Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Geist - Philippa Ballantine.
April 10th.

In!

I might give this another go

My April is stacked. Will prob have to read this very slow in order to finish my BIG books(Malazan, WOT, Wars of L&S)!

🙄🙄🙄

Attention!

Geist is only $0.99 today on Kindle US!

Why didn't I see this earlier? I'd be up for a re-read of this - are you going to read the whole series?

Shaitarn, no clue who set this up!
But I do know I may be interested in I really enjoy this one, plus the books are rather short!

Well, this first one will be a re-read, but I never got around to finishing the others, so it'd be nice to finally read them all!

Whoa I actually have this book. Let's see if I could squeeze it in.

Started this today. Find it strange that in Ch 1 (view spoiler)[ we already have a geist who “was acting as no other The Deacons had ever recorded.” Hard to start with this when we have no reference to this creature before, and have no clue the bounds it usually acts within.

I knew the language was gonna be pretty simple somce this is only a 270 pager. Im hoping it doesnt bother me. (hide spoiler)]

End of Ch 1.

Did I just get thrown into the middle of a book?!

I just started and I am having a tough time getting oriented as well...

I read the first half a couple years ago with a book club, and we all felt totally lost at first. It’s so odd.

So, just finished Ch. 4 and things are starting to come together, but the author obviously wants us to put the puzzle together piece by piece. It is kind of unusual for books like that to start with (view spoiler)[ the main character married and obviously out of love with her husband, ready for divorce. I also feel bad for her that now her husband is hurt, she had to postpone the divorce or separation conversation... (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 4.. (view spoiler)[ So I am guessing that this Prince has been pirating, but is mostly on the see, because conventional wisdom tells that Geists can't deal or attack on or over water, and obviously there is some curse or prophecy that is connected with him and a powerful Geist... Well, now it seems the rules of the Geists are changing... (hide spoiler)] 😶😶😶

Really tempted.

I'll probably start later today

I don't trust this calm and collected chick...

oh what the heck, I am jumping on this wagon and starting tonight

I like the opening! I don’t mind when an author kicks me into the depths. I love the mc being not in her teens and in an emotional tangle. Hate the (view spoiler)[zombies but thankfully they are not too zombie apocalypse like so I can hopefully endure (hide spoiler)]

I also love that she is in her thirties 🙂. Even Merrick is growing on me...

Her marital status and age as well as experience as a Deacon IS very different from other YA novels. Wait, is this YA or no? I thoght that was the case but all these factors point towards adult.

Hm. As much as I try not to “classify” books, Im finding it hard to place this one.

I believe based on the publisher and the mass market format that it’s an adult novel.

I want to jump on this train too, clearly haha. Trying to find time...

I reached chapter 4 and I really like it so far. I hope she has in store even more exciting things.

It is adult for sure and very different from what we have been reading as of late... Ch. 12... I (view spoiler)[ was not surprised that the weird Abbey people are a part of the problem, but I hope we don't lose Merrick so soon... 😣 (hide spoiler)]

I keep thinking that if Sabriel grew up a little bit jaded, overworked and overstressed, had a marriage misfire on her and developed a cynical streak, she would be just like Deacon Sorcha.

This scene when she lights her cigarette from a glowing gauntlet was pure gold. I really like how she is developed. Strong but not so controlled. Abrupt, a little bit brusque. Lacking diplomatic skills. Driven by obligations even if it costs her her heart.

I read in other reviews that people dislike the book because they do not believe the protagonists to be sound enough. I do not have a feeling that characterisation suffers because the book is short. To the contrary, these small snippets are very nicely positioned to cast light on various whys and hows and other personal aspects.

I like her, I have issues with the pacing a little bit... It seems like we get to an intense episode and then there is a lul... But so far, I am not dissatisfied at all. I am fascinated by the world, although they do seem to get easily smitten 😋

Mayim wrote: "I like the opening! I don’t mind when an author kicks me into the depths. I love the mc being not in her teens and in an emotional tangle. Hate the [spoilers removed]"

This is very good to hear. I am sooo over teenaged MC.

Starting now!

I’m about 20% in and really liking this book, regardless of how short thai book is. I really enjoyed Ch 5 (Raed’s viewpoint)! Interested to learn more about this weird situation on the water.

2 chapters in and I'm enjoying it so far. I really like that we have an older, imperfect MC as well. That line about (view spoiler)[ hoping her new partner had a thick skin because she needed someone to take her anger out on made me smile. (hide spoiler)]

Interesting hints about the sort of world/technology level we're in with references to dirigibles and cigars.

If I start reading this on the 26th will it still be considered as Buddy Read? And eligible for points for the team challenge?

I have finished. Pleasant and fast. Solid 3 stars.

PS Silvana, no idea, I am not participating this year.

Silvana, hell yeah it would! Just add it and don't worry about it 😊

Im over here just worrying how I will fit the remaining 4 books into my schedule! Thankfully these are so short!

Choko wrote: "Silvana, hell yeah it would! Just add it and don't worry about it 😊"

Okie dok! Might even start two days earlier, depending on how fast I could finish Circe.

Tried the first thirty pages. Too many intermittent info dumps for my liking.

The world is complex and the magic system even more so, and so these pay off very shortly.

It's odd, I like this book but I'm finding it really hard to pick it up and make any headway through it - usually I'd have finished a book this short by now, but I'm not even halfway through yet (I seem to recall last time I read a huge chunk when I'd missed my train and had an hour wait at the station).

I shall press on and hope I can get through the rest more quickly - I have BRs backing up!

I really like this book but it is my “second” book as my primary is WOT #10. Is it the only book you’re reading Shaitarn???

Jess wrote: "I really like this book but it is my “second” book as my primary is WOT #10. Is it the only book you’re reading Shaitarn???"

At the moment, yes. Admittedly, it is Camp Nano month, so I'm devoting a lot of time to writing, but... *shrug* I don't know.

Sometimes this happens as a by blow of the book's "geist" so to speak. I always lower my rating then, not much, by half star, just to mark this impediment.

Mayim wrote: "Sometimes this happens as a by blow of the book's "geist" so to speak. I always lower my rating then, not much, by half star, just to mark this impediment."

Yeah, I think I might drop my rating to 3.5 (rounded up, so makes no difference really). But I will finish this book today if it kills me!

I just read Ch 10’s romantic “tussle”

(view spoiler)[Man I hate to lower it a half star or so but that was weird. Sorcha and Raed. His Changing wasnt written greatto begin with, then they sort of just attck each other. Ugh. Would it be as weird if she weren’t married?? Maybe. (hide spoiler)]

No, I think the fact that she is (view spoiler)[married (hide spoiler)] is the key factor here.

Mayim wrote: "No, I think the fact that she is [spoilers removed] is the key factor here."

I agree; (view spoiler)[ she's trapped in a loveless marriage; remember at the beginning she was planning on having a talk about separation but the geist attack prevented that (view spoiler)[ later on she says it's been two years since they last had sex (hide spoiler)]. I think being with a man who she finds attractive and who wants her is too big a temptation for her to resist after so long unhappy. (hide spoiler)]

So for me that was one of the main reasons for the 3 stars (not 4). I cannot speak from experience as for some strange reason, Mr de Vries is madly in love with me and he's been my one and only but it struck me as cowardly and immature (and so opposite to what Sorcha normally is) (view spoiler)[ to carry on with something like this marriage for 2 years and do absolutely nothing about this! I understand that the picture was supposed to be grim and the marriage dead and beyond rescue so to speak, but still - I cannot endorse a romance based on cheating. If the main protagonist was male, the feminists would castrate him and then feed him his own testicles! (hide spoiler)]

Mayim wrote: "So for me that was one of the main reasons for the 3 stars (not 4). I cannot speak from experience as for some strange reason, Mr de Vries is madly in love with me and he's been my one and only but..."


Hahah! Im not sure how I feel yet about the possible romantic involvement, gonna see how the book ends first.

Ch 16
(view spoiler)[
Was anyone else confused about Nynnia bonding with Merrick?? She had to have been an Active to be able to bond with him and “talk” telepathically. Then as an explanation she says shes a healer like her father. But I thought Sensitives were healers. Im still in ch 16 so maybe this will get explained better than that. I hope. (hide spoiler)]

just keep reading

Earlier in the book, there was some disagreement about whether there were “cycles” or times when it was easier to access the Otherside. There didn’t seem to be a resolution.

Ch 20, Merrick claims that the time before dawn is the best time to see into the Otherside. I hope we are about to see this in application in this Ch!!!