The Weight of Souls (ARC review)

The Weight of Souls | Bryony Pearce
YA, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology

Characters ★★★★★

Setting ★★★★☆

Writing Style ★★★★☆

Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…

She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.

But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death.

Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him?

And what happens if she starts to fall for him?

REVIEW

Unique, heart-pounding, occasionally terrifying.

Oh God! It cannot end there. Don't let it be so. *falls into a bottomless pit and wails forever*

This book is so good. When I started reading it, I'll be honest, I had average expectations. I was only reading it because I loved that the cover put a person of colour at the forefront. (God I love the cover. And now the hieroglyphs make sense!) Also ghosts? I'm pretty down with ghosts.

But what I wasn't expecting was to be swept into a generations-old Egyptian curse. This book is littered with vivid scenes of old Egypt, and the absolute realism that Bryony Pearce creates literally throws you there until you are in a centuries old tomb with a bunch of treasure seekers, being hunted and cursed and stalked by a vengeful Egyptian deity. It's terrifying at times. Anubis scared the ever-loving crap out of me, and I can't remember the last time I was scared by a book. Maybe when I was twelve and read Dracula?

But it's not just terror and curses. It's ghosts and hauntings! And also some pretty adorable, heart-wrenching romance. I did not plan to fall for a dead guy, but fall for a dead guy I did. The characters of this book are achingly real and Taylor is a very strong, very unique protagonist. I loved her from the minute I started reading. She had something a lot of other MCs don't, and although I can't pinpoint what it is or explain it, it made her admirable and very likable. Don't even get me started on Justin.

So for a book I requested on a whim, I was thoroughly impressed and entirely captivated by The Weight of Souls. Once I was in, I was hooked. I flew through half of the book in a day, which is a rarity for me. Another rarity? To find a book with an entirely original plot. I've never read anything close to this before, and it held me because of it.

For people who like their books with excitement, endearing ghosts, and kickass ladies, you need to read this book ASAP.

e-ARC recieved for honest review from Strange Chemistry and Netgalley. Bless you Strange Chemistry, you're my new favourite.