Ghost Talkers
2016 • 304 pages
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
"Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force ... 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 fiancé to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things"--Amazon.com.
Reviews with the most likes.
A quick read. Light, but not as frothy as I anticipated. Historical fiction done right in a show-not-tell way.
The main thing I lothe about historical fiction is trying to shoehorn in Actual People, and Kowal only tries it once (as a brief cameo, at that).
I forgive it, I enjoyed the book.
Mary Robinette Kowal is one of my favourite writers and this did not let me down.
Pros: brilliant premise, some heart-wrenching scenes, great characters
Cons: a few off notes
July 1916, the Great War continues and so does the work of the Spirit Corps, taking reports and messages from the British dead. Ginger Stuyvessant is a medium, doing her duty both with the ghosts and at the hospitality tent that acts as their cover. When a message comes through suggesting that the Spirit Corps is being targeted, her fiance and military spy, Captain Ben Harford, starts to investigate.
I absolutely loved the premise of this book. Mediums who used the ghosts of the dead to track enemy troop positions? What a brilliant idea. If, of course, also a horrific one as it's entirely dependant on your side dying. I loved that part of the mediums' job was assuring each soldier that their death had meaning.
The cast was great. I loved Ginger's pluck and her relationship with the members of her circle as well as the deep love she has for Ben. Ben is also a good character, trying to protect Ginger while acknowledging that part of what made him fall in love with her was her adventurous spirit.
I was impressed that Kowal brought in an Indian squad as well as a West Indian woman, and horrified by how they were treated by the military brass.
Given that it details wartime, it's not surprising that there are some heart-wrenching scenes.
A few minor things bugged me, like at the end I got Edna and Aunt Edie confused. There was also an ending scene with a character that rang a bit false to me.
The mystery was well done with a good number of twists and turns to the investigation. Ginger and Ben certainly work hard to find out what's going on, taking a lot of physical - and other - punishment.
I really enjoyed this novella. It's only about 200 pages, but it took a while to read, simply because of the heavy subject matter. I would love to see more done with this setting/premise.
