I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Rift in the Soul
by
Faith Hunter
urban fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Avon Publications on March 5, 2024 and has 382 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Raven Cursed, An Apple for the Creature, Death's Rival, Blood Trade, Kicking It, Blood in Her Veins, Mercy Blade, Shadow Rites, Bloodring, Seraphs, Dark Queen, Shattered Bonds, Black Arts, Broken Soul, Dark Heir, Cold Reign, Blood of the Earth, Curse on the Land, "Water Witch", "Explosion On King's Street", Skinwalker, Dirty Deeds, "Shiloh and the Brick", "Black Friday Shopping with Nell and Occam", Circle of the Moon, Blood Cross, Spells for the Dead, "Easy Pickings", True Dead, Dirty Deeds 2, Trials, Junkyard Cats, Junkyard Bargain, Junkyard War , Junkyard Roadhouse, Flame in the Dark, Host, "Gotcha"
Sixth in the Soulwood urban fantasy series, a spin-off from Jane Yellowrock, revolves around Nell Ingram who uses her powers from deep in the earth to help Psy-LED in Knoxville, Tennessee. Rift in the Soul is also 15.1 in the Jane Yellowrock series. If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Soulwood books on my website.
My Take
Major changes are afoot in Jane Yellowrock’s world as a result of Final Heir, 15, and PsyLED is working hard to understand how it’s changed. Everything. They’re not alone in trying to understand.
Just ask Ming Zhane of Glass! Well, actually, we’ll need to understand her perspective through Hunter’s use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Nell’s perspective.
Vampires are being, um, happy?? It’s kinda scary when Hunter describes Cai’s and Ming’s reactions. It’s a tension that’ll keep you wondering, for Ming has some wicked intentions for Nell. And a fashion sense that will leave you blind and laughing.
The grindylows haven’t been seen. And we learn a heckuva lot about the history of the God’s Cloud of Glory Church — it’ll be way interesting to see where Hunter plans to go with this! It does provide the back story on plant-people and gwyllgi.
I did love that introduction of the Green Knight into the series, how the Green Knight and Soulwood combine to protect the girls. I know, I know, I can be so mean! These two are tricky. Each encounter Nell has with him is simply fascinating. Yeah, the Green Knight and Soulwood have their character arcs. That Hunter has such a way with characters, making them so very individual and endearing in some crazy ways. Nell’s character arc has been fascinating as we’ve struggled along with her to recover from her upbringing and discover the joys of love and friendship, the gentleness a man can show, the help he can be.
Yummy. We learn all sorts of new things about Yummy’s more recent past. It’s her feelings that give us an up-close and personal take on how these changes are affecting vampires, for the good. Talk about a character arc!
Nell does have an intriguing “relationship” with that tree and its scions. As for Yummy claiming her as a “bestie”, ooh, boy. Then there’s Esther whose character arc has been moving forward, beginning to accept who she really is and it’s vicious, lol. Another character arc that’s evolving is Firewind’s as is the Church’s!
Occam . . . I hadn’t thought of it, but that sweet cat-man looks ahead and plans. The military on the other hand, lol, oh, boy. Too typical. They want what they want and pay no attention to reality and have no concerns or morals about citizen rights
Hunter uses a blend of regular English and Church English — it helps us understand when Nell is really ticked off, *more laughter*. Nell also calls her daddy on his hypocrisy — you go, girl!
I do have a nitpick, because I do not remember Ming of Glass being as nutty as Hunter now says she is. Oh, sigh, I guess I’ll have to go back and re-read the Yellowrock series *grin*.
Hunter sets a quick pace with plenty of action and a wide range of characters, and betrayals a’plenty. Those thank-you gifts offered up by that angel certainly are wreaking havoc and causing Nell to question Occam’s love.
And yep, Hunter is already setting us up for what the future may hold: Yummy’s new course, Esther’s changes, Ricky-Bo’s potential future, the new tricks Nell, Mud, and Esther are learning . . . and the vampire tree is part of a wedding ceremony, lol. The planning for which included more drama.
The Story
The supernatural world is in an upheaval, total chaos, made worse with Torquemada on the loose and seeking the Blood Tarot and power.
All are becoming free of what they had been.
The Characters
Nell “Maggot” Ingram isn’t quite sure what she is, she does know she’s not fully human but a plant-woman — Jane thinks she’s a sprite. She’s managed to escape the Church and found independence as an agent of PsyLED. She has a nice piece of land outside the city, Soulwood, an active participant in protecting Nell and her family. Nell has three cats: Jezzie, Cello, and Torquil. Mud Nicholson is her sister with similar earth powers who lives with her — Nell just got granted full custody! Cherry is Mud’s tricolor English springer spaniel puppy — and PsyLED’s office pup. The dour, complaining Esther Nicholson, Nell and Mud’s sister, is also a plant-woman in major denial. She’s just given birth to twins — Noah and Ruth. Esther’s one acre of Soulwood — Tulip Tree House — is quite protective!
The Green Knight is the how the vampire tree sees itself, a semi-willing ally of Nell’s. An evolved tree who likes to eat meat. He has a useful warhorse.
PsyLED is . . .
. . . the Psychometric Law Enforcement Division with Ayatas Firewind, Jane Yellowrock’s skinwalker brother, the regional director for PsyLED Unit 18, a mostly para unit. Their headquarters is expanding. Rick “Ricky-Bo” LaFleur, a black wereleopard who recently lost his curse and is Jane’s ex-boyfriend, is the special-agent-in-charge of Unit 18. T. Laine Kent is the moon witch agent with strong earth magic. “JoJo” Jones, a.k.a. the Diamond Drill, is Rick’s second-in-command and a brilliant computer . . . hacker. We try not to let that information out into the world. Occam, another black leopard, is engaged to Nell. I do love this guy! Margot Racer, a former FBI agent descended from a line of witches, is their truth-reader. She became infected, turned into a black leopard, and is now with PsyLED but not with Rick (Circle of the Moon, 4). Tandy Dyson is a lightning-struck empath dating JoJo. Clementine is the dictation software.
Soul, a.k.a. She Who Guards the Rift and Keeper of the Rift, is an assistant director and an arcenciel, a dragon of light from another dimension, who has been missing for days. Opal and Pearl are suspects, the more wild Cerulean, and Vréfos are other arcenciels. Mackey is the national director of PsyLED.
Dora Wincome, the new head tech, includes Sandra and Jack as part of her CSI crew. Pinchot is also with CSI. The University of Tennessee Medical Center is a local hospital with trained staff and forensic pathologists for paranormal creatures. Dr Gomez, the weekend pathologist (she does not like Nell), has trained with a pathologist who had trained with witches and a vampire doctor. Brenda Jabroski is with ICE and a Mithran hater.
Lieutenant Colonel Leann Rettell, DO, (Curse on the Land, 2) is from the office of General David Schlumberger, who heads up the military version of PsyLED. In 2006, in Afghanistan, Rettel was turned into an Asiatic cheetah.
Brother Thaddeus Rankin and his son, Deus, own Rankin Replacements and Repairs and are always fixing up Nell’s house and being supportive for her.
The God’s Cloud of Glory Church is . . .
. . . a centuries-old hypocritical cult where women had no rights, no property, no authority, no say. The Nicholson clan is Nell’s family. Micaiah, her father and a church elder, is now a preacher in the Church and married to three women, sister-wives, one of whom is Nell’s mother, Mama Cora. The other sister-wives include Mama Carmel and Mama Grace. Priss and Judith are other adult sisters of Nell, Mud, and Esther’s. Sam* is their brother who’s married to SaraBell, Amos*, Rufus*, Zeke, Harry, Rethel, Narvin, and Rudolph are half-brothers. Annah is one of the grandbabies. Mamaw is Maude Hamilton Vaughn, Nell’s maternal grandmother, a former townie who married in. Bethany, Sabtah, and Becca are half-sisters. Joel is a half cousin on Mama Grace’s side; Dinah and Miriam are Joel’s sister-wives. Zebulon is another half-brother whose father had been Brother Ephraim and a product of rape. Mattie. The Vaughns are another clan.
The Lost Boys are former Church boys cast out and include Arial Holler, Gab Purdy, Uriah Lambert, and Harmon Stubbins. Thomas Benton IV (Blood of the Earth, 1) had been a Lost Boy as was an ancestor of those townie Hamiltons. Colonel Jackson had been an evil Church leader. Other churchmen and boys include Balthazar Jenkins (cousin to Boaz Jenkins), Obed Jackson, and Jedidiah (Esther’s ex-husband). Seems it was a Welsh prince, Madog ab Owain Gynedd, who led the Church to America.
The Vampires are/were . . .
. . . soulless. The crazy Ming Zhane of Glass is the Master of the City of Knoxville, a position granted her by Jane Yellowrock. Cai is Ming’s human primo, her number one blood-servant. Charlainn had been one of Ming’s people.
Yvonne “Yummy” Colstrip, blood child of Grégoire, the Blood Master of Clan Arceneau and the Warlord of the Dark Queen, has been chummy with Nell since Blood in Her Veins: “Off the Grid”, 7.9 (Soulwood 0.5). Yummy will become Nell’s Warlord. Occam knew Yummy by several other names, including Abella and ChristyLu. Yummy’s blood-servants include Charlie and Felicity. A blood clan family will be built in Oliver Springs.
Lincoln Shaddock is the Master of the City of Asheville. Seems he’s been married to Bedelia Everhart Shaddock, and most of his daughters are the Everharts, a witch coven. Amy Lee Brown is Lincoln’s scion who can bring Mithrans back from devoveo, a long period of madness suffered by newly turned vampires.
Mithrans are a kinder version of vampires while the Naturaleza are what we’ve seen as the evil vampires. The coronation of Edmund I, the Emperor (vampire) of Europe, took place last week.
Tomás de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor from the Spanish Inquisition, is still alive, sort of, and he’s worse than a Naturaleza, for he seeks the final death of all, and I do mean all. His father had been Pedro Fernández de Torquemada. Four assistant inquisitors (guards) were appointed by Pope Alexander IV, including Don Inigo Manrique, Don Martin Ponçe de Leon, Don Francisco Sanchez de la Fuente, and Don Fernando Sanchez de la Fuentelsaz, all bishops who were turned. In 1649, additional guards were Alvaro Cardoso, Domingo Ponçe, Miguel de la Peña, and Escobar Sarmiento. Carlos Contreras is a still-later guard added in the 1700s. Torquemada likes using the Boot.
Knoxville PD
Knoxville SWAT’s Captain Joaquin Gonzalez (Circle of the Moon) is still dating T. Laine. So far. David Jones Meechum is a city LEO.
Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skinwalker, is the Dark Queen of the Vampires — she met Nell in “Off the Grid”. Jane is currently on her honeymoon. Eli Younger is her secundo and in charge of security. Alex Younger, Eli’s younger brother, is Jane’s IT guy. Jane considers the Youngers her brothers. Reach is/had been a researcher and information broker to Jane. Koun had been a blood-servant to Leo Pellisier until he signed up with Jane.
The Blood Tarot deck, a.k.a. Holy Deck and Tarot de Sanguis, is one of three still in the world. John Ingram had been Nell’s protective yet duplicitous husband; Leah was the first wife who had died. Gwyllgi are Welsh devil dogs, a.k.a. Dogs of War, from Blood of the Earth, 1. We do learn more about how the young gwyllgi are being retrained by the Montana Bighorn wolf pack. The Prophecies of the Torah’s Coda is fascinating. Psysitopes are paranormal energies. Magic is energy used in ways some people can’t see or understand. An Anzu is a Mercy Blade (Mercy Blade, 3). Sleepers are sleeping sentient self-aware life forces of the earth (Blood of the Earth).
The Cover and Title
The cover is very appropriate in its rainbow of colors making up an arcenciel body, who, along with a drably garbed Nell are rotating in the background of blues and greens. On the left is a narrow border with a light green teal and black tracery on top. The author’s name is at the top in the same teal. Below that is an info blurb in white with the title also in white. Lower, on Nell’s right elbow is the series info in white. At the bottom is a testimonial in white.
The title is a blend of important events in Rift in the Soul.
