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A review by laughlinesandliterature
Borrowed Souls by Chelsea Mueller
3.0
*I received this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*
Borrowed Souls was a solid debut novel. It’s definitely an interesting premise, people borrow souls in order to keep their own clean from sin. I won’t lie the philosophical repercussions have kept me thinking, because if you’re taking a different soul to keep your soul clean then doesn’t that put a mark on your own soul? I digress from the point of this which is a review of the book.
Callie seems kind of like a Mary-Sue, she’s just too perfectly imperfect. She’s “very special” and manages to snag the bad boy. She’s also unfailingly unselfish when it comes to her family, when they don’t deserve it, and she knows it but she does it because they are family. What a load of horse-doody. Anyone in their right mind would escape from that family immediately. She’s also selfless when it comes to her friends, and that was just annoying. It’s one of those weirdly self-absorbed unselfish things. The character feels responsible for everything, so therefore they try to be unselfish. That trope drives me crazy.
However, despite these things that I don’t love the story was pretty solid. The world was interesting, and the writing was well-done. Even Callie for all her Mary Sue tendencies was fun to read about for the majority of the book. I’d say my biggest hang up with the paragraph above is how the story ended, and that’s what aggravated me so much. But it is something that does happen in real life where people get caught in cycles of helping people who shouldn’t be helped so maybe I’m just overly critical.
I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars, and say that this series has vast potential, and I am interested in the second book if only to see if Callie manages to grow out of her need to help everyone around her. Oh and also what’s going to happen now that she’s in serious cahoots with the Soul Charmer!
*This review was first posted to Moonlight Gleam Reviews http://moonlightgleam.com/2017/05/borrowed-souls-by-chelsea-muller-review.html*
Borrowed Souls was a solid debut novel. It’s definitely an interesting premise, people borrow souls in order to keep their own clean from sin. I won’t lie the philosophical repercussions have kept me thinking, because if you’re taking a different soul to keep your soul clean then doesn’t that put a mark on your own soul? I digress from the point of this which is a review of the book.
Callie seems kind of like a Mary-Sue, she’s just too perfectly imperfect. She’s “very special” and manages to snag the bad boy. She’s also unfailingly unselfish when it comes to her family, when they don’t deserve it, and she knows it but she does it because they are family. What a load of horse-doody. Anyone in their right mind would escape from that family immediately. She’s also selfless when it comes to her friends, and that was just annoying. It’s one of those weirdly self-absorbed unselfish things. The character feels responsible for everything, so therefore they try to be unselfish. That trope drives me crazy.
However, despite these things that I don’t love the story was pretty solid. The world was interesting, and the writing was well-done. Even Callie for all her Mary Sue tendencies was fun to read about for the majority of the book. I’d say my biggest hang up with the paragraph above is how the story ended, and that’s what aggravated me so much. But it is something that does happen in real life where people get caught in cycles of helping people who shouldn’t be helped so maybe I’m just overly critical.
I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars, and say that this series has vast potential, and I am interested in the second book if only to see if Callie manages to grow out of her need to help everyone around her. Oh and also what’s going to happen now that she’s in serious cahoots with the Soul Charmer!
*This review was first posted to Moonlight Gleam Reviews http://moonlightgleam.com/2017/05/borrowed-souls-by-chelsea-muller-review.html*