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Ghost #2
The Ghost of the Revelator
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.
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.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
13 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
191 books2,596 followersL. E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt, Jr. is an author of science fiction and fantasy novels. He is best known for the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, lived in Washington, D.C. for 20 years, then moved to New Hampshire in 1989 where he met his wife. They relocated to Cedar City, Utah in 1993.
He has worked as a Navy pilot, lifeguard, delivery boy, unpaid radio disc jockey, real estate agent, market research analyst, director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant for a Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer and writer in residence.
In addition to his novels, Mr. Modesitt has published technical studies and articles, columns, poetry, and a number of science fiction stories. His first short story, "The Great American Economy", was published in 1973 in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact.
-Wikipedia
He has worked as a Navy pilot, lifeguard, delivery boy, unpaid radio disc jockey, real estate agent, market research analyst, director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant for a Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer and writer in residence.
In addition to his novels, Mr. Modesitt has published technical studies and articles, columns, poetry, and a number of science fiction stories. His first short story, "The Great American Economy", was published in 1973 in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 11, 2023
Paired review with the Prequel, Of Tangible Ghosts:
Johan Eschbach, retired from an eventful career in service to Columbia as a naval aviator, Spazi agent, and cabinet minister, now teaches environmental economics at Vanderbraak State University in New Bruges (New Hampshire in OTL). Doktor Eschbach lost both his wife and daughter in a political murder -- he himself was badly wounded -- and he would like nothing better than a quiet life in this academic backwater. That would make for a dull book, however, and he is soon caught up in a murder investigation, a love affair, political intrigues, and secret military research into "de-ghosting."
Doktor Eschbach's solution to the ensuing tangle is "rather appalling and not entirely credible" -- to quote Christina Schulman, whose excellent review led me to read Of Tangible Ghosts.
"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 the lawn." -- Paul Hughes, amazon.com
Ghost of the Revelator picks up Doktor Eschbach's and his new wife Llysette Du Boise's lives as her singing career is taking off, and as the messy ending to Of Tangible Ghosts comes back to haunt Eschbach. The story unfolds slowly, but the same wonderful details of everyday life that enlivened the first book -- lunch at a favorite cafe, icy roads, dense, lazy, occasionally sharp students, petty academic politics, politicians who can "smile and smile and be a villain" -- make the trip worthwhile. This world is slower-paced than ours, and Modesitt's prose has something of the heavy Dutch feel of well-fed burghers, shining-clean windows, and tidy lives. Very human. If slow bothers you -- skim.
Mr Modesitt still hasn't smoothed out his jarring exposition of the differences between his alternate world and ours, here usually dumped as interior monologues. Show, don't tell, please!
Llysette sings at a Presidential Arts Awards dinner and is invited to perform at the prestigious Salt Palace in Deseret -- after fleeing the fall of France and an Austrian political prison. Johan comes to the uncomfortable conclusion that he's about to be eclipsed in fame and fortune by his glamorous wife....
...but maybe Deseret is after more than just a performance by the new prima diva. And what about Austria-Hungary? And New France? And the shadowy "Revealed Twelve"?
Minister Eschbach resolves the ensuing international crisis with verve, skill, and a couple of twists that would be unfair to reveal. Suffice it to say that the ending is most satisfactory, and leaves plenty of room for future Eschbach/Du Boise adventures.
Both books are reasonably self-contained, but if you read one and like it, you'll want to read the other, so it makes sense to start with Of Tangible Ghosts.
My 1998 review:
https://www.sfsite.com/12a/gost46.htm
Johan Eschbach, retired from an eventful career in service to Columbia as a naval aviator, Spazi agent, and cabinet minister, now teaches environmental economics at Vanderbraak State University in New Bruges (New Hampshire in OTL). Doktor Eschbach lost both his wife and daughter in a political murder -- he himself was badly wounded -- and he would like nothing better than a quiet life in this academic backwater. That would make for a dull book, however, and he is soon caught up in a murder investigation, a love affair, political intrigues, and secret military research into "de-ghosting."
Doktor Eschbach's solution to the ensuing tangle is "rather appalling and not entirely credible" -- to quote Christina Schulman, whose excellent review led me to read Of Tangible Ghosts.
"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 the lawn." -- Paul Hughes, amazon.com
Ghost of the Revelator picks up Doktor Eschbach's and his new wife Llysette Du Boise's lives as her singing career is taking off, and as the messy ending to Of Tangible Ghosts comes back to haunt Eschbach. The story unfolds slowly, but the same wonderful details of everyday life that enlivened the first book -- lunch at a favorite cafe, icy roads, dense, lazy, occasionally sharp students, petty academic politics, politicians who can "smile and smile and be a villain" -- make the trip worthwhile. This world is slower-paced than ours, and Modesitt's prose has something of the heavy Dutch feel of well-fed burghers, shining-clean windows, and tidy lives. Very human. If slow bothers you -- skim.
Mr Modesitt still hasn't smoothed out his jarring exposition of the differences between his alternate world and ours, here usually dumped as interior monologues. Show, don't tell, please!
Llysette sings at a Presidential Arts Awards dinner and is invited to perform at the prestigious Salt Palace in Deseret -- after fleeing the fall of France and an Austrian political prison. Johan comes to the uncomfortable conclusion that he's about to be eclipsed in fame and fortune by his glamorous wife....
...but maybe Deseret is after more than just a performance by the new prima diva. And what about Austria-Hungary? And New France? And the shadowy "Revealed Twelve"?
Minister Eschbach resolves the ensuing international crisis with verve, skill, and a couple of twists that would be unfair to reveal. Suffice it to say that the ending is most satisfactory, and leaves plenty of room for future Eschbach/Du Boise adventures.
Both books are reasonably self-contained, but if you read one and like it, you'll want to read the other, so it makes sense to start with Of Tangible Ghosts.
My 1998 review:
https://www.sfsite.com/12a/gost46.htm
November 28, 2019
As was true of #1 in the series: four stars for the ideas, two stars for the delivery.
Read
February 1, 2021I think I finally figured out where the first divergence point was in Modesitt's alternate history stories of Johann Eschbach, begun in Of Tangible Ghosts. Hook baited...I ain't tellin'.
In Ghost of the Revelator Modesitt continues the tale of Professor Eschbach and his lovely bride, Lysette. The political intrigue continues, as rival factions within the nation of Columbia and the insidious spies from the nations of Deseret, New France and Austro-Hungary try to gain control of the "ghosting" technology discovered in OTG.
Lysette's singing career finally begins to take off, now that she has become a citizen of Columbia through marriage, and she is invited to sing for the president, then to teach and sing in a concert series in Deseret.
Though Modesitt paints a rich tapestry of everyday life in this alternate timeline, the story tends to drag. Action scenes are few and far between. Modesitt also seems to expect us to remember all the political machinations and motivations from the first novel, and it's been a while since it came out. I'd suggest reading the two one sitting, so to speak.
Since I haven't kept up with the sf magazine scene in a long time, I may be unaware of its existence, but it seems that there's an untold story of the good professor's previous life that would provide some keys to his motivation and his character in these novels. If you've run across the story somewhere, let me know, so I can catch up.
In Ghost of the Revelator Modesitt continues the tale of Professor Eschbach and his lovely bride, Lysette. The political intrigue continues, as rival factions within the nation of Columbia and the insidious spies from the nations of Deseret, New France and Austro-Hungary try to gain control of the "ghosting" technology discovered in OTG.
Lysette's singing career finally begins to take off, now that she has become a citizen of Columbia through marriage, and she is invited to sing for the president, then to teach and sing in a concert series in Deseret.
Though Modesitt paints a rich tapestry of everyday life in this alternate timeline, the story tends to drag. Action scenes are few and far between. Modesitt also seems to expect us to remember all the political machinations and motivations from the first novel, and it's been a while since it came out. I'd suggest reading the two one sitting, so to speak.
Since I haven't kept up with the sf magazine scene in a long time, I may be unaware of its existence, but it seems that there's an untold story of the good professor's previous life that would provide some keys to his motivation and his character in these novels. If you've run across the story somewhere, let me know, so I can catch up.
June 25, 2018
Modesitt, L. E., Jr. The Ghost of the Revelator. Ghost Trilogy No. 2. Tor, 1999.
The Ghost of the Revelator is a close sequel to Of Tangible Ghosts. Modesitt’s alternate history continues to fascinate. It is set in a late twentieth century in which we are in an early nuclear age, have largely given up gasoline engines for steam, have a strong ecological movement, and air travel is by lighter-than-air craft. The United States does not exist. Its analog is Columbia, confined largely to the East Coast. The Civil War Never Happened. New York City is called New Amsterdam. New Bruges is an independent Dutch state about where New Hampshire is in our timeline. A good part of the American West is a Mormon theocracy called Deseret. An Austro-Hungarian Empire with a dictator named Ferdinand has recently conquered France. There is espionage everywhere. The computer (here, difference engine) age is somewhere in a pre-internet age. Ghosts are real electric phenomena that our hero has learned to copy and project with a souped up difference engine. Our protagonists are an academic--who used to be a combat pilot, minister, and spy--and his wife, a refugee French diva. In this one, our protagonists are sent on a somewhat undercover mission to Salt Lake City. Somehow it all works. I plan to read the third book in the series, Ghost of the White Nights.
The Ghost of the Revelator is a close sequel to Of Tangible Ghosts. Modesitt’s alternate history continues to fascinate. It is set in a late twentieth century in which we are in an early nuclear age, have largely given up gasoline engines for steam, have a strong ecological movement, and air travel is by lighter-than-air craft. The United States does not exist. Its analog is Columbia, confined largely to the East Coast. The Civil War Never Happened. New York City is called New Amsterdam. New Bruges is an independent Dutch state about where New Hampshire is in our timeline. A good part of the American West is a Mormon theocracy called Deseret. An Austro-Hungarian Empire with a dictator named Ferdinand has recently conquered France. There is espionage everywhere. The computer (here, difference engine) age is somewhere in a pre-internet age. Ghosts are real electric phenomena that our hero has learned to copy and project with a souped up difference engine. Our protagonists are an academic--who used to be a combat pilot, minister, and spy--and his wife, a refugee French diva. In this one, our protagonists are sent on a somewhat undercover mission to Salt Lake City. Somehow it all works. I plan to read the third book in the series, Ghost of the White Nights.
October 5, 2020
Every once in a while, a person need to step back and reread books he or she enjoyed in the past. A question on Goodreads to L. E. Modesitt, Jr., prompted me to reread Of Tangible Ghosts which lead to rereading the whole series. In The Ghost of the Revelator, Llysette Eschbach gets invited to Deseret to give a series of concerts, accompanied by her husband Johan, the former subminister of environment and a former Spazi agent. This being a Modesitt spy tale, there is intrigue, double dealing, music, and plentiful food references. This is still a satisfying read even after the third of fourth time though the tale.
June 27, 2020
Professor/retired spy Johan Eschbach, quietly teaching environmental science, accompanies his musician spouse who is invited to perform in the Mormon nation of Deseret, by dirigible. 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.
August 9, 2024
Love This Series!!!
I wish there were more than just the trilogy! Good reads like these need to be savored. This is my second read-through and they are still wonderful. Like fine food....
I wish there were more than just the trilogy! Good reads like these need to be savored. This is my second read-through and they are still wonderful. Like fine food....
September 2, 2025
Great book. I loved the tidy ending. It's an interesting idea of what could have happened. Not entirely sure if i like how some things were portrayed, but it is a work of fiction.
December 30, 2013
I picked up Ghosts of Columbia in excitement, thinking it was a new book, only to find it was Of Tangible Ghosts and The Ghost of the Revelator put together in one book. Sigh. Oh well, it had been quite some time since reading those books so why not have another go at them?
This is the second book and our hero, Johan Eschbach, and his lovely wife, diva and singer most supreme, Llysette, are yet again in danger as various governments scheme for power and control. Llysette is invited to give a concert in the country of Deseret, which is of course part of a political power play, though at the least, those who aren't struggling for control are blessed to experience Llysette's truly formidable and impressive vocal talents.
As with all of Mr. Modesitt's sci-fi books involving power struggles (or is that just plain all of his sci-fi and most of the fantasy as well?) many different players are introduced and it's a little tricky to get them all organized as to their place and participation in the story. Not to mention figuring out what their motivations are. However, once you get them down, as with most of his books, things get interesting.
If you are familiar with Modesitt, you already know how it goes and so I won't go into great detail. If you are not, let me say these things. First, his sci-fi is definitely different, especially in this series, than a lot of other authors. Give it a bit, get well into the book, and then suddenly you will find that you are engrossed. Ok, with most of them anyway. There are a couple I never could quite latch on to, but for the most part, I grab his new releases eagerly. Second, in particular to this book (but definitely touched on in others) he really goes into detail about his version of the Mormon faith. I say his version because it is not accurate to the actual Mormon faith as practiced by members of that religion, and of course his version because it is after all a fiction novel. Things are going to be different. It is a fictional futuristic society.
I loved the first book, I have enjoyed most of his other books, and I enjoyed this one. Some of his caricature representations of the Mormon faith bothered me. While I respect his right to write fiction, and believe he does it well, I am so used to the strong and mistaken beliefs about the LDS faith from those who are not LDS, it is frustrating to see some of the inaccuracies replicated in a novel by a popular author. Unfortunately too many readers are not able to understand that when they are reading fiction that contains a great deal of fact, it is still fiction. If very many characteristics are true to a faith, or actual person or situation, then readers do not separate out the fiction and begin to apply those fictional characteristics to real people. It's not really a criticism as much as a frustration.
Overall a good series. Not my favorite in his writings (definitely the Imager series or Corean Chronicles) but a good solid read.
This is the second book and our hero, Johan Eschbach, and his lovely wife, diva and singer most supreme, Llysette, are yet again in danger as various governments scheme for power and control. Llysette is invited to give a concert in the country of Deseret, which is of course part of a political power play, though at the least, those who aren't struggling for control are blessed to experience Llysette's truly formidable and impressive vocal talents.
As with all of Mr. Modesitt's sci-fi books involving power struggles (or is that just plain all of his sci-fi and most of the fantasy as well?) many different players are introduced and it's a little tricky to get them all organized as to their place and participation in the story. Not to mention figuring out what their motivations are. However, once you get them down, as with most of his books, things get interesting.
If you are familiar with Modesitt, you already know how it goes and so I won't go into great detail. If you are not, let me say these things. First, his sci-fi is definitely different, especially in this series, than a lot of other authors. Give it a bit, get well into the book, and then suddenly you will find that you are engrossed. Ok, with most of them anyway. There are a couple I never could quite latch on to, but for the most part, I grab his new releases eagerly. Second, in particular to this book (but definitely touched on in others) he really goes into detail about his version of the Mormon faith. I say his version because it is not accurate to the actual Mormon faith as practiced by members of that religion, and of course his version because it is after all a fiction novel. Things are going to be different. It is a fictional futuristic society.
I loved the first book, I have enjoyed most of his other books, and I enjoyed this one. Some of his caricature representations of the Mormon faith bothered me. While I respect his right to write fiction, and believe he does it well, I am so used to the strong and mistaken beliefs about the LDS faith from those who are not LDS, it is frustrating to see some of the inaccuracies replicated in a novel by a popular author. Unfortunately too many readers are not able to understand that when they are reading fiction that contains a great deal of fact, it is still fiction. If very many characteristics are true to a faith, or actual person or situation, then readers do not separate out the fiction and begin to apply those fictional characteristics to real people. It's not really a criticism as much as a frustration.
Overall a good series. Not my favorite in his writings (definitely the Imager series or Corean Chronicles) but a good solid read.
September 2, 2020
I must enjoy pain. That's the only explanation for why I read this book after barely surviving the first one.
I was still confused by some parts. I don't know why I cared, but I decided to read the beginning of the second book to see if things were explained. At least it was worth it, they were.
It's not as boring as the first book either. Where the other was watching paint dry boring, this one was watching grass grow boring. 😂
I was still confused by some parts. I don't know why I cared, but I decided to read the beginning of the second book to see if things were explained. At least it was worth it, they were.
It's not as boring as the first book either. Where the other was watching paint dry boring, this one was watching grass grow boring. 😂
October 7, 2007
More steampunk...
apparently the US was never "united" and is split up into several countries - Columbia seems to be the east coast, Deseret is the Mormon Theocracy in the oil-rich part of the continent, and there's a New France. I still don't have all the geography down yet.
Dirigibles are the preferred mode of transportation, although Jets are coming into vogue, but due to the high fuel prices, they're too expensive. Columbia is facing a fuel crisis and Deseret has drilled & mined and extracted liquid hydorcarbons (gas) but won't trade nicely with Columbia. Lots of eco-political commentary in this one.
Seems that Ghosts have had a huge impact on population growth - when women died in childbirth, her ghost hovered around and the husband wouldn't remarry soon, if ever. War is hindered since it creates too many ghosts.
So our main character, Johan Eshbach, gets into trouble again, this time with a radical group of schismatics in Deseret who think the current LDS government is straying from the teachings of their founder. All in all a good read.
apparently the US was never "united" and is split up into several countries - Columbia seems to be the east coast, Deseret is the Mormon Theocracy in the oil-rich part of the continent, and there's a New France. I still don't have all the geography down yet.
Dirigibles are the preferred mode of transportation, although Jets are coming into vogue, but due to the high fuel prices, they're too expensive. Columbia is facing a fuel crisis and Deseret has drilled & mined and extracted liquid hydorcarbons (gas) but won't trade nicely with Columbia. Lots of eco-political commentary in this one.
Seems that Ghosts have had a huge impact on population growth - when women died in childbirth, her ghost hovered around and the husband wouldn't remarry soon, if ever. War is hindered since it creates too many ghosts.
So our main character, Johan Eshbach, gets into trouble again, this time with a radical group of schismatics in Deseret who think the current LDS government is straying from the teachings of their founder. All in all a good read.
January 25, 2015
Wow, this book kind of blew my socks off. While I enjoyed its predecessor, Of Tangible Ghosts, I couldn't put this one down, once I got to about chapter 25. (Looking back, the first 24 chapters were slow exposition for a hugely interesting and fast paced resolution.) Set in an alternate version of my native Utah, I'm very impressed with Modesitt's knowledge of LDS history and theology, as well as with his wry and sometimes humorous observations of LDS culture which are quite true in the "real" Utah. I'm thrilled that there is a sequel. I do hope it is also set primarily in Deseret. *Do not skip the author's historical afterward. It is also quite interesting, although not necessarily required to understand the books.
March 28, 2013
I got a good chuckle out of the Country of Deseret that Johan is forced by his espionage past to infiltrate. Founded by the original form of LDS religion, making it both conservative, polygamous and repressive to women (a state that offends his French Diva wife who is his cover); Johan is subject to coercion to resurrect the ghost of a key founding Saint. Once again the reality of ghosts in this parallel universe has subtle but profound effects on its politics.
Having just such a cult in this real world on the edges of Arizona I'm can easily imagine the type of country it would produce.
Having just such a cult in this real world on the edges of Arizona I'm can easily imagine the type of country it would produce.
December 8, 2025
Eschbach is back again, someone wants to kill him, and also possibly his new wife as well. His wife is invited to the the Mormon kingdom of Deseret to give a concert. I like the airship in the story, sounds like a wonderful way to travel.
Another fun story with a splash of James Bond, I enjoyed it.
Another fun story with a splash of James Bond, I enjoyed it.
February 24, 2012
The second in a trilogy this book continues the development of the characters and the world they inhabit. The plot moves along well and the alternative history within the book adds to the enjoyment.
September 14, 2011
Not as good as Of Tangible Ghosts but still interesting with dirigibles and Mormons running the southwest of North America.
July 10, 2020
A fun alternative history/mystery/thriller. As always, Modesitt's worldbuilding shines, but the characters and plotting are also strong.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews