This is a wild ride of a debut, packed with adventure and action.

Definitely recommend if you're looking to step outside of the norm for your scifi and fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and TheoryBee for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an e-arc of this book! My opinions are my own.

The first thing I noticed about this book was, as you can imagine, its cover. It paints an ominous picture and made me very curious to read Soulstealer!

The beginning had me intrigued immediately. We meet Nythan, a nineteen year old military student. He's just living his life when something very, very strange happens. When some rogues try to rob his house, Nythan is fighting for his life. Until suddenly his attacker dies. And the weird thing is... Nythan killed him. By stealing his soul.
It turns out Nythan is not alone in his body. We meet Bane, an ancient evil demon who currently resides within Nythan. Now Nythan has to decide if he will help bring about the end of the world as we know it, or die himself.

This was an original story and I'm actually a little sad I can't give it more than 2 stars. I loved the idea of Nythan and the demon communicating with each other. But to me, the two main characters felt very flat. They didn't make me feel anything. Besides that, there are a lot of side characters that didn't have character at all. They could have easily been interchanged. This book is definitely plot-based, I wouldn't recommend it for its character development.

The differences and similarities between good and evil are a theme in this book, but I thought it was a shame that it wasn't worked out a little better. It still felt a bit vague to me. The same goes for the demon's background story - it almost felt like the author didn't know either. It might have given a bit more depth to the story to let the reader know, in the end, what was meant by 'transcending'.

I thought the premise was very promising and I loved the attempt to include different cultures in this book. Unfortunately, it all fell a bit flat and just wasn't for me.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. Despite mixed reviews, I was pretty sure I was going to give this book 4 or 5 stars. I found it to be well-written, with a compelling plot that had me anxiously turning pages to find out what would happen next. Characters were multidimensional, the plot was intriguing and full of surprises, and I found the book to be easy to read and follow. I didn’t quite understand the author’s choice to ** the “bad” words, but it was easily overlooked. Scenes were described in explicit detail, painting a clear picture of each setting. I enjoyed the sense of humor conveyed through the internal conversations of Nythan and Bane. This author definitely has some talent, and his sense of humor was apparent as well. Early on in the story, Nythan reflected on the cartoon-villain-like voice he kept hearing in his head: “He almost hoped the other voice came from a real demon. He could at least blame a demon for spewing cliched omens of doom.” Describing human souls as “single-serve snack packs” was savage. Later, the author described a character “who resembled a chiseled balloon animal.” I couldn’t quite figure out what to visualize, but it definitely made me laugh.

There were some wonderful philosophical discussions between Nythan and Bane, the kinds of things a nineteen-year-old would find revelatory. For example, once Nythan accepted that Bane was a part of him and decided to help him achieve his goal, believing this would result in less human suffering, he made a speech in front of Bane’s believers, then wondered if he sounded as full of crap as he felt. Bane responded, “It’s like dancing or singing karaoke; you feel every mistake. You think everyone else knows, but most of the audience is so transfixed that the mistakes aren’t noticed. They probably thought it was intentional. On the outside, you look calm and ready, as Eminem would put it.” Or as the popular saying goes, “We wouldn’t care so much about what people thought of us if we realized how seldom they did.”

When Nythan accused Bane of being an apocalyptic monster, Bane countered by saying he was a survivor. Nythan responded, “Survivor, apocalyptic monster. Tomayto, tomahto.” At one point, as Bane tried to convince Nythan to do something he had suggested, he reasoned, “Well, one, I’ll be satisfied. Two, you’ll get to know more about your new infatuation. And three…, hmmm, I really thought I’d have thought of three by now, but, oh well. Just those two.” It was this sort of nonsensical musing by a creature who had been around for millenia that really made me laugh. And Bane’s snarkiness almost made him endearing. Like when Nythan said to his followers, “I’ve done a great deal of thinking,” and Bane thought, “If they only knew how painful it was for you.”

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I guess, Bane had gleaned some wisdom from his many lives and this was conveyed to Nythan through statements like: “What if I told you that good and bad is merely an opinion, subject to wherever you’re born?” He went further, explaining, “...each side has to classify the other as evil in order to motivate themselves to accomplish their goal, often at the other side’s expense. Otherwise, each side would have to face the fact that they are hurting good people who do the same bad things to them.” What he failed to mention is that sometimes, and some might even argue often, each side knowingly argues their case, portraying themselves as good and the other side as evil, highlighting the faults of the other and ignoring their own.

In many ways, Nythan really didn’t stand a chance against Bane’s superior knowledge and wisdom and was destined to be manipulated by it. At times, they seemed to be on equal footing. At the same time, you had to wonder whether this was just something that Bane allowed Nythan to believe. It was also fairly obvious that Nythan would die by the end of the story, but the hope was that he would, at least, ensure that Bane would not return. Sometimes I wondered whether Nythan realized his fate. Really, though, it was irrelevant.

Keeping all of this in mind, it may be my knowledge of what had to happen that made the ending that much more disappointing. I endeavor not to spoil stories, and I’m trying hard not to do that here, but how can I do that when the ending is my biggest disappointment with the book? There was an utter and complete lack of epiphany or any kind of understanding for ANYONE at the end. Nothing changed. No one changed. The reader is left wondering whether anything served any purpose. And that left me wondering whether there was any reason to read the book.

I think this book could earn 5 stars if the ending were to be reimagined and rewritten. I mean, I understand why it ended the way that it did, but I still didn’t care for it. And I don’t think it was the plot, per se, but rather, the way it was presented. Maybe if I approach my analysis from the concept of the hero’s journey, a strong basis for any story, but especially this type of story, my critique will make more sense. In this case, the hero was never fully identified and didn’t grow in any discernible way. That leaves the reader feeling abandoned and unfulfilled. The only thing this ending accomplished was to set the stage for a sequel. I hate to criticize a book that has so much good about it, and it really does, but the fact remains that if you write a masterpiece and then fail to finish it properly, it’s a fail. Instead of worrying about whether a sequel can follow a book, it would be better to focus on providing the best ending possible. If a sequel logically follows, great. If not, consider the story done. Move on to something new. For this story, I’d have to classify it as not quite done, but not sequel-ready either. As mentioned earlier, the best thing the writer could do for this story would be to rewrite the end. The beginning and middle are outstanding. Define the hero(es), show some kind of growth or change, and have a conclusion. Give the reader something to take away from the experience—something beside a mild sense of annoyance and regret.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Soulstealer will introduce you to Nythan. He is a 19 year old boy who wants a normal life. Well, he did until the day that he was attacked. When he wakes up in the hospital, he realizes that he isn't himself and he's not alone. Nope, he has a demon inside him, called Bane, and he wants his own freedom.

I'm going to stop right there.

So for some reason, the entire time this was all happening I kept thinking of the movie Venom. Mostly because this entire storyline felt like that movie. Am I mad about that? No, not really. It just felt like the super PG version of it.

Then on top of that, I didn't understand the censorship within the book. If you are going to use a curse word, then please use it. I don't need all the '**********' in the book because I will want to skim to the next page or chapter.

In the end, I honestly couldn't connect with Nythan or even really like the book. It just had to many problems for me to get behind anything within it. I tried.. and that's all I can really say at this point.

Soulstealer seemed like an interesting read and was thankful to have gotten an ARC but once I started I realized its just not for me. It is an interesting concept but there was just something that I can't quite pinpoint that kept me from reading. I got 28% in on my e reader and was just not enjoying it so I did what I would normally NEVER do (as I feel like it is illegal) I totally jumped to the end of the book. I got there and found out that I really didn't miss much and the ending was also not that impressive. Sorry, I hate when I say that. Authors put so much time and energy into books and I just feel bad when I don't like a book but I just didn't like this one. The cover art was probably the best thing about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. All spelling and grammar errors are totally my own.

My feelings are a bit mixed on this one. The plot was interesting and had a lot of potential but the execution fell short for me personally. It felt a bit slower than what I have typically experienced with urban fantasy and the self-censoring was odd. It could also be that religious overtones often do not resonate with me. On the other hand, there is enough intrigue that I may see what happens next.

I may need to sit on this one for a while and come back.

this was a really good mystery novel, I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery. The characters were great and I really liked going on this journey.

This book was not for me. I found the sentence structure jarring and the scene changes abrupt. The very short chapters made it feel like nothing happened in them. It made the book difficult to enjoy and I had to give it up.

I really wanted to love this book. It just really wasn’t for me it had too many religious overtones and sensoring the cuss words seemed unnecessary. I feel like the author has wonderful potential and the premise of the story sounded great. It wasn’t a bad book it just wasn’t for me.

Well here it is. My first ever book to classify as DNF.

I think I've just read too many awful books this year that I'm tired of wasting my time if I'm not enjoying it.

'Soulstealer' tries to tell the story of a bloke called Nythan who becomes entangled in the business of 'Soulstealing' where he consumes people's souls to satisfy his 'hunger'. Oh and the first soul he consumes talks to him in his mind, kind of like a lame Venom.

Also, have you ever read book that censors its own swearing?? It will drops swear words as f***. Which to me is quite bizarre and off putting.

I got 52% of the way into this book and decided to not continue as nothing interested me in the story at all and I felt the writing was quite poor.

I went into this book with very few expectations because I had never read this author before, and I didn’t know how I was going to like it. In fact, in the first few chapters (the chapters are short), I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like it because it almost seemed like a YA book. Then something changed. The pacing picked up, and the plot changed a little. I was hooked. There are no real “good” or “bad” characters; there was much moral ambiguity. I liked the philosophy sprinkled throughout, too. This was not a cookie-cutter book and I liked it for that alone even besides the good writing and unique plot. This is interesting enough some readers will really like this, and there will be some that won’t. But I think it’s worth it. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

I thank to the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book.


The soulstealer is a book about Nythan, a boy who is 19 years old and it's gonna go to college to have a good future like every normal person in the world, until one unafortunately day, he is attacked by someone, and then when he wakes up, he finds out he has a demon that eats souls called Bane that only wants freedom, so he convinced Nythan to get him his desire.


The cover was cool, very intriguing and it gives me some vibes of good thriller story, and that was good,
Then there's the plot, it was interesting and I liked, but I didn't enjoyed the way it was done.
I really wanted to like this book but I didn't pretty much, I was expecting a lot, but this was a little slow, and that kinda bored me, I waited a lot for Bane to explain how Nythan had to deliver him to freedom, I waited too much.
Nythan, was one of this characters that changes a lot, I don't know how first he seemed so chill but then when he has to plan and be the leader he becomes so bossy from nowhere, and I liked Bane a little bit.

I could say that I Really liked the end but not everything in the middle so, some 3 stars, I wanna know what's next.

Enthralling supernatural saga!!!

Recommended for teens and up.Shane Boulware has done a good job of writing a different,out of the box story.
Some parts of the plot could improve though.
Thanks to THEORYbee for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.