Soul Thief: A Demon Trappers Novel [Paperback]

Jana Oliver (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 30, 2011 | Series: Demon Trappers (Book 2)

Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them…

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…

Soul Thief is Book Two in Jana Oliver's bestselling young adult series, Demon Trappers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The rock ‘em-sock ‘em, cliffhanger ending leaves no doubt that there will be a third installment of this series.... A strong female protagonist and equally strong male characters will make this title popular with young adults of both genders.” – VOYA

“The second Demon Trappers book is even better than the first. The demons are more wicked, the love is more epic, and there’s even a twist ending that has me clamoring for the next book.” – RT Book Reviews (4 ½ stars)

About the Author

Jana Oliver is the award-winning author of the young adult urban fantasy series Demon Trappers, including The Demon Trapper's Daughter. She is also the author of the Time Rovers series. She’s happiest when she’s researching outlandish urban legends, wandering around old cemeteries and dreaming up new stories. An Iowa native, she lives in Atlanta, GA.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (August 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312614799
• ISBN-13: 978-0312614799
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I love to write stories and I like open-minded people. I grew up in Iowa and now I live in Atlanta. And there is not enough chocolate on the planet to keep me happy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This series is made of hardcore awesome... August 30, 2011

By Until Dawn

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

We find ourselves at a crossroads by the end of Soul Thief. Our beloved characters need to deal with some rash and very tough decisions they've made. While Soul Thief feels more like connective tissue for Books One and Three there is so much that is yet to be explained, and huge new questions are introduced- it is still essential reading.

Soul Thief- and Demon Trappers Daughter- read more adult than YA. If Riley weren't seventeen, this book would be found in a different section of your bookstore or library. It's mature, it's brutal, it's raw- and that's just the language and the emotional drama. Layering in a stupendously fantastic urban fantasy steeped in demons, angels, necromancers, witches... and who knows what else. All of that set against a near futuristic crumbling dystopian south.

The series, and its unique mythology, is incredibly well thought out and all the details are intricately constructed. Atlanta, a bankrupt city of five million souls, where even death cannot save you or your family from your debts. If you die before having settled with your creditors, they can have a necromancer raise you as a zombie and then sell you as a slave to the rich.

And while Riley and Beck- the two narrators of the series- don't get much face time together, their scenes are the most intense and turbulent. These two characters are at their best and their worst all in the same conversation. They go from defensive, to emotionally naked, to reaching DEF CON 4 levels of confusion, hurt, and anger.

Beck and Riley have had the harshest of wake up calls as the Soul Thief draws to a close. Riley can no longer avoid dealing, consequences are upon her on a biblical scale. Beck will have to realize that his treatment of her has NEVER done any good! The best of his intentions have the worst of reactions and consequences for Riley. He's made a career of pushing Riley away with brutal shoves, and it always backfires in ways he never sees coming. Riley lashes out as well, and doesn't see that she's hurting him just as much as she's hurting herself.

I love Riley because she won't ever back down against heavy opposition, even when the chips are stacked against her. She loves big, fights big, ans walks some seriously scary streets on her own. She will put it all on the line to keep her word. I love Beck because he's a protector, and despite a brash, cocky, and extremely tough facade- is very damaged and is his own worst enemy. He will sacrifice himself for others, and he tries so hard to become a better man.

I love Riley & Beck because they are a hot mess, and their hot mess is more real to me than any perfect love story. I love them because they don't pull any punches, they go for the jugular, they bleed all over the pages. The characters are so far apart, and they've miles to go before they can even really reach each other. If only Riley knew what Beck was really thinking, maybe she wouldn't hurt herself so much. If only Beck could believe he was worth a damn, he might actually get the girl he loves. How often can two people go to war against each other before there's nothing left to blow up?

I look forward and hope for redemption in book three, Forgiveness, they've gone through the fire and I know- or at least hope- they will inevitably come out singed around the edges, but victorious.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul Thief by Jana Oliver September 6, 2011

By Amber @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Format:Paperback

Riley and her guild are back and dealing with the aftermath of the attack on the Tabernacle. Picking up where The Demon Trapper's Daughter left off, Soul Thief utilizes the world building it did in the first novel to plunge Riley and the reader further into the gritty underground of Atlanta with the same cast of real characters, a few new additions and a plot full of jaw dropping twists.

What I loved about Riley in the first novel was her strength but also her vulnerability. She was brave when she needed to be but she was also fragile and broken seeing as she becomes an orphan and has to deal with a lot of other things on top of that. She doesn't lose this balance in the next book. She's still battling with the implications of the first novel and she makes several life changing decisions in this one. What I really appreciated about her is that she didn't make any stupid choices. Every move Riley made was one I'd make myself sans the intense anger towards Beck (though I feel like that's because as a reader I follow him around and get to know what he's really thinking).

Speaking of Beck, I liked his chapters but I'd have liked to see a few more of him. He took a backseat in this novel but it's because Riley's chapters really pushed the plot along. I did like a particular scene where we find out something kind of huge about Beck over barbecue and filling out form but I won't say anymore for those of you who haven't read it.

I also really liked Peter's character who has done a 180 since the first novel. I kept looking at the adventures Riley and Peter went on and saying that that is what real friendship is made out of. Harper's transformation also provided interesting. Even as much as I disliked him in the first novel, I always felt there was more going on under the surface and this novel provided some insight into that for which I am grateful. As for Ori. I'll just say I was right about him... one way or the other.

What I really appreciated about this novel were the twists. I got to a certain point and just sat the book down and said "now, that's a game changer". Ms. Oliver isn't afraid to screw with the normalities we know to make for an interesting plot and I applaud her for that. I'm also really glad that the character's make life altering decisions and do things that they can't magically take back. It makes the stakes feel that much higher and I appreciated that.

The other thing this novel really succeeds at is expanding on the world building from the first novel. We get to know about Deaders in the first book and who summons them but in this novel, Riley is forced to dive into the world of Necromancers. She goes to this auction and I, as a reader, loved finding out the rules and social standards the Necros followed. We also get to learn more about witches and their magic. There are other things introduced that are also expounded upon but I won't mention them so as not to give anything away.

I'm going to say this last thing because I need to: I loved the scenes with Beck and Stewart because of their accents. I found myself reading Beck's dialog in a Southern accent then accidentally reading Stewart's that way and having to go back and change it to Scottish. I loved how their voices sounded together in my head.

Soul Thief weaves together all the things that made the first novel great and stitches them into this new novel while throwing in brand new surprises to make something bigger. Riley's journey is one laden with heart ache and triumph and Ms. Oliver makes the reader care about every bit of it. Soul Thief feels like it's building towards something and I can't wait to find out what happens. You can bet I'll be heading back to Atlanta when the next demon shows itself!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The same feeling I had while reading the first book came back to me. But it was short lived. April 10, 2012

By Asher Knight

Format:Paperback

Soul Thief starts off directly after The Demon Trapper's Daughter left off, and with that said, the same feeling I had while reading the first book came back to me. But it was short lived. To say I'd expected so much for the sequel is the absolute truth. And yet, for me, it didn't deliver.

I think the pacing was the real problem. It didn't move fast enough for me, especially for a book set in a world full of demons and angels, and their captors and devotees. I keep feeling like a full-scale war, a big battle or something exciting and epic is looming closer, but still from a considerable distance. I enjoyed Soul Thief's predecessor, and made allowances for it's semi-slow pacing, because it was the starter book, the intro to the series. But in the sequel I expected more of a BAM! kind of deal. The search for Riley's dad was a bit tedious, in that she didn't explore any very intriguing avenues to locate him. The only aspect of her investigation that I found remotely interesting was being amongst the necromancers, but I came to find that they weren't nearly as exciting as I'd thought them to be. Since a good chunk of the book was consumed by the search for her father's corpse, I felt... bored. Where was the perilous action, the deadly fights against the hellish fiends everyone's so worked up about?

The fighting, especially toward the end of book one, was one of it's biggest appeals for me. That and Beck. And unsurprisingly, Beck and Riley's, I don't know, thing antagonized my already rising level of frustration with the book. In book one, the tension between the two was a good thing, even when Riley began seeing Simon (and don't even get me started on him), but during take two I just grew aggravated. Perhaps it's my innate impatience, that generally comes out while reading. But more likely it was the fact that their complex relationship was losing it's appeal... until the second half of the book.

Have I mentioned, yet, that my feelings for this book are also complex, like, immensely? One minute I was bored, the next faintly intrigued, leading up to engrossment, then down to frustration and annoyance, suspicion, concluding with a surprising eagerness for the sequel. My interest was piqued when, finally, a freakish demonic attack happens, the whole business with Ori and the reasons for his involvement with Riley are unveiled, and I got to learn some rather astonishing deets about the Prince of Hell and his role in the Good vs. Evil dilemma. Then when Riley and Ori's relationship turns toward the unexpected very quickly, the irritation came into play. Beck was no better, and I couldn't help but be angry at him for his reactions to some of the trouble that crops up toward the end.

By the end though, Jana managed to snag me again. To the point where I'm confused, edgy and restless to learn what's going to happen next, and that growing anticipation, that burning hope for what Beck and Riley could have, what--I'm hoping--they will have together has been rekindled somehow. And if I'm not mistaken, this is all boiling up to one gigantic, battle-tastic ending to the trilogy. I'm at the edge of my seat, and I'll be devastated if I'm even partially disappointed come the third book.