Catwoman: Soulstealer – Sarah J Maas

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love superheroes and comics, so this series is actually what I never knew I always wanted. I really enjoy the unique origin stories that some of my favourite YA authors have brought to the characters, but sometimes they just feel a little less than what I hoped for. Catwoman, while it has its issues, is actually my favourite of the series so far which really surprised me. I love Batman and Wonder Woman, so maybe that actually worked against the books to a small degree? As much as I know about Harley and Poison Ivy, I never really dove deep into Catwoman’s mythology, so I had fewer expectations for the book.

I loved seeing the Gotham Sirens come together in this book, so it was as much an origin story as one about friendship and girl power. That was the aspect of the book that shone for me, the character development, the family and friendly bonds, and the characters themselves – rather than the plot. Honestly, I was all for the friendship between Selina and Ivy. It is what made this book for me.

Harley felt familiar but lacked some of the depth and dimension to the character that I needed to see to understand her. There’s a broken piece of her that is forever drawn to the Joker, a fierce loyalty and a chaos to her behavior that just wasn’t fully realized in this story. I kept wanting to see more from her and was left a little disappointed. That being said, I absolutely fell in love with Catwoman and Poison Ivy over the course of this novel.

I’ve always connected more to the good characters or even the morally grey ones, than any that are true anti-heroes or villains – so Selina and Ivy were perfect in this book. They each had codes that they strictly abided to and times when they would cross the line. Neither was perfect, they were flawed, believable and likable characters. I would just like a buddy novel about the two of them, causing mischief and breaking hearts.

Yes, there were issues but I really enjoyed Catwoman: Soulstealer and hope that we can see more of this world in the future.

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