bookbragger's review against another edition
5.0
Since she was little Pahua has been able to see spirits, good or bad. In fact her best friend is a cat spirit named Miv. So when Pahua gets invited to go and visit the bridge by her school it’s an offer she can’t decline, finally a chance at making some friends, even though Pahua knows that the bridge is haunted by a vengeful bridge spirit. However when she sees a little girl crying by the bridge she decides to approach the spirit and try and comfort her. Bad idea. When Pahua’s little brother Matt comes searching for her they both return home but Matt suddenly falls sick and Pahua is lead to believe that the bridge spirit has stolen his soul. Now Pahua journeys back to the bridge taking her aunts shaman tools with her, hoping to summon the bridge spirit but unfortunately Pahua summons a demon instead but fortunately a young shaman warrior appears to help Pahua out of the situation. Now if Pahua wants to safe her brothers soul she most journey through the spirit world and make surprising discoveries along the way. Although this started off slow at the beginning it grew into an intriguing story that explored a mythology I had never heard of before and had a lot of fun learning about. I loved Zhong and Pahua’s friendship and thought they compromised each other well. I am looking forward to reading more about Hmong mythology and seeing what other adventures Pahua has in the two upcoming sequels
kemendraugh's review against another edition
5.0
This was excellent. A culture and tradition I knew nothing about, beautifully told. Pahua's empathy is the best, and Miv is even better. Cat spirit best friends forever!!!
Every character in this book is honestly great, and the world is gorgeous and believable and I feel like I could map it, it felt so right. I'll be eagerly looking out for the sequel.
ARC provided by NetGalley. Thanks, NetGalley!
Every character in this book is honestly great, and the world is gorgeous and believable and I feel like I could map it, it felt so right. I'll be eagerly looking out for the sequel.
ARC provided by NetGalley. Thanks, NetGalley!
riverlasol's review against another edition
5.0
Lori M. Lee has knocked it out of the park with her middle grade debut!! If you like mythology, magic, humour, nature/animal spirits, and introverts figuring out how to make friends then I would highly recommend it. I personally loved this book for all of those reasons, but I want to mention how much I loved learning about Hmong shamanism. I feel that Pahua’s story is a deeply important and necessary addition to the literary world as a whole.
Besides that, this book is full up to the brim with charming prose and I was rooting for the characters all the way. There’s really nothing else for me to say! If you like middle grade fantasy in any capacity, you should definitely be checking this out (it’s out as of today!). Thank you so much to the publisher for this review copy and thanks to the author for writing such an important, educational, and also fun book.
Full post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTi4xGTrchw/
matteahayn's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kallbri's review against another edition
4.0
Another class read. So popular with 6th graders, several read the book on their own and tried to spoil the ending. Use the glossary at the end to help with Hmong word pronunciation.
tiffani_reads's review against another edition
4.0
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book
Let me start of this review by saying that the formatting for the ARC that I received of this book was absolutely awful and made this book so difficult to read but none the less I persevered and absolutely adored this book and it's characters.
Pahua is such a wonderful character, she is determined and fierce but flawed and humble all at the same time. She knows that she does not know everything, and the way that she learns about her own culture throughout the book and subsequently the reader learns along with her is amazing. I will admit that going into this book, I knew absolutely nothing about the Hmong people and their culture and I would like to thank the author for writing this book that has given me a chance to read and learn about them in the most delightful and fascinating way. I sincerely hope that this becomes a series because I want to read more about Pahua, her family, shamans, and her culture.
Let me start of this review by saying that the formatting for the ARC that I received of this book was absolutely awful and made this book so difficult to read but none the less I persevered and absolutely adored this book and it's characters.
Pahua is such a wonderful character, she is determined and fierce but flawed and humble all at the same time. She knows that she does not know everything, and the way that she learns about her own culture throughout the book and subsequently the reader learns along with her is amazing. I will admit that going into this book, I knew absolutely nothing about the Hmong people and their culture and I would like to thank the author for writing this book that has given me a chance to read and learn about them in the most delightful and fascinating way. I sincerely hope that this becomes a series because I want to read more about Pahua, her family, shamans, and her culture.
phyrre's review against another edition
5.0
You can read my full review on my blog, The Bookwyrm's Den, here.
Many thanks to Rick Riordan Presents and Rockstar Book Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Overview
I’m back with yet another Rick Riordan Presents books! I utterly could not wait for this one (though I say that a lot when it comes to RRP). Pahua was a bit more special, though, because I’ve previously read Lori M. Lee’s Forest of Souls, which I absolutely loved. So of course I was eager to check out her middle grade!
Pahua and the Soul Stealer is a foray into the world of Hmong mythology, featuring diverse characters, strong females, sibling bonds, and an utterly irresistible (and gloriously sarcastic) cat demon sidekick.
And if that doesn’t convince you to read it, I don’t know what will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you don’t do it for the adventure or the mythology or the hecka interesting Hmong stories, do it for the cat demon, okay?That is literally probably the only time you’ll ever hear someone say that. Unless your life is as . . . interesting . . . as mine . . . and then probably not.
I went in not quite knowing what to expect but trusting Lori M. Lee to just work her magic, and she did! This is easily one of my favorite Rick Riordan Presents series now, right up there with Tristan Strong.
My Thoughts
- Prepare yourself for a world filled with Hmong mythology and legends, curtesy of the latest Rick Riordan Presents by Lori M. Lee. If you haven’t read Lee’s other work, you obviously should. If you have, you sort of know what to expect when it comes to her fabulous world-building skills and the way she pulls readers straight into her books. I was utterly hooked from page one and immediately knew I was going to have a good time with this one.
Hmong mythology isn’t something I’m particularly familiar with. I’ll admit that I had to lean on the glossary here a lot also, because Hmong words aren’t even close to spelled phonetically. I thought Gaelic was bad when it came to just shoving sounds into random letter combinations, but then Hmong said, “Hold my naab vaam.” Lee does a fantastic job of trying to translate the sounds of a tonal language (please do look this up, because it’s fascinating) into something young readers can imitate, and I absolutely loved learning more about this language and culture!
Also, Hmong is a culture filled with stories, and Lee really brings that to life. All sorts of stories and myths are shared throughout the book, and I really enjoyed the emphasis on storytelling.
- Pahua is such a fun protagonist, because she’s obviously special (I mean, she can see spirits that others can’t!), but she’s also very much an outsider 11-year-old who lives in her own head a little too much. And if that’s not the most relatable thing ever, I’m not sure what is, okay? Pahua is the quintessential reluctant hero because not only does she not particularly want to be nor think of herself as a hero, she’s also not very good at being a hero. Not that she doesn’t have her strengths, of course, as do we all. However, she’s a teeeeensy bit hopeless. In an adorable way. She means well, though, and that’s what really matters.
- Did I mention that there’s also an incredibly sarcastic, very funny cat demon sidekick that mostly only Pahua can see? Boy does this cat snark, as any cat should. Miv takes the whole idea of an animal sidekick and kicks it up a notch. If you’ve read and loved Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, Miv very much reminds me of a cleaner, less violent, more wholesome version of Mr. Kindly. Which is high praise, considering how much I utterly adore that cat.
Miv isn’t without his secrets, of course. Needless to say, he’s an enigmatic entity that has, for some reason, attached itself to Pahua from a young age and follows her on her adventures. Why would an ancient, immortal being do that? Well, who’s to say for sure, really? Cats are curious creatures.
- Pahua’s adventure takes her (and the reader) to the Spirit Realm—an afterlife that is probably nothing like you ever imagined, and inhabited by all sorts of characters—some good, some bad, and some just larger than life. I love the Spirit Realm. I said it. It’s dangerous and sexy and filled with elephants (you’ll get it when you read the book, because elephants are spirit guardians, but honestly, who wouldn’t want an afterlife filled with elephants?!). There are also quite a few interesting characters that Pahua and her friends meet along the way. Not all are particularly nice, but they do tend to crack me up, which I loved! In their own ways, of course.
- Also, because I just couldn’t choose from all the fantastic quotes in this book (I have so many flags in it for quotes that narrowing it down to just these took some effort), I decided to leave you with just one more quote from our favorite cat demon sidekick. You know, because Miv is really the only “adult” that gets to go on this adventure, and I feel like he speaks for a lot of the adults that may also be reading this book. Really, he says what we’re all thinking. Bless him for that.
Many thanks to Rick Riordan Presents and Rockstar Book Tours for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Overview
I’m back with yet another Rick Riordan Presents books! I utterly could not wait for this one (though I say that a lot when it comes to RRP). Pahua was a bit more special, though, because I’ve previously read Lori M. Lee’s Forest of Souls, which I absolutely loved. So of course I was eager to check out her middle grade!
Pahua and the Soul Stealer is a foray into the world of Hmong mythology, featuring diverse characters, strong females, sibling bonds, and an utterly irresistible (and gloriously sarcastic) cat demon sidekick.
And if that doesn’t convince you to read it, I don’t know what will. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you don’t do it for the adventure or the mythology or the hecka interesting Hmong stories, do it for the cat demon, okay?
I went in not quite knowing what to expect but trusting Lori M. Lee to just work her magic, and she did! This is easily one of my favorite Rick Riordan Presents series now, right up there with Tristan Strong.
My Thoughts
- Prepare yourself for a world filled with Hmong mythology and legends, curtesy of the latest Rick Riordan Presents by Lori M. Lee. If you haven’t read Lee’s other work, you obviously should. If you have, you sort of know what to expect when it comes to her fabulous world-building skills and the way she pulls readers straight into her books. I was utterly hooked from page one and immediately knew I was going to have a good time with this one.
Hmong mythology isn’t something I’m particularly familiar with. I’ll admit that I had to lean on the glossary here a lot also, because Hmong words aren’t even close to spelled phonetically. I thought Gaelic was bad when it came to just shoving sounds into random letter combinations, but then Hmong said, “Hold my naab vaam.” Lee does a fantastic job of trying to translate the sounds of a tonal language (please do look this up, because it’s fascinating) into something young readers can imitate, and I absolutely loved learning more about this language and culture!
Also, Hmong is a culture filled with stories, and Lee really brings that to life. All sorts of stories and myths are shared throughout the book, and I really enjoyed the emphasis on storytelling.
- Pahua is such a fun protagonist, because she’s obviously special (I mean, she can see spirits that others can’t!), but she’s also very much an outsider 11-year-old who lives in her own head a little too much. And if that’s not the most relatable thing ever, I’m not sure what is, okay? Pahua is the quintessential reluctant hero because not only does she not particularly want to be nor think of herself as a hero, she’s also not very good at being a hero. Not that she doesn’t have her strengths, of course, as do we all. However, she’s a teeeeensy bit hopeless. In an adorable way. She means well, though, and that’s what really matters.
- Did I mention that there’s also an incredibly sarcastic, very funny cat demon sidekick that mostly only Pahua can see? Boy does this cat snark, as any cat should. Miv takes the whole idea of an animal sidekick and kicks it up a notch. If you’ve read and loved Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, Miv very much reminds me of a cleaner, less violent, more wholesome version of Mr. Kindly. Which is high praise, considering how much I utterly adore that cat.
Miv isn’t without his secrets, of course. Needless to say, he’s an enigmatic entity that has, for some reason, attached itself to Pahua from a young age and follows her on her adventures. Why would an ancient, immortal being do that? Well, who’s to say for sure, really? Cats are curious creatures.
- Pahua’s adventure takes her (and the reader) to the Spirit Realm—an afterlife that is probably nothing like you ever imagined, and inhabited by all sorts of characters—some good, some bad, and some just larger than life. I love the Spirit Realm. I said it. It’s dangerous and sexy and filled with elephants (you’ll get it when you read the book, because elephants are spirit guardians, but honestly, who wouldn’t want an afterlife filled with elephants?!). There are also quite a few interesting characters that Pahua and her friends meet along the way. Not all are particularly nice, but they do tend to crack me up, which I loved! In their own ways, of course.
- Also, because I just couldn’t choose from all the fantastic quotes in this book (I have so many flags in it for quotes that narrowing it down to just these took some effort), I decided to leave you with just one more quote from our favorite cat demon sidekick. You know, because Miv is really the only “adult” that gets to go on this adventure, and I feel like he speaks for a lot of the adults that may also be reading this book. Really, he says what we’re all thinking. Bless him for that.
booksandpops4000's review against another edition
4.0
* I got this book for review from the publisher*
I really loved learning more about the Mong culture. I also really loved how this book was an adventure that focused on the brother and sisters realtionships. I also thought this was super fun and fast pace read, I also like that is story focsued on two girls trying frantically to save the world. I also loved all the various creatures we meet in this read. This book was erriee and creepy but not horror. It had so many classics "rirodan" moments. Will def be checking out more books with this characters!
I really loved learning more about the Mong culture. I also really loved how this book was an adventure that focused on the brother and sisters realtionships. I also thought this was super fun and fast pace read, I also like that is story focsued on two girls trying frantically to save the world. I also loved all the various creatures we meet in this read. This book was erriee and creepy but not horror. It had so many classics "rirodan" moments. Will def be checking out more books with this characters!
antoinettepowb's review against another edition
4.0
What an adventure! I enjoyed reading about Pahua and her cat, Miv's, journey to save her brother's spirit from an angry bridge spirit. I think the development of Pahua and Zhong's needed friendship, even if it is out of necessity, is well done and shows the vulnerability about letting someone else get to know you at their age. I was intrigued my the idea of the them being shamans in training and learning the responsibility that comes along with being one. This adventure includes, love of family, discovering identity, and determination. I believe any middle school student will enjoy learning about he Hmong culture and mythology through Pahua's experiences.