THE SIXTEEN is book two of The Soul Jumpers series. I hadn't read the first one, but that's certainly a fascinating image. How does someone jump with souls? I had to find out. THE SIXTEEN doesn't give all the answers but we learn that if someone has unfinished business on earth, it is possible for their soul to continue life after they die, through the body of another person who is near death. One little girl, Lucy, hosts her grandmother's soul.
Iris is a young adult horribly confused by finding that her father Kyle who has been dead for ten years actually jumped into another person and watched over her, but could not contact her until recently. Lucy tries to explain matters. The Council which controls soul jumpers, insists on hiding their existence from the world. Iris strives to think of ways to prove the situation but memories can be falsified and DNA can only be taken from the current body hosting a soul. The wealthy and powerful Council destroyed Iris's father's good name because he had wanted to rebel against them. Now sixteen soul jumpers are brave enough to take the risk of rebellion.
From this troubled beginning Iris has to meet other acknowledged rebels and learn their stories, in a safe house in St. Louis near the Mississippi River. Some are the most ordinary of people - or were - but the Council has bounty hunters out searching for them. They are going to have to get tough and work together to keep their freedom. Always supposing that nobody among them is a spy!
There is plenty of tension in this story with some good detail to ground it for us, such as Iris having an itching reaction, and a bounty hunter being taken for a child kidnapper by a market crowd. What can be hard to keep in mind is that some of the varied adult persons talking actually look to Iris like young children, because they are instructing her, driving a van and so forth, while others who look like adults are a lot younger.
THE SIXTEEN will appeal to young adults looking for an adventure about rebelling and hiding, especially if they have read the first book.
There are people out there who donβt die with their
bodies.
Their souls live on in the bodies of others. Some good,
some
badβthey are soul jumpers.
Nothing in Iris Braveβs world make sense anymore. Her
father, Micah, is still aliveβhis soul survives in the
body
of a teenage boy.
It is up to Iris and a group of soul jumpers called the
Sixteen to save Micah. To do so Iris must take on the
unscrupulous leaders of the Council. Can she save her
father? Will she survive?
I heard their thundering feet long before they reached my
room. Someone blew a whistle. The sound stabbed my ears,
and I had to force myself to keep still. My eyes were shut
tight. I tried to relax them. I tried to relax all of me,
but I couldnβt. I started to get a leg cramp. Lewis didnβt
say a word, but I could feel him near me like a vibration.
I swear I could hear him breathe. I rolled onto my stomach,
hoping Iβd have better luck holding still if I lay flat.
And then they were there. The guards crashed into my room.
I wanted to run!
βShe was trying to escape.β It was Lewis. βI heard a noise
and came to check on her and found her trying to break the
lock on the window.β I could feel them staring at me. Every
muscle in my body was screaming to move, but I fought to
keep each and every one absolutely still.
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