Soul Catcher by L. Bridger

The synopsis for Soul Catcher captured my interest and the idea of reincarnation with a mixture of demonology and Indian mythology was an exciting premise.

From the gothic eccentricity of Asheville, North Carolina, to the terrifying recesses of the Appalachian wilderness, from modern demonology to ancient Cherokee mythology, Soul Catcher follows the tormented journey of folk artist Livia Belane, who has been stalked through many lives by a sadistic and vengeful demon. Livia and her loved ones, including her frontier-era soulmate and husband, Ian, a Soul Hunter, have never beaten the demon before. Now, in this life, it’s found them again.

Soul Catcher is an ominous urban fantasy novel centering on the main character Livia. She has apparently been through several previous lives, along with her soul mate, Ian, and together, over these lifetimes, they have been attempting to kill a sadistic demon named Pig Face. This demon is the epitome of evil, and some of the things he does in this story make you cringe just reading them.

The novel reads like a dark, gothic comic book, and unfortunately, the author chose to throw in a barrage of overused clichés. I chuckled at the first few, including the Star Wars reference, but after a while they became downright annoying. It seemed as though the author was using them to try to engage the reader, but rather than connecting with the story, I found the novel painful to read.

I was thoroughly disappointed with the chaotic, convoluted plot that had no sense of direction. There seemed to be constant plot-building by way of insignificant characters and interruptions from every demon, “boon”, and snake charm imaginable. The narrative never seemed to settle into any semblance of a story.

The main character Livia was an unlikable heroine who is downright irritating. She whines and groans through the book, asking herself and anyone else who will listen, why does she have such bad luck or why is her life so horrible. Livia would have made a better villain, with her brash manner and foul language-laden dialog. At one point, I was hoping Ian would say “hell with it” and leave her to her own devices.

I can’t say that I would recommend this book, however, if you like an urban fantasy genre that is more comic book than novel, you may want to give it a try. Fair warning, the language and some of the more extreme content are not for everyone.

5 Comments

  1. I have an electronic copy of this story, but this is the third review I’ve seen (on blogs I respect, no less) that points out the same big flaws. I was looking forward to this because the premise sounded interesting, but I don’t know if I wanna read it anymore (especially since I don’t particularly like reading at my computer). But thanks for the honest review.

  2. I’ll be honest, I attempted to read this before giving it to Karyl and I ended up putting it down. Nothing within the first few chapters really caught my attention. I was hoping she would have better luck.

  3. I am sorry to hear you didn’t like this book. I had thought the same as you, the demons and indian mythology sounded great to start out on. The story even sounded interesting.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the book!

Comments are closed.