Ever since the tragic accident that claimed the lives of the Grey family, Dr. Angela Cooper, psychiatrist and half-gypsy shaman, refuses to use her dream walking power. However, when Cassandra Grey, a survivor of the deadly fire, turns up unexpectedly at the hospital, Angela agrees to help her. Entering the Otherworld to heal the girl's mind, Angela discovers a powerful, shadowy presence that knows her name and her darkest secrets.
When Angela’s estranged shaman grandfather warns her that this shadowy entity seeks to steal her soul, she ignores him until it kills a close friend. Now she’s ready to fight, waging a supernatural conflict in the dreamscape of the Otherworld. Discovering that Cassandra’s unconscious mind holds the key to victory, Angela recruits her help to fight the Soul Thief on his own ground. Is Angela willing to risk Cassandra’s sanity as well as her own to defeat her supernatural foe?
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Before I get to my review, and I hope that the author sees this, but page 61 and 62 have been completely misplaced. On page 60 it says “Starting his car, George drove away” and then you fast forward to him meeting with Eric. However AFTER the meeting with Eric you talk about how George called Eric, etc etc etc. It looks like those two pages were moved before the conversation and it really made no sense. I say this now because I don’t think it should directly affect the review because I don’t know if the Author intended for it to happen.
So this book starts with Angela who is a psychiatrist for a mental health facility. A young girl came in that should not be there, in fact Angela thought that she had perished in a fire years before when something went wrong when Angela was trying to help her family. Even though Cassandra appears to have specific mental issues, the fact that she is able to determine something before it happens makes Angela wonder if it is just a mental health issue, or if something more profound and more supernatural is going on.
What then happens is part Romi history, part family shunning, part past life regression, and a whole lot of shadows and soul thievery. I mean the book is Soul Thief you had to expect at least some soul stealing to occur right? At least I did, but the way it comes about, the method that is used, and the way it is portrayed is awe inspiring. You may think that I am being overly flowery, but this story is very good. There are a couple of things that I had issues with but I will get to that later.
By integrating Romi heritage with supernatural attributes the story is essentially seamless between the two while still maintaining the urban story that is happening around the characters. Yes while there may be supernatural forces at work, Angela still needs to go hang out with her best friend and deal with otherwise mundane aspects of being a doctor. Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed is that even though this is more about Angela and what is going on with the soul thief, there are still the family issues that many families deal with, albeit more extreme than most families have to deal with.
I enjoyed most of the book, I wish that there was more Romi history, most of their beliefs, especially regarding the boat and the trailer and how even in her condition Angela is still able to see them brightly glowing. I do think that the author did really well on conveying what happened when Angela was in her dreamwalk, but sometimes it seemed a little too easy. It never really explained why she had to touch them where she did, I figured it out, but I guess I would like a little about how she got there more than what it said.
About David Menefee
David Menefee lives on a 41-acre ranch with his partner Rachel Anderson in rural northern California.
David alternates between working from his home office on websites for non-profit organizations and writing short stories and novels. He is also a practitioner of a variety of arcane arts, including brewing and alchemy (which are very closely related), and he teaches a small class in philosophy for local students.
Rachel manages the ranch and the finances and performs veterinary care for our small family of critters. She also writes music and lyrics for banjo and ukulele, as well as short-form poetry, both rhyming and free verse.
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