What do You think about 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)
