SOULSWIFT By Megan Bannen

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Soulswift by Megan Bannen
Published by Balzer + Bray on 11/17/20
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 480
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Gelya is a Vessel, a girl who channels the word of the One True God through song. Cloistered with the other Vessels of her faith, she believes—as all Ovinists do—that a saint imprisoned Elath the Great Demon centuries ago, saving humanity from earthly temptation.

When Gelya stumbles into a deadly cover-up by the Ovinists’ military, she reluctantly teams up with Tavik, an enemy soldier, to survive. Tavik believes that Elath is actually a mother goddess who must be set free, but while he succeeds in opening Her prison, he inadvertently turns Gelya into Elath’s unwilling human vessel.

Now the church that raised Gelya considers her a threat. In a race against the clock, she and Tavik must find a way to exorcise Elath’s presence from her body. But will this release stop the countdown to the end of the world, or will it be the cause of the earth’s destruction?

And as Tavik and Gelya grow closer, another question lingers between them: What will become of Gelya?

Short and Sweet Review

Geyla is a vessel, which means she channels the words of the One True God through song. Geyla is an Ovinist and they believe that a Saint Imprisoned Elath a demon, and saved humanity. After a summit, Geyla learns that the Ovinist have been covering something up. Geyla then teams up with Tavik an enemy soldier to survive. Tavik was brought up to believe that Elath is the mother goddess and that she has to be set free. Tavik is successful in freeing Elath, and Elath uses Geyla’s body as a vessel. Geyla is now considered a threat by the Ovinist and she and Tavik now have to find a way to get Elath’s presence out of her body.

This was an interesting book. I thought the first part started off great. We only read from Geyla’s POV, but we learn how she was brought up by the Ovinist so she follows their beliefs. When Elath enters Geyla’s body I was expecting Geyla not to have control and that it would just be Elath we would hear from but it was more like Geyla could just feel Elath’s presence inside of her. I liked that Tavik and Geyla were able to get along so well I thought it would be one of those situations where he wouldn’t want her around, but I guess he didn’t really have a choice since it was his fault Geyla was being used as a vessel for Elath. I thought the middle of the book was boring and it dragged on. We just see Geyla and Tavik go to different safe houses trying to avoid being caught by the Ovinist Military. Over time Geyla begins to understand more about Elath and isn’t totally opposed to the idea that Elath is the mother Goddess. Tavik and Geyla also have a bit of romance but I think they were good friends for most of the book. I wasn’t a fan of the ending and I’m still trying to process what happened.

Overall, I liked the premise of the book but the pacing in the middle and what happened in the end turned me off a bit. The characters are well written and I liked how they learned things from each other.