Her brother had been kidnapped, his captors were blackmailing her, and here she was, outside one of the most unusual pawn shops in all of GEm City, about to rent one. She just needed to force herself to walk the twenty steps to the Soul Charmer's front door. The one wedged in a dirty, rundown building on a dirty, rundown street in the dirty, rundown part of town. It was the last place she wanted to be, but the one place she had to go.
Fate was kind of a dick like that.
Borrowed Souls had been sitting in my TBR pile for a few months now, but the concept of the novel had always intrigued me. I finally had a chance to read it this week when traveling (airplane time = no interruptions reading time!), and if you like dystopian and/or fantasy novels, you will like this one.
Official synopsis:
Renting souls is big business for the religious population of Gem City. Those looking to take part in immoral—or even illegal—activity can borrow someone else’s soul, for a price, and sin without consequence.
To save her brother, Callie needs a borrowed soul, but she doesn’t have anywhere near the money to pay for it. The slimy Soul Charmer is willing to barter, but accepting his offer will force Callie into a dangerous world of magic she isn’t ready for.
With the help of the guarded but undeniably attractive Derek—whose allegiance to the Charmer wavers as his connection to Callie grows—she’ll have to walk a tight line, avoid pissing off the bad guys, all while struggling to determine what her loyalty to her family’s really worth.
Losing her brother isn’t an option. Losing her soul? Maybe.
This is actually "Soul Charmer #1," and the ending definitely leaves things open for a sequel, although there isn't one listed on Goodreads as of this writing.
Callie is trying to save her brother from some mobsters, so to speak, and so she goes into a sort of "indentured servitude" agreement with the Soul Charmer, a slimy guy who rents out souls. By the end of the novel, though, things are still not finished with him, which sets things up for the next book in the series.
Dystopian novels are usually some of my favorite to read. I found the idea of "renting souls" to be fascinating, especially when they talk about how the second soul co-exists (or tries to ...) with the owner's original soul. I don't believe they say what year it is, in the novel, but it's implied that it's sometime within the near future.
There's a bit of a romance angle with Derek and Callie, too, which integrated nicely into the book—it didn't overtake the main story, which was Callie trying to get her older brother out of trouble, but was a side plot.
3.5 stars out of 5.
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GIVEAWAY:
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Borrowed Souls paperback copy
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