Name: á's review of Soulswift by Megan Bannen
Item: Soulswift
Rating: 4
Author: á

Megan Bannen

A dark, epic fantasy about a girl who must rethink everything she believes after she is betrayed and hunted by the religion that raised her--from Megan Bannen, author of The Bird and the Blade. Perfect for fans of The Winner's Curse and The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Gelya is a Vessel, a girl who channels the word of the One True God through song. Cloistered with the other Vessels of her faith, she believes--as all Ovinists do--that a saint imprisoned Elath the Great Demon centuries ago, saving humanity from earthly temptation. When Gelya stumbles into a deadly cover-up by the Ovinists' military, she reluctantly teams up with Tavik, an enemy soldier, to survive. Tavik believes that Elath is actually a mother goddess who must be set free, but while he succeeds in opening Her prison, he inadvertently turns Gelya into Elath's unwilling human vessel. Now the church that raised Gelya considers her a threat. In a race against the clock, she and Tavik must find a way to exorcise Elath's presence from her body. But will this release stop the countdown to the end of the world, or will it be the cause of the earth's destruction? And as Tavik and Gelya grow closer, another question lingers between them: What will become of Gelya? --ALA Booklist

Soulswift

Hannah DCamp

Love trumps hate. Every time. Even in the face of world destruction, love is the better choice.

Soulswift destroyed me. It's painfully beautiful. 

This book was a trap. I let Gelya and Tavik’s banters in all along made me thinking that it's all sunshine and rainbows, but oh dear. After I got attached to them... I'm fooled after all. Hard. 

(PS: Ms. Bannen would you agreed to pay for my therapy?)

Samantha Chavez 

Such a beautiful love story. Simple yet effective and touching.

Rina

A story of a girl raised in a convent, she knew nothing else but the religion she grew up in. Until the words of the woman who raised her like a daughter turns her world upside down and makes her doubt everything she ever believed in. 

To start, I don't think I have ever read any book that centers on religion like  Soulswift  and it truly isn't a bad thing; it's one of the aspects I think makes this book unique. The society introduced was very patriarchal but it was all Gelya- the protagonist- has ever known, there was also the fact that she doesn't go out the convent much, or at all. So when she embarks on a journey with a boy, Tavik, whose religion counters hers, she realizes she has a lot to learn, consider, and accept. I liked Gelya's character development, how she started reaching her own conclusions instead of just being told what to do and what to think, as was her experience in the convent. Her conversations with Tavik throughout the book helped her with that. But then, there were also surprises stored for him. Tavik annoyed me at first, Gelya did too (there were just some instances wherein I wished she could have put some more thought to her actions), but both came to grow on me. The worldbuilding was good and gradual. However, I felt more connected with the plot when I was nearly halfway through.

This was really more of a 4 star read, I gave lower because I didn't expect a big part of the book to be quite romance heavy. It's still an enjoyable read though, with a really solid ending.

Samantha Bass

One thing I loved about this book was that it gave me familiar vibes of Serpent & Dove X Wicked Saints. It has similar qualities to both books without being an outright copy. The originality in this story, while a little familiar, was also mind boggling unique. Every chapter had me yearning to read more as we follow Gelya and Tavik on their journey. 

I thought, since I had been in a reading slump the previous week, that this book would take me forever to read. It was a longer book with a lot of plot and world building elements and I wasn’t sure I was going to speed through it. I was completely wrong. I read almost 40% in one day and then the next day finished the rest of the book. I was so disappointed I had to put down the story halfway through because I needed to know what was going to happen next. 

And the ending? Cruel. I was not expecting that kind of ending and I was really upset that I had to deal with the emotional aftermath of it. In fact, the second I finished the book, I already texted several friends that they need to pick it up and read it, just so we can all be on the same level of emotional distraughtness. Besides the fact that the ending was not-very-nice, the entire book was so good. The plot was interesting and fun and engaging. The characters were fun to be around but also were continually learning about themselves and the world around them. We get a fake marriage between two enemies, betrayal, and earth shattering realizations. Everything about this book was perfect, even the heart wrenching ending. 

Overall, I will not stop recommending this book to people I know and anyone who will listen. And I look forward to reading more of Megan’s books in the future!

Inouch

la surprise, l'instabilité ou l'inconnu feront peur à n'importe qui. un lecteur, lui, ne se sentira jamais rassuré à l'idée de lire quelque chose d'inconnu. Quelque chose qui sort de ce qu'il connait. Pourtant, il n'y a pas meilleur expérience qu'une bonne surprise. Ne rien attendre d'autre d'un livre qu'il vous conte une histoire est une bonne option.

Soulswift est un livre qui a tout pour lui, les ingrédients sont là. Personnages doux, drôles et courageux, univers complexe et en constante guerre avec lui même ainsi qu'une quête, un but, bien précis. Mais tout le monde sait qu'une histoire peut être la même et être racontée de milliers de façons différentes. À bas les bonnes idées, l'auteur n'a que sa plume pour se démarquer. Pour transcender le monde littéraire, seule la magie des mots est avec lui. Et il se pourrait que Megan Bannen soit l'amie de l'alphabet. 

Comme à peu près tout les livres, les imperfections sont là, presque flagrantes. Trop de longueurs, manque d'accroche au début du livre, intrigue prévisible sous certains aspects. Même la plus aveugle des personnes sait remarquer ce genre de chose. 

Mais s'arrêter aux difficultés rencontrées, c'est s'empêcher d'avancer. Pour un deuxième livre, l'auteure nous montre avec brio sa capacité à nous faire réfléchir à toute allure. À nous montrer le danger de la contradiction. Les paradoxes étrangers à notre points de vue et la multitude de façon de percevoir un concept. En parlant religion, l'auteure s'est, certes, entraînée sur un chemin glissant mais elle a réussi à montrer l'universalité de la foi que chacun place en ce qu'il peut. 

Tous les mêmes au départ, il nous a simplement suffit de diverger à notre façon. Pour chaque paire d'yeux ouverts sur le monde, elle nous montre une façon d'entrevoir chaque possibilité différemment. C'est une belle réflexion entre deux jeunes gens que tout oppose et que tout réunis. L'amour indépendant de la volonté réunit les gens ou les brisent en mille morceaux. 

Gelya, notre héroïne, nous montre à travers son regard, la puissance du mensonge comme de la vérité ainsi que le poison que la conformité arrive à insuffler en nous. Soulswift est un beau livre qui vers la fin, nous prend par le coeur et le serre jusqu'à la fin. Une ode à la vie comme à ce qu'il y a après ainsi qu'à la liberté innocente d'un oiseau bleu recouvert de flammes. L'amour trompe la haine. À chaque fois.

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

3.5 stars.
This was a wild ride. 
I really enjoyed the characters and dialogue, the relationship between Gelya and Tavik, their banter, the chemistry. 
And while there was so much about this that I loved, but also so much that annoyed me A LOT. 
I didn’t love the constant talk of religion (yeah I know), at this point in my life/my own ~journey~, that part just didn’t gel with me. 
The toxicity of the male characters (except Tavik) was a bit overdone? Like, did every male character have to be so awful? Like, I get it, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

All in all, an enjoyable book, with (mostly) great characters and a fun, banter filled romance.


Thanks to Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins and Edelweiss for the eARC.

Kaylee Z

3.5*

Well, Megan Bannen did it again. She destroyed me.

Soulswift is a book about belief, introspection, growth, love, and it absolutely broke my heart in the best way. Bannen has this wonderful ability to bring you on a journey right alongside her characters and then ripping out your heart. And then you thank her for it haha.

Admittedly it did take me a number of chapters to fully get invested in the story whilst we learned a bit about Gelya’s past and her current situation but once she and Tavik were together on page, I was fully in. I enjoyed their language barrier and how real it felt, their banter was great, the discussions they had about their respective faiths were honest and lovely to see. 

The first person narrative was a little jarring for me (as it isn’t my favourite narrative) but gradually it made sense to have been written in this way. I don’t think I fully appreciated it though until the very end. It was nice, however, to really see into Gelya’s thoughts and her questioning everything she had known. I liked that she was questioning things even before meeting Tavik as it made her character seem more realistic. Although, there were times when her inner thoughts were a bit repetitive and almost like she was trying to convince herself that something wasn’t obvious even though it was.

The differences between the two faiths were also a little hard to wrap my head around. It was confusing at times trying to keep their respective stories straight since they were so similar but I ended up just focusing on the biggest and most important aspect. Ovinists believe if Elath is free, the world will essentially end while the other side believes the world will not thrive until she is free. I appreciate the thought that Bannen put into the story behind each faith though.

Overall this story is certainly one that will stick with me and there is a lot about it that I appreciated and enjoyed. I definitely recommend it!

Hannah DCamp &
Soulswift by Megan Bannen

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