Book Review: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Title: Shattered Souls
Author: Mary Lindsey
Genre: Teen Fiction, Paranormal Fiction
Publication Date: December 8, 2011
Publisher: Philomel
ISBN-13 Book: 9780399256226
Source: I received an ARC for review from {Teen} Book Scene Tours.  This is my honest review.

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lenzi can hear voices asking for her help.  She is afraid that, like her father, she is descending into schizophrenia.  Her boyfriend Zak tries to support her, but as the voices get more persistent, and are accompanied by startling visions, she begins to worry that it is too late for her until she meets Alden.  Alden tells Lenzi that she is a speaker meant to hear the cries of hindered souls.  With Alden, Lenzi gains some control over the voices crying for her help.  Lenzi must choose between Zak and her destiny with Alden.

When I first started reading this I wasn’t sure it was going to be one I was going to like.  First off, it set me up for the all too common teenage love triangle—one girl attracted to two incredibly hot boys.  Second the whole paranormal/ghost/past lives seemed to be a bit overdone.  Actually, the first descriptions of this book reminded me a little of Lauren Kate’s Fallen series which both intrigued me and frustrated me.  There was something however, that despite my reservations, made me want to read this novel.


Shattered Souls took me by complete surprise.  I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but the book is like a combination of the best parts of Fallen and the action and organization of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy.  From the very first page, I was intrigued by this book, and as the story progressed I found myself not wanting to put it down.


The characters are well drawn, but there is a mystery that surrounds all of them.  Many of them have histories in their past lives, and Lenzi, because of her amnesia, has forgotten it all.  At the beginning of the novel, I wasn’t sure about Lenzi.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to like her or not.  She was still reeling from the death of her father, and afraid that like him, she was losing her mind.  Zak too was a puzzle to me.  He clearly has a past of his own, but he cares for Lenzi.  At the same time his choices seem selfish and wrong.  Alden was probably my favorite character—mostly because he got Lenzi out of her I’m going crazy like my father stage.  All the characters had flaws, and that made them feel like real people.


I love the story of Rose and Alden.  The past lives were very intriguing.  So much so that I would love to know more about that whole back story.  I couldn’t wait for the next flashback.  Smith was interesting too, and seeing that whole story play out would have been great.


Overall this was a great paranormal novel with real characters and an intriguing story.  At the end, I found myself wanting to spend more time with these characters and find out more about their remarkable lives.  A great read!



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