Philippa Ballantine
Spectyr
Book of the Order, Book #2
Review brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi
This is the second installment of the Book of the Order series by Philippa Ballantine. We are re-introduced to Deacons, Sorcha Faris and Merrick Chambers, who are sworn to protect everyone from the geists or spirits of the world.
Sorcha and Merrick have been pretty disappointed with the jobs they have been assigned as of late and they have given them no real challenge as their superior has made sure that these cases have no true geist activity. So when they arrive on the scene of a case that truly has a geist infestation (spectyrs in fact) they are overwhelmed with excitement, even if it is one of the most powerful geist nests they have ever faced.
They are able to clear all but one of the spectyrs. And that one has a message for Sorcha, “save him”. Both Merrick and Sorcha immediately know who the geist is referring to, as Sorcha has had a vision. Raed, The Pretender to the Throne, is going to be killed. It hasn’t happened yet and since he is part of their bond they feel it is their duty to save him.
They head out on a mission that leads them to the city of Orithal to try to save Raed from his impending doom.
Raed is also led to the city by his search for his kidnapped sister, Fraine, who is rumored to be in the Prince’s Harem.
The little Goddess, Hatipai, is disturbed with the lack of the faithful and is determined to change all of that. She has set all of this in motion as she is determined to get revenge on the Rossin that lives inside of Raed and take over as ruler of Orithal and to regain all of her followers.
I struggled with reading this book and it’s not because it wasn’t a good book, but more that I had not had the pleasure of reading the first installment of the book. I felt that I was at a great disadvantage as so much had apparently happened in Geist and I was just trying to catch up and make sense of everything. And the fact that I was so lost just goes to show how imaginative and detailed Ballantine has made this world and story she has created.
I think the whole premise to this series is enchanting and a great read for anybody that enjoys reading of magic and fighting evil, but I HIGHLY recommend reading this series in order! There is not much repeating of what happened in the previous books like other authors are known to do…so save your confusion and read the series in order as it was intended! As I personally know that I probably would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I had taken that advice.
