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Ghatti's Tale #2
Mind-Speaker's Call
Mindstealers—that is what the Gleaners—a mutant strain of humans able to destroy the minds and souls of their fellows—are known throughout Canderis. it is a reputation that has been only too well-earned by such Gleaners as Seeker Doyce Marbon's stepson Vesey, who nearly succeeded in bringing down both the Seekers Veritas and the eumedicos, the two organizations primarily responsible for the well-being of the people of Canderis.
Having thus been made aware taht the Gleaners are secretly building their power, the Seekers are sworn to find and put an end to this threat. But Doyce's Bondmate, the catlike ghatta called Khar, has a much more personal mission to fulfill, to break through the mind barriers which Doyce created as protection against a terrifying attack by Vesey. For although Vesey was defeated by Doyce and the united minds of eight ghatti, Doyce has remained in shock for months, trapped within her own mind's protective barriers.
But now the Seekers Veritas have need of her services once again, and, recovered or not, she and Khar must join a mission to the neighboring realm of Marchmont. For someone seems bent on creating dissension between Canderis and Marchmont. And even the truth-reading skills of the Seekers may not be enough to unravel the twisted threads of a conspiracy that could see Canderis and its neighbor hopelessly caught in a devestating war...
Having thus been made aware taht the Gleaners are secretly building their power, the Seekers are sworn to find and put an end to this threat. But Doyce's Bondmate, the catlike ghatta called Khar, has a much more personal mission to fulfill, to break through the mind barriers which Doyce created as protection against a terrifying attack by Vesey. For although Vesey was defeated by Doyce and the united minds of eight ghatti, Doyce has remained in shock for months, trapped within her own mind's protective barriers.
But now the Seekers Veritas have need of her services once again, and, recovered or not, she and Khar must join a mission to the neighboring realm of Marchmont. For someone seems bent on creating dissension between Canderis and Marchmont. And even the truth-reading skills of the Seekers may not be enough to unravel the twisted threads of a conspiracy that could see Canderis and its neighbor hopelessly caught in a devestating war...
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 25, 2015
I didn't care for this book as much as I did the first book because I'm really not that into politics. The first book had a few political points to it, but it was more about finding out "who done it" and why as well as the adventure of tracking down the villains.
I'm disappointed in the behavior of some of the characters. Doyce sometimes seems childish, nowhere near her late 30's, as she is described as being. I can accept her being confused sometimes and a little worried/anxious because of what she went through in the first book, but that isn't all there is to how she behaves. I didn't feel that there was enough focus on Doyce, either. It's disappointing. Jenret, too, acts as if he's a teenager with something to prove. Adding his sister seemed a little unnecessary, also. Jacobia felt like an afterthought of some sort to me.
Speaking of Doyce and the last book, it struck me as odd that she would recover so quickly. When the book first starts, she's weak and mentally vulnerable. She's been ill since her ordeal at the end of the first book and has been in bed for months. She can hardly hold a bow and arrow, then suddenly BAM! She's... better? What..? That was fast!
I like that some mystery was laced into this book like it was in the last book. Not so much a murder mystery, but there are a lot of other questions that kept me going to find out what was really going on. Even though I read this book before, though it was long, long ago, I was still intrigued by the conspiracy going on.
The romance is pretty good. I'm not usually one for such things, but I felt emotionally connected to the characters going through their romantic conflicts.
The villain is rather cliche, but not in a really annoying way, as I've found to be the case in many other fantasy/sci-fi books.
Another thing that has sort of bothered me since the first book is the character Mahafny. I like her well enough, but the author first described her as an atheist in the first book, and in this book she was described as being agnostic. However, it isn't uncommon for her to pray to the deity of this world and speak about the goddess as if she were a believer. An agnostic MIGHT do these things, but not a convinced atheist, which is what it seemed like the author was trying to go for at first. That inconsistency with her character was a distraction to me.
Greeno's writing is good. It really doesn't make much difference that I've read these books before. I'm still eager to get on with the story as if I were reading it for the first time. The story doesn't get too boggy anywhere, though sometimes it does feel as if the author has gotten too wordy. I don't find that to be much of an issue, though. It happens rarely enough as to not present a serious annoyance.
I'm disappointed in the behavior of some of the characters. Doyce sometimes seems childish, nowhere near her late 30's, as she is described as being. I can accept her being confused sometimes and a little worried/anxious because of what she went through in the first book, but that isn't all there is to how she behaves. I didn't feel that there was enough focus on Doyce, either. It's disappointing. Jenret, too, acts as if he's a teenager with something to prove. Adding his sister seemed a little unnecessary, also. Jacobia felt like an afterthought of some sort to me.
Speaking of Doyce and the last book, it struck me as odd that she would recover so quickly. When the book first starts, she's weak and mentally vulnerable. She's been ill since her ordeal at the end of the first book and has been in bed for months. She can hardly hold a bow and arrow, then suddenly BAM! She's... better? What..? That was fast!
I like that some mystery was laced into this book like it was in the last book. Not so much a murder mystery, but there are a lot of other questions that kept me going to find out what was really going on. Even though I read this book before, though it was long, long ago, I was still intrigued by the conspiracy going on.
The romance is pretty good. I'm not usually one for such things, but I felt emotionally connected to the characters going through their romantic conflicts.
The villain is rather cliche, but not in a really annoying way, as I've found to be the case in many other fantasy/sci-fi books.
Another thing that has sort of bothered me since the first book is the character Mahafny. I like her well enough, but the author first described her as an atheist in the first book, and in this book she was described as being agnostic. However, it isn't uncommon for her to pray to the deity of this world and speak about the goddess as if she were a believer. An agnostic MIGHT do these things, but not a convinced atheist, which is what it seemed like the author was trying to go for at first. That inconsistency with her character was a distraction to me.
Greeno's writing is good. It really doesn't make much difference that I've read these books before. I'm still eager to get on with the story as if I were reading it for the first time. The story doesn't get too boggy anywhere, though sometimes it does feel as if the author has gotten too wordy. I don't find that to be much of an issue, though. It happens rarely enough as to not present a serious annoyance.
October 7, 2008
Another great story, though the over-description does begin to wear on me and I find myself skimming through sentence after sentence of cumbersome adjectives. The characters remain fascinating, especially the adept characterization of the large cats, ghatti. The main character, Doyce, becomes grating in her almost adolescent angst and melancholy - and I wonder if it's supposed to make the reader think of her as being a 'strong woman' who of course is therefore also unable to love, trust or believe in herself without almost constant self-flagellation. Still, the story is gripping and I do love the ghatti!
October 11, 2013
This is a 3-4 star, primarily because it drags horribly in the middle and, if you've read any of my other reviews, you'll know that I hate the prolonged breast-beating which is all too evident here. Nonetheless, for the middle book of a trilogy, it's pretty good. Not a stand-alone.
February 9, 2020
This book was published in the 90s, so you might expect some older cliches that might make you cringe or roll your eyes (I've experienced those books before). The first book pleasantly surprised me with a lack of any stereotypes or annoying cliches around its female main character. I absolutely love that the main character is a new adult who was once, briefly, a mother and a wife. You don't often see female main characters with that kind of identity unless that's the journey the book is taking them on in the moment. Doyce shares her struggles and her journey with her ghatti partner, Khar'pern. The giant cats are a big pull to the book, honestly. This book, after the first one, continued being an enjoyable read.
...to a point.
The way the Erakwa are written rubs me the wrong way at times, portrayed as all-knowing natives who are wise in the ways of the world with a deep connection to the Earth. One Erakwa character is shown as a sagely mentor archetype who feels like a late deux ex machina to solve the issue of the author writing the evil tyrant as being too strong for the main group of characters. The book develops the Erakwa and makes the old sagely characters as being something of an amusing bumbly pair who struggle to realize things have changed from the ancient past they know, but it's achingly obvious that they're based on ideas about real-life Native populations.
For the most part, the entire journey of the book is an enjoyable read. You can sit back and get engrossed in the story, learning about Marchmont, unraveling the mystery along with the characters, and watching with baited breath for characters to slip up and get caught. The pace was just beautiful, not going too slow, but also not moving too fast. Except when I got to the end.
As the plot seemed to be wrapping up, everything coming together to the point where the tyrant was about to fall and the ghatti to choose the new ruler in an entirely unique way than just seeking Truth, everything fell apart. I had 40 pages left in the book and it looked like a new arc of the journey had just started. For a 520-page book, that's saying something. The bloodshed came out of nearly nowhere. There had been hints that both countries were edging for war, but I thought that the people's panic was being assuaged. Instead, we got war. And let me tell you, the book sped through it like no tomorrow. I'm not even sure too many days passed before the war was over. We had some quick bloodshed (with characters whos job it is to settle conflicts with discussion and judgment, fighting like this feels jarring and out of place), a few characters brutally murdered, the main enemy slain--
--and then timeskip to somewhere in the future, somewhere entirely different, where a few characters who weren't even in the main group talk about how that main group went on some Erakwan journey after the war. And then quick epilogue where two characters talk about marriage. I'm not even sure they talked about the characters that died in that quick little war arc. It just happened all so quickly.
...to a point.
The way the Erakwa are written rubs me the wrong way at times, portrayed as all-knowing natives who are wise in the ways of the world with a deep connection to the Earth. One Erakwa character is shown as a sagely mentor archetype who feels like a late deux ex machina to solve the issue of the author writing the evil tyrant as being too strong for the main group of characters. The book develops the Erakwa and makes the old sagely characters as being something of an amusing bumbly pair who struggle to realize things have changed from the ancient past they know, but it's achingly obvious that they're based on ideas about real-life Native populations.
For the most part, the entire journey of the book is an enjoyable read. You can sit back and get engrossed in the story, learning about Marchmont, unraveling the mystery along with the characters, and watching with baited breath for characters to slip up and get caught. The pace was just beautiful, not going too slow, but also not moving too fast. Except when I got to the end.
As the plot seemed to be wrapping up, everything coming together to the point where the tyrant was about to fall and the ghatti to choose the new ruler in an entirely unique way than just seeking Truth, everything fell apart. I had 40 pages left in the book and it looked like a new arc of the journey had just started. For a 520-page book, that's saying something. The bloodshed came out of nearly nowhere. There had been hints that both countries were edging for war, but I thought that the people's panic was being assuaged. Instead, we got war. And let me tell you, the book sped through it like no tomorrow. I'm not even sure too many days passed before the war was over. We had some quick bloodshed (with characters whos job it is to settle conflicts with discussion and judgment, fighting like this feels jarring and out of place), a few characters brutally murdered, the main enemy slain--
--and then timeskip to somewhere in the future, somewhere entirely different, where a few characters who weren't even in the main group talk about how that main group went on some Erakwan journey after the war. And then quick epilogue where two characters talk about marriage. I'm not even sure they talked about the characters that died in that quick little war arc. It just happened all so quickly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2017
Spoilers ahead!
Whilst there was some interesting politics, and I liked learning more about the settlers' history and the Erakwa, it was the characters that made this book drag. I took a long time reading this, because I just got annoyed.
Doyce becomes a weak, childish creature in this book. She hides from the truth, hides from her feelings and hides from life. She treats her ghatti poorly. I disliked her.
Jenret also becomes a pathetic, weak person. He becomes a drunk because he's 'in love'. So in love, that he pins Doyce down and attempts to rape her. While the ghatti are horrified, that's not enough. I don't care how much you fancy you 'love' someone - a decent person would never and could never do this. Doyce is entreated to listen to him by the ghatti - again, why??? There is no good excuse for what he tried to do, and it really irked me that she 'understands' and eventually becomes a couple with him.
The final character that annoyed me was Jenret's half-sister. The girl continually acted like a spoiled ten year old. She seemed to be an attempt to add some romance to the story.
I did not like this book, but I have started reading the third book in the series nonetheless. By the end of the book, Doyce and Jenret have mostly gotten over their self absorption and faced reality, so hopefully they will return to their characters from the first book.
Whilst there was some interesting politics, and I liked learning more about the settlers' history and the Erakwa, it was the characters that made this book drag. I took a long time reading this, because I just got annoyed.
Doyce becomes a weak, childish creature in this book. She hides from the truth, hides from her feelings and hides from life. She treats her ghatti poorly. I disliked her.
Jenret also becomes a pathetic, weak person. He becomes a drunk because he's 'in love'. So in love, that he pins Doyce down and attempts to rape her. While the ghatti are horrified, that's not enough. I don't care how much you fancy you 'love' someone - a decent person would never and could never do this. Doyce is entreated to listen to him by the ghatti - again, why??? There is no good excuse for what he tried to do, and it really irked me that she 'understands' and eventually becomes a couple with him.
The final character that annoyed me was Jenret's half-sister. The girl continually acted like a spoiled ten year old. She seemed to be an attempt to add some romance to the story.
I did not like this book, but I have started reading the third book in the series nonetheless. By the end of the book, Doyce and Jenret have mostly gotten over their self absorption and faced reality, so hopefully they will return to their characters from the first book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2022
The cat-bond concept was good. But parts of me hate it. The author is bad at writing love. I can accept that some authors can’t write a good love plot, but what this author did was abhorrent. The author had the character attempt to rape someone because they loved them and deserved them!! Only for them to have sex once later, fall in love and get pregnant and then get married because they were pregnant!!!?!?!? F. That. This man tried to RAPE her, how could you just overlook that like it’s no big deal!? The author could not write about the two falling in love with each other, felt like I was reading twilight, so instead she used rape as a way to show how much the male loves the other character!? The abrupt ending where everything happens in the last ten pages but nothing is explained was just poor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2019
Like the first book this had some really good moments , but some parts lagged a bit, but is solid enough to keep reading all of the Ghatti series.
The concept is just so good, but im a big cat person so others mayn't enjoy theses books, although its not just about the ghatti it has a lot of other elements.
This one was pretty interesting as most took part in a different country so a lot of politics and diplomacy .
Again as far as rating this 3.5 star goodread really needs half stars :)
The concept is just so good, but im a big cat person so others mayn't enjoy theses books, although its not just about the ghatti it has a lot of other elements.
This one was pretty interesting as most took part in a different country so a lot of politics and diplomacy .
Again as far as rating this 3.5 star goodread really needs half stars :)
March 16, 2023
A wonderful series!
I first read this book as a young adult. It was one of the first fantasy book series I ever read and I loved it! Now rereading it after all these years it still is one of my favorites. What a wonderful job at creating a different world and such rich characters! Definitely a good read!
I first read this book as a young adult. It was one of the first fantasy book series I ever read and I loved it! Now rereading it after all these years it still is one of my favorites. What a wonderful job at creating a different world and such rich characters! Definitely a good read!
Read
October 23, 2025Doyce, a human woman, and Khar'pern, the catlike ghatta with whom she is telepathically linked, join forces with other Seekers to battle the Gleaners, evil mutants able to steal and destroy the minds and souls of other humans. Original.
February 1, 2017
Pleasant, full of personal inner turmoil (Jenret's obsessive propriety bothers me, from personal experience), battles, decisions, leaps of faith. The history of the Erakwa is explored, delved and yet only touched upon.
Yes, I read others' reviews, and agree with them. I had to keep reminding myself of the characters' ages, particularly Doyce and Jenret. But don't we all feel so much younger when we're hurt? And...men. Really. If one has jealousy as a major weakness, it is nearly impossible to overcome. Let's hope the revelations of this book lead to growth in the next.
Yes, I read others' reviews, and agree with them. I had to keep reminding myself of the characters' ages, particularly Doyce and Jenret. But don't we all feel so much younger when we're hurt? And...men. Really. If one has jealousy as a major weakness, it is nearly impossible to overcome. Let's hope the revelations of this book lead to growth in the next.
May 22, 2008
This story was more serious than the first book in the series. There is some good character development and you learn more about the world the stories are set in and how detailed the authors vision about the world is.
Due to some mature themes I wouldn't recommend it to young but advanced readers becuase they might find some content disturbing.
Due to some mature themes I wouldn't recommend it to young but advanced readers becuase they might find some content disturbing.
April 21, 2013
Better than the first. Adventure waits for Doyce and her bond mate Kharm as the requested to travel to Marchmont and unravel the mystery of their closed border. This tale has more twist then a "cats tail"!
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April 14, 2008Rereading the whole series at this time
August 4, 2011
Not as good as the first book, but a decent read; however, it was a little bit too long for my taste.
March 27, 2012
Loved it! Getting the next one shortly!
November 20, 2017
read 11.20.12-11.21.12
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December 27, 2015I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11868407
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11868407
September 8, 2013
Read this whole series & loved every minute
December 7, 2016
Even better than I remembered.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews