Ghost World
#3944.14 adjusted 4.01 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Complete 1987–2017 Reading commitment Medium Susan Price Last reviewed 2026-10-23
Overview
Susan Price's Ghost World books are original fairy tales built from elements of Russian history and Russian folklore, set in a dark, frozen Czardom of slaves and the Imperial Court, of witches, ghosts and shape-changers, told in a storyteller's voice. In The Ghost Drum a night-walking witch carries off a slave woman's newborn daughter in her house on chicken legs and raises her as Chingis, a shaman who can follow the dead to their world and use the shamanic ghost drum, while the Czar imprisons his own son, Safa, at the top of the palace's tallest tower; their struggle for freedom against the Czar and the bear-shaman Kuzma leads through the Ghost World into the Land of the Dead. The first book won the 1987 Carnegie Medal.
Mythic fantasy, Dark fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
Ghost World Susan Price
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Ghost Drum | 1987 | 1 | core | 4.08 (227 ratings) |
 | Ghost Song; ISBN recorded is the first American edition (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992); first published by Faber in 1992. | 1992 | 2 | core | 4.33 (36 ratings) |
 | Ghost Dance; ISBN recorded is the first American edition (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); first published by Faber in 1994. | 1994 | 3 | core | 4.30 (23 ratings) |
 | Ghost Spell; Listed as the fourth Ghost World book in the author's bibliography. ISBN recorded is the author's own paperback edition of January 2023. | 2017 | N/A | core | 4.50 (6 ratings) |
Susan Price's fairy tales of a frozen Czardom of witches and shamans.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Ghost World? Ghost World's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for Ghost World? Publication order, starting with The Ghost Drum. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Ghost World finished? Complete (1987–2017).
- How much reading does Ghost World take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is Ghost World ranked? #394 in this site's official ranking, based on 292 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #394?
Ranked #394 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.14 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (292 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 4.08 to 4.50.
- Less than 0.01 behind #393, Chronicles of the Deryni (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 4 books · Complete · 292 ratings · Ranks #394 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length mythic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- The Ghost Drum (1987)
- Ghost Song (1992)
- Ghost Dance (1994)
- Ghost Spell (2017)
Documented internal/story order: 3 of 4 Core Canon books
- The Ghost Drum (1987)
- Ghost Song (1992)
- Ghost Dance (1994)
Internal chronology is documented for 3 of 4 Core Canon books; the remaining 1 are not yet mapped onto the same ordinal scale.
Awards (verified)
- Carnegie Medal, 1987: won: The Ghost Drum
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Suggestions computed from what Ghost World and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Legendborn Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.27
- The Old Kingdom Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.20
- El Ciclo de la Luna Roja Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.19
- Abarat Portal fantasy / Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Medium commitment · 4.14
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.14 across 292 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Ghost World (Susan Price) accepted 2026-10-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (The Ghost Drum) Tier 2
- Wikipedia (Susan Price) Tier 2
- Risingshadow (series listing) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-21
Rule: Core Canon = The Ghost Drum (1987), Ghost Song (1992), Ghost Dance (1994) and Ghost Spell (2017).