The Weight of Souls
Author: Bryony Pearce
Publication Date: August 6th 2013
Source :
Received a digital ARC via Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry and Netgalley. (In
exchange for an honest review. Thank you!)
Sixteen
year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim
then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their
murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending
them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will
come for her…
She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s
bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and
persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.
But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin
doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go
after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at
her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do
the stunt which led to his death.
Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes
for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him?
And what happens if she starts to fall for him?
Review
Taylor Oh lives with a curse that plagues her bloodline, from
her mother before her, which would follow through to her children, and theirs
after, etc, etc, I think you get the point.
The curse, you ask? She's-the-kid-that-can-see-dead-people.
Yup, another one in a
long line of YA. The difference? This one was interesting in a different way.
Yes, Taylor can see ghosts to help them move on, and yes, she doesn't like what
she does, or that she has no choice. Once a murdered ghost touches her skin, black mark brands her skin that once transferred
calls a darkness that she can only guess is hell. The problem? If she doesn't
find the murderer in an estimated few weeks and transfer the mark to the
rightful murderer, the darkness will take her.
Then there's a father that doesn't believe her and thinks
she has a disease and draws blood out of her like it's juice, and a friend that
she regularly abandons, and is afraid she'll lose her if she pushes the
boundaries, but Taylor won't tell her the truth. Oh, then there's Pete, that once friend that
ignores her and has joined the "Popular" gang that regularly
verbally, and occasionally physically bully her. Let's just say, some phrases
that come out of their mouths are pretty foul. And racist.
Besides being pretty horrible human beings, the
"popular" gang really are worse than they seem, something even more
sinister and controlling than the darkness.
The main one who likes to make her life hell, Justin, the
supposed "leader", who, let's be honest, isn't, falls to his death
and marks Taylor.
Now, the guy who
regularly liked making fun of her race, and never stopped the others from
bullying her, needs her help.
This is where I would be smug.
Like really smug.
Taylor takes it pretty well, unfortunately.
But, it's her job, and if she doesn't the darkness will come
for her, so she has no choice to avenge his murder, only Justin doesn't know
who his killer is, and he don't even believe he was murdered.
As the mark grows darker, the more she loses hope in finding
his murderer plus she loses the one friend she did have there is only one
choice.
If she can't beat them, join them.
Thoughts
I really liked the beginning, it hooked me in, and then the
bullying started and I just wanted to slap them. It dragged a little and to be
honest, I lost interest in it until it started picking up 3/4 and I was sucked
in again.
It was interesting enough for me to keep reading, though I
didn't get the romance element with Taylor and Justin, after everything he did
to her, she can just forgive him? Really? That aside, I didn't feel the
development that much to be connected to the characters.
I love Egyptian
mythology and the enigma of Anubis, saying this, the diary entries didn't keep
me entertained and felt a little information overload. Maybe my view was a
little skewered since recently reading Spirit and Dust.
Anyway, the ending! Now that
is keeping me in for the next one.
Rating: 3/5
