- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: July 29, 2025 (pre-order available)
- Language: English
- Print length: 496 pages
- ISBN-10: 1665963700
- ISBN-13: 978-1665-96370-1
- Reading age: 12 years and up
- Grade level: 7 – 9
- Author: Rebecca Danzenbaker
Soulmatch by Rebecca Danzenbaker is a ‘young adult’ novel set in an indeterminate future, a few hundred years after World War III. In this universe, reincarnation has been proven and every 18 year-old is required to report for ‘kirling.’ This is the process by which your soul is identified and matched to your previous lives.
In this world, your previous lives largely determine your fate for your current life. If you had a criminal sentence that you had not completed in your previous life, you are immediately incarcerated to serve out the rest of your time. If you accumulated a fortune in your previous lives, then you come into that inheritance upon kirling. Most people’s career options are largely limited by those in their past lives. A relatively small number of individuals may be identified as having a ‘soul mate’ who is your perfect match, and you are brought together with that person.
Sivan is dreading her kirling. Her twin best friends have recently found out that they have an incredible inheritance and a bright future. Sivan is afraid she will find herself a criminal, or even worse, the reincarnation of Flavinsky, the soul who has suicided in every life within 24 hours of their kirling. When she finally is kirled, the results are different than anyone could have anticipated, and she is drawn into political intrigues putting herself and her friends in jeopardy.
I found the concept of known past-lives fascinating, and I was looking forward to what Danzenbaker was going to do with the story. This could have been an exploration of destiny versus free-will, of rising above or falling below expectations and potential. The author tries to pull in some of these concepts but largely misses the mark on them. Danzenbaker is a talented writer. The individual scenes within the overall story are well-done, unfortunately the overall story is very predictable. From very early on in the story, some of the key ‘twists and turns’ were obvious.
I don’t usually read YA novels, and I don’t usually read romance novels. As a 60 something man, I am not the target audience for Soulmatch. I suspect if you are a middle-school or young teen-age girl you might really enjoy the immersion in an ill-fated, star-crossed love story, of the girl who feared her fate, rising to accomplish things she couldn’t foresee, the possibility of finding that perfect soulmate, etc. For others, I can’t really recommend this one.
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Matt Truxaw is the author of the hard science fiction thriller “Plastiphobia: aka Plastivore” and his newest novel “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale” – released January 3, 2025.
They are both available on Amazon in Paperback, Kindle and are free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read either, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets most of his books out of the library so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
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