Never to Sleep by Rachel Vincent Series: Soul Screamers #5.5
Published by Mira on June 8th 2012
Pages: 62
Goodreads
Don't Close Your Eyes.
Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation.
But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream—and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever. Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...?
I really didn’t expect to enjoy this novella very much as Sophie has never been a character I have particularly taken to. She has always appeared to be an archetypal ‘mean girl’, with little or no redeeming features. Her antagonistic relationship with her cousin Kaylee has never endeared her to me.
However, I had to read this given what a huge fan of this series I have become. I am very glad I gave Never to Sleep a chance. Although Sophie will never be my favourite character, I feel I understand what makes her tick a lot better, and it was good to see her take charge and use remarkable strength and resilience to get her out of a very tough spot.
This novella takes place around the same time as If I Die (some of the events of this novel are witnessed by Sophie). Sophie meets a young man called Luca with whom she is immediately attracted to. However, upon witnessing an unexplainable event, Sophie screams and pulls both herself and Luca into the Netherworld.
Having been kept in the dark by her father, Sophie has no clue what is going on. Luckily, Luca has more of an idea. We find out here that Luca is a necromancer (someone who can sense the dead) and although he has never been to the Netherworld, he is aware of its existence. Together, they will need to find a way back home but Sophie is the one who ends up saving the day (with a little help from Addy!).
I really enjoyed this novella. It was good to see a different side of Sophie. You really felt her fear that she may be going ‘crazy’ like her cousin Kaylee. When she finds out what is really going on she steps up and her ability to deal with things and save both herself and Luca really impressed me. She can really think on her feet and is actually pretty smart – something I did not pick up in the other books.
I also really genuinely liked Luca a lot – he appears to be a really decent guy. I couldn’t imagine why he actually liked Sophie when I was reading the main series (beyond the superficial) but this novella really gave me a better insight into why he was drawn to her in the first place.
This was another thrilling, albeit short, installment in the Soul Screamers series. Although I definitely prefer being inside Kaylee’s head it was interesting getting to know a bit more about her bratty cousin Sophie and I must confess, I loved getting to see certain scenes from If I Die from an outside perspective! This is a must read for any fans of the series.
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