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A review by willrefuge
Bridge of Souls by V.E. Schwab
3.0
3 / 5 ✪
Contains spoilers for City of Ghosts and Tunnel of Bones—Cassidy Blake #1-2!
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2021/10/17/bridge-of-souls-by-victoria-schwab/
Cassidy Blake has survived some pretty crazy situations: the Red Raven of Edinburgh, the poltergeist haunting the Paris catacombs, even the prospect of dying. Through it she’s met horrible specters, curious ghosts, interesting humans, and even her best friends Jacob and Lara. But New Orleans might just present her toughest challenge to date, for what Cassidy meets her might just be death itself.
Following her success in Paris, Cassidy was confronted on a train station platform by a skull-masked specter, one that was there one moment and gone the next, something that she sensed on BOTH sides of the Veil.
And this thing seems to have followed her to the Big Easy.
While initially Cassidy isn’t sure what this thing is, soon enough it becomes clear that this spirit is not a ghost at all but a servant of death, one that seeks to reclaim her life—the very life that she cheated it out of when she cheated death.
But how does one defeat death? Cassidy and Jacob have no idea—but someone might. In New Orleans, while her parents hunt long-dead serial killers and arsonists, Cassidy seeks out help from the only folk that might help her escape death a second time: the mysterious Order of the Black Cat.
In many ways the Adventures of Cassidy Blake have read like a decent serial. Each week (or in this case each year) features a new location, new situations, ghosts, but retains the same overarching plot. In this way Bridge of Souls is a little different. Pretty much from the first chapter, the series picks up where it left off. No, not on a platform in Paris, but in the same situation that we left there: the confrontation with an emissary of death. And… go!
Thus the story begins, and pretty much follows this plot-line throughout. Yes, there are a few side stories going on, what with her parents’ series filming a bit about serial killers and other horrible deaths in the city. But primarily this book addresses Cassidy and Death, and what their inevitable confrontation might hold.
At first this might sound like a killer story. But in practice it falls a bit flat.
Part of this is due to the size restraint. Bridge of Souls, like the two preceding it, are not long stories. Book #3 is actually the longest of the series to date, clocking in at just over 5 and a half hours. Print-wise, it’s maybe 300 pages, but that’s being generous. The ebook length has got to be shorter, but I’m not sure how much. Audio-wise, it’s shorter than both Edgedancer and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is all a way of telling you that it ain’t very long. And so any story told within its pages probably isn’t going to be terribly complex. Which… it isn’t. Now, it’s not a bad story by any means, it just isn’t all that good. It’s more… meh.
A decent enough entry into the series, Bridge of Souls clears up a major plot-line without really pushing the envelope. It introduces a few new characters—though I’m not sure if they’ll represent anymore than bit parts moving forward. Otherwise, this entry doesn’t really try anything new. Instead it falls back on the same old formula, pretty much a continuance of the adventure that was left unresolved at the end of Tunnel of Bones. That said, it’s an entertaining distraction, another story to fill out the Inbetweeners universe and lore. And while it doesn’t try much new, it does tie up the overarching storyline from the past three books quite nicely.
My only other issue with this was the prose. Sometimes—most times even—it was fine. Normal. But then it just up and changed, often for no reason that I could tell. Became clipped. Short. Maybe like Cassidy was panicking, and this was the author’s attempt at imbuing some kind of tension into the situation? I’m not sure. It was just odd.
TL;DR
Again, a decent entry to the series, Bridge of Souls clears up a major plot-line without really trying anything new or different. It’s the next episode in the serial; one that uses the same formula, background, and script. Sure, there’s a different setting, some new characters, a guest star or two, and maybe a new enemy. But it’s mostly the same. Therefore, it’s mostly good. Just not great. An adequate entry to the series—one that fans of it will love and haters of it will probably forget. So… should you read Bridge of Souls? I mean… yeah, probably. If you’ve read the first two, you might as well. Maybe this will lead us in a new direction, or maybe the new bits that were introduced in this book might take center stage in the next. But while Bridge of Souls is an interesting addition that might pay dues later on down the line, it really isn’t much more than a decent enough way to spend an afternoon now.
Contains spoilers for City of Ghosts and Tunnel of Bones—Cassidy Blake #1-2!
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2021/10/17/bridge-of-souls-by-victoria-schwab/
Cassidy Blake has survived some pretty crazy situations: the Red Raven of Edinburgh, the poltergeist haunting the Paris catacombs, even the prospect of dying. Through it she’s met horrible specters, curious ghosts, interesting humans, and even her best friends Jacob and Lara. But New Orleans might just present her toughest challenge to date, for what Cassidy meets her might just be death itself.
Following her success in Paris, Cassidy was confronted on a train station platform by a skull-masked specter, one that was there one moment and gone the next, something that she sensed on BOTH sides of the Veil.
And this thing seems to have followed her to the Big Easy.
While initially Cassidy isn’t sure what this thing is, soon enough it becomes clear that this spirit is not a ghost at all but a servant of death, one that seeks to reclaim her life—the very life that she cheated it out of when she cheated death.
But how does one defeat death? Cassidy and Jacob have no idea—but someone might. In New Orleans, while her parents hunt long-dead serial killers and arsonists, Cassidy seeks out help from the only folk that might help her escape death a second time: the mysterious Order of the Black Cat.
In many ways the Adventures of Cassidy Blake have read like a decent serial. Each week (or in this case each year) features a new location, new situations, ghosts, but retains the same overarching plot. In this way Bridge of Souls is a little different. Pretty much from the first chapter, the series picks up where it left off. No, not on a platform in Paris, but in the same situation that we left there: the confrontation with an emissary of death. And… go!
Thus the story begins, and pretty much follows this plot-line throughout. Yes, there are a few side stories going on, what with her parents’ series filming a bit about serial killers and other horrible deaths in the city. But primarily this book addresses Cassidy and Death, and what their inevitable confrontation might hold.
At first this might sound like a killer story. But in practice it falls a bit flat.
Part of this is due to the size restraint. Bridge of Souls, like the two preceding it, are not long stories. Book #3 is actually the longest of the series to date, clocking in at just over 5 and a half hours. Print-wise, it’s maybe 300 pages, but that’s being generous. The ebook length has got to be shorter, but I’m not sure how much. Audio-wise, it’s shorter than both Edgedancer and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is all a way of telling you that it ain’t very long. And so any story told within its pages probably isn’t going to be terribly complex. Which… it isn’t. Now, it’s not a bad story by any means, it just isn’t all that good. It’s more… meh.
A decent enough entry into the series, Bridge of Souls clears up a major plot-line without really pushing the envelope. It introduces a few new characters—though I’m not sure if they’ll represent anymore than bit parts moving forward. Otherwise, this entry doesn’t really try anything new. Instead it falls back on the same old formula, pretty much a continuance of the adventure that was left unresolved at the end of Tunnel of Bones. That said, it’s an entertaining distraction, another story to fill out the Inbetweeners universe and lore. And while it doesn’t try much new, it does tie up the overarching storyline from the past three books quite nicely.
My only other issue with this was the prose. Sometimes—most times even—it was fine. Normal. But then it just up and changed, often for no reason that I could tell. Became clipped. Short. Maybe like Cassidy was panicking, and this was the author’s attempt at imbuing some kind of tension into the situation? I’m not sure. It was just odd.
TL;DR
Again, a decent entry to the series, Bridge of Souls clears up a major plot-line without really trying anything new or different. It’s the next episode in the serial; one that uses the same formula, background, and script. Sure, there’s a different setting, some new characters, a guest star or two, and maybe a new enemy. But it’s mostly the same. Therefore, it’s mostly good. Just not great. An adequate entry to the series—one that fans of it will love and haters of it will probably forget. So… should you read Bridge of Souls? I mean… yeah, probably. If you’ve read the first two, you might as well. Maybe this will lead us in a new direction, or maybe the new bits that were introduced in this book might take center stage in the next. But while Bridge of Souls is an interesting addition that might pay dues later on down the line, it really isn’t much more than a decent enough way to spend an afternoon now.