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.

Geist

The book is slow to start with and a bit confusing but once the story progresses you get a better understanding of what is going on and the pace picks up. The story has adventure, humour (which I love in books) and intrigue.
Would recommend.

quite enjoyable

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The cover* left me a bit nervous that it would be more YA than I was looking for, but Sorcha is in her 30s (late 30s, I even think), as is Raed. They were believable, capable adults. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

The world is an interesting one. There's a mild romantic subplot (or two) and there's some witty humor. I was a little less enamored with the plot than I was with everything surrounding it, but still a solid, enjoyable read.

Lastly, I'm alway iffy about author-narrators. But, with the exception of some annoying swallowing sounds, Ballantine did an excellent job with the narration.

*If I'm discussing the cover, I don't know that a lion fits the description of the beast(as I understood it) and every time I look at it, I'm a bit thrown off.

Note: I received an audible credit for the purposes of review. However, I chose to listen to it and review.

Not Overwhelmed

I got this story via audiobook boom and this is my voluntary review. I was very confused throughout the book. I was not sure if I was listening to one couple's story or the story of another. The views kept switching and then the stories got mixed up and then put back together. I was well into hour four of listening before I got onto what was going on. The narrator told the story, no real voice changes but it was a pleasant voice so it kept me engaged. The descriptions of the fight scenes and especially the one where they had to jump off the ship and ride the horses were good. I am not so sure of the role of the girl that they met on the road. Her character was slightly off. This is a story that you can't crochet and listen because you will miss something then have to go back to understand what is happening. It had lots of twists and turns. One scene I was not sure of. They entered the Abby, felt that there was something wrong but continued anyway and without their defenses up. That bothered me. She is supposed to be the most powerful Deacon but does something like that. Well the story kept me listening.

The dead strike back

on one side an active and sensitive, on the other an exiled prince being ridden by a beast lord spirit. Somehow they must put aside their differences and stop an invasion of the undead.
Great story with lots of plot twists and characters growth. I've already got the whole series! I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.