ACTION, LGBTQIA+ SIDE CHARACTERS AND.. WELL.. MORE! ~ Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

TITLE: Catwoman: Soulstealer
AUTHOR: Sarah J. Maas

RELEASED: August 7, 2018
PUBLISHER: Penguin
FORMAT: Hardcover

GENRE: YA Fantasy, superheroes
GOODREADS RATING: 4.15

TRIGGERS: Mention of abuse, racism

SYNOPSIS
When the Bat’s away, the Cat will play. It’s time to see how many lives this cat really has. . . .

Two years after escaping Gotham City’s slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Batwing is left to hold back the tide of notorious criminals. Gotham City is ripe for the taking.

Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove he has what it takes to help people in his role as Batwing. He targets a new thief on the prowl who seems cleverer than most. She has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, and together they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman may be Batwing’s undoing.

After the.. kind of disappointment that was Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, I really was hoping for Maas not to go down the same path with this novel. Need I say I should NOT have worried, Probably not. At this point I can’t even imagine Maas disappointing me anymore and.. I kind of don’t understand why I was worried in the first place? Because this was.. amazing.

Can we start with the thing I loved most – apart from the typical Maas-elements, that is? LGBTQIA+ side characters! Yes, please! I pretty much started applauding Maas and the book the moment I noticed what was going on. And had the book fall on my face while doing so. I lived for it, okay? This is exactly what I want to see more in books and I’m thanking the skies Maas gave it to me!

As for the typical Maas-characteristics? All the bad-assery! This novel was so action-packed; I couldn’t stop reading. I didn’t feel like it was dragging on at all, not even once. Catwoman: Soulstealer went from one event to the other without it feeling as “too much” or “too fast”. I did not get bored once – yay! I honestly was afraid of that happening because of Batman… I don’t know why. I should’ve realized Maas would never do that to me.

She was a ghost. A wraith.

All the characters! Not only Selina, our main character, but also all other characters – Luke, Harley and Ivy – felt completely fleshed out. They did what’s in their natures and that’s wonderful. I didn’t wonder about whether or not that would really be something they’d do because every action made sense.
Can I just add how I love the incorporation of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy? I’m not that much of a superhero-freak at all but yes to female superheroes!

In Catwoman: Soulstealer, Maas switches POV’s between Selina / Catwoman and Luke / Batwing and I’m glad she did. We not only get Selina’s POV and see what mischief she’s up to, we also read all about the consequences it has and the way she gets into Luke’s head. It allows for the bond between the two to evolve in an amazing way since he has no clue he knows both the woman and the villain and vice versa, hah!

Another thing I want to mention is how I could only fit all the pieces of the puzzle together at the exact moment Maas allowed me to. For those who’ve been able to figure it all out sooner: HOW?! I certainly had no clue what Selina was working towards – okay, I did get the general gist but the specifics? No way!

This time, someone would come looking. Hopefully, they’d want to play.

Do I need to repeat how much I loved this action-packed, well-written novel? I don’t think Maas will ever disappoint me with her writing because this novel proved, one again, how amazing she is.

Have you read this? What do you think of these superhero-stories?
What other books would you recommend to people discovering they quite like superheroes in novels?

Advertisement