REVIEW: Gabriel’s Ghost

Linnea Sinclair
Gabriel’s Ghost
Bantam
ISBN-10: 0553587978
ISBN-13: 978-0553587975
Science Fiction
October 25, 2005

Yes, possible spoilers for those that haven’t read it yet.

Well, it’s time – finally – to kick off with my reviews for Sinclair’s enormously time-sucking space operatic love story, Gabriel’s Ghost. Time-sucking in the positive sense; this was a very good book. I originally began reading it’s sequel, Shades of Dark, quickly realizing I was making a disastrous do-dah. This one definitely needs to be read first and I advise readers to savor the budding relationships in this one prior to Shades. Stay tuned tomorrow for reasons why when I review Shades of Dark.

Chasidah Bergren has been court-martialed and remanded into custody on the penal planet of Moabar. Her life, career with Fleet, marriage – everything as she knows has come to a halt. Little does she know though that it’s far from over. Rescue comes to her at a most crucial point and by none other than Gabriel Ross Sullivan, a blast from her past if ever there was one. He’s a scoundrel, a pirate, and he needs her help. Someone is breeding horrific monsters that kill without cause or remorse, jukors, and it’s suddenly up to Chaz, Sully and a rag-tag crew to ensure the safety of the universe, literally.

Not only that, but Sully himself is harboring a secret with the potential to rock Imperial space to its knees. What he holds within himself is hated, feared and practically outlawed. As he and Chaz grow closer, they’ll journey not only to save lives, but to discover exactly who he is and how they can learn to live with it.

First Impressions Upon Finishing

What a powerfully developed book in terms of characters. For that alone, this book gets a high rating. There is a real sense with Sinclair’s books that I have actually been somewhere, traveled with the characters and reached their ending with them. Emotions are never safe while absorbing this book. With Chaz narrating for us in 1st POV, I think we’re getting a stellar example of really great 1st person, the kind where you get not only a sense of the narrator, but also every other important character in the book.

At times I felt that we were being told more than shown, but then after a while it was nice to simply let my imagination take to the stars and develop a scene as I would interpret it. So the writing isn’t so grandiose prose-wise that a new scifi reader couldn’t relate to it, in my opinion, yet it is enthralling. Once the action really gets going, which for me was after Chaz’s rescue and they are on there way on Sully’s ship, I was hooked and quite liking Chaz’s voice.

While slightly disappointed that the search for jukors didn’t really take much room in the book till the end, I was so pleased by these characters that it didn’t matter. What a relief that the second book was just waiting for me to pick it up right away – I was that eager to continue with Sully and Chaz’s relationship.

Deep Space: The Main Characters

(By the way, I prefer the older cover, shown here, much better. What do you think?) It’s tough, because I want to talk about Sully so much, but think Chaz is the better one to start off in terms of a review. Let’s see, the woman is poised, collected in the face of disaster and knows how to kick butt…if she has to. Layered beneath her cool Fleet exterior though is very much a woman who has fears, needs and all the range of emotions we’d expect from a good character. She’s not perfect, but she comes close. What saves her from being too perfect is her insecurity with Sully, the way she reacts to him as they begin to learn each others personalities.

There’s also the fact that she’s divorced from another prominent career Fleet officer, one Admiral Phillip Guthrie an event that somewhat coerced her downward spiral into arrest and imprisonment. So we can see that she has relationship issues. That’s not a criticism; it very much plays into her relationship with Sully, a slightly buried, partly exposed wire of what went wrong and feelings of remorse for the years lost with her ex husband. It’s enough to threaten any new divorcee’s self-esteem and it does somewhat with her interactions with Sully. I think this made for such a sweet, genuine connection between them in the long run though.

We see too, how Chaz is able to grow as a person now that she’s no longer employed within the Fleet. I don’t think she was ever really prejudiced in a hard-core sense, but it’s mentioned a few times the general prejudices and assumptions perceived by not only Fleet personal, but other general inhabitants of the galaxy too. And she has her apprehensions, about one character in particular, Ren, who is a Stolorth Ragkiril. His species is capable of differing levels of mental powers, powers that engender fear in many. But as she, Sully, Ren and others embark on their important mission, it was wonderful to see some of those prejudices being replaced by trust and an open mind. If one thing became obvious about Chaz, it was that she becomes very passionate about and loyal to friendships once they’ve been earned.

Sully…heehee. In a lot of ways he’s everything Chaz originally believes him to be: rogue, pirate and dissolute wastrel. He gambles too much, flirts too freely and he makes her downright uncomfortable when it comes to intimacy. And I loved him. He is perhaps one of the most deeply layered characters I’ve ever read (and I say this with the understanding that I’ve read him in both this book and the sequel). He alone is an experience readers do not want to miss. I must say it was very refreshing to read a hero for once that is truly tortured. I don’t mean the usual brooding and melancholy moping about. We aren’t just told, here, this is a moody, tortured hero, we also get to see it and experience it deeply. This is perhaps where Sinclair does her best with the two books together – Sully’s overall character development. Interesting too when we think back on it being 1st POV, from Chaz’s perspective.

So, back to Sully’s tortured persona. Man! This guy has serious issues. Because of his secret, the characteristics that single him out as a Kyi-Ragkiril – the most powerful level of Ragkiril known – he’s very much on a journey to discover who he is. Some of it will be pleasurable, for both him and Chaz. Other moments will be terrifying beyond belief. Alone…at times he feels very alone and Chaz’s opinion of his powers become paramount in keeping his sanity on an even level. There were times when Chaz would get nervous though and we can see a shunting off of emotions from Sully. He’s very much in self-protect mode at various times, or at least ever ready to expect the usual fear and loathing for his inherent nature. This alone is a huge obstacle for the pair to overcome.

There were times I wanted to knock Sully upside the head because he tended to forget that not only are his growing powers frightening for him, but for Chaz as well. He can literally enter anyones mind, control them, hear their thoughts and so much more. This is no mere empath or telepath we’re reading about. Sully is, in simplest terms, MORE. So when Chaz has thoughts that are even the slightest bit fearful, he reacts very defensively, as if she should know better. Again, it’s a self-defense mechanism, but one that impedes their relationship to the point of this reader’s frustration at times. I think we can all relate to having thoughts, things we think of instinctively or unintentionally, but we’d never speak them aloud, not without contemplation at least. For Chaz though, there are no filters with Sully, unless he purposely shuts himself off from her mentally. I think if he’d taken a minute to think about that factor, that people don’t always mean what they think, let alone say, he would’ve avoided a lot of his damaging self-defense tactics. Sully does realize though, how lucky he is to have a woman as loyal and patient as Chaz. He in turn is so sensual and probably one of the most romantic heroes I’ve read, without having to resort to brutal, domineering or underhanded tactics. He sees and treats Chaz as his equal and for that, he definitely earns her respect.

In the end, the type of relationship they have is amplified and morphed into something much more tangible, yet at the same time ethereal, than any other fictional relationship I’ve read. I do believe they could rank highly in my top five favorite couples of all time.

Secondary Characters and the World of Space

Other characters worth mentioning are Ren, Sully’s various crew members and the organized religious figures, the Englarians. Ren has a few limited mental powers, more on the level of a basic empath due to a disability. I loved his character for the calming influence he has on Sully and at times the flares of strife between Sully and Chaz. I think it’s very much due to Ren that Chaz and Sully begin to come to an understanding of one another. In short, Ren is a proficient mediator.

Sully’s crew is small, but for the most part made up of interesting people. Dorsie is the ship’s cook and an excellent one too. She believes in fresh cooking as opposed to food replicators and has a soft spot for Ren. I found their personal subplot to be interesting, but was somewhat disappointed that it doesn’t really go anywhere, not in terms of the implications I saw between the two.

Marsh is Dorsie’s nephew and probably the most quiet of the crew. He’s loyal, hardworking and despite some rough waters between Sully, himself and Ren, Marsh doesn’t immediately let assumptions and rumors rule his actions. This was a major clue to me that he is the kind of man you want on your side.

Gregor was obviously a snake. However, Sully and Chaz decide to watch him to discover who is behind Gregor’s actions, which is both a smart and damaging move later on in the book. Gregor comes to serious blows with Sully and the result is somewhat of a catalyst for Sully when it came to dealing with his Kyi powers.

The Englarians are an organized religion that focus primarily on educating Takans (another species closely resembling Star Wars wookies, from my imaginings) on their way of life. Englarians are also determined to eradicate the known universe of the evil influence of the demons, which in fact are those that possess powers just like Ren and Sully. One segment of the church is more accepting and tolerant, but there is another, the Purists, that are wholly the opposite. These type do enter into the story and in some ways, like Gregor and those breeding the jukors, are sort of the villains of the book.

Sinclair’s worldbuilding seems almost effortless, but then I’ve been reading scifi and scifi romance for a while now. It’s usually not hard at all to imagine scenes these authors will write. I mentioned above that we are somewhat told more than shown, but with Chaz’s voice it works for me very well, but only because I became invested in her character. There were still times I wished for a more lyrical description of a space port or ship’s control panel, something to tickle my appreciation of well-written prose. In turn though, again, it does work as is here. Chaz is herself a very straight-forward person so what we get is straight-forward too. Still, would’ve liked a tad more detail worldbuilding-wise.

Despite that, I felt very much a part of Chaz’s world. There is a sense of infinite freedom to move even though the characters are either confined to a ship or space port at any given moment. It’s more a feeling of this great, unexplored frontier, and that they could boldly go….well, you probably get it. I suppose I just really enjoyed that so much could take place within a book on a ship for the most part. There’s no limitations to this author’s imagination, it seems.

I will say though that I was a bit disappointed that the overall plot, their mission to destroy the jukors, was relegated to the background for most of the book. It’s not really till the end that we fully visit this important detail. It’s woven throughout in a whispered kind of way, we know it’s coming, but I’d begun to doubt we would get it at all. And then, with there being a sequel, maybe it was important not to do too much with the jukors.

Why the Rating?

I did have a few problems with this book, problems that might keep me from giving another book with the same ones a good score. But the characters in this one, they’re so rich, such a huge part and done so well that they more than balance out what I found lacking. A good plot is essential of course and this one’s is decent. It’s the characters though that, for me, make or break a books sometimes and these are without a doubt some of the finest I’ve ever read. I said it before and I’ll say it again – I wanted to pick up the sequel, Shades of Dark (July 29, 2008), right away and I did, all thanks to these characters.

I hope you’ll stay tuned tomorrow, when I review Shades of Dark. I’ll go ahead and say that I had a few somewhat surprising struggles with it, while at the same time finding it to be  very, very good book too. Between it and this one, Sinclair scores with me yet again.

Rating: Four and a Half Scoops