REVIEW: Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier

In Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier, Saoirse has been warned since she was a very young girl to always do her utmost best to contain the magic she gained when she touched a soulstone. Although a curse is a more apt description. After a tragic event about seven years ago, Saoirse was banished to a cottage far away from her royal family and their palace. But with a festival on the horizon, and a chance to find a suitor approved by her father, the king, she’s taken to the festivities and is finally among other people. The first group she encounters, though, is the legendary pirate dubbed the Wolf of the Wild and his crew. They’re a rowdy bunch who spend more time at sea chasing after riches than on land. When Wolf looks into Saoirse’s eyes for the first time–sees them changing colors like the ocean–it sets them on a path she didn’t foresee for once.

“It’s time to name yourself, instead of listening to all your father’s shite. You’re not a killer, and you’re certainly not nothing. So tell me what you are.”
“A Soulgazer.”
Faolan’s thumb skates along my lashes, resting at the corner as he grins. “There you are. I see you.”

The Wolf, aka Faolan, is everything Saoirse pictured. And it’s clear from that first meeting that he’s been hunting for her for quite some time. Because the prophecy of the gods and goddesses says that there will be a young woman with eyes like the ocean who will be able to locate the Isle of Lost Souls. A place that can heal people as well as release souls stuck in this realm so they can move on to the next. Running away with Faolan and his patchwork family is probably foolish. But with no other options and everything in her gut telling her this is her path, Saoirse sets off on a dangerous mission to find the isle. Becoming Faolan’s wife is something she thinks of on the fly. A means to an end so she can keep her father and her betrothed, the deadly Stone King, as far away from her as possible. As they face down trouble at every turn, Saoirse and Faolan end up doing the one thing neither of them ever expected: falling in love, further complicating the situation even more.

‘Saoirse is the dawn and dusk wrapped into one gorgeous creature, and I’m a man doomed.’

Flowing, almost lyrical writing, an adventure on the high seas and on land, and a quiet heroine who found a well of inner strength, SOULGAZER was a wildly imaginative romantasy.

“You’re Saoirse. The girl with ocean eyes… I’ve searched half the world looking for you, lass.”

CW: View Spoiler »Child imprisonment & abuse, murder, torture, sibling & parental death « Hide Spoiler

Maggie Rapier’s SOULGAZER was partly what I expected and partly not–but in a good way. I knew there would be a journey for heroine Saoirse to navigate along with her newfound family, pirate Faolan’s “wolf pack”. (They weren’t wolf shifters, it was a nickname) But I envisioned her growing from a contemplative, naive young woman to a take-charge leader waging wars like in most romantasies. Instead, Saoirse kept that quietness, that softness to her while still standing up for herself and following her fated path. And I loved it. She did make some decisions I wasn’t necessarily happy with, but there was always a reason why Saoirse did what she did. And for the most part, it was to protect others.

Saoirse’s life was pretty dark before she finally met Faolan, a man four years her senior and about whom she had heard outrageous stories for years. He most certainly lived up to the legends. Handsome as well as devilishly charming, Faolan was every bit the Wolf of the Wild as he was known on the ocean. I got such a kick out of how he and his crew teased each other. But they also worked perfectly in sync on his ship. Saoirse was pretty awestruck by them all. And the way Rapier described how she ever so slowly worked her way into each crew member’s good graces–and hearts–was quite touching.

The other fascinating part of the story was how both Saoirse and Faolan were wrapped up in the legends of the gods and goddesses who used to rule their world. Without giving too much away, they explored those prophecies and got a bit more than they bargained for. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. Especially with Saoirse’s betrothed–who she ran from–fast in pursuit. Being that this is book one in the duology, it left off not really on a cliffhanger but at a point where there had been huge changes in Saoirse and Faolan’s lives. In other words, book two promises to be just as exciting.

QOTD: If you were the heroine in a romantasy, would you prefer an adventure on the high seas, on land, or a combination like Saoirse’s journey?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: July 8th, 2025 | Ace | The Magpie and the Wolf Duology #1

Every legend has a beginning.

With their freedom on the line, a young woman and a rakish pirate take their fate into their own hands as they attempt to find a lost mythical isle with the power to save their entire world.

Saoirse yearns to be powerless. Cursed from childhood with a volatile magic, she’s managed to imprison it within, living under constant terror that one day it will break free. And it does, changing everything.

Horrified at her loss of control, Saoirse’s parents offer her hand to the cold and ruthless Stone King. Knowing she’ll never survive such a cruel man, Saoirse realizes there is only one path forward…she must break her curse.

On the eve of her wedding, Saoirse seeks out the legendary Wolf of the Wild—Faolan, a feral, silver-tongued pirate. He swears to help rid her of the deadly magic, if she’ll use it to locate a lost mythical isle first. Crafted by the slaughtered gods, it’s the only land that could absorb her power.

But Saoirse knows better than to trust a pirate’s word. With the wrath of her disgraced father and scorned betrothed chasing them, Saoirse adds one last condition to protect if Faolan wants her on his ship, he’ll have to marry her first.

“A tale rife with longing, extraordinary tenderness and delicious tension. A glorious escape for the heart and imagination.”—Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of Last Tale of the Flower Bride