$7.99 Well Spent

Just this past weekend, I celebrated my three-year anniversary with my girlfriend. We went out to the mall, and wandered around the various shops. Over the course of a couple hours, we found ourselves divulging in free samples in a cooking store, going crazy over all the different types of chocolates, fawning over cute little teddy bears in Build-A-Bear, and riding the double-decked carousel that dominated the food court. I'm not much of a 'mall-goer', but I must say it was a wonderful time, regardless. Complete with messy burgers from Red Robin and a trip by Barnes and Noble to snoop for new reads, it couldn't have been any better.

Speaking of new books to read, I happened across this little paper-back book, nestled into a corner on the fantasy shelves...

The first thought that crossed my mind when I saw it was a simple one, "Pretty small book, might be easy to read."

I know, terrible first thought. Moving on.

As I pulled it out from the shelf, and lay eye on the cover, the art immediately grabbed my attention. The lion brought back memories of C.S. Lewis, and the fiery, red-headed, fierce-looking, magic-wielding heroine implored me to read the summary on the back.

I checked the price tag. $7.99 was not a bad price at all. And I bought it there and then, without even cracking open the book itself. Most would call that a stupid move, but I decided to trust my gut instinct

After reading the first bits of the pages, the story seemed simple: Sorcha Farris is one of the most powerful Actives within an organization known as The Order. Her husband, Kolya Farris, is also one of the most powerful Sensitives within The Order. In this world, Actives and Sensitives, both with different magical powers, work together to fight creatures known as geists, undead spirits that possess humans and in general, wreak havoc on the living.

The Actives possess magical gauntlets that have different runes inscribed along each of the fingers that call upon different types of magic. However, they are unable to see the geist. This is where the role of the Sensitives comes in. The Sensitives have the ability to see the geist, and by a magical telepathic bond, they report that information to their Active bond-mates, who then use their magic to eradicate the geist.

After a geist attack gone wrong, Sorcha's husband, Kolya, is badly injured. Despite the incident, Sorcha is needed elsewhere, so she is paired with a novice Sensitive named Merrick Chambers. They are hired to help the village of Ulrich, that has been the victim of numerous geist attacks. Along for the ride is Raed Rossin, a pretender to the throne--and bearer of a dangerous curse-- who Sorcha is sworn to protect.

And that's the gist of the novel so far. I'm looking forward to reading more of it.

Oh, and for those of you wondering if "geist" is a real word, I looked it up, and it is actually German for "mind, spirit, or ghost". How awesome is that?