Customer Reviews

Gabriel's Ghost

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Courtesy of Love Romances

Fans of stories about otherworld adventures and travels across space will love Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair.

Chasidah "Chaz" Bergren is imprisoned for a crime she didn't commit. Stripped of her command in the Imperial Sixth Fleet and sent off to the prison planet of Moabar, she is just trying to survive in the harsh climate. Escape is not an option until the day she murders a guard in self-defense and comes face to face with a ghost from her past.

Gabriel "Sully" Sullivan is a legendary smuggler and mercenary, thought to be dead by the government, and Chaz as well. Here he is, alive and well... and determined to rescue her? He needs her help, for someone has initiated a program for breeding jukors, one of the most vicious, deadly creatures of their time. Chaz knows the Imperial command inside and out and is Sully's only hope.

Now these two are barreling across space, with only two missions in mind... to find and destroy all data and labs involved in the breeding program of the deadly monsters and to clear Chaz's name. Old feelings come swimming back to the surface between Chaz and Sully that they are unable to fight any longer. However, Sully has some deep dark secrets of his own that could make her turn from him in disgust. Can she see past what he is to the man in his heart?

Gabriel's Ghost is one nonstop adventure ride. The action starts immediately from the first paragraph, ebbing and flowing through to the last line. This reader loves how the book starts and ends with the same line, signifying that the story has come full circle. Though there are some slower moments during the space journey in the middle of the book, the plot continuously grows and changes with the characters, satisfying the readers. The secondary story lines add depth to the tale, providing plenty of mystery and twists to keep one guessing as to what will happen next.

Chaz is a strong woman, having been forced to grow up at a young age by the very nature of her family's lifestyle. Sully is all alpha male, powerful, brave, forceful in his intentions, protecting those in his care no matter what the cost. Yet he is also a tortured man, keeping secret the true nature of his person that would make him hated and feared for all the wrong reasons if anyone were to discover him. These two need each other; each is strong where the other is weak, perfectly melding their personalities to make them an unbreakable, united force.

Religion plays a strong role in the book, with the ways of the Englarians affecting everything that happens and coloring the ways of the people. It is fascinating to see how Ms. Sinclair weaves the beliefs of the monks into the characters' actions. Prejudice also plays a big role in the story, especially in regards to one character, the Stolorth Ren. One sees through his first hand experiences how misinformation, or even just a lack of knowledge, can be misused and misdirected, hurting those who do not deserve it. If these two concepts - religion and racial intolerance - were eliminated from the book, then the story would read completely different and possibly not have as much of an impact on its readers.

Gabriel's Ghost will appeal to fans of traditional science fiction, with the strongly developed technology and worlds. Yet there is a strong romantic storyline with the beautifully developed characters that is bound to charm fans of that genre as well.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, September 2005. All rights reserved.

Chasidah "Chaz" Bergren was on her way up the ladder of the Federated Fleet. She was captain of her own ship and well respected by those under her command as well as her superiors. Or so she thought. When Chaz was accused of ignoring orders which led to the deaths of fourteen of her crew, she couldn't believe it. She was stunned during her trial when her friends deserted her and data was created to convict her. Condemned to spend the rest of her life on the prison planet, Moabar, Chaz has her hands full just trying to stay alive. When Gabriel "Sully" Sullivan shows up to rescue her, Chaz is stunned. He supposedly died two years ago. And why did he want to rescue her, anyway? It is true that both of them enjoyed sparring verbally and there was an undeniable physical attraction, but they had always been on opposite sides of the fence: she a Fleet captain, he a smuggler out stealing whatever he could whenever he could. Still, going anywhere with Sully had to be better than staying on Moabar.

Chaz reluctantly agrees to help Sully track down an illegal jukor lab on Marker, her home planet where her older brother still runs the shipping yards. She doesn't quite believe Sully when he insists that the Federation is breeding jukors there. After all, the Federation had cancelled the jukor project years ago, hadn't they? Who would be stupid enough to keep created animals that could not be controlled and were extremely difficult to kill?

It soon becomes obvious to Chaz that Sully is right - there is a jukor lab on Marker and another lab is being built on a space ship somewhere. Gradually Sully wins Chaz' trust and they are close to becoming involved when Chaz discovers that Sully is a powerful empath/telepath and can change people's thoughts, read minds and kill with the power of his mind alone. The whole Federation has been educated to hate and fear the Solorths because they have this power, but Chaz never expected to encounter a human who wields power like a Stolorth. How can Chaz trust Sully when he swears that he has not tricked her into going along with his plans? He has already altered a memory and invaded her mind when he wanted to gain information about her ex-husband. However, Chaz soon realizes that Sully hates and fears what he is, too. He fears that he will never gain acceptance from anyone, especially Chaz, whom he has loved for years and years. Little by little, Sully opens up to Chaz and tries to show her that he is not the monster that the universe thinks he is and little by little Chaz comes to believe him, but how much of the truth can Chaz take? How much is love willing to overlook and accept? As Sully and Chaz try to sort out their feelings and fears, they realize that the jukor conspiracy reaches up much higher than they hoped - all the way to the leaders of the Federation itself...

This is the first book that I have read by Linnea Sinclair and she is now up there at the top with my other favorite authors. This book was simply amazing. It had a very engrossing plotline with a lot of details about the technologically advanced futuristic world that Sully and Chaz live in. Religion, politics, military, you name it, it was discussed and figured into the plot. The world was very real and I loved Baker's characters. Sully was a gorgeous, tortured, dark hero who desperately needed someone to love him despite who and what he was. Chaz was a strong female character, but not obnoxious and not too independent to want to have friends and a special someone she could lean on. The supporting characters included people from all races and types including Ren, a blind Stolorth who was forced to hide from his people or he would be killed; the giant, hairy takas, who were raping and killing human women in retaliation for the federation experimenting on their women; Philip, Chaz' ex-husband, who still loves her and yet cannot change his rigid Fleet training to win her back; Sister Berri, a very devout, almost insane priestess who believes she is on a holy quest, and many, many more. The romance between Sully and Chaz was a wonderful subplot and handled so well by Sinclair, I was truly impressed. A simply wonderful book that is well worth any price that you pay for it! Buy this and pray that Mrs. Sinclair is writing a sequel - I know you will love it!

I was very surprised with this novel! I was expecting a by the numbers space soap opera. But there was more space than soap. More character than romance. Orginally, I saw this classed as a futuristic romance. I can see why that occurred. I would be easier to market. I once read that science fiction was the fiction of ideas, fantasy that of emotion and romance that of sensation.
With the characters of Chas and Sully, we have all three fictions wrapped into a nice tight narrative.
Here are the basics, by the book Chas was once a Captain in the Imperial Fleet. Sully, a roguish, sexy pirate. She is courtmarshalled for a crime she did not commit. Sully swoops in and rescues her from the hellish prsion planet she is on.
They navigate through a very believable world with a depth that shows a great deal of time spent on world building. There are points of suspence when you aren't quite sure that the there will be a happily ever after.
The roguish hero isn't the ever present alpha male who can fix all and has all under control. The heroine isn's the super spunky miss we are so used to.
There is science mixed in with the fiction, enough that the title of futuristic romance is totally misplaced and the genre of science fiction fits.
Bearing that in mind, there are marvelous, romantic and steamy love scenes, but not so many that the story is lost.
I can recommend this with absolutely not one concern. A definite must read!
In fact, I was reminded of the EARLY Anita Blake novels, but with laser guns instead of silver knives and semi autos!

So I bought this book with very low expectations. It had been recommended to me by a couple of friends, but I was skeptical. I was very much surprised to discover a very enjoyable read. The Science fiction elements weren't there just to support a lot of heaving breasts, it was integral to the story and extremely well done. The romance was both hot and sweet and neither character was an idiot. My usual complaint with romances is that neither character can be honest with themselves, or the other person, because they're just too stupid to recognize that they are making things worse for themselves for no real reason. Ms. Sinclair does not fall into this trap. She crafts likeable, interesting protaganists, devious, but understandable villains and a world that hangs together believably.

The only problem is how few books she has written. I would like a full shelf in my library dedicated just to her work, she's that good. I would put her up there with David Weber, Andre Norton, and Anne McCaffrey. It's a shame that she is considered "Cross-genre" and will probably not get as much recognition from the SF community because of it. She deserves accolades and to be hounded by pimply fourteen year olds at cons. LOL

Honestly though, this book was amazing and I immediately went out and got everything else of hers that I could find. I highly recommend anything by Ms. Sinclair to anyone who likes a well-written sexual tension in their hard SF, or well-plotted hard SF in their romance novel.

Any discussion about SFR will most likely eventually circle around to Linnea Sinclair's books. With all the awards she's won, both for SF and Romance, she's the big name in SFR at the moment. So, when I decided to do my Summer of SFR, I knew I had to have a Sinclair book in my TBR pile. Gabriel's Ghost ended up being that book because the only other Sinclair books my library had were Down Home Zombie Blues, which I have heard is not her best book, and Rebels and Lovers, which is the middle of an ongoing arc of books started by Gabriel's Ghost. So I went with Gabriel.

The heroine of Gabriel's Ghost and its narrator, Chaz, was the captain of a small military space vessel that patrolled the borders, escorted mining vessels, and did it's best to scare away any smugglers sniffing around the border. When over a dozen of Chaz's crew ended up dead, she was court-martialed for disobeying an order she never received. The book begins with Chaz on the prison planet Moabar, after she has just managed to save herself from being brutally raped and murdered by one of the prison guards.

Hell of an introduction to the character and a great hook for the story.

So, having dispatched the would-be rapist alien, Chaz immediately runs into another shadowy figure, and finds herself confronting a man she thought was dead, her old flame and the notorious smuggler Gabriel Sully (The "ghost" of the title). Sully (I don't know why the book is Gabriel's Ghost when no one really calls him that in the book. I guess you can't beat the alliteration?) has been tracking Chaz, and he's there to offer a chance to get off planet if she'll join his operation. Since Moabar is hardly a vacation resort, Chaz agrees, although she doesn't trust Sully as far as she can throw him, especially when he begins to display certain uncanny abilities that humans aren't supposed to have...

To avoid spoilers I'll leave the rest of the plot kind of fuzzy. Suffice it to say, this is a romance so Chaz soon finds that her relationship with Sully is much more than a professional one. Old Sully's been carrying a torch for her for years, and now's his chance to make "Chazzy-girl" his one and only.

I've tried Linnea Sinclair books before and while she is very obviously talented, they just never seem to gel for me. This book was, sad to say, not an exception. It started out well enough, as I said I enjoyed the action packed opening on the prison planet. I also loved Sully and his cocky personality, he is your typical charming rogue, but I think Ms Sinclair did a good job at giving him many, many layers and slowly pulling them away, revealing them to Chaz and the reader. Unfortunately, I felt like Sully kept too many secrets, especially from Chaz when he professed himself to be in love with her, and the way he very deliberately parceled them out in increments felt much more like a plot device to keep him enigmatic than as an organic part of his character.

Chaz was a good heroine, but, and I'm having trouble articulating this, I felt no chemistry with her, no affiliation, no zing. I liked her OK, but there was nothing about her voice or her actions that made me sit up and say, "I want to party with this chick." I guess I'm comparing my reaction to her to my reactions to Cordelia from Shards of Honor or Jax from Grimspace. Those heroines have some zing, some sparkle. They pull you right in and charm the pants off you even when they're being Grade A Bitches. I didn't get that with Chaz, and in a first person novel, I feel like the narrator's voice should be much more compelling than Chaz's was.

Another issue I have had with every Sinclair book I've tried is the pacing. The middles just drag for me, and I feel like, in this book particularly, there were a lot of extraneous scenes that didn't need to be there and could have been cut to pick the pace up. Much of the time spent on ships going from place to place felt like sitting in a waiting room. Not much happens, and I wasn't sure why they were so detailed, when those moments could have been skimmed over. Truth be told, if I hadn't been reading this for Summer of SFR, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

I feel I do have to point out, that this book is competently written. There is also some excellent world-building and fairly likable, sometimes engaging characters (I really liked Sully's alien companion, Ren. He was definitely a scene-stealer). But, because of the issues of pacing, and the somewhat lackluster narrator, I found myself unenthusiastic about Gabriel's Ghost. And I recognize I'm probably in the minority on this...

Grade: C

Stripped of her post as Captain for the interstellar Sixth Fleet after being convicted of a crime she didn't commit, Chasidah "Chaz' Bergren is sent to Moabar prison planet, with only her Grizni dagger to protect and defend herself.

Just when she defends herself and kills a Taka, she comes face-to-face with Gabriel "Sully" Ross Sullivan, the legendary mercenary and scoundrel, whom she'd met several times before. Chaz is sure Sully loved the chases then. But meeting up with him now is a surprise, considering he's supposed to be dead. Mind you, the dead man still looks as good as he did then.

Sully has a proposal for Chaz; in return for her help and services for his mission, he'll get her off of Moabar and help clear her name.

She accepts and wonders if she'll regret it.

Racing from one station to the next, Chaz learns that someone is breeding "jukors"; uncontrollable monsters. However, Sully has learned of a new gen-lab breeding these monsters, and using Takan females as incubators. Sully is determined to put a stop to it.

The question is: who can they trust? Who's behind the gen-labs? How high up the chain of command does it go? For recent reports gleamed by inside informants say the lab is on Marker, where the Empire is based.

And all the while trying to determine answers to those questions, Chaz is falling for Sully more and more, even when she refuses to be on that "long list of confused women" that Sully is purported to have left behind in his wake. And despite not wanting to be on that "long list", Chaz is falling in love with him.

But Sully isn't everything he plays himself to be. Sully is an Empath, a Telephath, and then Chaz finds out he's something more. Can she push past those barriers she was taught to put up against someone, something like Sully, or will her decision be lead by her heart?

Oh, did I so enjoy this story!

At first, I worried. I'm not usually one who likes a story narrated in first-person. While I sometimes have a hard time reading stories told that way, this in no way hampered this book. In fact, I think the story being told by Chaz herself adds to the book - I can't see it as a third-person story.

The action starts immediately and pretty much doesn't let up, no matter which kind of action, defending one's self and others or heating up the sheets. As the story grows, so do the characters, coming full circle from start to finish, and is more than satisfying to this reader. Add in mystery with amazing characters, primary and secondary, and you have the makings of an amazing book.

Chaz is a strong woman, more than capable in defending herself, and like Sully, believes the gen-labs needs to be stopped, is willing to do what is necessary to see them stopped. She knows she'd been framed, doesn't want to believe that someone close to her helped put her there, but she needs to get to the bottom of it, even if she doesn't like the truth.

Sully is Alpha through and through; strong, brave, forceful, incorrigible, and protects those he loves and cares about with a fierceness that will steal a reader's breath. But Sully also hurts more than most, for he hides a deep, dark secret, one that he knows very few will accept. Only one person truly knows what he is, and he's hoping Chaz will be the second, for he truly loves her deeply, and to be rejected by her would surely put an end to the Sully we grow to love.

Incredible from start to finish, the story will suck you in and leave you with a sigh of contentment when finished. I can't wait to get my hands on Shades of Dark, book #2 in this series. Awesome job, Ms. Sinclair!

Gabriel's Ghost is a fantastic book!!! It's a puzzle of compelling pieces set into a beautifully finished, futuristic landscape--one you can't wait to finish. The tale enthralled me with its constant action, adventure, and a gripping love story. Linnea Sinclair has mastered the difficult skill of weaving a futuristic world with a detailed science fiction setting that can't be topped... all of this... balanced with an equally captivating story. Don't miss Linnea Sinclair's Gabriel's Ghost!!!

I've heard good things about Linnea Sinclair for awhile but was never sure where to jump in and was waiting for the right mood. I've definitely had a sci-fi hankering lately, so I figured now (on the heels of Grimspace and The Host: A Novel) was as good a time as any. GABRIEL'S GHOST is certainly a fast-paced book and it was kind of cool that it started after some pretty significant action had already happened. The reader is caught up along the way as Captain Chasidah Bergren, aka Chaz, attempts to survive her life sentence on the desolate planet Moabar for a crime she didn't commit. Sound a bit like Jax's predicament in Grimspace? The two stories do have a fair bit in common, including a leading man who's "psychically gifted" to put it mildly. Though the writing style, IMO, is distinctly different.

I'm going to skip a detailed plot synopsis and just say it's light, entertaining space opera fare and I kept reading because of the characters. Chaz and Sully (aka Gabriel Ross Sullivan) are good ones. The dialogue is snappy and realistic and I liked that I never got frustrated with Chaz (who narrates the story). With Sully, yes, several times. Although, there always seemed to be a rather horrifically painful justifying reason for his actions and apparent complete failure to be forthcoming. But I was never frustrated with Chaz, never wanted to smack her upside the head for a particularly childish reaction or preoccupation with something irrelevant. And that was refreshing. I hate it when my heroines go against character and do something stupid merely for the sake of the plot. Chaz kept her head (if not her heart) and never ran off half-cocked, inadvertently plunging her companions into Utter Peril. I liked her and I liked Sully. I wanted to find out what happened to them and enjoyed the not-so-neatly wrapped up ending.

* 2006 Ritaź Award Winner! *

Linnea Sinclair is an expert in world building and now you can add romance to that expertise. In GABRIEL'S GHOST, she combines science fiction and romance in a sizzling manner that leaves you wanting more.

Captain Chasidah Bergren was falsely accused of a crime she didn't commit, court-martialed and sentenced to a harsh prison planet. Her surprising rescue comes in the form of Gabriel Sullivan, a pirate and mercenary who Chas had chased from one end of the galaxy to the next.

Though Sully initially told Chas he needed her expertise in shipping and knowledge of the system, his underlying personal needs often take precedence over his practical needs. He is on the hunt for the people behind the breeding of the deadly jukors. He asks for and gets Chas' help in his quest. Along the way, Chas starts to see Sully the man instead of Sullivan, the pirate. They must work together to clear both their names and reputations, and the close contact sets off sparks that grow. Throw in a personal secret that Sully must hide and you have the makings of great conflict and an even better story.

Linnea blends science fiction, romance, world building and the paranormal into a wonderful read. You will not be able to put this one down.

Reviewed by Vicky Burkholder
9/17/2006

Gabriel's Ghost is hard to classify. Is it a love story in an SF setting or an SF story including an unusually large amount of sweet romance. I found the SF aspects of the story almost negligible.

Fast space ships. Clever men and women pilot them as easily as bumper-cars at a fair. A couple of alien races are dealt with so sketchily that I kept forgetting they were aliens at all. Their personalities are almost identical with humans. Several characters enjoy telepathic powers and discuss it at length although nothing is new to SF. The human civilization is sketchy, probably because it is hard to make plausible a galactic empire ruled by an emperor. The alien civilizations are ignored. The plot is not interesting. In short, aspects of the book that would appeal to me are dealt with skimpily.

However the romance is plentiful and torrid. I mean genuine romantic love, not plain sex of which there is fortunately little. I am not fond of love stories but imagine the story would appeal very much to those who like that sort of thing.

The book is very well written and the characters come to life with remarkably vivid personalities. I just wish it were SF.