Rena Barron

While Rena Barron’s debut novel, Kingdom of Souls, failed to blow me away, its sequel Reaper of Souls did just that. Gone are the repetitiveness of the writing as well as the one-dimensionality of the characters I found most distracting. In their place is an exciting world that brings something new to every page wherein the characters are deliciously grey in their morality.

More importantly, Reaper of Souls helps fill in many of the missing puzzle pieces that made the first story more than show more a little confusing. Because the story involves an age-old clash between demons and gods, the analogy of the story as a gameboard is apt, and being able to see entire swaths of the gameboard not only helps in reader comprehension but also in entertainment as well. Plus, by taking the time to explain the conflict’s origins, Ms. Barron highlights the similarities between each party’s motives and behaviors. In so doing, she blurs the lines between the good guys and the bad ones, forcing you to reevaluate what you know about each character. It makes for compelling storytelling.

Plus, I cannot stress how refreshing it is to read about characters who are not white and blonde-haired. I love that there is not one character with white skin within the entire text. I find the stories about the tribes fascinating and relish the chance to learn about a culture of color, no matter how rooted in fantasy it is. I read to learn, and Ms. Barron’s fantasy allows me to learn about life in someone else’s skin, whose culture is not Euro-centric and therefore all too familiar.

With Reaper of Souls, Ms. Barron shows her writing chops. Not only does she flesh out her world and her characters, but she complicates the situation by making her two sides more alike than different. At this point, I have no idea how Arrah’s story is going to end, but I am more than a little excited to find out. show less

This is a great story, diverse with mythology within it that is very different from anything else I have read. Sadly, while I enjoyed it, I could not devour it as one might expect. There is a repetitiveness to the syntax that grew tiresome, plus the characters remain fairly one-dimensional. There are one too many pages where nothing happens. While it has gods, spirits, magic, and demons with a fight that transcends generations, I kept falling asleep every few pages and felt no compulsion to show more keep reading. show less

Much better! Where the first book was congested with too many storylines and flat characters, the sequel is more focused and lets the characters breathe. I think the pacing overall improved drastically though the opening chapter was a bit disorienting because you’re hit with like 20 different characters. The romance also takes a bigger focus in this story. Once you get into the story, it's really enthralling.

Keep in mind, there’s A LOT of carnage in this story. Death and body horror is show more ever-present, if not constant.

Still, I enjoyed reading this, and this book was almost 500 pages. show less

Kingdom of Souls has a very slow beginning and a lot of world-building to digest but with some very nice plot-twists and suspense as well. I really liked Rudjek and Arrah much more than I should have for some reason. When Arrah gets all flustered around him, I can't help but go "aww." In addition, I loved the relationship between Arrah and her father.

Now, this isn't a very satisfying story, and I'm not talking about the writing/plot. It's just Arrah's life is tragedy after tragedy. As soon show more as something good happens, 12 worse things rear their head. This story could possibly beat you down.

Spoiler Section:
Um... Y'know that part when there's a twisted-demonic reversal of Mary getting pregnant with Jesus. Chile, what was that!?! 0___O Aarti is something else, I tell you.

GOSH, I wanted to strangle Efiya so badly. When Rudjek and Arrah's relationship (who had been acting dry as toast) was about to get some payoff, the climax of their love story, URGGGGHHHH! To be honest, I wish this part hadn't even been there. The way that the whole thing went down is just terrible Why?Can you imagine being tricked into sleeping with someone who you thought was your loved one?

Efiya is bland. Don't nobody care about you.

Also, people cannot stay dead in this story for anything!

Overall, if you don't mind long stories where optimism is bleak, then I recommend it. show less