Pros: Stunning & original world; wonderful characters; fascinating plot
Cons: None
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group.
Visit Jory Strong online.
“In a post-apocalyptic world where supernaturals have emerged from hiding, wealthy humans delight in decadence while the religious gain power through temptation.”
Aisling is a shamaness, abandoned on the doorstep of a rural farm and taken in by a sympathetic woman. Raised among other orphans, she’s forced to hide her gifts from the authorities, hiding in safe rooms whenever they come calling. Until a priest comes looking for her—one who knows exactly who she is, what she can do, and where to find her. She’s forced to go to the city, where she’s asked to enter the ghostlands and find a woman who’s been kidnapped for sacrifice by a vicious cult. To save the woman she’s forced to summon a Djinn prince, an act that comes with a terrible price.
The Djinn fear nothing other than being bound and enslaved by humans, and Zurael is determined to slay the woman who called him up with such casual power—until he realizes she never intended to enslave him, and finds himself falling for her innocent charms. He finds himself caught up in an ever-more-difficult task: to protect Aisling from those who would use her power to horrific ends, and to help her protect those she loves. But by helping her, he might well be condemning her to death at the hands of his own people.
The world that Aisling and Zurael inhabit is nothing short of breathtaking. In a genre so filled with vampires and shapeshifters that, frankly, one series often seems to run into the next, I don’t think you’ll mistake Ghostland for any other book! Even now, a handful of days after I finished reading it, all I have to do is casually call it up in my mind and I can feel and see it almost as clearly as though I’d been there on a visit. Jory Strong’s talent for worldbuilding is fantastic, and I very much look forward to reading more of her work!
The characters are wonderful, no matter how incidental; even those that appear only briefly have quite a bit of personality and uniqueness to them.
It’s funny—despite the fact that this is a highly erotically charged book, the plotting and worldbuilding are so strong that I have trouble primarily classifying it as a romance or erotica novel. Those just aren’t the aspects of it that come to mind first for me. Yet Zurael and Aisling make a powerful couple, and their scenes together sizzle. Jory succeeds in depicting a dom/sub relationship with grace and style, and without compromising Aisling’s strength as a character and a person. Unlike Feehan’s Burning Wild, Strong’s Ghostland depicts a healthy “alternative” relationship.
As long as you don’t mind a book with a fair amount of blood and (occasionally kinky) sex, this is a fantastic novel for fans of the paranormal genre. The world is gorgeous, the characters are fantastic, and the plots will draw you in!
Thanks for the wonderful review! I’m so glad you enjoyed Ghostland.
It’s my pleasure—I can’t wait to read more!
Blood and kinky sex!? I’m in!
I won a copy on a blog contest last week and I’m really looking forward to receiving it!
I won it from:
http://idonotwanttowaitiwantthebooknow.wordpress.com/
Can’t wait to hear what you think of it jess!
Thanks for the input. Now I know what my next book will be. I do have to say that I truly love Christine Feehan’s novels. I thought “Burning Wild” was fabulous!!!! I like the way Feehan can create an entire race and can truly add real animal instincts to the characters. I can’t wait for the next Leopard series to come out. I’m hoping its Drake, I don’t know why, but he intrigues me. Of course Joshua would be a nice treat too, with his cute personality. Happy reading everyone!!
I’m currently reading “Ghostland” and have to say that I drove all over town to find it. Books a million didn’t have a single book from Strong, and neither did Barns and Noble; I ended up finding the one and only copy in town at Hastings. But, it was worth the search!!! I love it! The creativity is amazing and Aisling and Zureal are awesome characters. I’m looking forward to reading more of Strong’s books. I’m going to have to check out the used bookstore because no other bookstores carry her work. Beats me why they don’t, she is a fabulous writer! I needed a new author to read. Thanks for all the input, my friends. Thank you Jory Strong for being such a great storyteller. Happy writing to you. Your new fan, Lois.
Glad you’re enjoying it, HDR! If you like Feehan’s leopard books, you’d probably also like Lora Leigh’s Breed novels if you aren’t reading them already. You might also try Colette Gale’s historicals, such as Bound by Honor and Unmasqued. I’m surprised Ghostland was so hard to find, since it’s new.
Thanks for suggesting “Ghostland” to me, I really enjoyed it. I also thought it was weird that none of the bk stores had it… it’s even weirder that they didn’t have anything from Jory Stone. Not a single book. And double thanks for the heads-up on the titles above. I LOVE Historical and am excited about dropping by the bookstore and pick up “Unmasqued” on my way home… it sounds like a fun read! Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. Keep it coming!!
I understand that they’re going to make a movie out of “Ghostland” it will be a great movie I’m sure seems like the movies are never as good as the books