The Soulstealers by Jacqueline Rohrbach Review

The Soulstealers

by Jacqueline Rohrbach

4/5 Stars

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. 

The Soulstealers is about a young woman named Arnaka Skytree. She is the heir to a cult of druids, known as the Soulkeepers, who sacrifice peasant women from the below and keep their souls and obtain powerful magic. Arnaka becomes friends with 'Girl', the young girl whose soul Arnaka is destined to keep. After realizing Arnaka cannot save Girl, she vows to make her friend the last one to be sacrificed for the druids magic. After the ritual is complete, Arnaka sets to work on finding a way to stop the sacrifices from ever happening again. She befriends a servant girl named Nara, this gets Nara in trouble and deemed deviant and sentenced to the below. In an attempt to save her, Arnaka breaks Nara out of prison and leaps to the below with her friend. Once there the two must fight to survive and learn the truth of the history of the Soulkeepers. Together with new friends, they return to the home of the Soulkeepers and stop them once and for all fulfilling Arnaka's promise to Girl. 

I really liked Arnaka. At first she is shown as a strong courageous woman who has no fear and a free willed spirit. She comes off confident, capable, and unbreakable. Then we see her outside of her castle. Her weaknesses are shown and I felt like it made her so much more.. wonderful! I loved how she was ultimately portrayed as just a scared girl trying to keep her promise to her friend. I also found her relationship with Tamlin to be very sweet. The quirky nervousness she showed when first trying to win her was endearing. It really helped to her as a relatable, complex individual. Rohrbach did an amazing job with her character. 

I was hooked from the first page! The writing is engaging from the first paragraph to the last. Wonderfully written, I just cant say that enough. The characters are well developed with no two characters emitting the same energy. This book was on the darker side but I loved it! I thought the darkness of it really helped the storyline and added for the desperation of the situation and the characters. After all, if it wasn't dark and desperate than why fight so hard to change it? I would recommend this book for anyone 14+ who enjoys stories about heroes and magic.