Geist & "Spoilers"

I'm really, really bad at one thing - reading a part of the last pages of a book and "spoiling" myself. I think this started for me after reading Anne McCaffery's Moreta: Dragon Lady of Pern, because, you see, I didn't expect it. That was the very first time EVER I cried when reading a book. (It wasn't he last.) So I think I might do this as a sort of coping mechanism. A few books I've read recently I've done this to when I get stuck in the middle, and part of my brain is going: "THIS IS NEVER GOING TO END." (But it does, and the ending is good, and I pick up the sequel and then it's like following the directions on your shampoo bottle.)

However, this is probably the first time that reading a small glimpse at the end of a book really felt like it tainted my experience of the book itself (though I realize it probably does, regardless - I'd just never NOTICED it before.) The book in question was Geist (A Book of the Order) by Philippa Ballantine. This was not an epic tome where I got bored in the middle and wanted a glimpse to be certain that "the other side" was waiting for me. In fact it was action packed, and a fairly quick read. But I still cheated!

Geist is a good read. The story is a bit of urban fantasy with some romance and mystery, and there is a very interesting magic system. The story follows Deacon Sorcha Faris, a member of the Order - a magical organization that trains "Sensitive" Deacons who can see and identify wraiths and other undead creatures from the Otherworld (called geists), and "Active" Deacons - those that can wield magic to fight against these supernatural beings. The Actives and the Sensitives learn different runes of power that they can use. The actives have gauntlets that channel their power, and each of the runes has a specific power that can be used against the geists. While partnered with her "Sensitive" husband, fighting a geist, something goes wrong. Her husband ends up very hurt, and Deacon Faris must travel to the town of Ulrich to find the answers. She begins her journey with a new partner, Deacon Merrick Chambers who has just finished his training. Along their journey they meet with Raed Rossin, the son of the usurped emperor, and bearer of a wicked curse.

I highly recommend Geist, and I quickly added the next books in the series to my Goodreads account so I wouldn't forget to pick them up. It's a bit of a mash of genre, urban fantasy mixed with more traditional fantasy, and a dash of steampunk just to mix things up.

So why did I peek at the end? Well, to be honest, early on, I guessed that two of the characters would end up in some sort of romance. So, I glanced at the end to see if I was on the right track. Unfortunately, the words I read basically solved the mystery of the entire novel. And reading it with that in mind, I felt some of the later parts of the book were especially annoying. When reading a mystery, if you know who the murder is, the clues become very obvious for the reader. And what I don't like is knowing if I would have "caught on" if I didn't already know.

But I did this to myself. Maybe I've learned my lesson. Next time I won't give in. Next time I won't try to confirm my suspicions at the beginning of the novel. Or maybe I will. I do however, recommend when you pick up Geist, you read it the way the author intended.