The Ghost of the Revelator (Ghost Trilogy) - Softcover

Modesitt Jr., L. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812545362 ISBN 13: 9780812545364

Publisher: Tor Science Fiction, 1999

Synopsis

L.E. Modesitt, Jr., has gained a legion of devoted fans for his science fiction as well as his epic fantasy novels. The Ghost of the Revelator is one of the best displays yet of his ability to blend dramatic, imaginative stories with rigorous social and scientific extrapolation.

Doktor Johan Eschbach (the central character of Modesitt's popular alternate history SF novel, Of Tangible Ghosts) had hoped for a quiet life in retirement from the intelligence service, teaching environmental science at the University of New Bruges and living with his new wife, the vocalist Llysette du Boise. Llysette, a refugee from the burning remains of France, would herself like little more than to resume her singing career and forget her time in the prison camps of the Hapsburg Empire.

But an unusual invitation from the Mormon nation of Deseret inexorably drags Johan back into the spy business, though he isn't quite sure why or for whom. It quickly becomes apparent that he is being used as a pawn in a deadly game of international maneuverings that are leading the world closer to war.

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Review

Following up on the inventive Of Tangible Ghosts, L.E. Modesitt Jr. takes us back to his balkanized, techno-colonial vision of America, an alternate history in which the English colony at Plymouth failed long ago and New France, Columbia, Quebec, and the Mormon state of Deseret scheme and scrap for control of the continent and its resources. A land of dirigibles and difference engines, Modesitt's eerily refined world is compelling and coolly original, a place where you still drive to work in a car--albeit steam-powered--but think nothing of waving good morning to the zombies raking leaves off your lawn.

The protagonist of Tangible Ghosts, college professor and former secret agent Johan Eschbach, is back in this espionage thriller, now married to world-class singer and fellow former spy Lysette duBoise. Amidst intrigue and having barely survived an attempt on their lives, the two head off to Salt Lake City after Lysette is invited to sing there by Deseret's Mormon government. Of course nothing is quite as it seems: the situation quickly becomes complicated as Austro-Hungary tries to derail any cooperation between Columbia and Deseret, and a fanatic splinter group kidnaps Lysette to force Eschbach to summon the ghost of the Revelator, no less than Joseph Smith. With its smooth and measured action and its novel and well-developed characters and setting, Ghost of the Revelator is a rich, rewarding read. --Paul Hughes

From the Publisher

"A most originally conceived and intelligently executed melding of history and fantasy. Fans of its predecessor will devour it...especially on account of its enchanting heroine." --Booklist

"A compelling tale of alternate-world intrigue." --Jack McDevitt

"Sequel to Of Tangible Ghosts, Modesitt's intriguing, flavor-some alternate-world yarn where ghosts are real and America doesn't exist...Appealing characters, agreeably labyrinthine plotting, a fascinatingly detailed backdrop." --Kirkus Reviews

"Modesitt's lucid prose and careful attention to detail lend substance to this tale of occult intrigue. For most SF collections." --Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0812545362
• ISBN 13: 9780812545364
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320