Official Review: Soul Retrievers by David Burton

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 17 Jul 2015, 17:39

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Soul Retrievers" by David Burton.]

2 out of 4 stars

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What is your idea of Hell? Is it fire and brimstone? Is it waiting on the phone for hours just to cancel your cable service? In any case, Soul Retrievers by David Burton has a Hell just for you!

The concept of an after-life is key to this book and Burton really put some thought into the different parts of Hell represented throughout this adventure. That’s what this story really is, a sci-fi/fantasy adventure through Hell. The characters were interesting, the plot was intriguing, and the morals put forward, intentional or not, did make me think. There were a few bumps along the path as far as the writing goes so I cannot give this book a great score. After much thought, I have to give it a rating of 2 out of 4.

The foundation of the plot is that innocent souls can be sent to Hell instead of Heaven when they die due to misfiling, essentially. It is stated by the protagonist, Getter, that this appears to be happening more often lately. This recent surge of misplacing innocent souls seems to be corresponding with an increase of missing Soul Retrievers. Soul Retrievers are lifers (people who are not dead yet) that are hired to go into Hell and escort these innocent souls to Heaven. This story is about one trip that Getter, a Soul Retriever, makes to find and escort an innocent little soul named Brittany. It does not go as he planned.

The characters were very interesting and there are many of them. There are Soul Retrievers, souls, demons, and Hell creatures. While being interesting to read about, some of the character design and usage is one of the bumps I mentioned earlier. Getter and his decision-making is one of the biggest problems. It’s mentioned multiple times that he normally just goes into Hell and then gets out without any problems. For some reason, this trip for Brittany does not go that way. It’s a good story-making idea that this one trip goes awry for him, but there’s no example of him being a good Soul Retriever so I just kept thinking that he should really think about switching occupations.

Speaking of occupations, the demons showed me an interesting moral dilemma. For the most part, the demons are just trying to do their jobs. Their job is to torture evil souls that did really bad things in life. The author actually portrays many demons in just this way. They’re just doing their job and they don’t like the idea of innocents being trapped in Hell. So, when demons die, it makes you think “Wow, what a bad day at work.” The descriptions of the demons are very diverse, usually a mix of different animal parts. The only issue with the demon characterization is that a lot of their personalities are very similar, so it can be difficult to tell them apart when they appear.

My favorite character by far is Gregory MacGuffin. His last name is not actually MacGuffin, but I thought it sounded funny since he’s more of a deus ex machina. He is a soul that Getter encounters and befriends on this trip. He’s always there when he needs to be and is a big part of the story. I would love to read a spin-off book based on Gregory’s life and adventures.

There is one major character I have not mentioned yet and that is the environment. It really is its own character. Hell is a big place in this book and there are many different places where souls are tortured in various ways. They are all described vividly and you can almost imagine being there. The writer does a great job of showing the different levels of Hell. There are areas that would be scary to live in for eternity, but they’re not as bad as where rapists and murderers go. It really made me think, what would be the worst area for me?

Overall, the plot and storyline were intriguing and I really wanted to find out what was going to happen next. However, this is where the other bump comes in to play. This bump is the main reason why the rating dropped from a 3 to a 2. The plot kept getting stalled. The writer wanted to put obstacles in Getter’s way to show that he could figure out how to get past them. There is nothing wrong with that and it can be a good way of steering the plot. The problem was that the obstacles weren’t natural enough and they just stalled the story. Most of the obstacles took up too many pages and didn’t add anything to the plot. Near the end of the book, one of these obstacles just becomes kind of silly with its persistence.

I would recommend Soul Retrievers to fans of sci-fi/fantasy that are curious about reading an adventurous after-life story. There is no heavy religious message. There is non-graphic sex, violence, and death. The torturing of souls, including children, in various ways, is a large part of this book. There is also adult-level cursing, but it’s not excessive. I think readers of this book should be at least in their late teens.

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Soul Retrievers
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zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 27 Jul 2015, 17:40

Great review! I appreciated all of the content in it.

This book sure has an intriguing premise! "Oops, wrong afterlife!" I like that!

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 27 Jul 2015, 20:19

zeldas_lullaby wrote:Great review! I appreciated all of the content in it.

This book sure has an intriguing premise! "Oops, wrong afterlife!" I like that!

Thanks, Zelda! I found the premise really intriguing also. There's always the question of "Does this soul deserve to be in Hell or doesn't it?"

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 27 Jul 2015, 20:44

Hm... that is interesting! Real food for thought! Gives the expression, "what the hell?" a whole new meaning!

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 27 Jul 2015, 20:59

zeldas_lullaby wrote:Hm... that is interesting! Real food for thought! Gives the expression, "what the hell?" a whole new meaning!

The character Getter actually says "What the hell?" a lot while he's in Hell. It's kind of funny.

hannahbm13 · Post by **hannahbm13** » 30 Jul 2015, 12:47

Hmm, I think I might have to read this book next. I'm a huge fan of the television show Supernatural, so naturally this review peaked my interest. Adventurous plot has always been the most interesting to me, and it seems like "Soul Retrievers" has plenty of that. Along with unique characters and ideas, I love a book that makes me question my morals! Thanks for the quality review

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 30 Jul 2015, 20:49

hannahbm13 wrote:Hmm, I think I might have to read this book next. I'm a huge fan of the television show Supernatural, so naturally this review peaked my interest. Adventurous plot has always been the most interesting to me, and it seems like "Soul Retrievers" has plenty of that. Along with unique characters and ideas, I love a book that makes me question my morals! Thanks for the quality review

I'm glad you liked the review. If you decide to read Soul Retrievers, I really hope you enjoy it!

I don't really watch Supernatural, so I can't give an opinion on how alike it is to this book.

zeldas_lullaby · Post by **zeldas_lullaby** » 30 Jul 2015, 20:56

My dad watches Supernatural. I can see the connection.

Kappy · Post by **Kappy** » 02 Aug 2015, 14:27

Good, thorough review. This sounds like it could be an excellent novel if the author spent some time polishing it.

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 02 Aug 2015, 15:49

Kappy wrote:Good, thorough review. This sounds like it could be an excellent novel if the author spent some time polishing it.

Thanks, Kappy! That's exactly my feelings on it. This book has so much potential.

Jesska6029 · Post by **Jesska6029** » 06 Aug 2015, 16:49

This book seems like it had promise, but it fell a bit short. Loved the review!

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 07 Aug 2015, 14:01

Jesska6029 wrote:This book seems like it had promise, but it fell a bit short. Loved the review!

Thanks, Jesska! I'm glad you enjoyed the review!

Post by **bookowlie** » 08 Aug 2015, 00:06

What a great review! The premise sounds good. Sorry to hear the plot didn't move forward easily.

Thimble · Post by **Thimble** » 08 Aug 2015, 10:30

bookowlie wrote:What a great review! The premise sounds good. Sorry to hear the plot didn't move forward easily.

Thanks, Bookowlie!

karolinka · Post by **karolinka** » 19 Oct 2016, 14:29

This looks like an interesting book to read, given the idea that the soul gets send to the wrong afterlife. But the author of the book uses really short sentences in his writing style, (I read the sample), trying to create pacing and tension, no doubt. He would be better served if he used longer sentences, intertwined with the short, fast-paced ones. Just my two cents.