Corazon Lopez possessed a rare and secret power, the kind that could make a river shrivel into a puddle or trap a tornado in a jar. She could climb the stars like a staircase and pull down clouds for her pillows. The only problem was that this secret power was apparently just so humongous and so hard to handle that it remained a secret . . . even from Corazon.

The Spirit Glass, p. 5

Synopsis

Every Saturday, Corazon Lopez’s parents visit as ghosts. Corazon spends the rest of the week in her Aunt Tina’s magical house, waiting to begin babaylan training. When Corazon becomes a fully fledged babaylan, she’ll finally be able to bring her parents back for real, instead of relying on a soul key for a few precious hours every week.

But Corazon’s key is more powerful than she realized. When it is stolen by a ghost, the balance between the spirit and mundane worlds is thrown off. Corazon and her gecko anito, Saso, must venture into the spirit realms to lay the ghost to rest and make a new spirit key. Along the way they meet Leo, a literal ghost writer. Will the three of them be able to save the spirit realms from collapsing into chaos?

Review

Chokshi’s Aru Shah series is one of my favorite fantasy epics, so I was excited to pick up The Spirit Glass, which revolves around Filipino mythology. Like the Aru Shah books, The Spirit Glass is a page-turner with plenty of comic relief and a truly loveable (but also terrifying) talking animal friend. But this book contains an aching wisdom that sets it apart from Aru Shah. The Spirit Glass understands death: its pain, its necessity, its tragedy. It doesn’t shy away from the hard truths, and packs a punch that I didn’t expect. I know it’s cliché, but this is truly a “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry” book. Aside from that, I reveled in every moment I spent in the Filipino spirit realms, and I hope you will too!