stemroller and the Picasso monster). There’s nothing about this novel that’s cutting edge, per se, but years from now when digitalized books become more innovative and holographic, the ideas and creativity presented here might serve as a precursor as to what modern horror might offer.

The rest of the story, after a malfunction at the park’s control center sends the spirits on a spectral rampage, is strewn with with some captivatingly strange philosophy. Do ghosts, or non-corporal beings for the politically correct, have rights? Should they be subjected to ridicule and enslavement for amusement?

Ghostland is a brilliant premise. A theme park built using actual haunted houses transported from around the country.
Technology has been an invented that can build an avatar around 'dead energy' ie ghosts, so they can be seen and heard using headsets on offer at Ghostland.
But what happens when the ghosts break out of their confinements?

Ghostland is labeled an interactive book, for each ghost or exhibit the characters encounter in the book you can choose to click to a paragraph long backstory and then jump back to the page you were reading. Its down to you whether you want to take this in during the plot or read about them afterward.
In the beginning I was jumping back and forth but when the tension was high I chose not to slow it down and instead learned more about those ghosts at the end.
I thought this a great idea, like having the choice whether to watch deleted scenes during a movie.

Okay MC Lilian has suffered a trauma, but she's become your typical arrogant teen in the years to follow and has the shrugging attitude you'd expect of a younger person. I found her mostly unlikeable compared to her counterpart in this story, Ben although she does get some decent development.

Perhaps it's because he was abandoned by his peers, had a rougher time of it that Lilian, or maybe because he just tries so hard but I though Ben was endearing. He was definitely the redeeming character in Ghostland.

Dr Allison Wexler was a smug cow and I was quickly irritated by her 'arching her eyebrow' twice every page but thankfully Ralston dropped that after a while. Worth a mention also was Stan the retired detective who brought some light hearted relief from the terror!

Ghostland is both fun and absolutely brutal. Two nerds encounter a glorious mixture of violence, gore and paranormal activity in a theme park full of friendly employees.
The pace is hectic yet Ralston is still descriptive enough to give the reader full visualisation at all times.
A wild ride, definitely worth a read.

This is such a fun book with nods to Jurassic Park and the Resident Evil games (well, the early ones I used to play). Ben and Lillian, friends who have grown apart since Ben's heart attack four years earlier at age 14, visit the newly opened Ghostland with Lillian's therapist. The theme park brings back the ghosts of murderers and psychopaths to give you the ultimate horror experience. In a matter of no time, the technology goes wrong and the killings start.
Duncan Ralston does not hold back in the gore and seems to take delight in sparing no one as the mayhem ensues. Well recommended and hopefully not the last book about Ghostland and the after-effects.

“The world doesn’t belong to us anymore. It’s theirs now. A world full of ghosts.”

Complete upfront confession: I loved this book.

That said, bad news first: as with the last Ralston novel I read, there were some obvious editorial oversights which took away slightly from the read. And I’m still trying to figure out if the author meant to call it a mazel tov cocktail as some sort of humorous pop culture reference that I’ve missed, or if he really doesn’t know it’s actually Molotov cocktail. Hmmm.

But, those things aside, this book was one giant rollercoaster ride of horror, gore, mystery, and teen angst. The very premise makes my eyes light up: a theme park devoted to ghosts and hauntings. What horror lover wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to visit?

Ghostland gathers together a multitude of haunted places in one spot, places like Garrote House, Bright Falls Sanitarium, Fontaine County Correctional, and many others. The hauntings are put on display through “Recurrence Field” technology, which traps dead energy and amplifies it, making ghosts visible through fancy AR headsets.

Lilian and Ben are there for Opening Day, along with a cast of supporting characters, and boy do they all get more than they bargained for. Three hundred undead baddies brought together in one place? Of course all hell breaks loose. Our heroes must make their way through a series of terrifying locations facing down evil ghosts, sentient holograms, friends who may not be quite so friendly, and their own feelings for each other, while trying to make it to an escape hatch that may or may not actually exist.

The scenes in the Mirror Maze gave me a definite sense of claustrophobia and the ghosts of Emma Lou Amesbury (aka Sister Serpent) and Dr. Hammersmith (aka Dr. Death) had their creep factor turned up to eleven.

Bonus points for this book for:
1) We get a map. Of Ghostland. I’m a sucker for maps.
2) The novel comes complete with a copy of KNOW YOUR GHOSTS: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to GHOSTLAND, which I must admit I read first before delving into the story and loved it.
3) Ben proclaims he likes the miniseries of The Shining as it stays truer to the book (me too, Ben, ME TOO)
4) Has Stephen King misplaced a blue chambray shirt? It’s here, in Ghostland.

The book was scary. The action kept coming. The story managed to somehow be disgusting and frightening and FUN all at the same time. It was sort of like an adult version of a Goosebumps book, and I mean that in the most perfect way possible. Would I recommend this book? Yes. Will I be anxiously awaiting the sequel (rumored to be out possibly as early as this summer)? Absolutely. Should you get your hands on a copy and read it as soon as possible? Duh.

I was given a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review was posted to NetGalley, GoodReads, Amazon, Instagram, and my personal blog.

I really liked this book. Ghosts and VR is a concept you don't really see much and this was delightful! I loved the feel and the setting of the book. It was a well executed horror thrill ride! (pun intended). It felt like a late 90s horror movie (in a good way) and I enjoyed it cover to cover.

I really loved this book! Although the main characters are YA, this is by no means for a YA audience. The premise is very original. A haunted theme park! Ben and Lilian used to be best friends, until Ben almost died. Because of this, Lilian has PTSD and started seeing a therapist. Ben really wants to go opening day to Ghostland and invites Lilian who reluctantly goes, along with her therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler. Ghostland is advertised as safe and you can only interact with the ghosts via special glasses. However, there are some bugs in the system that weren't worked out before opening day.
There are descriptions of the ghosts at the end of the book and you can look them up throughout your read. If you are an avid fan of killers, you may know some of them. I certainly did.
I would recommend this to those who like a good horror novel!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you are looking for a fun, creepy, atmospheric romp through an amusement park full of ghosts, this is the book for you! This story was so much fun! Quite far-fetched but completely enjoyable, I really felt like I was right beside the characters in Ghostland on their adventures.

I highly recommend this story!

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley and Shadow Work Publishing to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like Ghostland; the concept is interesting and you can bet your last penny that I'd have been one of the first people to enter the park, all possible consequences be damned.
But, like my old music teacher used to tell me, "unfortunately 'want to' does not always equate 'can do'".

Ghostland is this... amusement park? Park-aimed-at-making-money-for-its-owners-all-risks-be-damned.
A scientist has discovered a way to not only make ghosts "come alive" (pardon the poor choice of words), but also to retain them in confined spaces - i.e. the places they originally haunt - this latter part supposedly making it safe for visitors. To be able to see the ghosts, you're required to wear Augumented Reality-glasses.
All this sounds good, and is what made me want to read Ghostland. However...
Ralston said in the afterword of the novel that he was inspired by Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, and you can tell. The difference, to Ghostland's detriment, is that the science in Jurassic Park is made believable, and that is not the case here. We're given some sort of explanation, but wether it's because of my lack of imagination or because the explanation is lacking in details, realistic or at least plausible sounding, it's not sufficient.
Even in cases of fiction, if the fiction relies this heavily on sounding credible, it actually *has to* sound credible!

Keeping with the thread of credibility: the characters.
Not only did I not find any of the characters aside from Ben, one of the MCs, likeable, but I found literally none of them believable and some of them too stereotypical [Niko and Leonard being ex-marines and aaaall masculinity.].
Ben suffers a heart attack while seeing one of the future features of Ghostland roll past outside his window. He survives (there was no explanation regarding how or why he suffered a heart attack; did he have a weak heart from the start? Was there something paranormal about the heart attack?), and for some inexplicable reason this heart attack makes this house, the Garrote house, home of a famous horror novelist, into something of a monster in Ben's eyes. He obsesses about it. And I don't understand why. I feel like this would've needed further explanation.

Dr Wexler, the therapist of the other MC, Lilian, does not behave like any professional I've ever encountered or previously read about (unless the goal was to portray a lack of professionality): she blabs about things that should be protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, something that I hope to god is treated as very sacred by most doctors.
At one point during the visit to Ghostland she says that "this is exactly what I was worried about", in regards to the AR's effect on Lilian - which doesn't add up as she, dr Wexler, was the one to suggest going to Ghostland in the first place whereas Lilian was very reluctant to go.

I think it was a nifty idea to add footnotes about the ghosties and ghoulies, but I'm disappointed that very few of them [ghosties and ghoulies] were *actual* ghosts or haunted objects. There are some exceptions, like the Annabelle and Robert dolls, but other than that, they seemed to be made up. A shame; I'm sure there are plenty of bonafide haunted houses that the corporation behind Ghostland could've bought and brought to the park.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
“The first time Lilian Roth saw the haunted house it was floating down Main Street, and if she’d known the trouble it would cause them, she never would have pointed it out to her best friend.”
Ben and Lilian are going to the grand opening of Ghostland with Lilian’s therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler. Allison thinks the new theme park will help Lilian deal with her fear of death.
Ghostland is a state of the art amusement park with technology that allows guests to see actual ghosts and the violent acts they have committed. With the augmented reality glasses provided, ghosts can even interact with the guests. Things quickly go wrong and ghosts are attacking the visitors. Ben, Lilian, and Allison find themselves running for their lives trying to escape the park.
This is a fast paced, exciting, fun story. I wanted to go to Ghostland. I wanted it to be real. I want to be friends with Ben and Lilian. I didn’t want to read any more because I knew the book would end and I would be left wanting more. Luckily, the sequel is coming out later this year.
I would have given 5 stars but it was a little long. I may have not wanted it to end but I needed to find out what happened.

As the author puts it in the notes this is Jurassic Park but with ghosts. We follow two teenagers who've fallen apart into a theme park full of real ghosts. When setting a book in an environment like this it's easy for an author to lose you in the various places, but this one does a good job.

The ghosts within are vividly described and the man villian is set up well. The book does get lost a few times in getting away from the fun with some long explanations, but overall I think this is a fun read and well written.