Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A boy’s parents die in mysterious circumstances. He witnessed their deaths, and his body bears a mark from that experience. He now lives with his aunt. Mysterious things keep happening to him, however, and one day, he finds out that he has supernatural powers, but that an evil being is set on destroying him. He is enrolled at a secret school for other children like himself, where they are “sorted” into four groups, each represented by a color: red, yellow, green, and blue. He struggles to master his skills, but this is made harder by the voices in his head from his pursuer. Two other students, however, a boy and a girl, offer support and friendship, and a man with a long white beard becomes his mentor. The boy finds a way to render himself invisible and listen in on conversations. One of the school’s key celebrations is at Halloween, when trays of treats float through the dining hall; the boy and his friends also get hand-knit sweaters as gifts for the winter holidays. There are school ghosts; the school’s staircases “spiral sideways” and a large willow tree is on the grounds. They read books with quirky titles like Summon Souls and Impress Your Friends!
Oh, and the protagonist is queer, developing a crush on another boy at the school.
Gallowgate is clearly based on the series by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (Scholastic, its publisher, is also the U.S. publisher for the earlier series), but veers from it in important ways, and not just in its queer protagonist. The magic system here isn’t a generalized magic, but one specifically focused on hunting and controlling the spirits of the dead, who are organized into an elaborate taxonomy. The four groups of students aren’t based on personality traits, but on skill types/disciplines, and instead of always being in competition with the other groups, are trained to work together in complementary teams. This book is also darker, with a more goth aesthetic, and without the whimsy and wordplay of its predecessor—that’s not a judgment, just an observation, as different readers will value different approaches. The characters also don’t map exactly onto the characters and personalities of the earlier series, and the specifics of the plot are different, with some nice twists.
The protagonist, rising sixth-grader Sebastian, is initially more of a loner than Harry Potter and more hesitant to make friends, although his doing so forms part of the story arc. He also develops a crush on another boy at the school. Despite some similar circumstances to Harry, he is his own person.
While the resolution is satisfying, there’s a clear setup for a sequel, and I hope the series continues to stretch itself away from the hovering spirit of its model. The imaginative possibilities here are strong enough to stand on their own.
Sebastian and his family are presumed White; secondary characters have a variety of racial/ethnic identities.
