Customer Reviews

The Soul Stealer (Rogue Angel, Book 12)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I love the Rogue Angel series and have followed it since "Destiny" came out. But "The Soul Stealer," the latest entry in the series, was disturbing on so many levels.

Annja and her friend Bob, a fellow archaeologist, travel to Russia to research some dig sites. While they are in a small remote village in Siberia, they get caught up in a local legend about the Khosadam, a supposed fallen goddess who ingests the souls of the newly departed. If there are no new graves, she goes after the living. When a villager goes missing and the town goes into a panic, Annja and company go after the Khosadam, only to find the truth is crazier and more grotesque than the legend implies.

I have to say that I think the Rogue Angel books are the strongest when they include Garin or Roux. There's a nice continuity when the books include one or both of those influential figures. When the books introduce new characters and exclude Garin or Roux, they often feel disjointed, and they end up being my least favorite in the series.

I think a problem with the multiple author approach that this series has is that they're not comparing notes. Bob is apparently a long-time friend of Annja's, but he makes no appearance in any of the books prior to "The Soul Stealer." So while he's not new to Annja, he's new to the reader, and you don't have any investment into his character like you do with Garin and Roux.

I think the author would have a stronger story if he stuck with the idea of the Khosadam being a supernatural being. As it is, the story jumped from track to track with few definite conclusions. Bob and Annja go to Siberia to track down a relic - what is the relic? Why is it important? We learn nothing about it. When they go after the beast, Annja and her friends run into the Russian mafia. Okay, that was random. And then the Khosadam turns out to be the work of crazy Russian scientists left over from the Stalin era. Was the author running out of creative steam at this point, or trying to pack too much into a short novel?

Add to that the fact that Annja acted completely out of character in this novel. Several times she makes stupid decisions that endanger her life and her friend's life, and you just know that she'll get double-crossed. But while she might have realized that in a previous novel, somehow she's just really naive in Siberia. Maybe it's because she doesn't have her trusty laptop and access to the archaeological websites that she used to have before. Who knows? But this isn't the normal Annja "kick-butt" Creed we're used to.

I had to rush through the book because I knew if I stopped I would not want to finish it. If you're new to the series, don't start with this one. If you're already a fan of the series, you'll probably be curious like me, but read it with a healthy dose of skepticism. And look forward to the next one coming out soon to help you forget the debacle this one is.

I read the first 12 books of this series in about 2 weeks. The Soul Stealer reminds me of a bad X-Files show. You know the ones that didn't have anything to do with the main theme of the show - investigating aliens. I agree with the other reviewers, Rue and Garin need to appear a lot more in the story line.

I have to agree with Adam. I too am a long time fan of the series and I agree; it does sound more like a completely different author. Maybe Alex is getting burned out (I hope not!), but this book reads more like "The Perils of Pauline" than Rogue Angel. We can (all) only hope that the next installment is back up to the previous standards.

I am a die-hard RA fan. I love the series.

This episode, however, is horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Whoever wrote this one apparently had never cracked a book or listened to the audio version (which is fabulously produced). The "Annja" in this episode is gullible, naïve, and downright ditsy at times, which is the antithesis of the character in the rest of the series.

By the second half of this I found myself constantly saying to myself "WTF?!?!!?!"

In addition to the poor continuity of character, the plot line goes haywire. I'm all for a fair amount of the suspension of disbelief one needs to enjoy a series like this, but this goes too far and just becomes stupid and inane. Instead of trying to come up with an original idea, this author falls takes the worst of Frankenstein, X-Men, and Dr Jekyll and combines them into a ridiculous ending.

Buy other RA episodes. Leave this one alone.

In this novel, Annja Creed goes from a highly confident archeologist, skilled in personal defense, to a self-doubting little girl. Whichever ghost writer is responsible for this mess should be ashamed!
The character of Annja Creed is totally changed in this book and the only linking characteristics in this book in relation to the other Rogue Angel books are the name "Annja Creed" and the presence of Joan of Arc's sword. Is it too much to ask in a multi-author series such as Rogue Angel, that at the least, character traits are maintained and there is consistency in how a character behaves?

Yuck - who wrote this book? I sure hope it wasn't the 'real' Alex Archer, because it's disturbingly unlike ANY of the previous Rogue Angel books! Annja has always been a bright, likable character who is trying very hard to always do the right thing. NONE of those words describe the Annja in THIS book. The plot is weak, the characters 2-dimensional, there are no 'good guys', and even the grammar and language is unlike the previous books.

Save your money, and go re-read 'Provenance', which is much, MUCH better than this one.

Wow. After reading the other reviewer's comments, I have to totally disagree. I have also followed this series regularly, and I had been disappointed in the past about some of the anticlimactic endings of the others. This one was a refreshing change -- you thought you knew what was going on, but that conflict was somewhat resolved in the middle of the book. The story took a bit of a turn after that and got a little more interesting rather than tapering off. I liked this one and look forward to the next.

I've read all of this series quite eagerly, and this is the first disappointment. Honestly, it doesn't even seem like the same author. Hopefully the next will be back up to standards.

Annja Creed is a part-time archeologist, part-time tv host of Chasing History's Monsters, and full-time adventurer.

Annja meets her friend and fellow archaeologist Bob in Siberia to assist him on investigating a remote area. But on their journey, they get sidetracked by a local legend. In the small village of Jakutsk, they learn of a creature named Khosadam, which the villagers claim is a ghost of a goddess that eats human souls. When one of the villagers is missing the next morning, Annja, Bob, and his guard-for-hire Gregor go investigate. But instead, they uncover a truth even more terrifying.

This latest installment is pure action and excitement from beginning to end. While hardcore Rogue Angel fans may be disappointed that there are no actual archaeological digs or artifacts in this story, there is a huge mystery and plenty of creepy bad guys. And Annja kicks butt as always.

Leaning on the edge of the horror genre, The Soul Stealer will keep readers enthralled and on the edge of their seats until the very end.

While this novel serves as a fun little stand alone novel with an interesting plot, it is NOT your standard Rogue Angel book. No relic, no conspiracy (well, there is one, but its loose and not shocking, interesting, or plausible in any way)

While I liked this book as a story, it fell out of the range of a good Rogue Angel story. Don't start with this book, but if you follow these novels and can stand a mediocre one, than read it, with low expectations. You may be slightly surprised.