Note: I received a free unpublished proof of this book, for a limited time, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.
*While I think this book is overall appropriate for most readers, as it does not contain pornographic, gory, or otherwise NSFW content, it does contain themes of violence, murder, blood, torture, and suicide, so I would recommend it for readers 16 and older.*
This book was pretty short—I believe it is novella-length, or a very short novel; not sure about word count so I can’t be certain—so I am not going to say too much about what happens since it is relatively straightforward.
Firstly, I guess I should mention that I am a bit biased up-front with this book, in that it is a very Croatian-inspired book by a Croatian author; something I’ve always wanted to read. I am not myself Croatian; I am American, and I am not terribly knowledgeable about the history or culture. I have always been curious to read about Croatia since my two of my great-great-grandparents were Croatian. Hence, it was always one of those Far-Away Places that people in my dad’s family would mention every so often, that my generation doesn’t know an awful lot about and that American education doesn’t really mention outside of the context of “Yugoslavia was a Thing once”.
That said, while I’m willing to be a little more forgiving to things when they are one of the few examples of something I like, I am also way, way harder on things that I wanted to like, or had high expectations of, than things I wasn’t terribly interested in or didn’t expect much of at all. As in, I am not going to be terribly disappointed in a bad book about baseball since I don’t care about baseball, but I will be disappointed in a bad book about something like Croatia in which I have some, however small, personal investment. There are also things that don’t particularly interest me, such as World War II books, that I nevertheless believe should be Good and have some level of Integrity in their construction.
Fortunately, I felt this book did pretty much everything it needed to do. The main character is similar to a lot of characters in fantasy, but still comes across as interesting. You don’t know what is going to happen to her or what she will do next. If you are a fan of “young royal woman takes back her kingdom” stories, you will enjoy this. While the book isn’t marketed as YA or New Adult, I believe the main character is around 18–19 years old, so I think it would be of interest to readers of those genres. The side characters are not super developed, but they are interesting and don’t just feel like the same typical tropes common in the genre.
The worldbuilding is remarkable for a short book, and while I think it may be related to the author’s other book, *Dark Woods, Deep Water*, it stands alone as its own story. The author takes a lot of inspiration from Slavic mythology, and while we don’t know much about how Slavic polytheistic religion was practiced since the Slavs didn’t have writing until they became Christian and did not preserve all of their oral history, Dunato takes a nice middle-road approach in which she does not attempt to recreate history exactly, but doesn’t make a bunch of stuff up out of whole cloth either. While the fantasy elements are largely Slavic, the storyline is heavily inspired by the Italian Renaissance, which makes sense due to Italy’s influence on Croatia due to geographical proximity and changes in rulership over time. As for setting, while the city in the book is fictitious, it is somewhat of a city-state and has walls. Due to the walls, it seems to me to be at least partly inspired by cities like Split and Dubrovnik.
Putting it all together, the somewhat-common plot with unique characters and worldbuilding work together to create something that really stands out in the genre. There is a bit of romance that might appeal to fans of “romantasy” which often centres around young, princess-y women taking back their kingdoms, but it is not graphic, NSFW, or “spicy”. The romance is also not the central plotline. The story overall has a very fairy-tale/folklore type of feel to it, but I don’t believe any particular story is being retold; it is merely inspired by the tropes and structure of older stories. I will also add that, while I believe the story would probably be appropriate for most readers, it does have a dark edge to it, as seen in many classic stories, and does not approach things in a Disney-type way. (If you have any knowledge of Slavic literature, this will not surprise you.) While the story would be able to open to a sequel, it works fine as a standalone with closure, and I don’t feel that any loose ends were left unexplained.
Overall, I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh take on common fairy tale and fantasy tropes, taking place in a vaguely Slavic and Italian-inspired setting.

A very "meh" experience from me. Perhaps, if this was in a longer, novel format versus a novella, I would have had a more enjoyable experience. I really enjoyed the fairytale-esque plot of the story, but ultimately found it to be quite rushed. I found it hard to connect when things moved so quickly and didn't find myself invested in the characters and their arcs.

I loved this novella! It reads like a dark fairytale and I enjoyed it so much. I really enjoyed Dark Woods, Deep Water, so I was excited to read more in this world and I just love the way Jelena Dunato writes. Her descriptions are so vivid and visceral and beautiful, even when describing something horrific. Her ability to craft such a captivating story with so much character development and such a satisfying plot arc in such a short amount of time is a testament to her talent!

Compared to DWDW, this isn't nearly as dark and doesn't go so far into the horror realm. Readers should be aware there are descriptions of death, decay, torture, blood, and gore. Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

eARC Review: Ghost Apparent by Jelena Dunato 🌼

This was a wonderful novella that expands on the world Dunato wrote in her debut Dark Woods, Deep Water which I also had the incredible privilege of reading as an eARC! This dives into a character that’s briefly mentioned and seen in DWDW and I really enjoyed getting to know why this character holds such importance to that plot (even though I will admit I had to search my brain to remember this in the first place 😅). 💀

Orsiana in this novella is an 18 year old girl who finds herself the witness to a gruesome and horrendously personal crime. I really loved her character development in these short 100 pages and how she goes from a rather privileged princess to someone worthy of holding and controlling a calculating court. Her relationship with her father was quite sweet and makes me rather sad we only got so much of their dynamic in the novella. 🗡️

What really drew me in again to this world was its use of Slavic mythology, specifically the gods. I just love getting to see the different deities of ancient people from around the world, and the Slavic ones just seem so incredibly creepy and mysterious. I do wish we got just a smidge more of these deities in this novella, but probably for the best because really, I’d end up wanting a whole novel. ❤️

All in all, loved being back in a Slavic mythology influenced world set in an Adriatic like setting. Would definitely recommend reading this back to back with the debut just in case you have an issue like I did. Big thank you goes out to Ghost Orchid Press and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review, and to the author, Dunato, for writing a wonderful novella! 🥰

Publication date: September 24!

Overall: 4.5/5 ⭐️

Title: Ghost Apparent
Author: Jelena Dunato
Genre: Dark Fantasy & Mythology
Rating: 4 stars
Pub Date: September 24, 2024

📖 S Y N O P S I S 📖
When her father is killed in a bloody coup and her uncle seizes the city, Orsiana pleads for help with the only power still willing to listen, unaware that the gods will use her as a pawn in their own game.

Thrown back on the streets of Abia, armed with the gods’ double-edged gifts, Orsiana must thwart her uncle’s plans and learn what it takes to rule a proud, stubborn city that thrives on artifice and wit. She will plot, fight and use lethally tuned verse to stir a rebellion. But just when her uncle’s Machiavellian schemes start to topple, a new player will enter the game, and the gods will raise the stakes. It’s easy to fight an enemy you hate, but how about an enemy you fall in love with? If she wants to win, Orsiana will have to risk the last precious thing in her possession: her heart.

💭 T H O U G H T S 💭
I have not read anything by this author before, but people have told me that this is a prequel novella to Dark Woods, Deep Water, which I will be reading. The world-building was so easy to understand and the plot was so action-packed that it kept me intrigued...and wanting more. The main character was likeable and it did not feel like the situations she was placed in were too easy or too hard to solve. The ending was bittersweet and I'm hoping it sets up for the full-length novel.

⚠️CONTENT • WARNINGS⚠️
• violence
• murder
• blood
• torture
• suicide

Thank you to NetGalley and Ghost Orchid Press for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion.

NetGalley note: This is labeled as horror, but I would say it does not have any true horror elements and is more so a dark fantasy.

A riveting political fantasy tinged with fairy tale and horror

In this short book are worlds. From its opening languor to the immediate horror, with its plucky heroine and the touch of gods, and a romance to boot, this feels like something old made new, of a fairy tale that we once knew and just now unearthed again. The best stories start late and finish early, and this book follows that formula, bearing in its short length more than enough to make you return and return again. With more than a nod to the Little Mermaid, Aschenputtel and Donkeyskin, the central character of Orsiana will grab your heart and make you ache for her to win; but like the best fairy tales, victory comes at a cost, and the loss of innocence.

A brave, wonderful fairy tale: four and a half stars, rounded up to five.

I'm not sure what I expected?? Like the blurb was good so I picked it up and it was so good like what ?? I usually don't read books with less than 200 pages because uhm how will you fit a good story in such a slim book but damn! I stand corrected. This was full of suspense and emotions and even if it was very short the world felt very detailed and complex nonetheless. Orsiana is a great character and grows with her hardships. I thoroughly enjoyed this! I think Im going to have to reread it to understand every detail but nevermind that, this is a great book!

Ghost Apparent tells the story of a young princess, Orsiana who, after her father is assassinated by her uncle, sets about reclaiming her birthright to become the leader of the city state of Abias.

With help from the gods, she sets about a complicated plan to bring her uncle to justice and also win the hearts of the people. However, she soon finds that the task before her is an arduous one and that the attention of the gods is something that can prove as challenging as her tasks.

Ghost Apparent is a mixed bag of a book for me. There is some interesting stuff in the book. Orsiana is a likeable heroine (I am not sure that this may be politically correct, but I want to celebrate the femininity of the protagonist) who struggles against adversity to regain her birthright.
I liked the fact that Orisana is a feminine character and the differences of a woman as the main character were built upon rather than her being a man in woman form. She’s strong, she’s ruthless at times but ultimately she uses the different strengths a feminine character can bring (please don’t think that I believe that a woman can’t fight as well as men do or be just as strong because that is not the case,it just sometimes is nice to see other aspects of femininity being employed such as brains rather than brawn, and see strength in other ways).
The inclusion of Slavic mythology is also interesting and brings something else to the table rather than the usual inclusion of mythologies.

Now some of the things that didn’t work for me is the use of the present tense. I found that hampered the immersiveness of the storytelling. It kind of kept me at arms length rather than feeling I was part of the story.
In addition, I was not overly enamoured of the final act. I thought it fell into something that was not particularly dynamic.

However, there is something that I did like about Jeleta Dunato’s writing and I would definitely read some more of her works.

This review is posted on Goodreads. Posted on august 15th 2024.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

The author knows how to craft a well writen and lush, full of lore story. Seeing how many thing the summary promised I was affraid it would be a little to much but I was mistaking a lot.
This story unfolded through the pages so well and in a flowy way that made not want to stop and always turn the next pages.
In addition to that, the author has an incredible way to write, I highlighted so many quotes just because I found them beautiful.

This book is enchanting, but not as your everyday fairy tale. It will have you surprised when you think you have guess.
Orsiana is a character that evolves a lot during this story and I liked to read her story, I would even like to read maybe other stories with her (they would probably be heartbreaking though).
She's though, she's a girl in a world of men and understands that she can't relies on any of them, and that she's the only one her to help herself.
I liked to see her anger, her hope and her love. A love story between her and her city that I wasn't expecting but was one of my favorite part.
I would have loved to see her relationship with Divna more but I understand that this is a short story and it was enough.

The only thing I didn't really like was the gift she got from the second god, it felt a little to easy for me. But I liked the idea of an encounter with a God per chapter. It made it even more look like a fairy tale, a dark one with a bitter sweet ending(that made me like it even more), but a fairy tale still.

I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

I have to start this review by saying that I don't think novellas are the story format for me. I though they could have been, but this story proved it wasn't the case.

This story follows Orsiana, whose father is brutally murdered in front of her. Then she is sent to Seragian slavers. However on the way she falls into the ocean and she prays for the gods to save her. There is a little bit a little mermaid moment where she loses her voice and then she is returned back to the city, unable to tell anyone who killed her father and how she survived. And did I mention that her father was the ruler of the region and she is now his only heir? A lot of things follow when she tries to take back her rightful place. More gods, more wishes.

The biggest problem for me personally was that not everything that happened in the story was given as much attention. For many parts, I would have loved to hear more, see more, but then we just moved on. I know that this wasn't a full novel, and i think in this case this is very much a me problem, but this style just didn't work for me. There was a hint of romance but for the most parts, Orsiana just did stuff and then other stuff happened. I found it hard to see the emotions and the feelings behind the words. I think the story was wonderful, but at the same time, it wasn't given enough time to be everything it could have been. Now there just was a lot of stuff happening and way too fast.

3 stars, wasn't for me, but others might like this one.

I was first drawn to this novel because of the cover. I'm always a sucker for medieval-type fantasy worlds, and this one delivered. The author portrays the setting very immersively, and the action begins within the first few pages when Orsiana's father is murdered in front of her eyes. Promptly disposed of by her uncle, she returns to reclaim the kingdom that is hers with the help of some tricky gods and goddesses whose words never quite mean what they should. The novella blends medieval folklore in with political upheaval with a satisfying end. Although this is a prequel, it works well as a standalone.
Narration: Present tense
Spice level: 1/5

"'You are nowhere at the moment,' he tells her in the cold precise voice of a master addressing a disobeying servant. 'Neither safe nor abducted, neither dead nor alive. Your destiny is undecided and it depends entirely on what you do next.'"

This was fun! It was kind of a "cookie cutter" story for me: it didn't have anything where I went "WOW! This is wholly unique, innovative, crazy!!" but it also was just well written.

All the characters were likable and had arcs ranging from "yep that did its job" to "huh, that was actually good!" I liked the fact that Orsiana, a rich noble girl, had no planning or critical thinking skills because she's never had to think about things like, well, overthrowing a coup before! She had to adapt, she wasn't perfect, and she didn't make perfect requests to each of the gods either, and that was a major appeal for me!

Another thank God moment for me was the romance- it wasn't a major component (like I feared), and it didn't distract from the plot and Orsiana's desire for control of her city.

I also think that this book tackled feminism in a really nice way that a) didn't bash you over the head with it, and b) didn't take itself too seriously (this is a short novella about assassination revenge after all). It had subtle misogyny as a topic, tackled it well, had grief and who gets to grieve and tackled it well, and it had just women being on equal standing with men and tackled it well! Kudos to Miss Dunato there.

One topic that Ghost Apparent also tackled that I wasn't expecting was the tiniest bit of critique of true crime in there! In Chapter 2, Orsiana goes:

"...but the crowd hangs on the gory details, on the explicit violence. It's the blood they want, not the solemn mourning."

I interpreted this as a subtle reference to how true crime fanatics are only looking for the goriest, most gruesome, horrific crimes, and not letting the families grieve.

I'm very curious as to the Eastern Adriatic inspiration, as I felt like I was missing folklore references that would've helped me enjoy the story more.

For what I didn't like, for all that was in the book, it still felt very plateau-ish the entire book. I think part of that is because about half of the book is in the synopsis, and an event at literally the butt end of this book is included.

The ending was also incredibly underwhelming for what it's worth- I was expecting more and it felt very abrupt.

In short: it's a fun standard read!

— thanks to the publisher for the arc —

I must start this review by confessing that I had the wrong idea about the story : I thought that the main character, Orsania, was going to die and become a ghost, and then take her revenge as such. How did I have this idea? I don't know, probably mixed up multiple summary of books.
So, knowing this, here's the review :
I thought the situation was well presented in the first chapter, but it felt weird all along because of my own expectations and also because I wasn't ready to have gods in the middle of it. I was quite surprised at it.
The second and third chapters were really good. I really liked Orsania's development, and how she managed to reclaim her place, and how the people of Abia helped her in it.
I must say, really fast-paced story aren't my favorites, but this one was really good.

Thanks to netgalley for arc access!
3.5⭐️

This book was a fun, fast paced read. I knew going in it would be a short read but there was still a lot of action packed in the small page count. I liked the different challenges the main character had to overcome and enjoyed the resolution of the story.

I would recommend it!

first, some positives!
i enjoyed the setup for this book, i think the author did well with giving us place locations and a bit of their mythology without over doing it and bombarding the reader with it. it was also nice to read about orsiana and, i think, with a bit more development she would have been a very interesting character.

i enjoyed the first half of this book but i feel like it's main pitfall was that it was so underdeveloped due to its length. there is so much you can get into a novella and i think the amount of lore the author wanted to write warranted a longer novel - every scene should have had an impact but didn't because it didn't have a long enough development.

some way i think the book could have been better is if the plot and characters had more growth though, out of both, i’d say the plot was better because orsiana did feel a bit hollow. the mental struggle she went through throughout the book (especially towards the man who betrayed her and her country) felt rushed and should have had a stronger impact. additionally, her love for mareo was too random. she seemed to have no love for him, then straight away he head over heels.

all in all i think this was a decent book but it could have been much better as a novel instead of a novella.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Ghost Apparent by Jelena Dunato is a third person-POV fantasy novella with Adriatic deities and courtly politics. Orsiana is the only child of the Gospodar of the city of Abia and has recently reached the age of eighteen. On her father’s birthday, Orsiana and her aging father head over to the home of Caril, Orsiana’s uncle, only for him to kill her father and plan to sell Orsiana into slavery. Instead of accepting that fate, she jumps into the sea and learns she’s part of a much larger plot put in place by the gods.

I am not super familiar with Adriatic, Baltic, or Slavic deities so I did end up looking them up after reading to learn more about them. Dunato revisits the Goddess of Death, Morana, but also introduces readers new to these mythologies to Korab, Lada, and Veles. Each god has a different role that they want Orsiana to play but are all working within the tapestry set in motion that has less to do with Orsiana and more to do with the future of her country. Orsiana is basically a pinball in their plans going exactly where they want and she has little say, but she does what she can to get some kind of power in the situation and to make her own decisions.

When Orsiana chooses drowning over slavery, Korab saves her while Veles disguises her, providing her a way to sneak around Caril’s new home and learn his plans and about other people. A poet who had previously been sweet on her didn’t realize she was disguised and his words make her realize he didn’t actually see her but saw his idea of her. It drops the veil of romanticization and exposes that pretty words don’t necessarily mean genuine affection.

One thing I thought was really cool was how Orsiana’s father celebrated his daughter’s education. Early in the novella, he tells her that a book she read is inappropriate for her age and that she will enjoy it, which is a bit of a wink to the readers who read books that many would say are not appropriate but their parents realized said readers were mature enough to handle the material.

I would recommend this to readers looking for books featuring Adriatic folklore, fans of courtly politics in their fantasy, and those looking for a short, fairly grounded fantasy that focuses on the relationships between gods and mortals.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

really enjoyable read, i'm not usually one who reads too much on the darker side of fantasy, but i was really impressed! the imagery was SO immersive, dunato has such a talent for making the description so detailed you can vividly picture the scene.

the incorporation of slavic mythology was also really well written, i'm not far educated on slavic mythology (going into it i couldn't have named a single god) but i thought the representation was extremely interesting and well written!

and lastly i would like to say that the world building and character development throughout was extremely impressive, especially for such a short book! a really worth while read that i recommend :)

Oh, this book is bittersweet chocolate. A complex and intricate political fantasy, triumphant and cunning and a little bit cruel. I had no expectations going in, so opening it up to watch a revolution grow from seed to tree was a revelation.

The character growth was quick but very realistic, the situation at hand forcing the main character to grow up rapidly under extreme stress. Watching Orsiana grow from naive to canny and competent was unspeakably satisfying.

Highly recommend any fans of GoT or ACOTAR give this one a shot. It’s a fast read but you'll still be thinking about it a week later.

One of my favorite ARCs I have gotten. The cover drew me in and the book itself is pretty good, I liked it a lot.

First time reading Jelena Dunato's prose and I really enjoyed it. Also first time reading Slavic folclore, Nom un hooked and want to continue reading her other work.
I enjoy a lot this book, but for me it was too short and too rushed. I feel it has a lot of potential to be a longer novel (300-500) pages where the author could have developed her characters a bit more. The world building was also ok. I knew where the characters were but because it was so short I feel I needed more descriptions to be able to fully enjoy the novel.