Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Soulstealers
AUTHOR: Jacqueline Rohrbach
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 365 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2019
BLURB:
Arnaka Skytree grew up believing she was chosen to bring new magic to the world. As the heir to the cult of druids responsible for keeping their floating palace habitable for the wealthy aristocracy, she’s expected to wield her power as those before her did: by culling the souls of peasant women.
But when Arnaka learns more about the source of her magic, and that her best friend’s soul will be harvested, she embarks on a journey to end the barbarous practice and to restore a long-forgotten harmonious system of magic practiced by the original druids. Along the way, she discovers she’s not the only girl chosen to restore balance to their world—many others have powerful magic inside, and with them, she will tear the floating palace from the sky so everyone can live in the sun—out of the shadow of the eclipse.
REVIEW:
Though I haven’t cared much for Jacqueline Rohrbach’s previous works, the unique concept and gorgeous cover drew me in and made me want to read this book. Unfortunately, many of the same things I didn’t like about her previous books shone through, and it just didn’t keep my attention.
The main character, Arnaka is a druid and a “soulstealer,” or someone who harvests human souls to strengthen her magic and protect her kingdom. Hannah, who was raised to give her soul to Arnaka, occupies a special place in Arnaka’s heart, and the studious, steadfast druid makes it her mission to find a way to keep magic without stealing her best friend’s soul. You’ll just have to read more to meet all the characters, but I will say that it’s more of an adventure than a romance. I actually didn’t even know who the romance was going to be with until about halfway through the book, which felt odd—it’s chaste and subtle, which is just fine, but it lacked real chemistry.
The fantasy elements of the book are actually pretty cool, and many of the ways Rohrbach implemented them worked well. The descriptions of Arnaka using her magic and lush and intense, and the floating world above a ruined landscape makes for a perfect setting. I also like how Rohrbach doesn’t overexplain—she trusts we’re fantasy fans, so she lets us use our imaginations.
There’s a slight bitter edge of Rohrbach’s writing that leaks into all of her characters. It doesn’t make them unlikable, but it does make them slightly hopeless, like none of them are ever really happy, even when things work in their favor. For a large part of the story, we just have to watch Arnaka stay abused and oppressed when the story didn’t even need that added tension. Her journey to find a new way to keep her magic is interesting enough—a misogynistic society and sadistic brother add nothing new to the story. Family abuse is a tough issue to tackle in all genres, but in this one, it weighed down the story instead of upping the stakes.
Despite a sweeping fantasy world with a lot of potential, there was nothing about this book that held my interest or really set it apart from other stories in the genre. The romance was too vague, the writing too uneven. But diehard fans of young adult fantasy might find it more to their taste.
RATING: 
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