Review: An Exciting Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 22, 2014
I just finished Lexa Cain's YA novel Soul Cutter and I really enjoyed it. The story revolves around 17 year old Elan Duchamps who spends her time busting fake psychics while her mother is off enjoying a career as a TV psychic ghost-hunter star. When she learns that her mother has gone missing while filming her tv show in Egypt, Elan flies to Egypt determined to find her. What she finds is a mess of horrific murders, a gruesome history involving the decrepit palace of a past Egyptian king and a supernatural creature that is a nightmare come to life. Joined in her search for her mother by a young Lebanese man who was working with the film crew on her mother's tv show, Elan finds herself having romantic feelings for him, only to find he has secrets of his own. Both need to find a way to trust each other with their past secrets in order to survive.Elan is a complicated character with a lot of emotional baggage from both her mother, who gave birth to her at 16 and left her with her grandmother while she went off to pursue her career, and also with a traumatic event in her own life which causes her to fear and distrust most of the people in her life. Some of her reasoning seems irrational for someone of her age and experience, but as the story moves along we begin to learn more of her story and that helps explain her anger and emotional fragility.I liked the Soul Cutter creation - a mythical being that is called to come and cut part of the soul from someone to prevent the demons from eating it. He keeps the souls he harvests in tiny colourful bottles attached to his clothing and they glow and tinkle musically when he moves. It's unique and interesting, as is the tale of the slaughtered family that had called on the Soul Cutter for help.The story really begins to pick up once Elan and Ramsey go to the palace to search for Elan's mother who was last seen there and is a diabetic who, if not quickly found, will fall into a diabetic coma. Almost from the moment they leave to begin their search the action becomes edge-of-your-seat reading. The relationship between Ramsey and Elan feels real and plausible, even romantic despite the often gruesome setting and events they have to deal with. It's a fast-moving supernatural mystery with lots of action and some pretty frightening scenes that will have you quickly turning the pages to see what happens next.One thing that did bother me a bit is Elan's mother who seems to have very little in the way of redeeming qualities, at least in terms of being any kind of true mother to her daughter. I felt a bit sorry for Elan who is so desperate to be loved and accepted by her mother, to the point where she is willing to rush into extremely dangerous situations to help rescue her without thought to her own safety. I'm not sure her mother deserves that kind of sacrifice. It feels like they are strangers and I couldn't help but feel that if I were Elan, I would feel a lot more anger and resentment about being virtually abandoned, whereas it seems like Elan is willing to forgive and forget for even the smallest chance to have a real relationship with her Mom in the future.Ramsey's backstory was also quite interesting. His mother also rubbed me the wrong way. He talks about her in such heroic and loving terms and yet it seems that she betrayed him in ways that only served to make his life more difficult. It's hard to wonder why she would do that if she cared about him as much as he thought that she did. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the comfort that Elan and Ramsey seem to be able to find and share with each other. It felt like they'd both been betrayed by so many of the people who should've been the ones to comfort and care for them.All in all, Soul Cutter is a good story with lots of interesting elements and an exciting read.