Geist

A Book of the Order

By: Philippa Ballantine

Narrated by: Philippa Ballantine

The undead are here and only the Deacons stand in their way.

The Order of the Deacons stand as protectors of the Empire, guardians against ghost possession, sentinels warding off the malevolent haunting of the geists.

Sorcha Faris, the most powerful deacon of the Order, finds herself thrust into an unwanted partnership with a total novice, Merrick Chambers. That’s bad enough, but when they are dispatched to an isolated village to counter a surge of violent geist activity, they find their fate bound with Raed Rossin. Shapeshifter and Pretender to the Imperial throne, he bears a terrible curse which endangers them all.

As they investigate, the strange settlement is reveled to be haunted by a undead creature more predatory and horrifying than any encountered before. Together they quest to uncover the mystery of twisted rituals passed down through the dark reaches of history intent on striking at the heart of the Empire.

Can three powerful and troubled people discover a way to work together to save the citizens and themselves?

©2018 Philippa Ballantine (P)2018 Philippa Ballantine

love Philippa Ballantine's work!!!!

I first discovered this amazing woman's work free when I was a poor single mom. Her stories transport me, her voice is like velvet to my soul. I love her characters and can't wait to find out what will happen next. I highly recommend all her stories and love the ones co-authored with Tee Morris. At first I could only find those to purchase, I was thrilled to find all her work here at audible.

This has it all!

You have intrigue, adventure, humor, betrayal and imaginative characters.
When the story begins I was not sure the author should have been the narrator. I was wrong! Though slow to start, she quickly showed her writing skills and performance to be outstanding. I will be checking into the other audios in this series.
This audio was given to me free and I voluntarily gave this review.

A bit of a rough start, but very enjoyable

I was starting to get worried for the first 10-20% or so of this one, but then the story settled down and started to flow nicely. I really enjoyed the magic system as well as the characters. The main characters were all likable and believable. The narration was excellent. Overall, I really liked this book and will be continuing with the series.

Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entertaining

Geist is an interesting story that paints ghosts (Geist) in a different perspective within a magical realm. The story’s heroine is a hard as nails, no nonsense, middle aged deacon who fines herself questioning those she has adamantly supported her entire adult life. The characters are likable, flawed, and believable. The storyline is interesting and entertaining and had me thinking about it each time I had to pause the audiobook. The narrator (author) did a great job providing unique voices for each character. I increased the audiobook speed to 1.5x to match my usual speed of reading; this shortened the between sentences pauses and didn’t distort the book’s enjoyment. I received a free copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Excellent performance held back by a weak story

An intriguing premise, but lacking depth in both world building and character development. The magic system seems undeveloped or only loosely expained as new abilities are introduced almost dues ex machina, except when they do nothing anyway. The characters are one dimensional and thier relationships weakly defined. I had high hopes for this story, but its execution is just disappointment.

The best I can say about the audiobook is that the narrator/author has an epic voice and listening to her voice the protagonist is enjoyable.