Guys, I will admit to this: going in I was afraid. Petrified even. I trust Vincent to not disappoint me with her writing, or with the in-book justification of events and consequences, but I was so worried. I love this series. I adore it--one of my top five Young Adult series I always recommend to people. But after the last two books...

Well. Vincent had me pondering, really really hard, about the nature of love and sacrifice and letting go even when it doesn't feel like you should.

AND THEN I READ THIS BOOK.

There is really three plots at work here. Plot 1) was the book plot--that of the teacher who was an Incubus and taking advantage of the gullible students. Plot 2) involves the ongoing relationship status of Nash and Kaylee (and Sabine) and Plot 3) is the new underlying plot for the next couple of books. Plot 3 isn't such a big thing until the last few chapters of the book, but Plots 1 and 2? Insanity!

I'm going to try to be as vague as possible to avoid spoilers, so forgive me if I don't back things up.

First there's Kaylee's behavior throughout the book. I've been kind of edgy about Kaylee in the last couple of novels due to her behavior and overall indecisiveness on some matters. Granted, what Nash did was bad. Really bad and would have gotten even worse if left unchecked quite frankly. Kaylee has every right to be frightened that it might happen again and want to take things slower.

However at some point in Book 4 Kaylee went from wanting to take things slower to 'Do what I say, act the way I want you to' in her treatment of Nash. She sabotaged, through her own insecurities and fear, any attempts he made to connect with her again. Made no concerted effort to be with him again, but wanted him to avoid someone who she felt was a bad influence on him (Sabine).

This book isn't much different in that regard. I thought they had come to an understanding at the end of Book 4. I thought Kaylee was ready to make a decision and stick to that decision. I thought she was ready to take the consquences of her actions.

Nash, for his part, messes up big time a couple times. He reacts badly and does some things I find extremely questionable given what he kept pleading to Kaylee about. But oh man does Kaylee do him a horrifically WRONG turn. Twice. I mean if there was any two things she could have done to REALLY break Nash's spirit she did them both. Not happily, and with some huge regrets, but still. The outcome of at least one may have been in my favor (preference wise), but I kind of side with Nash in his fury towards her.

There was extenuating circumstances for one of the things, and she did sacrifice something pretty major in an attempt to make it right, but still. I do wonder if Vincent will explore the parallels between what Kaylee did to Nash and what Nash did to Kaylee. I hope she does. While I am content with the way things ended in this book romance wise, I'm anxious over how things turned out relationship wise. I want this to be something that brings them closer, whichever way you want to take that.

I haven't mentioned much about what happens with the teacher because honestly it leads to a whole mess of spoilers that could skew a reader's perception throughout the book. Big surprise he is a BAD GUY and messes with Kaylee and co. in terrifying ways. It really does make me wonder about the general population of their town though, in the same way that I always wondered about Sunnydale in Buffy--are the residents just THAT oblivious and/or used to these really freaky dangerous occurances? Though that's not a fair thing to ask since well its fiction and who knows how people would react if this happened in REAL life right?

Book 4 felt like the closing of a chapter in the series--by that point Kaylee had come into her own (power wise), had a mostly reliable cadre of friends/companions/people she moderately tolerated to help her and seemed better equipped for the world at large. This book, Book 5, felt like the beginning of a new chapter. Certain things happen that make this a more obvious beginning then others, but overall I felt like for the first time in a long time Kaylee was learning what it means to live in that world.

At one point or other her lifelines--Tod, Nash, Emma, her family--are all cut off from her in some way and she's forced to make decisions on her own and shoulder those consequences herself. This is a big step for her and one that Vincent handles well. Kaylee doesn't handle it so well, but then she's only 16 right? If she was perfect this wouldn't be a very interesting series overall would it?

I likely say this every time, but I can't wait for Book 6. ( )

Oh broke my heart, and then made it all better ! ( )

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I, in fact, love this series. I love the characters and the ending has me pretty excited for the next book. There were a few things that bothered me but not enough to dissuade me from continuing the series.

*spoilers*
At first, I didn't think I liked this love interest change. Considering the ending to this book I am OK with it now lol. I felt like it was just thrown in though. It really annoyed me that Kaylee has been such a prude (not that there's anything wrong with that) through all books and then all of a sudden she is into Tod and all over him ... WTF? It was obvious that Kaylee and Nash would be parting ways before too long (which I'm a bit sad about I really like Nash) and the only other possibility was Tod but it just went from friends to love way too fast. I don't know, I just felt this whole book was written to make Nash the bad guy and Tod a saint. I'm not buying it (Not that I don't like Tod, I do, it's just I loved Nash and Kaylee together).
( )

Rachel Vincent is something else.
I just...

This book was simply so awesome and had me all the time either laughing, crying, or raging. Most of the things that happened shattered everything we've been reading since the very beginning, and I mean that in the best way possible. Vincent had me laughing in the middle of my tears. ( )

Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

Und weiter geht’s mit Rachel Vincents Geschichte von Banshees und Co… Mittlerweile bei Band 5 (von insgesamt sieben wenn ich mich nicht irre) angelangt, weiß ich ehrlich gesagt nicht mehr so ganz, was ich von der ganzen Geschichte wirklich halten soll. Serien sind für mich sowieso immer so eine Sache. Mal ganz abgesehen davon, dass ich den aktuellen Trilogie-Wahn im Jugendbuchbereich einfach nur nervtötend finde, muss eine Serie schon wirklich gut und durchgehend spannend sein, damit ich nicht nach zwei Bänden aufgebe. Und die „Soul Screamers“-Serie war leider eben nicht immer gut sondern im Gegenteil eher ziemlich holprig und wenig konstant, was die Qualität der einzelnen Bände angeht. Daher war meine Vorfreude auf Band fünf auch nur mäßig.

Allerdings hat sich das Ganze dann widererwarten als doch ziemlich gut herausgestellt. Das lag vor allem an Kaylee mit der ich vorher hauptsächlich aus einem Grund ziemliche Schwierigkeiten hatte: wegen ihres doch ziemlich kindischen Verhaltens. Mit „Berühre meine Seele“ kommt die Geschichte aber zum Glück endlich an dem Punkt an, an dem Kaylee erwachsen wird – und zwar ziemlich eindrucksvoll. So gibt es in Band fünf der Serie dann auch wieder jede Menge Probleme, mit denen Kaylee zu kämpfen hat, und diesmal scheinen sie sogar noch ein Stückchen schwieriger zu sein, als alles, was sich der jungen Banshee vorher so in den Weg gestellt hat. Das perfekte Szenario also, damit Vincents Protagonistin unter Beweis stellen kann, dass sie ihre Probleme auch auf reifere und erwachsenere Art angehen kann als zuvor.

Die Handlung selbst hat mich – wie eigentlich bei fast allen vorherigen Bänden – erneut überzeugen können. Allein Rachel Vincents vielfältiges Mythenkonstrukt mit all den fantastischen Wesen, die sich rund um das Thema Tod scharren, ist schon wahnsinnig faszinierend und wirkt auch im fünften Teil der Serie noch frisch und innovativ, nicht zuletzt deswegen, weil die Autorin immer wieder neue Figuren und Wesen einführt und weitere mythologische Geschichtsschnipsel enthüllt. Für Mythenfans wie mich lohnt es sich daher schon allein deswegen bei dieser Serie am Ball zu bleiben, auch wenn die Charaktere bzw. ihr immer wiedermal nervig kindisches Verhalten den Lesespaß bislang leider etwas gedämpft haben. Ein Problem, das aber – wie bereits ja schon gesagt – in diesem Band endlich, endlich ein Ende nimmt.

Zwar gibt es nach wie vor Verbesserungspotential bei den Charakteren, gerade auf Ebene der Nebenfiguren, aber das Hauptproblem, das ich bislang mit Kaylee und Co. hatte, hat die Autorin erfolgreich angegangen, wofür die Geschichte der „Soul Screamers“ alles in allem 4,5 Sterne von mir bekommt. Denn nach diesem Band habe ich dann doch wieder richtig Lust darauf auch die weiteren Bände zu lesen. ( )