Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot
Rating: 
Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.
I love all the Narwhal and Jelly books, which I have reviewed most of them but if I missed posting a review at least I have definitely read them. I discovered them in London on a trip with a friend, fell in love with the first two books, and have been preordering the rest ever since.
This actually came out just before Halloween, so I ended up reading it the week of Halloween, which was a perfect fit.
In this one, Jelly is a bit scared and not sure about getting dressed up for Halloween or even about anything scary, whereas as usual, Narwhal is all excited for it and ready to be all the things, ideas just keep coming about what to dress up as, so a party is decided to happen much to Jelly’s scaredy-cat spirits and reluctance.
However, there appears to be a true spirit/monster/ghost suddenly lurking in the ocean, and it seems to have gotten Narwhal (or be stalking Narwhal, who knows?) so Jelly decides to be brave and try to gather friends to save Narhwal because that’s what best friends do!
Adorable as usual, the artwork is fun and fitting, I loved the cute little story and the tiny extras that split it, and well, what else can I say? Grab a copy of this or any other of the Narwhal and Jelly books for a lovely dose of joy!
Since it is Halloween and I finally managed to schedule posts for the blog without breaking it (fingers crossed honestly, so much woe and drama to be able to schedule stuff) why not post a good spooky book?
Sixteen souls is many things, for starters, it gives Wednesday and the Addams kinda vibes in some ways, but there is also angst and cuteness, and many ghosts, and a plot for evil, and romance and intrigue, and queerness. Honestly, there is a lot of goodness, but in a way, despite the fact I read this ages ago, it feels like it is also cosy in many ways.
It is weird to say a book is cosy when it deals with soukls, evil plots and all that, but the writing makes it in a way like a cosy spooky hug, and also, it makes me want to go back to York and just wander around it and enjoy the many quirky places.
I like that there’s a plethora of ghosts with personalities and Charlie isn’t the happiest about dealing with all the ghosts but he’s also accepted his lot in life and made friends, something about when life gives you lemons and all that I think but in ghost form. But it is one thing to complain about ghosts messing up things or causing drama and another to have your ghosts and what you are familiar with suddenly go weird and wrong.
Charlie felt like one of those reluctant heroes who will anyway do the right thing because he’s soft, but then also the twists in this book are good and I really enjoyed the vibes perfectly and the story , plus now there’s a sequel/tie in which I have yet to read but looking forward to as I own it.
Read this is you enjoyed watching Wednesday and the Addams, or if you like cosy mysteries with a dollop of queer (not the full cosy vibes), or if you want a York ghosts vibe too.
