The soul. Something cherished by all, and Rachel Vincent was able to capture its importance in her book My Soul to Take, a mystery/romance fiction novel.
Rachel has created a new world that focuses on four main characters, Kaylee Cavanaugh who is portrayed as the average high school girl who tends to scream when someone dies, the only problem is she screams before the person dies and swears that they are covered in a black shroud. Emma, Kaylee’s best friend has known about the screaming for a while only she thinks it’s just a panic attack. Nash, however, knows better. He knows that Kaylee isn’t human because neither he nor his brother, Todd, is. Nash, Kaylee, and Todd are all Bean Sidhe’s, also known as Banshees’. Only Todd has died and has now become a Reaper. Rachel does a magnificent job of introducing each character separately and slowly giving their back story to help keep the reader intrigued. The book starts with Kaylee and Emma sneaking into a club, where they run into Nash, who has a sudden interest in Kaylee. This is a unique way for the main characters to become acquainted, however, it seems somewhat cliché to have “the hottest guy…”(19) getting a sudden interest in a girl who thinks she’s invisible.
Rachel effortlessly introduces the reader to this new world that contains creatures of the unknown. She captures the reader’s attention with her detailed description and suspense. She gives very few details to the audience about why young girls are dropping dead like flies, but she shares just enough information to make the story a page turner until the truth is revealed. In the book, Kaylee asks Todd to do the unthinkable and look at his boss’ list, the master list, which determines when people die and how. When Todd tells Kaylee what he has found, the author doesn’t unveil why they weren’t supposed to die or who killed them until later in the book. “‘So what about the list?’ ‘They weren’t there.’ … ‘Not one of those girls was supposed to die.’” (189-90). By keeping secrets about the characters and the plot throughout the book, the author is able to create a steady flow of suspense that holds the reader in place. Even though this technique creates suspense, it can also slow the story down which may tempt the reader to skip ahead to a faster scene.
The author’s purpose is clearly to create a setting where her audience can become a part of a new world. She accomplishes this objective by combining everyday life with this new world she has crafted, the Netherworld. “That fine gray mist settled into place around me, over everything normal, though that was more a feeling than physical fact. The strange, misshapen creatures I couldn’t focus on before were suddenly everywhere, interspersed with and in some cases overlaying the human crowd, ogling me just like the students and parents, but from the far side of the grayness.” (213). In this scene, the author keeps the normal student/teacher crowd at the memorial as she draws in the creatures from the Netherworld while Kaylee is screaming. This scene allows the reader to see the crowd as it fogs and new disturbing creatures appear. The author has only two major weaknesses in her book: she starts with a cliché in the beginning of her story and has scenes that can be too slow.
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent deserves 4 soul-wrenching screams out of 5. This rating is appropriate because she developed a strong story line with new unsuspecting turns, suspense, and relatable characters that help draw the reader in and hold them there. Don’t miss the next book in Rachel Vincent‘s Soul Screamers Series, My Soul to Save.
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