Ghost Ocean [Paperback]

S.M. Peters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009

Beings of unimaginable power, classified as myths and legends, have been imprisoned in the secluded town of St. Ives for centuries—watched over by guardians with supernatural skills. Te Evangeline’s father was one such guardian, a “binder” who died in the line of duty and who passed along his ability to his daughter. Now, Te must awaken the magic within her before her father’s killer releases his fellow prisoners on an unsuspecting world.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Roc; 1 Original edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462696
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462695
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,125,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Urban Fantasy as it should be., May 23, 2009

By 

The Mad Hatter "booktionary.blogspot.com" (NY State, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ghost Ocean (Paperback)

About a year ago I was in my local bookstore and saw a little mass market sticking out of alignment from the rest of the books. At the time it seemed like it was beckoning me. The book turned out to be the most ambitious steampunk novel I've read called Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters which was his debut novel. I don't think it got noticed as much as it deserved when first released. The striking cover is perfect for the story which evokes a Victorian England where there is a disease turning people into machines. If you are a fan of steampunk than by all means get yourself a copy of Whitechapel Gods. With Ghost Ocean we see Peters turn his able sextant to Urban Fantasy.

Judging by its cover of a pretty girl in a leather jacket it could be lost in the sea of other Urban Fantasies, but it is definitely a cut above the average. Ghost Ocean is very strange with the most bizarre cast of characters placed in the fictitious town of St. Ives where it is almost always raining and monsters of all kind dwell. Told from multiple view points and jumping around in time and memory it could take a little while to get a handle of what is going on just in time for Peters to change the rules, however it is well worth the effort. The story completely fakes you out from what you think is going to be a daughter's search for her father's killer, but is more about the ancient evils that surrounds Te, the main protagonist.

Te is a paranormal investigator in training to Babu Cherian who worked with her father before his death five years prior. Along the way you learn Te has been held in the dark about nearly everything and everyone in her life as her father wanted to shield her from this life. It is actually surprising how well adjusted she is given her upbringing by a clearly uncaring mother and a mostly absent father. My one caveat is Te's relationship to Jack, her doting neighbor, in which she leads him around like a puppy into trouble time and time again. But to Te it is all about filling the gap of loneliness inside of her and Jack also provides her a connection she needs to stay grounded.

After a very powerful monster escapes its prison Te is brought in on the secrets of her father's past and into Babu's mysterious group of monster hunters in search of the creature. My favorite character from the odd group is probably Munin who is mathematical genius/mad scientist with a toy ray gun. All over St. Ives there are creepy crawlies aching to be set free. The grotesque description of many of the creatures, most notably Bird will stay with you for a long while as will the freak people that surround her. In some ways Ghost Ocean is a dark version of American Gods with Peters' use of mythology and his own inventiveness able to make it stand apart.

Ghost Ocean is a wild adventure that keeps pushing harder and further to up the stakes. Fans of Neil Gaiman, Simon R. Green, or Christopher Golden should definitely find Ghost Ocean engaging and fresh. If you are a guy who loves Urban Fantasy, but have trouble finding new books beyond Dresden and John Taylor give this one a try. It is clear that Peters has a long and bright future in front of him as his writing has improved between books. I'll be checking out anything he writes in the future. I'm hopeful Peters gets moved up to a hardcover or at least trade paper release for his next book as I'd love to have copies that will hold up on my shelves.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did not enjoy this book, July 5, 2010

By 

F. Izquierdo "hookedonbooks" (HOLLYWOOD, FL, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghost Ocean (Kindle Edition)

I hate to give a negative review. However, I began this book with high hopes. I read the reviews and overall they seemed positive. The reality is that the book just didn't live up to my expectations. To be fair, I've only managed to get about 2/3 of the way through. Perhaps the conclusion is dazzling. As I hate not finishing a book, I will eventually get around to finishing it. I don't have high hopes.

In a nutshell, the plot began interestingly enough with a young paranormal investigator mentored by an older friend of the family stumbling upon a dead body. However, the book didn't pursue that angle but veered off into an entirely different direction... one that I found repetitive and boring. I couldn't relate to the characters in any meaningful way. I found them rather two dimensional and unpleasant. Don't get me wrong. I like characters that are flawed. These characters were so flawed I found it difficult to relate to any of them in a positive way.

Nothing really grabbed my attention or sustained my interest.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars basically works, title and cover are misleading, July 30, 2010

By 

The Literary Assassin "writer and critic" (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Ocean (Paperback)

I'm not well-read enough to know if Peters is a shameless rip-off artist or just an eclectic researcher. There are deep imprints of Neil Gaiman and Lovecraft in this book, as well as some references to miscellaneous demigods and mythological concepts from assorted ends of the globe. So I *think* Peters is just drawing from the same sources as Gaiman, and maybe being unduly influenced by his style.

Doesn't entirely matter. "Ghost Ocean" is a slick read. It moves along so damn fast that only when you put it down do you realize, not much is happening. There's a lot of scene, but not a lot of plot, you know? This is essentially a coming-of-age story, with a lot of peripheral characters thrown in--human and not--including the obligatory absentee dad and unloving mother. Peters tries to dress up that formula with a thick glaze of mythology and urban fantasy, but unfortunately the result is only that: a stock plot with a coating of shine. It never transcends to something new.

As others have mentioned, the title is woefully inappropriate. There are no "ghosts" in the Victorian sense--except for one of the monster-fighting team who happens to be discorporeal but still hanging around. Te and her boss/guardian, the HORRIBLY named Babu, apparently make a living as ghost-hunters, but you never really see them doing any ghost-hunting, because the very first job they go on launches us onto the first of several high-speed treadmills propelling the plot along. There's no moment when you or the heroine think, Hey, things are weird, but there could be another explanation for this. It's straightaway into "the world is not what you believe it to be" and on with the phantasmagoria. I found this slightly disorienting, but other folks may like it.

Plot-wise, I think Peters tends to over-foreshadow. I may be jaded, but I knew mostly what was going to happen long before any of the big reveals. That let out some of the emotional air for me. On the other hand, there were some nice moments when the monsters shed their human skins, and I got little fangirl thrills at recognizing the creatures I read about in Time Life's _Other Worlds_ when I was a kid.

The wrap-up works well enough from the heroine's point of view. Her discovery of herself has some nice moments. Not all the loose ends are tied up, so I would not be surprised if Miss Evangeline shows up in a sequel some day. The supporting characters are not resolved quite as satisfactorily. This gives the novel some verisimilitude, but wasn't as finite as I would have liked.

(Slight spoiler: Eventually we learn that the "ghost ocean" is a compilation of all humanity's worst impulses--sort of all the bad souls throughout history amalgamated together into a weapon against the supernatural. But you've got to squint to get that interpretation, and I still don't think it was the greatest title.)

My recommendation? It didn't make me mad. I didn't feel as if I'd wasted my time or been lied to. Sometimes I just need the taste of prose in my mouth, and this delivered.