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Gabriel's Ghost (2005)

Gabriel's Ghost (2005)

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Genre
Rating
3.6 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0553587978 (ISBN13: 9780553587975)
Language
English
Publisher
bantam

About book Gabriel's Ghost (2005)

In Gabriel's Ghost Linnea Sinclair has fashioned a romantic but practical scifi adventure. I know, "practical" doesn't exactly sound enticing, but how else to describe Gabriel's Ghost? On the one hand, Sully and Chasidah do expose and explore more of their feelings than do most rough and tough scifi leads. On the other hand, Chasidah "Chaz" Bergren springs from military stock, and she's written very true to character. She's practical, calm even when she panics, and she's passionate about her career- but she's also sympathetic and kind. She's a refreshing breath after the hard cases of urban fantasy and the redemptive Mother Theresa candidates in paranormal romance, who respectively seem to indicate that women cannot walk a middle road. These women, like their real counterparts, continually negotiate between the softness and aggression society demands of them by turns. In her male-dominated profession, Chaz seems to have found a more healthy balance where other heroines have failed, and I believe she more accurately reflects the everywoman. I enjoyed the well-adjusted leads. Even Sully, that tortured soul, never abuses or inflicts his problems on Chaz, unlike the typical UF hero who rebuffs, disdains, and outright hurts the heroine (either that author has a martyr complex or she believes in the masculine mystique). Not Sully! I don't want to give away too much, since learning about this apparently cocky space pirate's half the fun, but we get to know him well as he and Chaz travel to their goal. We see their relationship develop in subtle, simple but meaningful gestures and romance. Fortunately, the romantic rhapsodizing doesn't overpower the novel, though it does occasionally mar the love scenes. Something about galaxies. Happily, Sully's sexy outside those scenes.Other than some other cheesiness -Sully and Chaz apparently come to an unspoken agreement in the first chapter to call him the "ghost from Hell" that is thankfully dropped in later chapters- and the endless expansion of the magic system ("Oh, you thought that was it? There's more. This also means they can do...") I really enjoyed Gabriel's Ghost. I liked the dark side of power there, the questions of government and absorbed prejudice, etc., and I liked the secondary characters (Ren! <3) This is scifi lite, outside of a few space station layouts I glossed. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure romance and a mysterious hero who's a pleasure to unravel! Look for the sequels which continue to follow Sully and Chaz's adventures. Beware of spoilers in reviews. This is one of those books easy to spoil.

When I read Gabriel's Ghost I was mentally comparing it with Finders Keepers, and it feels like it's a later novel. The romance is more complicated in this book, less predictable. Despite that, although the writing still pulled me in, I liked Gabriel's Ghost less than Finders Keepers. The first part of the book was very interesting, but then about halfway through, the story started to lag. I felt like the relationship should be all resolved by then and I' d like to see it build from there, but it was just being dragged backward and having wrenches thrown in because Chaz Doesn't Really Know the Truth About Gabriel. She would find out something, freak out a bit, then got over it and become reasonable. But this keeps happening because Gabriel gave her the facts in little crumbs. I think the book could have been better if this didn't go on as long as it did. Plus, to add to this - the hints about Gabriel were all over the place. There were a couple of things I didn't guess that were minor, but if Chaz had figured the obvious this book would have been shorter in a good way because the story picks up towards the end and then - it ends! I had a freakout and was quite upset. THEN I found out from searching the web that there was a second book even though there is no indication on this books cover! The sequel is called Shades of Dark (apparently it was renamed from "Chasidah's Choice") and is coming out in July 2008. Phew. Review at my book blog http://janicu.livejournal.com/24353.htmland http://janicu.livejournal.com/24656.html

Do You like book Gabriel's Ghost (2005)?

I have read two other novel by Ms Linnea. I really liked Finders Keepers and liked enough Games of Command. Gabriel's Ghost had higher reviews, so I expected it to be better. This may have been my downfall. :)While reading Gabriel's Ghost I kept feeling echos, like a sonar, of stories past by. I know genre fiction is often formulaic. Hell, all stories are formulaic at hearth. Love stories, whether comedies or tragedies, are built on the lines of girl meets boys, problems ensue, HEA or tragedy struck. But here I re-read pieces of her other novels.-Enemies who liked each other from their bridges and flirted through war (deja vu)-Non human male (deja vu)-He loves her in secret and writes letter to her-Government lies (deja vu)-And it goes on and on.The plot was different, but the details weren't engrossing enough to make me forget the common mold. To this I have to add a few other cons for me.-Gabriel: supercilious ass if I ever read of one. I would have gladly stomped on him as a bug. -Chaz: she is supposed to be this good (brilliant?) Fleet captain wrongfully accused and sentenced to a term literally worse than death. Do you see her intelligence? No. She appears this naive country girl whose only focus is avoiding being a fool (aka she has no self confidence). She trusts Gabriel and his crew in a flash, she may doubts him/them sometimes, but at the end she always trust them. After a life of being told telepath are monsters, she trusts one in a day (or a couple). Same apply with the other details. Hell, she has being betrayed by her system, but she still believes....Does she look brilliant to you? Does she sound military? I'm not an expert at all. Still I wouldn't believe they know no paranoia..-Insta-love. I'm starting to hate this trope. These two have flirted by proxies (their bridges/ships) for years. Have kissed once. Does this make love? No, it may make some hot sex at the end of the teasing, but not love. You are dumped in a love story mid way with no way (pun intended) to believe it. -The language. To explain empathy and auras, Ms Sinclair keeps repeating they are like rainbows. It got annoying after a while. When Chaz send Gabriel rainbows I stopped reading. I may try again. But at the moment it was a fail reading.
—Mara

I read this book as part of Vaginal Fantasy book club. The book had a great beginning with well fleshed out characters who seemed real and had real flaws, but that seemed to shift as the book went along. I loved those character until about halfway through. I have three main issues with the novel that bother me, but first I'll start with the good.I like the space opera aspect. It's just enough to be a familiar idea while staying different enough to keep you going for most of the story. I also lik
—Heather Campbell

What a fabulous read. "Gabriel's Ghost" by Linnea Sinclair is an amazing blend of romance, science fiction, fantasy, and suspense that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. I broke down and picked up this book because its sequel "Shades of Dark" will hit the shelves on July 29, 2008 and I was curious as to whether or not to put it on my shopping list. I'm so glad I read this book and I already put the new one on my 'must buy' list!Chaz is suspicious when she's 'rescued' from her unjust sentence on the prison planet by an old foe and almost lover. Gabriel was supposed to be dead, and Chaz had secretly mourned him...so what was he doing rescuing her? If they're caught, they'll both die. What's in it for him?The emotions between these two jump off the page. Neither trusts the other at first, and both have old scars that need to be exposed and healed. As they work together to smoke out a group using kidnapped women to breed deadly animals, they gradually learn each others secrets and learn how to open themselves up to love.The universe Sinclair creates is peopled with a plethora of fascinating aliens and interesting new worlds yet still struggles with prejudice, fear, love, forgiveness, religious fanaticism, greed, kindness, and betrayal. It's one hell of a story regardless of the setting. The heat between the lead characters is WWAAAYYYYY hot and very moving. To be accepted with all our differences and flaws is, to me, the essence of love and that's what this book is all about.
—Julie (jjmachshev)

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