Review – Soul Thief (Demon Trappers, Book 2) by Jana Oliver (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: August 30, 2011
ISBN: 978-0312614799
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Demon Trappers series
Source: Borrowed from Libray
Rating: 5/5 stars

I absolutely loved The Demon Trapper’s Daughter and was excited to read the second book in the series. It was a wonderful read, I really enjoyed it. I love the world and the characters, there is just so much going on in this book.

Riley is recovering from the battle at the Tabernacle. The Trapper’s are hanging on by a thread, many of them are injured or dead and the level 5 geo fiend is still at large. Riley’s boyfriend Simon is just barely alive. Now Riley has to contend with the mysterious Ori who has decided to be her body guard and her overprotective kind of brother Beck. While juggling all these guys she also has to find out who reanimated her dad, where the counterfeit holy water is from, and track down a level 5 Geo Fiend. To make matters worse the Vatican has decided to step in and now Demon Hunters are in Atlanta trying to make the Trapper’s look bad and take over the city.

There is a lot going on in this book. Riley is dealing with a ton of different things all at once. I loved that we got to spend more time with Ori, he was a mysterious presence in the last book and you get to see a lot more of him and his awesome fighting skills in this book. You also learn a lot more about Beck’s past and why he acts the way he does around Riley.

I felt bad for Riley she just never gets a break in this book; things keep getting worse and worse and she’s hanging on by a thread. She has a great attitude about it all though and she is really a fighter; I enjoy her as a character and just wish she could get some good breaks once in a while.

The story gets a lot bigger in this book too. Now there are angels and demons and it looks like Heaven and Hell might actually be waging war in Atlanta; I love the ambiguity around who is actually good and bad. Looks like Heaven isn’t as good and Hell isn’t as bad as you might expect. There is some great world building in this book. We learn more about the history behind both the demon trappers and the demon hunters. There is just a ton packed into this book and I enjoyed it all.

Lots of great characters too. I totally sympthize with Riley and am intrigued by all of the interesting side characters. There are no boring characters in this book, even if they are just minor characters. We get to spend a lot more time with some side characters that were introduced in the first book; Riley spends time with both witches and necromancers in this story.

I love Oliver’s writing style. It is engaging, flows beautifully, and is so easy to read. I just absolutely love the way she writes and it makes the book a pleasure to read.

This book wraps up nicely. Some major plot points are wrapped up well, but there are a lot of other plot points that are still dangling to be addressed in the third book, Forgiven (UK title) out in 2012.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. I am loving this series, it is one of my favorite YA urban fantasy series right now. I love the detailed world-building, love the characters, and love the fast-paced plot. There is some wonderful action in here and some truly surprising plot turns. Fans of urban fantasy (both YA and adult alike) need to check this series out. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens in Forgiven (Demon Trappers, #3).

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
– 100+ Reading Challenge