What do you think?
Rate this book
Dark Geist
After centuries of walking among humans undetected, the Children—immortal descendents of gods and goddesses—are disappearing. Smoky Striggs wants to get to the bottom of this mystery, but even with the brains he inherited from his ancestor, Athena, he can’t turn up any clues.
Then he overhears a psychic distress call from Felix, a gentle-natured young telepath who uses his powers to locate serial killers for the government. For months, Felix has been tracking a killer named Violet Haze. As Smoky learns more, he begins to suspect that Haze is connected to the Children’s disappearances. The only way to find answers is to capture her, and for that, he’ll need Felix’s help.
Soon Smoky is falling for his new friend, who reminds him of his dead lover from another century. Same red hair, same gorgeous blue eyes, same burning desire to help those in need, no matter the cost to himself. But Smoky’s sworn off mortals. They just don’t live long enough, and when they die, the heartbreak is too much.
Contains: graphic violence and bloodshed
Then he overhears a psychic distress call from Felix, a gentle-natured young telepath who uses his powers to locate serial killers for the government. For months, Felix has been tracking a killer named Violet Haze. As Smoky learns more, he begins to suspect that Haze is connected to the Children’s disappearances. The only way to find answers is to capture her, and for that, he’ll need Felix’s help.
Soon Smoky is falling for his new friend, who reminds him of his dead lover from another century. Same red hair, same gorgeous blue eyes, same burning desire to help those in need, no matter the cost to himself. But Smoky’s sworn off mortals. They just don’t live long enough, and when they die, the heartbreak is too much.
Contains: graphic violence and bloodshed
235 pages, ebook
First published October 1, 2010
184 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Steiger
34 books14 followersAmanda Steiger has lived in the Midwest her whole life, though she enjoys regular visits to other galaxies and dimensions in her mind. She enjoys cold weather, daydreaming, supernatural romance, and anime. She lives with her family and one very spoiled little dog. You can contact her at sekuiro@comcast.net.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Want to read
December 24, 2010not yet released and already has an old picture in the cover
That same picture of the blond guy is reeeeeeeeally used lately!
That same picture of the blond guy is reeeeeeeeally used lately!
May 12, 2012
What a challenge! Breaks were needed with this one because I got spooked! A paranormal, psychological thriller full of horror, blood, guts and gore...literally and in the middle of all that a very tender romance. A fascinating read, difficult in places because of who a lot of the victims were. Easy to follow considering all the elements involved. Take a look at Lady*M's phenomenal review for more details. I couldn't agree with her more.
April 15, 2011
This is rarely ambitious book for urban fantasy/paranormal genre. The concept was interesting. It echoed Gaiman's American Gods, but it was sufficiently different to make it original. It had an old-fashioned feel to it, similar to the myths of Greek, Roman or Nordic pantheons. Under the supernatural powers, the demigods and mythical beings of Steiger's book, have all too human failings - they are selfish, arrogant, materialistic, they fall in love with humans and bicker with each other. The parallels between Felix's personal journey and human everlasting search for universal truths as well as connections between mental illness and supernatural powers were intelligently constructed and well written. The dark and gritty parts of the novel were well balanced with sweet, gentle relationship between Smoky and Felix. The descriptions of powers, telepathy, visions were vivid, almost cinematic. Excellent.
The story is complex and both its good sides and its flaws stem from this fact. It seemed to me that, in order to keep all the lines of the story in control, the author kept them almost completely apart. Smoky and Felix deal with villain number one, dispose of villain number one, move to villain number two, dispose of him, then move to villain number three, etc. That gave the story an episodic and unrealistic feeling at times. After all, the life doesn't wait for you to deal with your other problems before it throws something at you.
There is a lot of gore and carnage in the novel, especially during the first part of the book. While this fact isn't something that can divert me from the story and it added to the dark atmosphere of the book, I thought that some parts of it were not sufficiently justified. If you are sensitive to such things, be warned: the victims in this book and their suffering is graphically described. This was the part that was problematic for me. The murderer wants something from the victims, something that comes out of their pain and fear, but the author didn't explain why . After all, you can scare and hurt anyone. So, this gave me the impression that the author made this choice solely for the effect, like disemboweling someone isn't horrific enough.
While I feel that the book could have benefited from some trimming and tighter editing, this is truly excellent novel that surpasses the limitations of the genre. I am recommending this book to anyone who can deal with gorier aspects of this story.
The story is complex and both its good sides and its flaws stem from this fact. It seemed to me that, in order to keep all the lines of the story in control, the author kept them almost completely apart. Smoky and Felix deal with villain number one, dispose of villain number one, move to villain number two, dispose of him, then move to villain number three, etc. That gave the story an episodic and unrealistic feeling at times. After all, the life doesn't wait for you to deal with your other problems before it throws something at you.
There is a lot of gore and carnage in the novel, especially during the first part of the book. While this fact isn't something that can divert me from the story and it added to the dark atmosphere of the book, I thought that some parts of it were not sufficiently justified. If you are sensitive to such things, be warned: the victims in this book and their suffering is graphically described. This was the part that was problematic for me. The murderer wants something from the victims, something that comes out of their pain and fear, but the author didn't explain why . After all, you can scare and hurt anyone. So, this gave me the impression that the author made this choice solely for the effect, like disemboweling someone isn't horrific enough.
While I feel that the book could have benefited from some trimming and tighter editing, this is truly excellent novel that surpasses the limitations of the genre. I am recommending this book to anyone who can deal with gorier aspects of this story.
April 1, 2011
This is really dark and gory, lots of dead bodies flying around, but the concept was really interesting and I really enjoyed reading Felix's struggle to figure out his place in the world.
January 11, 2018
.....talk about deus ex machina
I dunno, I guess I thought it would be...darker? grittier? I think the first part was kind of interesting, and the world concept set-up had potential, but then like...
it got really woo-woo really quickly. and then I was kind of just scrolling through the rest of it with my face scrunched up squinting dubiously at it. Hence rating it down.
Idk, I guess I just found the resolutions...really cliche? And it's got this really rigid right-wrong structure which just read as.....how do I put this, naive? Or like, simplistic? I think I wouldn't have minded if it felt like it had weighed the options and committed to the side it did; it kind of was just like this is Bad (which I don't disagree with, necessarily) as a taken-for-granted universality without much awareness.
.......god the ending was bad. The more I think about it the more I ???
smh
edit: ALSO!! ALSO!!!!
kids pls do NOT dry-swallow pills. pls do not do this to yourself and your esophagus, you can literally burn a hole in your throat...........
I dunno, I guess I thought it would be...darker? grittier? I think the first part was kind of interesting, and the world concept set-up had potential, but then like...
it got really woo-woo really quickly. and then I was kind of just scrolling through the rest of it with my face scrunched up squinting dubiously at it. Hence rating it down.
Idk, I guess I just found the resolutions...really cliche? And it's got this really rigid right-wrong structure which just read as.....how do I put this, naive? Or like, simplistic? I think I wouldn't have minded if it felt like it had weighed the options and committed to the side it did; it kind of was just like this is Bad (which I don't disagree with, necessarily) as a taken-for-granted universality without much awareness.
.......god the ending was bad. The more I think about it the more I ???
smh
edit: ALSO!! ALSO!!!!
kids pls do NOT dry-swallow pills. pls do not do this to yourself and your esophagus, you can literally burn a hole in your throat...........
December 9, 2010
Dodie's Review
This is a fabulous paranormal story. You know all those stories where the Greek/ Roman gods had sex with mortals and created demigods and heroes? What happened to those people's descendents? Didn't there have to be additional demigods and heroes that we didn't know about? Those people who are descendents of the gods, are called the Children. The Children are disappearing, and Smoky is determined to find out what's happening to them.
This is a fabulous romance story. It focuses on a really sweet romance between Felix and Smoky. Felix lost his mother some time ago, and has spent a lot of years since then working in a job that grates on his soul. His father has been largely distant, and due to Felix's special abilities (he's a telepath), he's never really bonded with other people his own age. Consequently, he's been crying out for affection. One night during one of his rants against the injustices and cruelty in his life, Smooky hears him.
This is a fabulous sci fi story. Dr. Burns is running a secret experiment doing something behind the scenes in the laboratory where Felix works. He hasn't revealed his experiment to anyone, but it becomes clear Smoky that Felix is to have a starring role. In trying to save Felix, Smoky risks everything, and they nearly lose each other in the process.
Amanda Steiger has taken these disparate story lines and has woven them together into a coherent book. No mean feat by any description. No matter the genre you prefer, this is a strong book and a worthy read.
5 Tea Cups!
This is a fabulous paranormal story. You know all those stories where the Greek/ Roman gods had sex with mortals and created demigods and heroes? What happened to those people's descendents? Didn't there have to be additional demigods and heroes that we didn't know about? Those people who are descendents of the gods, are called the Children. The Children are disappearing, and Smoky is determined to find out what's happening to them.
This is a fabulous romance story. It focuses on a really sweet romance between Felix and Smoky. Felix lost his mother some time ago, and has spent a lot of years since then working in a job that grates on his soul. His father has been largely distant, and due to Felix's special abilities (he's a telepath), he's never really bonded with other people his own age. Consequently, he's been crying out for affection. One night during one of his rants against the injustices and cruelty in his life, Smooky hears him.
This is a fabulous sci fi story. Dr. Burns is running a secret experiment doing something behind the scenes in the laboratory where Felix works. He hasn't revealed his experiment to anyone, but it becomes clear Smoky that Felix is to have a starring role. In trying to save Felix, Smoky risks everything, and they nearly lose each other in the process.
Amanda Steiger has taken these disparate story lines and has woven them together into a coherent book. No mean feat by any description. No matter the genre you prefer, this is a strong book and a worthy read.
5 Tea Cups!
December 25, 2010
Напомнило книгу "Tatterdemalion". Один из героев такая же большеглазая виктимная няшечка, которую так и хочется обидеть. В остальном же - хорошо написано, крепкий сюжет, очень трогательная любовная линия, и хэппи-енд такой хеппи-енд. Три часа времени пролетают совершенно незаметно.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2010
a very good story with strong characters and a good research psychology background. but not for sensible people. I'll rec for sure !
June 24, 2011
This book has a really solid plot but really nice range of characters. It will be a fantasy classic!
I recommend it to everyone. It's just a great read. Every moment is great.
I recommend it to everyone. It's just a great read. Every moment is great.
February 24, 2012
A balanced mix of gory horror and sweet sexy romance.
October 10, 2013
3.85 stars.
August 6, 2016
Too much stuff thrown in there.
September 23, 2013
Rating 2.5
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews