Reviews

Soul Fraud by Andrew Givler

lernstreads's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

1618mihijo's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition

5.0

I'll start with my criticisms. First, Matthew Carver's sense of humor gets irritating after a bit. I think that the book was going for the idea that he cracks jokes to hide his fear or to avoid having to take things seriously but there were points where I'm thinking, "This is a very serious moment, you think you could shut up and take this seriously for a moment?" But that is me being irritated with Carver, not necessarily the book.

The second is that this book very much feels like store brand Dresden Files. And I can't even call that a real criticism because I picked it up looking for that feel. Also, as I went that feeling decreased and by the end the book felt more distinguished as its own thing based on how the characters developed, the plot unfolded and the world building was revealed. Like plot and character wise

Spoiler

besides his humor, Carver is the opposite of Dresden in that Dresden starts out enmeshed in the supernatural world where Carver is thrown feet first into the deep end. Dresden starts out with a lot more control of his fate where Carver gets kicked around a lot. And there seems to be a more personal aspect

So, I'm interested to see how this develops.

And I'll offer a counterpoint to the previous criticism about the plot in that the basis of the protagonist's soul being stolen and that being how he's introduced to the supernatural world certainly offered a unique lens for the story to unfold.

brandon_1800's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

dawn_marie's review

1.0

Soul Fraud never quite lived up to its promise. The idea of the story is intriguing - a demon forges a young man's signature and consigns his soul to hell; the young man (Matt) then tries to undo the deal, finding himself face-to-face with assorted creatures and in odd situations - but it fell flat. I found the main character's narrative voice annoying and did not enjoy him. While the book had some humor, I felt that the author was trying a bit too hard, making everything feel forced and artificial; it didn't resonate with me.

vcreative's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book made me devour it hoping there was more to it, but anyhow I'm a person who has read a lot of fantasy so I'll always have too many expectations. 

This book was good, readable to end it, I dunno if I'll read the next two books.

bookishactor's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Soul Fraud by Andrew Givler is a great start to an urban fantasy series, perfect for fans of The Iron Druid Chronicles, The Eric Carter series, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England, etc. A funny and youthful protagonist is thrust into the hidden supernatural world when his soul is stolen by a demon (and you thought internet scams were bad!) This story features a colorful cast of characters pulled from various myths and faiths, including some I’ve never seen in an urban fantasy series before. It’s a delightful audiobook, wonderfully narrated, and is sure to delight genre readers. 

pokemon_baker's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ailurop0da's review

1.0

I am DNF-ing this book at 130 pages.

I wanted to love this book, my brother bought it for me hoping I would love it. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

This book has so much potential. There were some aspects I really like. But I couldn't get over my frustration with the Writing and the Main character. The more I read the more I hated the main character and got sick of him.

Lets start with the major issue for me which is the inclusion of some problematic language. Multiple times throughout the book there are displays of male friendship. However these get promptly followed by comments about them being within bro code or being man-to-man things that obviously only men would do, such as profane hand gestures at each other as a joke (only men will understand). There are also multiple times where the main character brings up his height in comparison to other people. He says other characters must be very tall because they are taller than him and he's 6ft like it's a badge of honour. It just felt very toxic. It's perpetuating this idea of intimacy between men is wrong, and that men need to be a certain height to have value. I don't think the comments are malicious but they are there, and they are unnecessary and they made me sigh in frustration and roll my eyes every time. 2 guys hug because one of them has just lost his sister and it has to be clarified as a "Bro-hug". Why? A friend looking out for his friend does not need to be clarified, I didn't think it was anything more than a friend comforting his distressed friend. A sign of a good friendship. what is the worry that it needs to be clarified?

The most problematic thing that I read is when the author uses a metaphor comparing clearing smashed glass away to removing mines from Western Germany After world war 2. Which was unnecessary, strange and not similar in any way at all. But to top it off he calls the acts, and says that clearing away dangerous weapons from a war zone that could kill someone as a "waste of time". At that point it was just a ticking clock when I called this book over. That metaphor is insensitive and uncalled for.

Now the main character, Matt. He's a dick. He imagines his friend dying so he can then get with his Fiancé. He imagines his best friend dying in detail at night so he can have his partner because he can't have her. em...excuse me? A best friend he calls brother. I can't. Then he asks us not to judge him, he's just sad. Em... I'm gonna judge you mate. And you can't put this down to teenage angst cause the character is 21. And even if he was a teenager imagining your best friend dying so you can bone his future wife just makes you an awful human being.
He also says at one point that seeing his friends enjoying a meal he couldn't enjoy made him want to kill them. Now this could be his dry humour (which isn't very humourous) but to me it didn't come across like that. At this point I wondered if he actually liked his friends and family at all?

I really wish this book was good. The premise sounded amazing and there are parts of the book where you could see it could have been amazing and then the main character is a twat, with some internalised toxic masculinity and just generally being an awful friend.

rubberpug1783's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5