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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
4.5 stars. I must say, I'm fairly impressed by this story. It started off a bit rough since we're thrown into the world and among these characters without any real warning. But it gets so interesting, and so compelling, and I really like how it plays out too.
I really enjoyed the fantasy aspect of this book, but the romance was just not for me. Even though this author normally writes romance-heavy fiction, I was not expecting that from Geist as it is being billed as a fantasy novel. Not only that but the romance entailed Sorcha cheating on her husband. The author tries to make you empathize with Sorcha, having her state over and over how her husband had gotten so distant and unfeeling yadda yadda yadda - but we are unable to actually really SEE any of this because Kolya is comatose for the majority of the book. So we have to take Sorcha's word on all of this, and as we all know there are always multiple sides to every story.
I like Raed (Sorcha's lover) as a character and enjoyed his interactions with both Deacons and especially enjoyed his backstory, but just can not get behind him and Sorcha as a legitimate "I care for you romantically and am in love with you" couple. Sorcha tries to play off what they have as an "it's just sex" relationship (which I would be perfectly fine with and would understand in the context of the way her marriage is going, actually), but then her weird internal declarations of how she is being devoured by Raed and how she is addicted to him kind of kills the just-sex vibe.
Also, there were lots of unnecessary boners. There was one point towards the end when they were about to go into battle where Sorcha laid her hand on Raed's chest to hold him back, and there was a really weird moment like "and he felt his body leap to life" or something like that. It was very disconcerting and it happened multiple times throughout the book and I just ?????? Why? Why so many boners? (That being said I did enjoy the chapter about Merrick trying to hide his boner from Sorcha and Raed's residual sex energy though their Bond)
All of that aside, I really liked this book and will continue with this series - as I write this, I am actually part-way through the sequel.
What I loved:
-Older, MARRIED female protagonist
-Interesting back-stories for all characters
-Rune-based magic system
-Creepy zombie-like geists
-Names were definitely unusual, but still flowed and were easy to distinguish between characters
What I loathed:
-The out-of-nowhere romance
-Sorcha cheating on her husband so easily
-Weird two-day-long sex scene???
-Boners. Boners EVERYWHERE.
I like Raed (Sorcha's lover) as a character and enjoyed his interactions with both Deacons and especially enjoyed his backstory, but just can not get behind him and Sorcha as a legitimate "I care for you romantically and am in love with you" couple. Sorcha tries to play off what they have as an "it's just sex" relationship (which I would be perfectly fine with and would understand in the context of the way her marriage is going, actually), but then her weird internal declarations of how she is being devoured by Raed and how she is addicted to him kind of kills the just-sex vibe.
Also, there were lots of unnecessary boners. There was one point towards the end when they were about to go into battle where Sorcha laid her hand on Raed's chest to hold him back, and there was a really weird moment like "and he felt his body leap to life" or something like that. It was very disconcerting and it happened multiple times throughout the book and I just ?????? Why? Why so many boners? (That being said I did enjoy the chapter about Merrick trying to hide his boner from Sorcha and Raed's residual sex energy though their Bond)
All of that aside, I really liked this book and will continue with this series - as I write this, I am actually part-way through the sequel.
What I loved:
-Older, MARRIED female protagonist
-Interesting back-stories for all characters
-Rune-based magic system
-Creepy zombie-like geists
-Names were definitely unusual, but still flowed and were easy to distinguish between characters
What I loathed:
-The out-of-nowhere romance
-Sorcha cheating on her husband so easily
-Weird two-day-long sex scene???
-Boners. Boners EVERYWHERE.
I couldn't finish this one. I mean, I like the world and the magic system but the story itself is kind of boring and I feel no connection to the characters. :/ I really wanted to like this because the premise is promising, but it isn't meant to be. Sadly.
This was a pretty good first novel in the series. All 3 main characters are likable, although Sorcha originally comes off as a hard ass at first. Also, I like the idea of geists and geistlords. It reminds somewhat of the demons in the Demon Cycle series. The one thing I didn't like is that we are constantly told Sorcha is the most powerful Deacon in the Order, but she doesn't really do anything to demonstrate that. Sure, she's powerful, but we don't see enough of what other Deacons can do in order to gauge her.
I'll keep going with this series, but I do hope that it gets better as there is good potential here.
I'll keep going with this series, but I do hope that it gets better as there is good potential here.
I loved Sorcha and Merrick and even the Pretender but I loathed Nynnia. Plot wise I wasn't entirely sure what was going on and the world building is a little thin. Plus the author uses titles such as "the Pretender" and "the Deacon" a lot. Though the writing was pretty good all in all. Not sure if I'd read the next one.
I do not tend to judge a book by its cover, which is a good thing considering the state of the cover world lately (*cough* UF *cough*). But this is one of those rare cases where I sit looking at the cover wishing that the story held within even began to meet the cover in terms of excellence. The cover is gorgeous and well done by the artist. I cannot say the same for the story inside.
I did enjoy some aspects of the story, namely the characters. Despite some characters being poorly characterized (especially Sorcha, the lead, and various random characters that came and went), they were probably the strongest aspect of the book. Raed was my favorite character and he was the best characterized, perhaps not a coincidence. The story itself, when you could separate it from the writing, was entertaining.
However, the story along with everything else in the book suffered from the writing style overall. The book started off on shaky ground for me because the author chose to immediately jump into action. I prefer some background, some character building, some world building and all the niceties that make for a good beginning. But I did not receive any such background which left me stumbling along for a great portion of the book. The world is never well explained, the magic is explained in bits but not enough to really follow and actions are taken throughout the book that make you wonder WTF is going on.
There were many little things that bothered me throughout the book, such as constantly referring to Sorcha as Deacon Sorcha Farris--why not just Sorcha? This naming style happened with most pivotal characters. We are constantly put at such a distance from the characters that you cannot really come to care for them. Also, things are stated as if you should know them despite the information being entirely new and not understood. Such things happen over and over again leading to me staring at the cover wishing for a story half as good as the artwork.
I may read book two in the series simply in hopes that the writing improved and maybe I can gain some understanding about the overall story.
I did enjoy some aspects of the story, namely the characters. Despite some characters being poorly characterized (especially Sorcha, the lead, and various random characters that came and went), they were probably the strongest aspect of the book. Raed was my favorite character and he was the best characterized, perhaps not a coincidence. The story itself, when you could separate it from the writing, was entertaining.
However, the story along with everything else in the book suffered from the writing style overall. The book started off on shaky ground for me because the author chose to immediately jump into action. I prefer some background, some character building, some world building and all the niceties that make for a good beginning. But I did not receive any such background which left me stumbling along for a great portion of the book. The world is never well explained, the magic is explained in bits but not enough to really follow and actions are taken throughout the book that make you wonder WTF is going on.
There were many little things that bothered me throughout the book, such as constantly referring to Sorcha as Deacon Sorcha Farris--why not just Sorcha? This naming style happened with most pivotal characters. We are constantly put at such a distance from the characters that you cannot really come to care for them. Also, things are stated as if you should know them despite the information being entirely new and not understood. Such things happen over and over again leading to me staring at the cover wishing for a story half as good as the artwork.
I may read book two in the series simply in hopes that the writing improved and maybe I can gain some understanding about the overall story.
Don’t let the first thirty-eight pages of Geist fool you–it really is a good book.
My decision to rely on the library for first reads was stymied by the fact that my 50-library system had no copies of Geist: Book of the Order. Eventually purchased (by me), it languished on my shelf while other books took precedence. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, which reduced my enthusiasm further. But my co-moderator ran into Ballantine at a book-signing and she agreed to stop into our Goodreads group for a Q&A, so just like that, my read was back on. I started but was unable to get past the first couple of chapters. Overly complicated, point-of-view switching, my own half-hearted interest; it just didn’t gel.
Does my opinion change? You'll have to check the link to find out, because Goodreads wants to make sure I don't negatively discuss the author or anything that doesn't affect the book. But I gave it three-and-a-half stars, so it can't be all bad.
http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/geist-book-of-the-order-by-philippa-ballantine/
My decision to rely on the library for first reads was stymied by the fact that my 50-library system had no copies of Geist: Book of the Order. Eventually purchased (by me), it languished on my shelf while other books took precedence. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, which reduced my enthusiasm further. But my co-moderator ran into Ballantine at a book-signing and she agreed to stop into our Goodreads group for a Q&A, so just like that, my read was back on. I started but was unable to get past the first couple of chapters. Overly complicated, point-of-view switching, my own half-hearted interest; it just didn’t gel.
Does my opinion change? You'll have to check the link to find out, because Goodreads wants to make sure I don't negatively discuss the author or anything that doesn't affect the book. But I gave it three-and-a-half stars, so it can't be all bad.
http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/geist-book-of-the-order-by-philippa-ballantine/
This is really good. Rich characters, tense action, solid worldbuilding.
Strong female lead. And I like that story opens with action. The story is a different from a lot of fantasy stories which I like. Whilst there are some glaringly obvious parts that have been taken from elsewhere. But otherwise for what it is, it's pretty good fantasy read!!