Acquire Ghost In The Machine Created By Barbara J. Hancock Readable In Version
on Ghost in the Machine
Barbara J. Hancock
Rule number one: Run from the Shadows, Unless one knows the secret that will save you,
I might not have known what was what off the bat, but I figured it out quick enough.
My one qualm with this book was the heroine's name, Bet, I thought it was stupid, The author explained the choice, but I still didn't care for it, I also must add, an empty playground swing is sure to creep me out from now on, Sometime in the distant future, a biocomputer alien called the Soul Eater destroys much of Earth, Its created Shadows which are ghostlike creatures that spy for it, and Sweepers, part human, part machine, that collect and kill for it.
Elizabeth, aka Bet, one of the few warmbloods remaining, returns to her makeshift home to discover her younger brother Douglas has been taken by a Sweeper.
Desperate to rescue him before he is consumed by the Soul Eater and becomes a Shadow, she sets out to find him.
Along the way she meets Gabriel, a notquiteShadow, who has broken free from the Soul Eater,
Ghost in the Machine is unique and engaging, I picked it up because it was free on my Audible membership, and I was looking for a scifi romance for my romance bingo card to fill in space while waiting for my next review audiobook.
I found the premise interesting an alien biomass with computer/cyber components using human for fuel, workers, and knowledge.
However the romance aspect is underdeveloped and felt rushed, Bet and Gabriel are both fighters who found comfort with one other, Its plausible, but their romance doesnt have a lot of emotional connection,
With the bulk of the narrative in present tense and the plot line of rushing to save Bets brother, the entire story feels urgent.
The author then uses this urgency to fuel the coupling the urgent desire to be touched, to belong.
However I found it a bit off that Bet, who has been hunted by Shadows her whole life, suddenly falls for one because hes “different.
”
Narration: the story is primarily shared in the first person narrative of the main character, Bet however, there are third person interludes from other characters, including Gabriel.
The POV shifts rapidly at times, but generally it is easy to follow, The narrator captures the frantic nervousness of Bet, Her voice is very fitting for the scared, energetic, and fierce young woman, Ms. Strong alters her narrator voice slightly for Gabriels POVs and completely for the more robotic sounds of the radio broadcaster.
Overall, the narration is fitting, and she does a great job with computerized voices and creepy kids,
My Rating:
Story: B
Narration: B Creepy, but oh so good! Had a zombielike feel, but the Shadows are soulless shells of the humans they used to be.
Bet has remained out of their reach and knows no other life other than this bleak existence and always living in constant fear.
Now her younger brother has been snatched and she is determined to save him, Gabriel so cliché comes to her rescue, He vows to help her save her brother and fight the evil entity that has sucked the life from humanity.
Not sure whether to trust him, Bet takes a chance and gives her heart and soul over to him.
Gabriel renews his resolve and they fight together, not only for themselves but for what remains of the world he once knew.
Initially I had a little issue with the narrative switching back and forth I wasnt quite sure whose thoughts I was reading.
Once I realized what the author was doing, I got it and it added to the eeriness of the book.
I would have liked a more detailed ending all was resolved a little too quickly for me, However, the epilogue was a burst of sunshine glowing through the dismal ash,
I loved the writing in this story, it was spare, almost terse, but conveyed the story adn mood beautifully, I liked the way we gradually got to know Gabriel, I haven't read anything else by Ms, Hancock, but that will be changing, This is a highly interesting story written with love and nice first person present tense, It's part gothic nightmare, part love story, part salvagpunk story that is really A GOOD LOVE STORY, I often read it over and over for it moody atmosphere,
The characters are well thought out and lovely, the story is haunting and I highly recommend it.
It's a romance, but even if you don't read the genre, this is a story that crosses over.
Hancock loves how words feel and if you read it aloud, you can feel her passion,
Gabriel and Bet are a great couple,
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. An alien invasion occurs gradually wiping out humanity, There are pockets of people who scavenge for survival, all the while avoiding the "shadows, " New York City is dubbed the City of Ash, There is so much ash, that the sun doesn't shine,
This was dark. Bet's brother has been taken, She decided that she must try and take him back since she feels life isn't worth living if they are not together.
While on her hunt, she meets Gabriel, Gabriel was an interesting character and I liked learning what he was before, Overall, this was interesting, but lacked something for me to rate it higher, Originally posted at sitelinkRomance Around the Corner
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, I bought it after reading sitelinkJanines review over at Dear Author even though I wasnt familiar with Ms.
Hancocks work. I love gritty stories that take place in alternate or postapocalyptic worlds and Ghost in the Machine is exactly that.
Im so glad I read it because it turned out to be a wonderful and exciting journey,
The world painted in this book has literally gone to ashes, Years ago an alien invasion commanded by an entity called the SoulEater, took over the world and everything in it.
Half machine, half something else, the SoulEater had the ability to feed from humans and turn them into ghostly beings called Shadows that wandered the planet reproducing behaviors from their past and sometimes even resembling that past, and whose only purpose was to locate humans and alert the Sweepers.
Now, Shadows are a terrible sight because they come back as reflections of their past, that means that a little girls shadow sings the same song over and over again, or a former runner comes backs as a horse with a human head.
But Sweepers are worse because they are a hybrid between a human and a machine and you cant tell where the flesh begins and the machine ends, they all are monstrous things devoid of any humanity.
Or so it seems.
Our heroine is Bet, and her only purpose in life is keeping her little brother, Douglas, safe.
Shes emaciated and what little food she finds she gives to her brother, She worries that she wont be able to keep him sheltered anymore because the older he gets, the more he realizes how terrible things are.
One day, Bets worse nightmare comes true because
when she gets home she finds out that Sweepers have taken Douglas.
With nothing else to loose, and her only reason to live gone, she decides to embark on a suicide mission to rescue him from the SoulEater, when common logic says she should run the other way.
It doesnt take long for a shadow to find and attack her, Shes too weak to fight and is clearly loosing when out of nowhere a man dressed like a soldier, built like a god and winged like an angel, saves her.
She knows this man, whose name is Gabriel, is a Shadow but can see that theres still some humanity left in him.
He offers her his help to find Douglas and even though she doesnt trust him she knows she needs him, so she reluctantly accepts, and so the adventure begins.
This isnt a happy book, and the setting is quite dark even for a genre thats usually filled with darks settings.
If you dont like gritty and bleak worlds where youre always worrying about the characters safety, then you should probably skip this one.
Otherwise, go ahead and read it because its an interesting and riveting story that packs a lot of punch for such a short length and presents us a complex and quite interesting alternate world.
The story is told in first person from Bets POV so you really get to see how desperate she is and how bleak and awful life is.
She knows going after Douglas means almost certain death but hes everything to her, she has no reason to live beyond him so either way she dies.
Shes also quite lonely, at one point she reflects about how shes never been able to lean on someone and that as much as she loves her brother sometimes she needs more.
Thats why Gabriel makes such a huge difference, because she finally has someone taking care of her, I also loved how strong and good she was, she never gives up but still acknowledges that things are bad.
She wasnt a sunny and positive heroine, but she was still was able to give the reader some hope.
We get some parts of the story from Grabriels perspective, just enough to give us some background and to let us know where hes coming from.
This is a guy who has spent years fighting and who has managed to keep his humanity after going through something worse than death, even after humans themselves have that humanity and all hope.
There are things left unexplained, Im not exactly sure how the SoulEater works, and how it creates the Shadows and Sweepers, I dont want to give away any details but the ending was rushed and to me the final resolution is the weakest part of the book, it seemed almost too easy, and again, it wasnt quite explained.
At one point I wasnt sure how it was going to end, was a happy ending even possible Well, you have to read it but Ill say that the ending is satisfying and the story is so engrossing that you are able to overlook its shortcomings.
If you like postapocalyptic and cyberpunk stories this is a must read, its also heavy on the romance so theres something to cater to every taste.
Its part of a series of novellas that have a postapocalyptic and cyberpunk theme but arent related otherwise, you can get them Here Zero Factor and here Gridlock and I think Samhain is planning on publishing them as an anthology latter this year.
Wow for a novella this author builds an intense world, So dark.
to come Originally posted at: sitelink blogspot. c
The Soul Eater has come to Earth, With the souls gone only shadows remain, Shadows of a life from the past, The few people who avoid the Soul Eater are constantly running from the shadows and sweepers who try to drive them to their master.
Elizabeth, or Bet, returns to her squat to find her young brother Douglas has been taken by a sweeper.
Desperate to rescue him before he becomes a shadow, she begins the dangerous journey to the Soul Eaters lair.
Shadows fill the night and Bet must evade them if she is to survive,
Gabriel is a shadow with a difference, He still has compassion and struggles to keep his humanitarian side, Intrigued by Bet he tries to help her,
Bet doesnt trust Gabriel, but knows that without him she will not succeed with her rescue.
Alone for so long, she feels drawn to this shadow who looks like an angel, but is he really trying to lure her into the Soul Eaters clutches
The Earth of this novel is dark full of shadows, dirt and danger.
Bet is older than her years due to the need to stay alive and out of the Soul Eaters clutches.
Without going into reams of description, the author made me see the desperate plight of the characters, the darkness and despair.
At the heart of it all sat the alien Soul Eater, Like a spider this creature pulled in the emotions, thoughts and dreams of the people of Earth, leaving behind a shadow, a husk without substance.
Gabriel and Bet were at opposite ends of the spectrum, She is a fighter, but assumes he is merely another shadow, a bit different, but still in the thrall of the evil alien.
He had to struggle to stay in control, If he failed, the Soul Eater would take him completely,
Ghost in the Machine is a well thought out book although the storyline did tend to wander some at times.
I also got a bit confused about the shadows and sweepers, but tended to enjoy the inner thoughts of both characters.
If you like your fantasy set in an alternate future of darkness with a hint of redemption then Ghost in the Machine could be just what youre looking for.
.
A Cybershock Story
I live in a world of waifs and shadows.
Live might be an overstatement, I scrounge and scramble and survive in an atmosphere made thick and gray by the ashes of the Fallen.
And sometimes I dream of sunlight, My parents were taken, even though they followed all the rules, Never scavenge at night. Never talk to Shadows. Dont fight the Sweepers. Run. Run. Run.
Now that theyve taken my little brother, Douglas, Ive realized Ive only been surviving for him.
I have two choices: Follow him or lie down and die, I cant just quit after years of struggle, I wouldnt know how if I tried, Determination is all I have left,
And then I meet him,
He claims to be a rogue who can help me find my brother, Its got to be a lie, But I dont run. I stop. I listen. And I make a deal with a Shadow even though I know it will mean the death of me.
Never talk to Shadows,
But no one ever told me what would happen if I kissed one,
Warning: May cause fantasies of forbidden kisses from dark heroes who balance on the edge of evil.
Where shadows wait and ashes fall
I might not have known what was what off the bat, but I figured it out quick enough.
My one qualm with this book was the heroine's name, Bet, I thought it was stupid, The author explained the choice, but I still didn't care for it, I also must add, an empty playground swing is sure to creep me out from now on, Sometime in the distant future, a biocomputer alien called the Soul Eater destroys much of Earth, Its created Shadows which are ghostlike creatures that spy for it, and Sweepers, part human, part machine, that collect and kill for it.
Elizabeth, aka Bet, one of the few warmbloods remaining, returns to her makeshift home to discover her younger brother Douglas has been taken by a Sweeper.
Desperate to rescue him before he is consumed by the Soul Eater and becomes a Shadow, she sets out to find him.
Along the way she meets Gabriel, a notquiteShadow, who has broken free from the Soul Eater,
Ghost in the Machine is unique and engaging, I picked it up because it was free on my Audible membership, and I was looking for a scifi romance for my romance bingo card to fill in space while waiting for my next review audiobook.
I found the premise interesting an alien biomass with computer/cyber components using human for fuel, workers, and knowledge.
However the romance aspect is underdeveloped and felt rushed, Bet and Gabriel are both fighters who found comfort with one other, Its plausible, but their romance doesnt have a lot of emotional connection,
With the bulk of the narrative in present tense and the plot line of rushing to save Bets brother, the entire story feels urgent.
The author then uses this urgency to fuel the coupling the urgent desire to be touched, to belong.
However I found it a bit off that Bet, who has been hunted by Shadows her whole life, suddenly falls for one because hes “different.
”
Narration: the story is primarily shared in the first person narrative of the main character, Bet however, there are third person interludes from other characters, including Gabriel.
The POV shifts rapidly at times, but generally it is easy to follow, The narrator captures the frantic nervousness of Bet, Her voice is very fitting for the scared, energetic, and fierce young woman, Ms. Strong alters her narrator voice slightly for Gabriels POVs and completely for the more robotic sounds of the radio broadcaster.
Overall, the narration is fitting, and she does a great job with computerized voices and creepy kids,
My Rating:
Story: B
Narration: B Creepy, but oh so good! Had a zombielike feel, but the Shadows are soulless shells of the humans they used to be.
Bet has remained out of their reach and knows no other life other than this bleak existence and always living in constant fear.
Now her younger brother has been snatched and she is determined to save him, Gabriel so cliché comes to her rescue, He vows to help her save her brother and fight the evil entity that has sucked the life from humanity.
Not sure whether to trust him, Bet takes a chance and gives her heart and soul over to him.
Gabriel renews his resolve and they fight together, not only for themselves but for what remains of the world he once knew.
Initially I had a little issue with the narrative switching back and forth I wasnt quite sure whose thoughts I was reading.
Once I realized what the author was doing, I got it and it added to the eeriness of the book.
I would have liked a more detailed ending all was resolved a little too quickly for me, However, the epilogue was a burst of sunshine glowing through the dismal ash,
I loved the writing in this story, it was spare, almost terse, but conveyed the story adn mood beautifully, I liked the way we gradually got to know Gabriel, I haven't read anything else by Ms, Hancock, but that will be changing, This is a highly interesting story written with love and nice first person present tense, It's part gothic nightmare, part love story, part salvagpunk story that is really A GOOD LOVE STORY, I often read it over and over for it moody atmosphere,
The characters are well thought out and lovely, the story is haunting and I highly recommend it.
It's a romance, but even if you don't read the genre, this is a story that crosses over.
Hancock loves how words feel and if you read it aloud, you can feel her passion,
Gabriel and Bet are a great couple,
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. An alien invasion occurs gradually wiping out humanity, There are pockets of people who scavenge for survival, all the while avoiding the "shadows, " New York City is dubbed the City of Ash, There is so much ash, that the sun doesn't shine,
This was dark. Bet's brother has been taken, She decided that she must try and take him back since she feels life isn't worth living if they are not together.
While on her hunt, she meets Gabriel, Gabriel was an interesting character and I liked learning what he was before, Overall, this was interesting, but lacked something for me to rate it higher, Originally posted at sitelinkRomance Around the Corner
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, I bought it after reading sitelinkJanines review over at Dear Author even though I wasnt familiar with Ms.
Hancocks work. I love gritty stories that take place in alternate or postapocalyptic worlds and Ghost in the Machine is exactly that.
Im so glad I read it because it turned out to be a wonderful and exciting journey,
The world painted in this book has literally gone to ashes, Years ago an alien invasion commanded by an entity called the SoulEater, took over the world and everything in it.
Half machine, half something else, the SoulEater had the ability to feed from humans and turn them into ghostly beings called Shadows that wandered the planet reproducing behaviors from their past and sometimes even resembling that past, and whose only purpose was to locate humans and alert the Sweepers.
Now, Shadows are a terrible sight because they come back as reflections of their past, that means that a little girls shadow sings the same song over and over again, or a former runner comes backs as a horse with a human head.
But Sweepers are worse because they are a hybrid between a human and a machine and you cant tell where the flesh begins and the machine ends, they all are monstrous things devoid of any humanity.
Or so it seems.
Our heroine is Bet, and her only purpose in life is keeping her little brother, Douglas, safe.
Shes emaciated and what little food she finds she gives to her brother, She worries that she wont be able to keep him sheltered anymore because the older he gets, the more he realizes how terrible things are.
One day, Bets worse nightmare comes true because
when she gets home she finds out that Sweepers have taken Douglas.
With nothing else to loose, and her only reason to live gone, she decides to embark on a suicide mission to rescue him from the SoulEater, when common logic says she should run the other way.
It doesnt take long for a shadow to find and attack her, Shes too weak to fight and is clearly loosing when out of nowhere a man dressed like a soldier, built like a god and winged like an angel, saves her.
She knows this man, whose name is Gabriel, is a Shadow but can see that theres still some humanity left in him.
He offers her his help to find Douglas and even though she doesnt trust him she knows she needs him, so she reluctantly accepts, and so the adventure begins.
This isnt a happy book, and the setting is quite dark even for a genre thats usually filled with darks settings.
If you dont like gritty and bleak worlds where youre always worrying about the characters safety, then you should probably skip this one.
Otherwise, go ahead and read it because its an interesting and riveting story that packs a lot of punch for such a short length and presents us a complex and quite interesting alternate world.
The story is told in first person from Bets POV so you really get to see how desperate she is and how bleak and awful life is.
She knows going after Douglas means almost certain death but hes everything to her, she has no reason to live beyond him so either way she dies.
Shes also quite lonely, at one point she reflects about how shes never been able to lean on someone and that as much as she loves her brother sometimes she needs more.
Thats why Gabriel makes such a huge difference, because she finally has someone taking care of her, I also loved how strong and good she was, she never gives up but still acknowledges that things are bad.
She wasnt a sunny and positive heroine, but she was still was able to give the reader some hope.
We get some parts of the story from Grabriels perspective, just enough to give us some background and to let us know where hes coming from.
This is a guy who has spent years fighting and who has managed to keep his humanity after going through something worse than death, even after humans themselves have that humanity and all hope.
There are things left unexplained, Im not exactly sure how the SoulEater works, and how it creates the Shadows and Sweepers, I dont want to give away any details but the ending was rushed and to me the final resolution is the weakest part of the book, it seemed almost too easy, and again, it wasnt quite explained.
At one point I wasnt sure how it was going to end, was a happy ending even possible Well, you have to read it but Ill say that the ending is satisfying and the story is so engrossing that you are able to overlook its shortcomings.
If you like postapocalyptic and cyberpunk stories this is a must read, its also heavy on the romance so theres something to cater to every taste.
Its part of a series of novellas that have a postapocalyptic and cyberpunk theme but arent related otherwise, you can get them Here Zero Factor and here Gridlock and I think Samhain is planning on publishing them as an anthology latter this year.
Wow for a novella this author builds an intense world, So dark.
to come Originally posted at: sitelink blogspot. c
The Soul Eater has come to Earth, With the souls gone only shadows remain, Shadows of a life from the past, The few people who avoid the Soul Eater are constantly running from the shadows and sweepers who try to drive them to their master.
Elizabeth, or Bet, returns to her squat to find her young brother Douglas has been taken by a sweeper.
Desperate to rescue him before he becomes a shadow, she begins the dangerous journey to the Soul Eaters lair.
Shadows fill the night and Bet must evade them if she is to survive,
Gabriel is a shadow with a difference, He still has compassion and struggles to keep his humanitarian side, Intrigued by Bet he tries to help her,
Bet doesnt trust Gabriel, but knows that without him she will not succeed with her rescue.
Alone for so long, she feels drawn to this shadow who looks like an angel, but is he really trying to lure her into the Soul Eaters clutches
The Earth of this novel is dark full of shadows, dirt and danger.
Bet is older than her years due to the need to stay alive and out of the Soul Eaters clutches.
Without going into reams of description, the author made me see the desperate plight of the characters, the darkness and despair.
At the heart of it all sat the alien Soul Eater, Like a spider this creature pulled in the emotions, thoughts and dreams of the people of Earth, leaving behind a shadow, a husk without substance.
Gabriel and Bet were at opposite ends of the spectrum, She is a fighter, but assumes he is merely another shadow, a bit different, but still in the thrall of the evil alien.
He had to struggle to stay in control, If he failed, the Soul Eater would take him completely,
Ghost in the Machine is a well thought out book although the storyline did tend to wander some at times.
I also got a bit confused about the shadows and sweepers, but tended to enjoy the inner thoughts of both characters.
If you like your fantasy set in an alternate future of darkness with a hint of redemption then Ghost in the Machine could be just what youre looking for.
.