shadowsiren's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
celebrin's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating story about a man who would hunt down fugitive slaves, aka a "Soul Catcher." The characters were three dimensional (well the protagonists were, anyway), and the setting was so well defined that I had to physically remind myself that I wasn't in the Civil War era.
Excellent, excellent book.
Excellent, excellent book.
canadianbookworm's review
5.0
This saga of slave catcher Augustus Cain takes us from the Mexican-American War through to the civil war as Cain looks back on a life running from his past as he engages in what he intends to be his last job as a slave catcher. He has been drawn into the occupation due to a skill in tracking and finding slaves that he first identified as a young man.
Rosetta is the runaway slave that he has been hired to find. She runs from a master who has taken his ownership in every way he could and runs to save her soul from that subjugation.
As their lives become entwined, in the days before the Civil War, Cain must face the past he is trying to forget and face up to what his life has become. Rosetta fights to gain her freedom, and yet must also face the subtleties of human behaviour.
This is a journey in a very physical sense, but also a mental journey for both of the main characters. There is a lot of history contained in this story, as well as extremely well-written characters. The reading of the book by Dufris is excellent and captures the characters of the various players in the story.
I loved this novel.
Rosetta is the runaway slave that he has been hired to find. She runs from a master who has taken his ownership in every way he could and runs to save her soul from that subjugation.
As their lives become entwined, in the days before the Civil War, Cain must face the past he is trying to forget and face up to what his life has become. Rosetta fights to gain her freedom, and yet must also face the subtleties of human behaviour.
This is a journey in a very physical sense, but also a mental journey for both of the main characters. There is a lot of history contained in this story, as well as extremely well-written characters. The reading of the book by Dufris is excellent and captures the characters of the various players in the story.
I loved this novel.
samhouston's review
4.0
Just prior to the Civil War, slaves were a big part of the Southern economy in many ways, some of which have not been often considered in Civil War fiction. In addition to providing the labor that made it possible for the United States to dominate the world cotton market, escaped slaves provided a living for the slave catchers and "blackbirders" who personally profited from their desperate flights northward. Slave catchers, called "soul catchers" by blacks of the era made their money by tracking down runaways and returning them to their legal owners. Blackbirders, on the other hand, preyed upon any black person they could catch wandering around the border or northern states. Whether those blacks were free men or slaves already owned by someone in the area meant nothing to a blackbirder who could round up a dozen or so blacks and make a small fortune by transporting them to one of the large slave auctions some distance away from their capture.
"Soul Catcher" tells the story of one of these men, slave catcher Augustus Cain, a man who has made his living catching runaway slaves since his return as a wounded (with a permanent limp) veteran of the Mexican War. Ironically, just as Cain is thinking he will give up the dubious occupation of slave-catching so that he can make his way to California to start over, he is backed into a corner by a man who holds the bill of sale to Cain's prized horse. Cain, wanting desperately to save his horse, finally agrees to find the man's "stolen" property, a young woman who has stolen herself from her master and headed north.
But, as Cain will find out for himself, Rosetta is no ordinary runner. She is determined that she will never live as a slave again, and she is willing to kill anyone who dares think about returning her to Virginia from Boston. Cain has seen that level of determination before and is not surprised by it. But as the chase, capture, and return trip carries Cain hundreds of miles, and as the weeks add up, he will be surprise himself and Rosetta more than once. This is the adventure of a lifetime for Cain; for Rosetta it is something much more important.
"Soul Catcher" is, at times, a totally absorbing book, one whose characters will stick with the reader long after its final pages are turned. Admittedly, it's climax is a bit predictable, but that hardly lessens the impact of this very fine piece of Civil War fiction.
"Soul Catcher" tells the story of one of these men, slave catcher Augustus Cain, a man who has made his living catching runaway slaves since his return as a wounded (with a permanent limp) veteran of the Mexican War. Ironically, just as Cain is thinking he will give up the dubious occupation of slave-catching so that he can make his way to California to start over, he is backed into a corner by a man who holds the bill of sale to Cain's prized horse. Cain, wanting desperately to save his horse, finally agrees to find the man's "stolen" property, a young woman who has stolen herself from her master and headed north.
But, as Cain will find out for himself, Rosetta is no ordinary runner. She is determined that she will never live as a slave again, and she is willing to kill anyone who dares think about returning her to Virginia from Boston. Cain has seen that level of determination before and is not surprised by it. But as the chase, capture, and return trip carries Cain hundreds of miles, and as the weeks add up, he will be surprise himself and Rosetta more than once. This is the adventure of a lifetime for Cain; for Rosetta it is something much more important.
"Soul Catcher" is, at times, a totally absorbing book, one whose characters will stick with the reader long after its final pages are turned. Admittedly, it's climax is a bit predictable, but that hardly lessens the impact of this very fine piece of Civil War fiction.
ibeforem's review
4.0
I love a good Civil-War-era/1800s-in-the-U.S. historical fiction novel. And this *was* a good one. Cain is a man who’s more than a little bit lost. He’s basically sleep-walking through life, drunk on either whiskey, laudanum, or both, and gambling for money to live. Except he’s not always a great gambler, and now he’s gotten himself into a debt he can’t run away from. When the man he owes money to wants him to use his tracking skills to bring home his runaway slave, Rosetta, Cain doesn’t really have a choice. Soul Catcher is the story of that journey.
Cain is forced to travel with a group of men that you would expect to be slave-catchers… generally either apathetic or downright cruel and sadistic. There is a lot of both the expected and unexpected here, and though I mostly guessed the ending and the decision Cain would make about his life, I never would have guessed the final twist. Some may question how realistic Cain and Rosetta are in their actions and interactions, but I can believe it all the same.
Cain is forced to travel with a group of men that you would expect to be slave-catchers… generally either apathetic or downright cruel and sadistic. There is a lot of both the expected and unexpected here, and though I mostly guessed the ending and the decision Cain would make about his life, I never would have guessed the final twist. Some may question how realistic Cain and Rosetta are in their actions and interactions, but I can believe it all the same.
More...