Geist by Philippa Ballantine

Geist by Philippa Ballantine recently caught my eye.  It’s the first book in her series about the Order.  The Order are the people who protect the population from geists, otherworldly spirits who possess the living and generally wreak havoc.  The Order sends people out into the field in pairs: the Sensitive Deacon can see the geists, while the Active Deacon is the one who destroys them.  And Sorcha Faris is the strongest Active Deacon in the Order.

Sorcha and her husband are sent on what should be a routine patrol when things go horribly wrong.  The geist attacks her Sensitive husband, something that never happens.  To save him, Sorcha is forced to open a portal to the Otherworld, an event which the Order generally frowns upon.  But rather than facing the inquisition she was expecting, Sorcha finds herself quickly paired up with a new partner and sent out to a small town called Ulrich on a new assignment.

Also heading to Ulrich is Raed Rossin, Pretender to the throne.  Raed bears a terrible curse: his ancestors made a deal with a geistlord for power; in exchange, the geistlord resides within the family’s heir.

Together, the three of them are thrust into a conspiracy that spans across the empire.  And even if they survive Ulrich, where can they go and who can they trust?

After my previously mentioned reading dry spell, I was glad to find another good book in Geist.  I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, Spectyr, which is also available here at the library.