Hot Off the Grill
November 29, 2009:
Goodreads Review: Soulmate
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Soulmate is the sixth entry in LJ Smith's ambitious Night World series, which consists of nine books with an overarching story. Only at the end of this volume do the major themes of the series really begin to get underway. Unfortunately, the necessary development of these detracts from what, already, is only a mildly successful paranormal romance.
Sixteen-year-old Hannah Snow has been missing time. After these gaps in her memory, she finds notes--from herself, to herself--warning her that she's destined to be dead by seventeen. She visits a psychologist to explore these events further; when he puts her under hypnosis, she flashes back to an earlier, pre-historic life. Meanwhile, a coterie of vampires she's met before seem to be chasing her--including Thierry, Lord of the Night World, who claims to be her soulmate.
All of this, particularly the flashbacks, are mildly entertaining; unfortunately, the character development in Soulmate is terrifically lacking. Hannah's counselor Paul stands out as being completely unconvincing as a character and a mental health professional, but even Hannah and Thierry themselves aren't major improvements. Both are flat characters, completely bland were it not for their situation. Villain Maya fares a little better than the rest, as her sinister intentions mean that she actually seems to have both motivations and desires, something lacking in the rest of the cast.
What's more, the novel's climax and denouement is muddled as Smith tries to explain Circle Daybreak, the coming apocalypse, and "the soulmate principle." Throughout the series, I've found the requisite discussions of this principle to be didactic--they almost always are composed of stiff, affectless dialogue that feels oddly juxtaposed to the supposedly passionate subject matter. It's too bad that Smith chose to sink a good handful of chapters in this volume into exploring this further. Hopefully, in the next three volumes, there will be a little less (dry, stiff, and humorless) talk, and a little more action.
Labels: goodreads, horror, review, ya
Posted at 7:24 PM //
Comments:
Of course I remember you! You were pretty unforgettable. :) I'm just surprised you remember me at all. I'm glad you're enjoying my little blog, and don't feel bad for blog-stalking. I welcome all stalkers, strangers or not.
Comment
posted by 
Jen :
November 30, 2009 7:44 PM
this was the one with werewolves, right? i hated this one. it felt like smith was just going through the motions.
i'm fascinated by how i can't remember most of the plots of this series clearly. the one where the girl is transformed from mousy sweet girl stands out. she is actually a witch i think but doesn't know it? she turns into a gothy bad girl, with the help of the being who is actually a ghost.
my memory of this series is much like my recollection of the harry potter plots, and i'd be curious to know if this is just a personal idiosyncracy, or if others have the same reaction.
Comment
posted by Tarah Dunn :
December 1, 2009 4:42 PM
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