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A year after the death of her older brother, Prue Haywood's family is still shattered by grief. But everything changes when a stranger arrives at the farm. A new, incredible technology has been discovered in the city of Medlock, where a secretive guild of inventors have developed a way to capture spirits of the dead in animal-like machines, bringing them back to life. Prue knows that the "Ghost Guild" might hold the key to bringing her brother back, so she seizes the stranger's offer to join as an apprentice. But to find her brother, she needs to find a way to get the ghost machines to remember the people they used to be. Yet if Prue succeeds, all of society could come apart...

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2019

30 people are currently reading
2,199 people want to read

About the author

Vashti Hardy

33books157followers
Vashti Hardy is a children’s book author who lives near Lancashire, England, with her husband and three teens. She has an honors teaching degree and an MA in creative writing from the University of Chichester.

Vashti Hardy est une auteure jeunesse. Elle a enseigné pendant de nombreuse années à l'école primaire. Après avoir quitté l'enseignement pour se consacrer davantage à l'écriture, elle devient conceptrice-rédactrice et cadre dans le marketing numérique. Elle est titulaire d'un M.A. en création littéraire de l'Université de Chichester. Elle compte également parmi les diplômés de la Golden Egg Academy, une école destinée aux auteurs de livres pour enfants et aide régulièrement les nouveaux élèves de l'institution. Vashti Hardy vit avec son mari et ses trois enfants près de Brighton dans le Sussex de l'Est.

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5 stars
352 (44%)
4 stars
292 (36%)
3 stars
129 (16%)
2 stars
17 (2%)
1 star
7 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
Profile Image for Jade Ratley.
307 reviews3,239 followers
May 17, 2020
I absolutely adored this! The story was so compelling and the writing was truly beautiful. This was the sort of book that felt like I was reading for 10 minutes and I had conquered 100 pages and time had flown, it really did suck me in!

This book scored very highly in Cawpile with an 8/10 overall making it a very high 4 star read for me! It didn't hit me hard enough in the feels to be a 5*, but that being said I really can't fault this. As my first Vashti Hardy read I am really pleased and can't wait to read more of her stuff!
Profile Image for Gavin Hetherington.
681 reviews8,920 followers
March 9, 2020
I can totally understand why this won the Blue Peter prize for Best Story!

An impossibly unique premise that explodes into the wonderful world of Medlock - a place where inventions are surpassing human imagination with the possibility of bringing the dead back to life as mechanical animals. Prue, our heroine, takes on her late brother's apprenticeship in the big city in the hopes of bringing him back to life.

From the opening chapters, Prue solidifies herself as a standout protagonist. She is driven, a bit of a rule-breaker, but always with family firmly in her heart. It's hard not to sympathise with her as her backstory develops throughout. She's on an adventure to reunite with her lost brother and I promise you, there will be moments where you will need to whip out a tissue or two.

Secondary characters are well developed in this chaotic city, and Prue makes some wonderful new friends despite having so many secrets to keep (such as the fact that she is masquerading as her dead brother). There is way more going on in Medlock that I don't want to spoil for you, but things can get creepy in this novel!

WildSpark is so beautifully written and has set Vashti Hardy firmly as an author I will always support. You will not want to put this one down, ever. Even when you finish it, you'll want to begin on page one again. I'm already looking forward to my eventual re-read.
Profile Image for Peter.
Author13 books326 followers
May 18, 2019
This Book is moorishly addictive. I picked it up just to read a couple of pages, because it was not at the top of my tbr pile, but immediately I was totally drawn in by the world and Prue’s adventure. I loved every moment!
Profile Image for Tanya.
95 reviews605 followers
June 16, 2020
3,7
This book was good, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd been a kid.

I would have preferred the characters to be more complicated than just she is talented and brave and that girl is annoying and haughty because she is rich.

Also, certain things seemed way too romanticized to me (the protagonist's relationship with her brother for example).

However, the plot was quite compelling and the story was easy and quick to read. All in all, I enjoyed it, but in the end, I was left unsatisfied because I wanted something a bit more complex and less romanticized.
Profile Image for Helen.
1,108 reviews29 followers
May 13, 2021
I enjoyed this book.
I liked the concept of the book.
Profile Image for Laura Noakes.
Author4 books48 followers
May 5, 2019
Wildspark blew me away, Vashti Hardy is a story magician. This was utterly inventive, full of friendship and love, and not afraid to shy away from issues of life and death. Brilliant
Profile Image for Jade.
295 reviews22 followers
January 12, 2021
This was a fun read with a wonderfully built world and lovely characters that build a fantastic friendship.
I did enjoy this read but the ghost line of the story was so close to the returned in Warbreaker that I coolant really see past this and get more in to the story.
Thats being said it was still as fun read with lots of twist and turns that will keep you alone for the ride.
Profile Image for Lloyd Piper.
45 reviews1 follower
May 2, 2024
I picked this signed copy up from a reduced to clear bin in a bookstore in Bristol, as the blurb and premise of the story really intrigued me. I read it to my 3 children, And I can safely say that we all absolutely loved it!! It was wonderfully written, and a joy/ease to read.
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The storyline/world was fascinating and it really got us all thinking about what it would be like if we were in the story!! Really interesting a well written characters, and the story had a perfect build up, middle and end! Easy 5 Stars!!!
Profile Image for Guillermo Andrade Uribe.
794 reviews56 followers
September 6, 2021
Esta historia me encantó, los mensajes y como la autora manejó la perdida y el duelo de perder a un ser querido. Todo esto mezclado con la esperanza de poder volver a verlos y que harías por esa posibilidad.

Es un libro imaginativo y fantástico.
Profile Image for Charissa.
167 reviews2 followers
August 18, 2021
Should be 3.5 stars, really. I felt a bit like a teen reading Harry Potter for the first time. A simple, yet magical adventure. Not perfect, but very enjoyable.
Profile Image for rebecka almgren.
120 reviews15 followers
July 9, 2023
så söt, även fast den är skriven för yngre än mig kunde jag tycka om den. den påminde mig om spirited away o det var därför ja började läsa den, sen gick den i en helt annan väg men fortfarande så värt. eftersom den är så lättläst va de lätt att drömma sig bort.
Profile Image for Belles Middle Grade Library.
862 reviews
August 7, 2020
I finished this yesterday. I read 45% in 1 sitting to finish. I couldn’t put it down. I am just more & more impressed w/this author, & in love w/their creativity & talent. This was another unique story that combined 2 amazing things-ghosts & technology! There is so much science to this book, but the author does it in a way to where you’re not confused, & you ENJOY it! Lol Grief is a big point of this story. The grief for her brother & wanting him back, is our main characters driving force. Prue becoming an apprentice in the guild is very similar to a school setting, or a Hogwarts type of feel-so I also loved that! I loved Agapantha so much, & wanted to stand up for her, or tell her to be strong & use her voice! & Edwin...oh man. I didn’t know what his character was so I had to look up the name, & it made him even cuter!! He was just the best. I loved him w/all my heart! Cora....I hate you lol no I don’t hate, but she is a character the author did a great job at making you want to shake... hard! Lol Prue has memories during different parts of the story w/her brother ...& I loved that touch to the story. He is a main part of the story in a sense, so it was like he was there throughout the whole book. They made me teary, b/c that’s grief. The author does not shy away from topics of life & death, so I feel she once again has handled grief amazing & honestly. That ending had me like 😱😱 did NOT see that coming! I loved Medlock & could envision myself there-I want to go! I loved all the characters, even the smaller ones-Lav, Queen Adelaide, Luella, & Phineas-I love that bear😆 I loved the friendship b/n Prue, Edwin, & Agapantha. It helped Prue w/her grief more than she realized. I really hope we get more. Some articles online say it’s a standalone, but goodreads has it as #1 in a series called “Ghost Machine Adventure. I hope GR is the right one lol This cover is absolutely stunning also!! So beautiful 😍😍 Highly recommend!






Synopsis: A year after the death of her older brother, Prue Haywood's family is still shattered by grief. But everything changes when a stranger arrives at the farm. A new, incredible technology has been discovered in the city of Medlock, where a secretive guild of inventors have developed a way to capture spirits of the dead in animal-like machines, bringing them back to life. Prue knows that the "Ghost Guild" might hold the key to bringing her brother back, so she seizes the stranger's offer to join as an apprentice. But to find her brother, she needs to find a way to get the ghost machines to remember the people they used to be. Yet if Prue succeeds, all of society could come apart...
Profile Image for Steph.
1,314 reviews87 followers
March 22, 2019
An incredible tale of science, secrets, friendship, family and loss. I absolutely adored Prue’s story. You can’t get much better than good friends, a little bit of magic and a whole host of incredible technology. Just bloody marvellous!!
Profile Image for Sabrina.
1,558 reviews32 followers
May 20, 2020
An intriguing place of ghosts, personifates, and mechanical robots. The ghost guild sounds fascinating and I would love to visit this world.
I just wasn't sure WHY they want to make personifates. Spirits which are put into a mechanical animal form, but they don't have their memories so no one knows who they really are.
Profile Image for lydia.
233 reviews
January 27, 2021
The story is so beautiful and emotional. The characters are amazing especially Queen Adelaide and Agapantha. I don’t know which is my favourite this or Brightstorm.
Profile Image for Justine Laismith.
Author2 books22 followers
August 23, 2019
The author has done an amazing job with this book. Responding to the current movement of more representation of women, especially stories of women in STEM, this book is about four girls recruited as apprentices to the Guild in the city of Medlock, where they will be trained to advance the cutting edge of personifates.

Personifates are 'second lifers'; the spirits of the departed are harnessed to a rare element under very exacting lunar conditions. Afterwards these personifates serve as second-class citizens in the City of Medlock. Here-in lies the second dimension in the story. With complete memory loss of their previous lives and designated to menial roles in the city, the morals of capturing these souls is reminiscent of the Hermione's championing rights for the Elves in the Harry Potter series. Going deeper, teachers can also use this book to discuss the history of slavery.

Like her previous book , I can see elements of where the author got her ideas. The start of the book reminded me very much of Harry Potter. I could see similarity to characters like Malfoy and Hermione. Settling into the new Guild was like the first year in Hogwarts. Our heroine's desire to bring back her dead brother in the form of a personifate brings Frankenstein to mind. However, this is not just a copy-cat story. I have read books where the author tries to be technical and throws in contrived scientific terms into the story. I have also read books where the author attempts to ‘educate� science to his readers and it becomes a pseudo-textbook. But Vashi Hardy got it just right in this book. I love the way she has used real scientific terms and applied them suitably, words like oscilloscope and by-product. I also like her creativity to modify scientific words, like grapheme (which retained the real graphene properties) and parabolic reflector. My favourite has got to be her play on the mathematical word ‘Pneumerator�.

A very creative book and above all, a good read.
Profile Image for BooksForTopics.
145 reviews43 followers
April 3, 2019
I was thrilled to receive an early copy of this book and I just loved being immersed in the world of Wildspark. Vashti Hardy is a clever storyteller whose imaginary worlds are as inventive as they are thrilling.

Prue is an excellent main character and, as a reader, you feel as though you are rooting for her every step of the way. Her aptitude for engineering gains her entry into the exciting world of Medlock and its secretive guild of inventors - but only because she poses as her brother, who really passed away not too long before. I loved following Prue’s journey on the Gigantrak train into the city of Medlock and I read on with wide eyes, as Prue - a farm girl - acclimatises to the bright amber lights and towering structures of the city and the advanced systems and technologies waiting for her at the guild. With the brightest minds developing ways of placing human spirits into animal-like machines, the work of the guild is completely alluring for budding young inventors like Prue.

Prue is driven by a desire to bring her brother to life again, but it's her warm nature, natural creativity and loyalty to friends and family that really help her the most as she navigates the complex issues of using technology responsibly. The narrative provides plenty to think about; many of the issues raised will resonate with readers growing up in the current generation that's used to the pace of technologies advancing faster than the Gigantrek itself. I’m sure the book will raise fascinating discussions in many classrooms.

Wildspark is absorbing, thoroughly exciting and sparkling with that extra something that only the very best stories possess.

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an advanced proof copy of this book. My full review will appear on the Booksfortopics website around the time of publication.
863 reviews1 follower
October 29, 2023
Steam Punk for children. Great fun.
Prue misses her brother very much. He was great fun and his death has left a huge hole in the family. She is very good at fixing the mechanical horse and dogs around the farm. After a visit from Craftsman Primrose who is searching for new young talent to take to the Imperial Personifate Guild of Medlock, she decides to follow him and take him up on his offer - as Francis. She meets Agapantha and Cora and loves the training. They become involved in preparing the 100 personifates for the governor, these are ghosts of the dead put into mechanical bodies for a second life using qwortzite. However, there is a strange and frightening creature stalking the grounds and streets of Medlock. Primrose, who has been very supportive, keeps disappearing. Prue's journal on memory capture also disappears. What is going on?
Author2 books46 followers
January 19, 2020
I read this in one night, swept away by the world of mechanical creatures and the complexities of their rights and creation.
Profile Image for Victoria Bennion.
14 reviews5 followers
March 30, 2020
Brilliant adventure

I really enjoyed Brightstorm but I think Wildspark was even better. Vashti Hardy writes beautifully. She has you rooting for the characters and there's so much action from beginning to end.
Profile Image for ZAINAB HOSEN.
14 reviews
March 26, 2020
Sadly this book had to end! But why? Highly imaginative and real table-turn from Vashti’s other two books. Young engineer Pru is seeking her brothers in a personified form. She’s desperate to get him back, his every memory haunts her. She takes the first opportunity and doesn’t look back. Her growing talent and sheer devotion are perilously tested, giving up is not a choice she must save her parents! Only such a story can be crafted by the magnificent imagination of Vashti Hardy.
Profile Image for Gio kikabidze.
105 reviews12 followers
March 10, 2019
"I am who I am, I don't know otherwise. But if you think about it, isn't that the case for first and second lifers? None of us can help what we are born into"
Profile Image for Alex Vilt jr.
5 reviews
February 14, 2024
An exrtraordinary,fantastic and great book.It has suspense,very interesting action, it has everything that an exceptional book needs to have.I think this is my favourite book.
Profile Image for Shel.
253 reviews2 followers
January 4, 2024
5 stars �

“Life is life and death is death. It’s tampering with things that shouldn’t be messed with. It can only end one way, and that’s badly.�

This was the first book I ever cried over and I have to remember my roots now that I cry at almost every book I read. This was devastating for a middle grade book but you understood why the main character made the decisions she did and that almost made it worse

“I am who I am, I don’t know otherwise. But if you think about it, isn’t that the case for first and second lifers? None of us can help what we are born into.�

I cannot explain the betrayal I felt while reading this book. I cannot explain the way it hurt little me when characters I liked were actually terrible and characters I disliked (they grew on me soon don’t worry) were actually great. This is too much confusion for a stupid child like my younger self to absorb.

“But she was certain that whatever that future was, she was going to put herself right at the heart of finding the best way. And she would have two extraordinary friends beside her.�

I loved the setting of this book so much. I enjoyed the extremely modern setting of the city and the machines compared to the farm Prue grew up on. There was such contrast between the two main settings that it was strange how close together they are, which is arguably quite accurate to real life.
Profile Image for Emily.
581 reviews47 followers
February 24, 2021
52 Book Club February Mini-Challenge: A Book with a Red Spine

There are some (literally) inventive ideas in this book and I enjoyed the focus upon girls flourishing in STEM environments, but I just feel like the plot and characters were never fully embellished.
The stakes didn't feel high- even when considering "life and death" situations- and I found the developments very predictable.
The writing relies heavily on telling, rather than showing the reader or providing hints, which meant the storytelling felt very blunt. There were no surprises or twists, therefore, I never felt intrigued or excited to read on, because even if an issue did arise, it was resolved (normally without conflict) within a matter of pages.
Maybe if I was younger, I could have appreciated this more, but I feel like the strongest children's and Young Adult fiction is that which can possibly be enjoyed by every interested age group.
Unfortunately, for me, this was not the case, but I am interested in seeing more of Vashti Hardy's imaginative ideas in the future.
Profile Image for Emily.
461 reviews18 followers
March 9, 2025
Come on, this had so much potential!! Even for a middle grade audience, this book could have gone a little bit deeper. Serious topics (life vs death, second life, discrimination, ownership, freedom, letting go) were written about, but never really discussed... more like, given to us and then characters picking a side, but then never discussing why.
The characters were not great, nothing special or memorable. A little cookie cutter. Prue is that character that comes in (twelve years old, only been an apprentice for a few months) and just 'fixes' all kinds of things in ways that apparently no one thought off before, not masters or more experienced apprentices nor anyone in between, young or old. By the end, I got a little tired of that.
The world building didn't make much sense in some ways... like why even bring ghosts back for a second life if they don't retain memories from before... how could they possibly keep the personifates a secret to anyone outside this one city, when they are just out and about and shopkeepers, it's ridiculous...
Profile Image for Tris The Book Whisperer.
42 reviews2 followers
January 10, 2020
A wonderful sci-fi story from Vashti, set in a time where mechanicals are commonplace, and departed souls can be re-housed inside them to become second-lifers. Engineering whiz Prue is excited to go to the capital to learn how to create these machines, even if she does have to pretend to be her brother to do it. This is a world full of magic, and true friendships that explore what it means to be human. Readers Y5+ will not be able to put it down.
Profile Image for Katie.
350 reviews52 followers
November 10, 2020
A mix between, HP, Nevermoor and Spin the Dawn. But with unique twists and elements. Wildspark is definitely underrated, I don't hear enough about this book. 5 big fat stars. I will be reading more by this author very soon.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews

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