Bekka Trevelyan is an arcanist, and the first woman to be made a Gentleman Scholar of Arcany at the University of Kabakak. Her graduate work was in refining a device to measure the potency of the winds of magic. Over her Yule holidays from teaching, she travels east on a field trip to test her theory about the Winds in the true Wyld. Instead, she finds herself swept up in the investigation of a kidnapping of an indigenous woman and her child by a demon that has possessed the body of a tracker.
Tam Warden was a war hero, and then a sort of government enforcer. He gave up rank and fame to marry across class lines. But government isn’t done with him yet. He’s called back to action to investigate Bekka’s claims – discreetly. This is delicate work, because the truth could unbalance the nation.
Essa Bateman is a mercenary spy, a hard woman with no attachments and very few ethics. Few, it turns out, is more than ‘none.’ She sees the ripples of unrest from the underbelly of society, but deciding what to do about them is a different beast entirely.
In a world where gunpowder is manufactured from the souls of executed criminals, and the ultra-rich seek immortality at any price, where children labour in factories and the desperate poor turn to vampirism, where slavery is rampant and gangs rule the streets…
A few people are about to be heroes. They just don’t know it yet.
But maybe, just maybe, the Revolution is coming.
Tam Warden was a war hero, and then a sort of government enforcer. He gave up rank and fame to marry across class lines. But government isn’t done with him yet. He’s called back to action to investigate Bekka’s claims – discreetly. This is delicate work, because the truth could unbalance the nation.
Essa Bateman is a mercenary spy, a hard woman with no attachments and very few ethics. Few, it turns out, is more than ‘none.’ She sees the ripples of unrest from the underbelly of society, but deciding what to do about them is a different beast entirely.
In a world where gunpowder is manufactured from the souls of executed criminals, and the ultra-rich seek immortality at any price, where children labour in factories and the desperate poor turn to vampirism, where slavery is rampant and gangs rule the streets…
A few people are about to be heroes. They just don’t know it yet.
But maybe, just maybe, the Revolution is coming.
‘Phenomenally imaginative and intricately plotted, Soulstealer explores the cost of violence–even when necessary–and the corrupting influence of power, both magical and political. Cameron keenly examines the darkest depths of imperialist exploitation through the lens of a sweeping, science-filled adventure. The depth of worldbuilding is simply incredible, and continues to expand with every plot revelation’ – Sunyi Dean, bestselling author of The Book Eaters
Reviews
Phenomenally imaginative and intricately plotted, Soulstealer explores the cost of violence--even when necessary--and the corrupting influence of power, both magical and political. Cameron keenly examines the darkest depths of imperialist exploitation through the lens of a sweeping, science-filled adventure. The depth of worldbuilding is simply incredible, and continues to expand with every plot revelation
This was a fine read.
Although it was a totally different setting to the only other Miles Cameron book I've read (The Red Knight) it had an element of overlap in that you could see the author's love (and detailed knowledge) of the outdoors life and his understanding of the equipment and practice needed to survive in the wilds. In this case a signiificant part of the book took place in remote snow-laden forests where travel involved using long lakes and carrying the boats between them.
We get three points of view.
- A hard-bitten colonel / special agent, highly intelligent but also given to violent solutions, and dealing with the very recent death of his wife.
- A rare female professor specialising in magical studies and blessed with a great natural talent for using it.
- A female fighter/enforcer for one of the city's several big crime gangs.
It's a complicated plot and there's a good amount of world-building to do, and the titular soul-stealing (or - it seems to me: body stealing) plays an important role. We get magical fights, sword & knife fights, and gunplay of both the short and long barrel sort.
Cameron is a fine writer and the pace is well judged. I was always intrigued, never bored, always ready for the next page.
The characters and their interactions were very well done. It's a mature book and I doubt you'll find younger readers waxing lyrical about the characters, falling in love with them, or cosplaying them - they're more human-scale, more complex than those that are typically idolised, but if you're looking for a read that's both exciting and thoughtful, and that paints the natural world in stunning colours ... then you should definitely give this one a try.