Ghost Talkers: a new novel from beloved fantasy author Mary Robinette Kowal featuring the mysterious spirit corps and their heroic work in World War I.Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Hartshorne, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.Each soldier heading for the front … force.
Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.
Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she’s just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing
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Ghost Talkers
by Mary Robinette Kowal
This book is one of the best books I’ve read this year! I loved everything about it! This is an alternate world where there is a war with Germans, English, and more. Women and blacks are not looked upon as big assets. But, they are making great progress in a new English spy system, Spirit Corps.
The soldiers are somehow trained to come to the Corp to check in if they die. When the dead spirit checks in, psychic women are there to take their report of where they died, what they saw, and any information that might be helpful to the troops. Then they can leave a message to family or friends they are leaving behind. Something they couldn’t do if their spirit left from the battlefield.
The main characters include a psychic woman and an American man working for the British. They are engaged to be married. The way the writer brings all the characters to life is amazing but it’s as if you can feel the love between these two people.
One of the spirits brings a message that the Germans are onto the Spirit Corps and plan to take them out. The suspense and suspicion that there may be a leak from someone from the camp. This is a big possibility and terrifying.
This book had my emotions everywhere! Terrified, happy, sad, devastated, full of love, and contentment.
Please, do yourself a favor, if you like fantasy with a touch of suspense and romance, read this book!
All too often, soldiers make the ultimate sacrifice. But what if death didn’t relieve them of their duties? What if the fallen still had a final task to perform?
That’s the premise underpinning Mary Robinette Kowal’s Ghost Talkers, a paranormal mystery set during World War I. Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress, and other female mediums have discovered how to speak with the spirits of recently killed soldiers; the soldiers have been trained to report in and provide details about enemy positions before passing on, providing a significant intelligence advantage to the Allies. But shortly after the story starts, Ginger learns that German spies have caught wind of the “Spirit Corps,” putting the program—and its mediums—in danger.
What follows is a well-designed example of how to fuse multiple genres together. (Which isn’t surprising, given that Kowal and her co-hosts on the excellent Writing Excuses podcast are currently discussing this topic.) Ghost Talkers threads together elements of fantasy, spycraft, romance, history, and the aforementioned mystery. Each genre feels necessary, enhancing rather than clashing with the rest. I particularly liked how the spiritually assisted romance between Ginger and her fiancé, Benjamin Harford, comes from a healthy relationship—there’s plenty of drama elsewhere in the story; no need to manufacture it out of contrived misunderstandings and bickering.
For all this, the story never fully grabbed me. (Perhaps because I listened to the audio version—sometimes a book just works better for me in text form.) But I respect the effort and skill that went into writing Ghost Talkers, and I’m interested in reading more works by Kowal.
(For more reviews like this one, see http://www.nickwisseman.com)
Finished this fabulous book only last night. When @maryrobinettekowal told me the plot of this story a few years ago at #SIWC I was like “OMG I have to read that!!!”. It’s taken me too long but…you know…transplant and such. Anyway, I sucked back this book in 48 hours.
It had everything I love – a solid dash of paranormal, a WW II setting, a strong and nervy heroine, a wrenching romance…all that would have been plenty, but there is also a surprise twist that made me bolt up in bed. The uber talented @maryrobinettekowal is publishing a lady astronaut trilogy next. Cannot wait. “Ghost Talkers” is great read, a dynamite gift, and just a true treat.
I loved this so much I was super anxious to keep going the whole time. Very much not my usual fair of books but definitely loved it from start to finish. Heart broken, but fulfilled. Thank you for writing this, Mary