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elisenic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
megapolisomancy's review against another edition
2.0
Putting this down after about 150 pages.
Urban fantasy (but not that kind of urban fantasy) in a faux-ancien regime Paris that is in a kind of post-Enlightenment stage of rationality (replete with salons). Outsiders from the Mediterranean analogue (?) can still see ghosts, though, and it seems that the facade of rationality is lifting from this city as well. I was frustrated by the fact that this tension was not reflected at all in the narrative voice of the book - the characters might doubt their sanity after seeing a ghost, kind of, but the reader is always clear about what’s happening, mostly because one of our viewpoint characters has a haunting that is mentioned in every paragraph or so as wordlessly reacting to whatever is going on (“The lieutenant's ghost leaned on the chair back, sardonic,” etc).
Very, very little happened in the part of the book that I read - I think the appeal here would be for readers interested in being charmed by these characters, and that’s not something near the top of my interests, so I’m moving on. For a book so focused on the comedy of manners (I am not going to use the you-know-what word), the dialogue comes off as a little stilted or contrived, too. I also found it impossible to keep the names here straight (especially Gracielis and Tiercelin) but that’s probably more my failing than Sperring’s.
I did appreciate that sexuality is fluid in this world, and in such a natural way that none of the characters appear to ever have the need to comment on it.
Urban fantasy (but not that kind of urban fantasy) in a faux-ancien regime Paris that is in a kind of post-Enlightenment stage of rationality (replete with salons). Outsiders from the Mediterranean analogue (?) can still see ghosts, though, and it seems that the facade of rationality is lifting from this city as well. I was frustrated by the fact that this tension was not reflected at all in the narrative voice of the book - the characters might doubt their sanity after seeing a ghost, kind of, but the reader is always clear about what’s happening, mostly because one of our viewpoint characters has a haunting that is mentioned in every paragraph or so as wordlessly reacting to whatever is going on (“The lieutenant's ghost leaned on the chair back, sardonic,” etc).
Very, very little happened in the part of the book that I read - I think the appeal here would be for readers interested in being charmed by these characters, and that’s not something near the top of my interests, so I’m moving on. For a book so focused on the comedy of manners (I am not going to use the you-know-what word), the dialogue comes off as a little stilted or contrived, too. I also found it impossible to keep the names here straight (especially Gracielis and Tiercelin) but that’s probably more my failing than Sperring’s.
I did appreciate that sexuality is fluid in this world, and in such a natural way that none of the characters appear to ever have the need to comment on it.
mackle13's review against another edition
3.0
I don't really know what to say about this book - I can't capture the essence of my feelings regarding it because I'm not really sure what they are. I guess that's fitting, since it was hard to pin down the feel of the book in general...
I liked most of the characters, though I liked Valdin much better as an idea as he was described than as a materialized character, because he wasn't anywhere near as charmingly rakish as one might've hoped. I liked Gracielis a lot, and Maude was cool. Amalie was really sweet. I liked Thierry sometimes. Sometimes I liked Yvelliane, and sometimes I wanted to smack her. Kenan was just annoying, and Quena was good at the start, but then became too much of a cheesy villian. (And, my gods, the names. There should seriously be pronounciation dictionaries if fantasy authors are going to insist on continuing to use unpronounceable names... )
I think one of the biggest problems was that there was too much description, too much lingering over people's feelings and inner-thoughts - which normally I like in a book, except they were so damned repetitive. Thierry missed Yvellaine and wanted to talk to her, but no, he couldn't - he would prove himself. Yvellaine kept chastising herself and moping, but then forced it aside for her duty. Gracielis kept longing for/hating Quena, and doubting himself... Over and over and over again...
We heard about the formation of the clans and Merafi how many times? How many times do we need to hear that the river is turning against Meragi before we're meant to get the import of it? How many times can I say the same critique before you get the point? ;)
Then it finally started to get really good... the action was intensifying, the long drawn-out set up was finally coming together, the drama was rising... and then... total anti-climax. Parts that could've been lingered over, like the final confrontation and the sacrifice - almost totally glossed over or written in a nigh incomprehensible manner. (There were more than a few times throughout the book I had to reread a passage because of the overly florid prose.) Pages and pages and pages of saying the same thing - and then *bam*. There's no real pay off, and that left me feeling so cheated.
Not cheated enough to hate the book, though, because, really, it's not like I was that invested in it in the first place.
I'm rating it three starts instead of lower because I liked the idea of the story. The setting was decent, and, as I said, I did like most of the characters, even if the characterization was a bit all over the place sometimes. I liked the relationships, mostly, and how they were developed. But, overall, the execution just wasn't there, and the big climax was so wasted.
ETA: 5/11/11
I'm bumping this up to 3 1/2 stars because I find myself thinking about it from time to time, and a book that stays with you like that deserves a bit of a bump.
I liked most of the characters, though I liked Valdin much better as an idea as he was described than as a materialized character, because he wasn't anywhere near as charmingly rakish as one might've hoped. I liked Gracielis a lot, and Maude was cool. Amalie was really sweet. I liked Thierry sometimes. Sometimes I liked Yvelliane, and sometimes I wanted to smack her. Kenan was just annoying, and Quena was good at the start, but then became too much of a cheesy villian. (And, my gods, the names. There should seriously be pronounciation dictionaries if fantasy authors are going to insist on continuing to use unpronounceable names... )
I think one of the biggest problems was that there was too much description, too much lingering over people's feelings and inner-thoughts - which normally I like in a book, except they were so damned repetitive. Thierry missed Yvellaine and wanted to talk to her, but no, he couldn't - he would prove himself. Yvellaine kept chastising herself and moping, but then forced it aside for her duty. Gracielis kept longing for/hating Quena, and doubting himself... Over and over and over again...
We heard about the formation of the clans and Merafi how many times? How many times do we need to hear that the river is turning against Meragi before we're meant to get the import of it? How many times can I say the same critique before you get the point? ;)
Then it finally started to get really good... the action was intensifying, the long drawn-out set up was finally coming together, the drama was rising... and then... total anti-climax. Parts that could've been lingered over, like the final confrontation and the sacrifice - almost totally glossed over or written in a nigh incomprehensible manner. (There were more than a few times throughout the book I had to reread a passage because of the overly florid prose.) Pages and pages and pages of saying the same thing - and then *bam*. There's no real pay off, and that left me feeling so cheated.
Not cheated enough to hate the book, though, because, really, it's not like I was that invested in it in the first place.
I'm rating it three starts instead of lower because I liked the idea of the story. The setting was decent, and, as I said, I did like most of the characters, even if the characterization was a bit all over the place sometimes. I liked the relationships, mostly, and how they were developed. But, overall, the execution just wasn't there, and the big climax was so wasted.
ETA: 5/11/11
I'm bumping this up to 3 1/2 stars because I find myself thinking about it from time to time, and a book that stays with you like that deserves a bit of a bump.
sadie_slater's review against another edition
4.0
Living With Ghosts is historical fantasy, set in a city with a seventeenth or eighteenth century feel and a strong French influence, although with a rather different gender balance to the actual seventeenth century (not only is there a queen, but her chief councillors are women, and we also meet a prominent female merchant, among others, while the aristocratic men are mostly playboys) and a much more relaxed attitude to same-sex relationships. There's swashbuckling and duels, ghosts and magic, seduction and intrigue and politics. I liked Sperring's characters a lot, particularly Thiercelin and Gracielis, and Amalie the sensible merchant. I enjoyed the story, too, though I felt the plot got a little confused occasionally (of course, that may just have been me being exhausted) and the resolution seemed very sudden and, actually, rather simple after a long complicated buildup. Also, this may not have been the right week to read about rain and the disintegration of a society. Generally, though, I'd say I liked this a lot.
cgirl98's review against another edition
3.0
First Time author This book was very interesting. In this world the people no longer believe in magic and other superstitions, as they live in a land where they were protected by such things by an ancient ritual that kept these forces out. But a plot from a young Prince determined to no longer serve other and an ambitious young priestess from a foreign land that has long coveted their neighbor's resources hatch a plot to bring down the city and it's inhabitants...and share the spoils between them. The book opens right in the middle of the drama and never lets up.The two main characters Gracielis and Thiercelin are lovely. Gracielis is a whore, basically, but also sell information on the side for anyone who is willing to pay. His profession leads to his gaining lots of information. And he is also a spy for his old land which cast him out. He is beautifully flawed: all at once brave, strong, cowardly and needy. He meets Thiercelin during one of the most traumatic experience in his life, which binds them to each other and leads to them seeking each other out years later, and it is plain that their fates are linked. Thiercelin searches him out because he needs his help in getting rid of a ghost, but find himself attracted to Gracielis against all good sense....and his love and need for his wife. His main goal in his life to to have his wife, who is advisor to the Queen, accept him and love him...and find him worthy. His dealings with Gracielis leaves him conflicted and full of guilt.But it is their relationship, which is tender and intense and sad, that leads to the uncovering of the main plot and the subsequent saving of the land and people. The ending between the two left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. They both lose and sacrifice a lot in the end, and gain a lot as well...but neither gets what the other wants in the end. When I finished the book....my only thought was: it is over? I want more of these two. I hope the writer hears me and continues their tale.
wealhtheow's review against another edition
3.0
Thiercelin begins seeing his best friend Valdarrien again, six years after he was killed in a duel. Thiercelin is a sensible man, and like all sensible men of his time does not believe in ghosts. Nevertheless, the apparition seems so real that he is forced to take it seriously. He seeks counsel from Gracielis, a man who was once his wife's lover but is now a courtesan and double (triple? quadruple?) agent. Gracielis is Tarnaroqui, a people rumored to have traces of fey blood, and unlike Thiercelin, he has made a lifetime study of the supernatural. But, bound as he is to his mentor, the perfidious Quenfrida, Gracielis refuses to help Theircelin. Slowly, it becomes clear that Valdarrien's ghost is just one part of a rising tide of magic that threatens to break the rational city of Merafi. Gracielis reconciled himself to the fact that he does not have the powerful will needed to be a great magician long ago. But when Merafi and his friends and lovers are threatened, he knows he has to do something. And so against his nature, against his nation, against his training, Gracielis strives to remake the bindings keeping Merafi safe.
This is not a typical fantasy novel, no matter the silly goffick cover art. The plot doesn't follow a single ordinary arc, but meanders through witty conversations and characters' internal ruminations, while in the background there is the rising tension and horror of Merafi's coming downfall. The magic surges into a deadly crescendo near the end, but for much of the book it is only hinted at. Sperring's magic is illusive and nightmarish, with rules that hold together but are never fully explained.
There's something of Guy Gavriel Kay to the characters, in the way they move through the Merafian court. Gracielis was my favorite--full of wasted potential, perpetually polite, secretly despairing. I really enjoyed the world building, as well--Merafi is like seventeenth/eighteenth century France, but without sexism (Thiercelin is the decorative lazy husband to the serious-minded, indispensible Yvelliane, who is First Councillor, a nice role reversal) or heterosexism (various characters have lovers of either gender, and no one thinks about it in the least). Sperring knows how her society works, down to the last detail.
The book takes a while to get going, but the leisurely pace of the beginning is necessary to give the reader time to assimilate all the tangled relationships between characters. I do think there were a few too many view point characters: Joyain and Miraude each serve to expand the world a bit, but their plots could easily have been shifted to other characters. Seeing through the eyes of Thiercelin and Joyain and Miraude and Iareth and Yvelliane and Gracielis and even, at times, Kenan and Quenfrida was just too much. Plus occasional third person omniscient! Too many viewpoints. Joyain is, additionally, the one character who annoyed me. Even after repeated visitations by ghosts, nearly getting killed by supernatural mists that sliced at his flesh, seeing his friend be torn apart yet speak through ruined jaws, repeated warnings by other characters--he STILL declines to believe in magic, and indeedspreads the magical plague throughout Merafi because he wanders around getting drunk instead of enforcing the quarantine, like everyone told him to. He was so self-pitying and dumb I could hardly bear it.
Trigger warning:There's a suicide attempt on page 209 that's up there with reading Sylvia Plath. If depressed, I really do recommend having something else to read or someone to talk to at hand when you get to that part, just in case.
This is not a typical fantasy novel, no matter the silly goffick cover art. The plot doesn't follow a single ordinary arc, but meanders through witty conversations and characters' internal ruminations, while in the background there is the rising tension and horror of Merafi's coming downfall. The magic surges into a deadly crescendo near the end, but for much of the book it is only hinted at. Sperring's magic is illusive and nightmarish, with rules that hold together but are never fully explained.
There's something of Guy Gavriel Kay to the characters, in the way they move through the Merafian court. Gracielis was my favorite--full of wasted potential, perpetually polite, secretly despairing. I really enjoyed the world building, as well--Merafi is like seventeenth/eighteenth century France, but without sexism (Thiercelin is the decorative lazy husband to the serious-minded, indispensible Yvelliane, who is First Councillor, a nice role reversal) or heterosexism (various characters have lovers of either gender, and no one thinks about it in the least). Sperring knows how her society works, down to the last detail.
The book takes a while to get going, but the leisurely pace of the beginning is necessary to give the reader time to assimilate all the tangled relationships between characters. I do think there were a few too many view point characters: Joyain and Miraude each serve to expand the world a bit, but their plots could easily have been shifted to other characters. Seeing through the eyes of Thiercelin and Joyain and Miraude and Iareth and Yvelliane and Gracielis and even, at times, Kenan and Quenfrida was just too much. Plus occasional third person omniscient! Too many viewpoints. Joyain is, additionally, the one character who annoyed me. Even after repeated visitations by ghosts, nearly getting killed by supernatural mists that sliced at his flesh, seeing his friend be torn apart yet speak through ruined jaws, repeated warnings by other characters--he STILL declines to believe in magic, and indeed
Trigger warning:
errantdreams's review against another edition
5.0
Kari Sperring’s Living With Ghosts depicts a rich, fascinating world peopled with flawed, equally fascinating people. Ms. Sperring is a master at depicting not-entirely-likable people who, nonetheless, are compelling and worth investing in. Any frustrations I had with the characters’ actions added to the story rather than detracting. The world-building is lovely, sketched out in the details of the characters and their actions with no need for unsightly info-dumps. I found the whole thing riveting and didn’t feel a need for any more or less detail than was provided.
The characters ruled the story, but I found plenty of tension and danger to keep the pace moving. The story pulled me in entirely—enough so that I had to set the book down overnight to digest its contents before I could consider reviewing it. The huge cast of characters occasionally left me reaching for the memory of who exactly a given name connected to, but it was only an occasional occurrence and not a real problem.
Living with Ghosts was such an intense, tight experience that it doesn’t need an extensive breakdown. While it would be wonderful to see more of Sperring’s world, I was wholly satisfied by the scope and scale of this individual story. I don’t often re-read books, but I can easily see myself coming back to this one to experience its events again.
NOTE: review book provided by publisher
If you wish to read a longer review including premise, you can visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/05/review-living-with-ghosts-kari-sperring/
The characters ruled the story, but I found plenty of tension and danger to keep the pace moving. The story pulled me in entirely—enough so that I had to set the book down overnight to digest its contents before I could consider reviewing it. The huge cast of characters occasionally left me reaching for the memory of who exactly a given name connected to, but it was only an occasional occurrence and not a real problem.
Living with Ghosts was such an intense, tight experience that it doesn’t need an extensive breakdown. While it would be wonderful to see more of Sperring’s world, I was wholly satisfied by the scope and scale of this individual story. I don’t often re-read books, but I can easily see myself coming back to this one to experience its events again.
NOTE: review book provided by publisher
If you wish to read a longer review including premise, you can visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/05/review-living-with-ghosts-kari-sperring/
coffeeandink's review
3.0
Delicious fantasy city, somewhat reminiscent of the Paris of The Three Musketeers, and complex characterization that offers gender-swapped takes on romance cliches. (I particularly enjoy the stern, repressed, dutiful chancellor who is afraid to show her true feelings for her handsome, feckless young groom, because she thinks he married her only for security. He is, of course, desperately pining for her, but thinks she mostly considers him the playmate of her dead younger brother.) Sadly, however, the exception to all the excellent characterization is the protagonist, who is pure adolescent wish fulfillment, an angst-ridden impossibly beautiful male prostitute and former assassin priest with vast magical powers. Every single person who meets him falls in lust with him at first sight.
To compound my frustration,every single female POV character has died by the end of the book, leaving only the men (most of whom, frankly, were much less interesting characters) to survive . This left a particularly sour taste because I had initially been so taken by the clever subversions of gendered romance characterization tropes.
To compound my frustration,
graculus's review
3.0
Living with Ghosts - Kari Sperring I'd previously read and enjoyed this author's other book (The Grass King's Concubine) so when this one was on offer I thought I'd pick it up - any excuse to buy stand-alone books, though this then sat on my bookshelf for a while before I got around to it...
Anyway, on with Living With Ghosts. First off, this is a book written from multiple points of view, so if that annoys you then this book probably won't work for you - one of our characters is a magician/assassin-turned-prostitute who's now living and working far from home having failed his final test. Sadly for Gracielis, the woman who trained him has turned up as part of the embassy from his home country and is now manipulating him while also plotting to overthrow the monarchy of his adopted home.
The title of the book comes from the fact that, as part of his training, Gracielis is able to see ghosts and is haunted by the ghost of a soldier who was involved in a duel he witnessed 6 years earlier. The problem is, the other duellist is now showing up as a ghost and its his appearance that is used as a demonstration that things are going wrong in the city - eventually there's a zombie-creating plague but things resolve themselves in the end.
I liked it but I also got 90% of the way in and didn't really feel much urgency to find out what happened in the end, which is rarely a good sign. It's also 480 pages of densely-written mass market paperback fantasy set in pseudo-Europe with characters who could have fixed half their issues (and reduced the size of the book by a good 100 pages, I reckon) if they'd just actually have a conversation. Seriously, 'I shouldn't bother her with this' and 'he doesn't love me, otherwise he'd talk to me' is endearing the first couple of times but wearing if repeated too often.
Anyway, on with Living With Ghosts. First off, this is a book written from multiple points of view, so if that annoys you then this book probably won't work for you - one of our characters is a magician/assassin-turned-prostitute who's now living and working far from home having failed his final test. Sadly for Gracielis, the woman who trained him has turned up as part of the embassy from his home country and is now manipulating him while also plotting to overthrow the monarchy of his adopted home.
The title of the book comes from the fact that, as part of his training, Gracielis is able to see ghosts and is haunted by the ghost of a soldier who was involved in a duel he witnessed 6 years earlier. The problem is, the other duellist is now showing up as a ghost and its his appearance that is used as a demonstration that things are going wrong in the city - eventually there's a zombie-creating plague but things resolve themselves in the end.
I liked it but I also got 90% of the way in and didn't really feel much urgency to find out what happened in the end, which is rarely a good sign. It's also 480 pages of densely-written mass market paperback fantasy set in pseudo-Europe with characters who could have fixed half their issues (and reduced the size of the book by a good 100 pages, I reckon) if they'd just actually have a conversation. Seriously, 'I shouldn't bother her with this' and 'he doesn't love me, otherwise he'd talk to me' is endearing the first couple of times but wearing if repeated too often.
dee2799d's review
3.0
I'm very conflicted about my feelings for this book. On the one hand, it has a lovely cover, a lovely title, and the first thing you see from the summary is, 'Failed assassin-priest turned courtesan Gracielis'. And I think that's awesome.
On the other hand, there are really some jarring moments in the narrative. I don't know what's going on. Sometimes you get this really lyrical passage and you think, 'Hm, that's actually quite good' and sometimes you just go, 'I have no idea why your editor let you do this'. Description sometimes bogs down the pacing of the whole thing (i.e. Thiercelin starts out thinking about his late friend, Valdin, and in the middle of the paragraph covers his eyes with his hands 'which were brown' and it took me several seconds to understand that 'brown' meant eyes, not hands).
You also get people who talk like Shakespeare (not really, just a general idea), but then have someone talk about eyedroppers and military HQs. There's nothing wrong about these things, of course, it's a fantasy setting. But I didn't quite like the way it all got thrown together.
But why am I giving this three stars?
The characters. Even if I had this instant dislike of Quenfrida (I don't know why, she hasn't really done anything bad? Aside from the whole, 'I'm going to do this because I can' deal), I loved the characters too much to give it up.
There's Gracielis, who is practically a mirror, giving you a reflection that you want to see. I can see why people don't like him much, there's not a lot in Gracielis to actually make him a character you can empathise with because he's all dyed hair and painted face. On the other hand, you dig in deep and you see that he knows. He uses his painted face and dyed hair and pretty manners as a lifeline, because he knows there's really nothing much in him.The standard, 'Boy falls in love and gets an identity' trope happens here when Gracielis falls in love with Thiercelin. On the other hand, if you expect this to have a happy ending, think again.
There's Thiercelin, who just wants to prove to his beloved (and ever busy) wife that he's dependable. Thiercelin's relationship with Yvianne is really the most frustrating for me. And not in an overly bad way. It's just too much missed opportunities and misunderstandings, when they actually love each other very much. UGH.
Joyain, the soldier who makes surprisingly human and heroic choices (reminds me very much of Jean Kirschtein, actually). Iareth, a woman beloved by a ghost, who left the man she loved for dutyand died for it . Vadarrien, a dead man who came back for love.
And of course, the city itself, Merafi, although we really see more water than anything else (I would have been glad for a map, tbh).
Apparently, Ms Sperring has another novel out set in the same world, but a different timeline. I'm still considering checking that out because I don't know...
On the other hand, there are really some jarring moments in the narrative. I don't know what's going on. Sometimes you get this really lyrical passage and you think, 'Hm, that's actually quite good' and sometimes you just go, 'I have no idea why your editor let you do this'. Description sometimes bogs down the pacing of the whole thing (i.e. Thiercelin starts out thinking about his late friend, Valdin, and in the middle of the paragraph covers his eyes with his hands 'which were brown' and it took me several seconds to understand that 'brown' meant eyes, not hands).
You also get people who talk like Shakespeare (not really, just a general idea), but then have someone talk about eyedroppers and military HQs. There's nothing wrong about these things, of course, it's a fantasy setting. But I didn't quite like the way it all got thrown together.
But why am I giving this three stars?
The characters. Even if I had this instant dislike of Quenfrida (I don't know why, she hasn't really done anything bad? Aside from the whole, 'I'm going to do this because I can' deal), I loved the characters too much to give it up.
There's Gracielis, who is practically a mirror, giving you a reflection that you want to see. I can see why people don't like him much, there's not a lot in Gracielis to actually make him a character you can empathise with because he's all dyed hair and painted face. On the other hand, you dig in deep and you see that he knows. He uses his painted face and dyed hair and pretty manners as a lifeline, because he knows there's really nothing much in him.
There's Thiercelin, who just wants to prove to his beloved (and ever busy) wife that he's dependable. Thiercelin's relationship with Yvianne is really the most frustrating for me. And not in an overly bad way. It's just too much missed opportunities and misunderstandings, when they actually love each other very much. UGH.
Joyain, the soldier who makes surprisingly human and heroic choices (reminds me very much of Jean Kirschtein, actually). Iareth, a woman beloved by a ghost, who left the man she loved for duty
And of course, the city itself, Merafi, although we really see more water than anything else (I would have been glad for a map, tbh).
Apparently, Ms Sperring has another novel out set in the same world, but a different timeline. I'm still considering checking that out because I don't know...
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