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A review by skylarkblue1
Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
5.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/cF0ONMjT/84-the-death-touched-of-york-1-sixteen-souls-by-rosie-talbot
For a book so heavily marketed for tiktok, this is not what I think of when I think of tiktok books. I'm very happy one of the bookclubs I'm in chose it for this month because I otherwise would have completely avoided it just due to the tiktok stuff - been burned too many times.
Set in York, the most haunted city in the world, a young gay teen is living both amongst the dead and the living. A strange boy appears as spirits start going missing - who is this boy? Are the events connected? Soon things take a turn for the worst and while once Charlie wished to stay away from the world of ghosts, he has no choice but to dive head first into the danger to save his friends.
I loved all the characters. The ghosts where fantastic and all just so unique and fit their situations so well. The humans where properly diverse in a good way, unique as well and didn't feel flat at all. The story I felt was pretty fresh - the way the spirit-sight worked was mostly standard though had it's twists but I loved the setting of York!!
The story's twists where slightly predictable, the foreshadowing felt a tad heavy but I didn't mind all too much. It didn't feel like it was relying on the twists being such a big shock which was good. They felt pretty believable mostly and made sense - mostly, one main thing which I think is the critical part for the sequel didn't make... too much sense but it's not too major that it detracts too much away though that depends on if motivations are explained in the sequel.
Loved the representations as well, the disability and queer rep in one book is something that is quite needed. The overlap of being both queer and disabled is quite rare in media unfortunately and I think it was written very well in my opinion.
For a book so heavily marketed for tiktok, this is not what I think of when I think of tiktok books. I'm very happy one of the bookclubs I'm in chose it for this month because I otherwise would have completely avoided it just due to the tiktok stuff - been burned too many times.
Set in York, the most haunted city in the world, a young gay teen is living both amongst the dead and the living. A strange boy appears as spirits start going missing - who is this boy? Are the events connected? Soon things take a turn for the worst and while once Charlie wished to stay away from the world of ghosts, he has no choice but to dive head first into the danger to save his friends.
I loved all the characters. The ghosts where fantastic and all just so unique and fit their situations so well. The humans where properly diverse in a good way, unique as well and didn't feel flat at all. The story I felt was pretty fresh - the way the spirit-sight worked was mostly standard though had it's twists but I loved the setting of York!!
The story's twists where slightly predictable, the foreshadowing felt a tad heavy but I didn't mind all too much. It didn't feel like it was relying on the twists being such a big shock which was good. They felt pretty believable mostly and made sense - mostly, one main thing which I think is the critical part for the sequel didn't make... too much sense but it's not too major that it detracts too much away though that depends on if motivations are explained in the sequel.
Loved the representations as well, the disability and queer rep in one book is something that is quite needed. The overlap of being both queer and disabled is quite rare in media unfortunately and I think it was written very well in my opinion.
Content Warnings
There are author-approved content warnings on here that covers everything.