Soul Thief(Demon Trappers 2)Author: Jana OliverPublisher: Martin’s Griffin, 2011
Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad. With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether.
But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell’s attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever…
My Review:
Continuing right after the events in The Demon Trapper’s Daughter, Riley now has some pretty important issues to solve: 1) Discover who took her father, 2) Uncover who is counterfeiting the Holy Water, and 3) Find out why Hell has such an interest in her. Add to this still having money and boy problems and Riley’s life is looking more like Hell every day.
Again, I loved the setting and how it was described. The bankrupt city of Atlanta is sinking more and more into the old times. We get to see people using carriages, and even this is a battle to see who has the best one. I liked the witches and necromancer’s street, it sounded really cool. Something like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter.
Not surprising Riley is back to hating Beck, even after the night they spent at the mausoleum. Their love/hate relationship really drives me crazy sometimes. I just wish one of them stopped being so stubborn and kiss and make up already. But no. After everything he does for her, she still doesn’t trust him. Riley is back to being single since Simon is going through a faith crisis, that is only turning him into more of a zealot. He doesn’t want to believe the Holy Water failed, because that would mean the power of God is not all powerful. And so he needs someone to blame, and he blames Riley.
Poor Beck is no better in life. He keeps trying to convince himself that all he feels for Riley is affection for his dead master’s daughter, but he knows that’s not all of it. Even when he finds someone else to occupy his… mind with, he still goes running to Riley when she calls. I completely hated Justine. I knew she’d be trouble from the moment her evil red head was mentioned. When she went to Riley almost gloating about what was going on with Beck, I knew that completed my evil-bitch-from-hell assumptions.
I didn’t have the same reaction to Ori, though I should’ve known better. After all, there are a couple of scenes from mysterious Ori’s point of view, and he keeps meeting up with this other mystery dude. And Riley already feels too much for him and that’s never good. Never good at all.
Gah! Riley and Beck are such blockheads. They’re both with the wrong people, and they know it, yet they won’t change their minds out of stubbornness! And after what happens in the end, I don’t even know how they’ll ever fix that in the next book. But they better!
Bigger than their love problems are The Demon Hunters that have come to town to solve Atlanta’s demon problems and capture anyone believed to be on the side of the demons. Their first suspect is, of course, Riley. But is getting rid of all evil really the answer? Heaven and Hell must keep a balance, and if the balance is not kept then Armagedon will rain down on humanity. So if God and Lucifer know this and keep to the rules, who keeps messing with the balance and pushing for war?
Riley seems to be in the middle of it all, and the things that she thought were pure and simple, might be darker than she imagined. When all goes to Hell (literally) Riley has only one person to turn to…Beck. But in the face of what she has done, he doesn’t turn out to be the most reasonable person. Betrayal hurts.
Favorite Quotes:
Riley sucked in a deep breath. “Does it involve hordes of man-eating demons?”
Mort looked surprised at the question, then shook his head.
“Then it’s doable.”
~
“Mind you,” Stewart added, his voice rougher now, “something’s afoot in this city and it would be a mistake to think it’s all Hell’s doin’.”
~
“Colorful fellow. Do you think he’s watching?” Ori whispered.
“Oh, definitely.”
Ori ran his arm around her waist and pulled her so close their hips bumped. “Good. I hope he gets an eyeful.”
“You’re wicked,” Riley said, grinning up at him.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Ori replied.
