Review: A Wonderful Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 20, 2013
"The Soul Keeper" picks right up where "The Transient" left off, and does not give you much time to wait to pull you back into the adventures of Melodie, Joseph, Kate, and the rest of the characters. Ms. Russell does a wonderful job of diving into the thick of the now changed situation at Heartworth Castle, and one can sense the ominous presence of that "something" that is about to happen, but stays safely tucked away until...well, until you read this book.She continues to demonstrate that writing in the first person is a highly effective way to tell a story. This first person perspective within the book again makes you feel as if you are the leading character, and she masterfully weaves the other characters, settings, and events into Melodie's perspective. She tackles the challenge of side events and quests in a way I would expect a well written stage play to handle them. In fact, I do believe that this series so far has proven to have the makings of a play or movie.My one and only complaint, which may be reflective of my personal reading preferences, is that the flow of the middle chapters seemed to slow down a bit too much in comparison to the way the rest of the book flowed. Perhaps it was just me wanting to get back to the action to see what the Governance had up its sleeves.This book has everything imaginable that a reader could ask for...an excellent plot, a troubling mystery and problem to be solved, action packed scenes, some light comedy, and a dash of romance. A perfectly balanced read for lovers of most any fiction genre.