Geist

Wonder Woman, make way for flame-haired Deacon Sorcha Faris, skilled and ruthless enough to defeat an enormous geist (German for "ghost") about to envelop humankind at the outset of Balantine's (Digital Magic) latest cluttered fantasy. Sorcha's expertise finds her soon ordered to Ulrich, a small community in a remote part of the kingdom "overrun with the unliving." Accompanying her is a new deacon partner whose Sensitive skills will balance her Active gifts. En route they must combat the destruction wrought by the unliving; about to lose a desperate battle with them, they're rescued by Raed Rossin, captain of an Ulrich-bound ship. Raed is Pretender to the throne and plagued with a "Curse" that draws the unliving to him like moths to a flame. When they reach Ulrich, they discover that evil emanates from the Priory itself, permeating the town and determined to destroy everyone in it. Balantine clogs her epic tale with battle after battle, introduces villains with bewildering frequency, and sustains such an unrelenting tension that the exhausted reader finally succumbs to indifference by her story's end. (Oct. 26)