Title: Ghost’s Sight
Series: Witch’s Apprentice: Book One
Author: Morwen Navarre
Publisher: NineStar Press
Length: 27k words
Category: Paranormal
At a Glance: I feel like this book had the potential to be great, if given just a little more page time to focus and develop all its different aspects.
Reviewed By: Lindsey
Blurb: Years ago, a bond was forged when a little boy, plagued by dreams and visions he could not explain, became the Witch’s new apprentice healer.
Gerry, a rugged and headstrong hunter, is brought to the Witch for healing, and Ghost is forced to reveal the mark beneath his snowy hair that sets him apart from other men.
But Gerry does not reject Ghost as an outcast. He finds Ghost beguiling and mysterious and declares his intent to claim Ghost as his own. When Ghost is kidnapped by a rogue ranger, Gerry will need to hunt a lethal and unpredictable prey, and Ghost will need to use all his skill to survive until Gerry can find him.
Review: There is soooo much with going on within this story within a limited number of words.
Though the world building was all very interesting and creative, with what appears to be both religious and magical elements, it was also a lot to take in, in a very short amount of time. Renegades, rangers, witches, hunters, godsmen and a set of gods make up the different factions of people out there. Some are allies, some give each other a wide berth, and I honestly was confused quite a bit about how they all functioned. Adding to that, there are all kinds of animals—I am not quite sure what they are, but they were very fascinating. To top it off there are then distinct personality types that have emerged: alphas and dependents. Alphas tend to have a driving need to take care of others. Through purchasing or stumbling upon them, the alphas essentially take others into their care, providing shelter, clothing, teaching lessons and even intimate acts. Dependents are those who rely upon the alpha to provide for them; in some cases, eventually becoming alphas in their own right one day. The interactions between alphas and dependents aren’t what is typically associated with familial roles, instead blurring the lines where they are parent/mentor/teacher/lover/friend or a combination of any of those, depending on the individuals within the household. None appear to be related by blood rather by choice and/or circumstance.
There are several characters involved in this story. Ghost, who is the Witch’s apprentice. Witch—she seems to be somewhat of an alpha figure to Ghost, but their relationship differs from what appears to be the typical alpha and dependent situation. Gerry—he is not quite an alpha in his own right yet and is still a dependent but has the personality type to become an alpha. Gerry’s Alpha, Mother, who has taught him how to be a hunter. And finally, Conn, Mother’s other dependent, who creates some of the tension within the story and doesn’t exhibit any alpha traits.
Ghost’s character and his purpose intrigues me, and I do want to find out what him being the first male witch means, and what abilities he has that seem to have a role to play. Gerry is a solid character who I immediately took a liking to. Really, the only character who rubbed me in a bad way was Conn, but he is also interesting because there seems to be more than meets the eye with that one. Though they did catch my attention, none of the characters were fully fleshed out for me, just a little insight to each personality but not enough to really develop a connection.
When Gerry and Ghost meet, Gerry finally finds someone he is driven to take care of and intends to mate Ghost as well as take him on as his first dependent. There are certain traditions that appear to be required in order to court an intended dependent for the purpose of mating, or taking them over as a responsibility, and Gerry intends to do it right. Everything takes place in less than forty-eight hours, so it does have that insta-element. I am not sure if that is common in this society or not, as it wasn’t really explored.
Ghost Sight is intriguing and entertaining, but it didn’t quite make it past good for me. While imaginative, it was also confusing. The potential was there to make it great, as I do love a good fantasy world, but in this case the shorter length of the story proved to be a detriment. With such elaborate and complex world building, I like to understand how everything functions—the magic and religious elements appear to be at the core of the story—but somehow lack any focus and remain mostly unknown to me. It is clear something catastrophic happened at some point in history—the story “runes” are referenced as well as a basic explanation of when the godsmen arose and eradicated certain things and took control (to a degree). For me, despite all the intricate pieces that intertwine, there was a lack of anything really tangible for me to picture the world on the whole. Between the world building, a romance, a kidnapping, and what appears to maybe be some sort of prophesy and/or destiny for Ghost and Gerry, everything came off as sort of half developed. For a foundational book in a series, I really like to come out feeling more confident in my understanding. And although I think I have the gist of everything, it still took me a really long time to get into it, and I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the world itself.
I liked Ghost Sight but feel it could have used quite a bit more page time to develop all the different characters, the relationships, and the world in which it all takes place. There was enough to keep me interested in checking out the second book, but I don’t feel fully invested just yet.
You can buy Ghost’s Sight here:
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