My Five Word TL:DR Review : Number Thirteen, Unlucky for Some

There are two elements to the storyline of Soul Taken.  Firstly, it appears that a couple of vampires have gone missing and the finger of suspicion is on Adam, Mercy and the Colombia Basin pack, meaning they need to figure out what’s really going on.  On top of this, as Mercy and Adam start to investigate it soon becomes clear that for some time members of the community have been turning up dead!  Things are about to get frantic.  There appears to be a figure straight out of a horror movie stalking the streets and the latest issue with the vampires threatens to shatter the alliances.

It took a little while to get into the story this time around but once the action kicked in the pacing was good.  I actually really enjoyed the strange links between the horror movie and the actual soul stealer.  I loved some of the reveals and also looking back at some of the history of the vampires and there are plenty of favourite characters thrown into the mix here.  Plus I do love Mercy.  She’s such a great character.

But,I have slightly mixed feelings with this one.  On the one hand, I love this series and I can’t imagine ever reaching a point where I don’t want to continue.  The characters are like old friends and picking up the next instalment is like putting on your comfiest PJs.  It’s just a no-stress, no-brainer really and I love sinking into this world.  It’s full of everything that makes urban fantasy so great to read and during the course of this series Briggs has added layer upon layer resulting in a rich world with complex characters.  So, with slight hesitation I would say that two things held me back from loving this one as much as previous books. Firstly, it took a little while for the story to take off, which is partly due to explanations and recaps that feel a little unnecessary, well, I understand the desire to bring new readers up to speed, and sometimes a little memory boost is a good thing, but, it felt a little too much with this one  like the balance was off.  And, although I did like the plot here, it felt a little like a stepping stone to what’s possibly coming next.

All that being said,I do love this series. I feel excited when a new release is due and it feels like there is still so much potential.

I received a copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars