I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Summoning of Souls (Spectral City, #3) by Leanna Renee HieberPublished by Rebel Base Books on July 21, 2020
Genres: alternate historical fantasy
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Bookshop
At the dawn of the twentieth century, New York City houses both the living and the dead. And when it comes to crimes of an otherworldly nature, it falls to the psychics and spirits of the city’s finest secret agency—The Ghost Precinct—to serve justice beyond the earthly realm . . .
The ethereal denizens of New York owe a great debt to Eve Whitby, the young talented medium who leads the all-female spiritualists in the police department’s Ghost Precinct. Without her team’s efforts on behalf of the incorporeal, many souls would have been lost or damned by both human and inhuman means.
But now Eve faces an enemy determined to exorcise the city’s ghostly population once and for all. Albert Prenze is supposed to be dead. Instead he is very much alive, having assumed the identity of his twin brother Alfred, and taken control of the family’s dubiously made fortune. With unlimited wealth at his disposal, Albert uses experimental technology to banish ghosts to an eternal darkness forever.To achieve his vicious ends, Albert plots to manipulate Eve and twist her abilities into a psychic weapon—a weapon that not only poses a threat to spirits but to everyone she cares for, including her beloved Detective Horowitz . . .
It has been such a pleasure, and a privilege, to watch this author develop her talent and her voice. Since the very beginning, I knew that she was something special.
I haven’t been able to keep up with every release, and my new release reading has shrunk during epidemic anxiety. There is plenty to read, but I find myself retreating to old, predictable favorites. The thought of falling in with new characters while I watch them struggle, not knowing how things will end, is too much to bear right now.
Eve and Jacob and all the rest, though, are old friends. Their slow-build romance while they took care of such trifles as saving the world is finally culminated (in a late 19th-century sort of way), and it was worth the wait. They don’t do too badly saving the world, either.
Don’t let anyone get away with saying that they can’t write diversity due to “historical accuracy”, because this series does it truly and well. Here we have a full cast of women (of all ages and varied backgrounds!) who get to be heroes and fighters without falling into any “kick ass women” tropes, as well as a full range of men who run the gamut from stalwart companion to privileged asshole.
It’s a relief to read a book with high stakes (saving the world) without being dredged through a bunch of violence and despair for “realism”‘s sake. Grimdark isn’t my cup of tea, and A Summoning of Souls, in contrast, brims with hope and love.
