Soulgazer (The Magpie and the Wolf Duology, #1) by Maggie Rapier 
Published by Ace on July 8, 2025
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 451
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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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.
I almost chucked this one into the ocean.
THIS WAY LIES SPOILERS AND IT IS GOING TO BE RANTY!
I saw many, many 4 to 5 star reviews on Goodreads so I decided to save this one for my beach read. The only reason it didn’t hit the ocean when I was done is simply because I finished it at the house, so I would still have time to start a new beach book before we headed home. Yes, I did scream and toss it across the room. To which my Beach Book Club asked “Did you like it?” Everyone’s a wise ass.
What didn’t I like about it, you ask. Everything! Saoirse was a sad, pathetic character, Faolan was a narcissist, and the world building was stupid.
I get that characters need to have growth so I initially forced myself forgave the sad, pathetic girl who was Saoirse. Her father sent her to a cabin far, far from the family home, sending servants to drop off food once a month, never to talk to her. He did this because her magic was dangerous. He accused her of killing her own brother with it. He also forced her to wear a pendent to help suppress her magic. When she was old enough, his plan was to marry her off and just as our story begins, he is trying to have the same magical suppression tattooed into her skin so her husband would never know he had been tricked into taking her, which he only did to breed an heir off her and for a back room deal between the two kingdoms. At first Saoirse is okay with this, hoping that a marriage would free her from her exile and she too wanted to suppress her dangerous magic. She hates it and is afraid of it. That is until she meets not only her husband-to-be and also she meets The Wolf, who stories of bravery and adventure she has heard since she was young (note: Faolan was only a few years older than her so it is hard imagining teenage Faolan captaining a pirate crew.) Saoirse is a sad character. Yes, that necessary character growth, but here there really wasn’t. Saoirse said “I’m sorry” once a chapter for the entire story. Why? She is just sorry for being.
Faolan has been searching for the woman with the “sea in her eyes” because of a ditty someone sang to him when he was younger. When he notes that Saoirse’s eyes swirl with the colors of the ocean when her magic was activated, he is determined that she come with him on his adventure to find the Isle of Lost Souls. (Put a pin here. We’ll come back) One kudos I do give to Saoirse is that halfway through the story she lays into Faolan that all the stories are about him–The Wolf, and that even his boat doesn’t have a name since he can’t survive without the spotlight entirely on him. He needs to be the focus of every tale. He is all fake smiles but there is no substance to him.
Saoirse goes with Faolan but insists they get married, so that her father and Stone King will consider her a lost cause and not chase them. Faolan, not excited about a forced marriage, agrees to a hand-fasting instead, which is “until we decide we don’t want to be together anymore.” Something easily walked away from although we never discuss how that would effect Saoirse’s future. Would she no longer be marriage material? Used goods? You would think all men would be hand-fasting women all over the place when they can just walk away when they are no longer interested. This hand-fasting/marriage is in name only, although the crew is lead to believe otherwise. This will cause issues later one when they are caught up with and her intended figures out she is still breedable. Faolan fluctuates in his feelings for Saoirse, between tool to make him infamous and liking her. But even in the end, after the sexy times, when the hand-fasted couple are called King and Queen of the Isle, he is still balking at the idea of being married. He was in it for the fun times and seemed to be happier with Saoirse, but call her his Queen, and he is pulling on his collar and looking for the door.
Are you still with me? Faolan wants to be the savior and find the Isle of Lost Souls. From what I understand, people who die spit out their soul stone. I am unsure about the size of this stone. Faolan almost drowns and says he felt it forming on his tongue but are they the size of a walnut or softball? Biggest problem is that if you touch a soul stone, you go crazy or you die. I believe, that once upon a time, you would scoop up these soul stones and drop them off at the Isle of Lost Souls which was maybe a waystation to heaven? Not sure. What happens if you are poor and can’t afford to take your loved one’s soul stone to the Isle? At some point the island disappeared, sometime around when the Gods died, and now there are soul stones dangerously hanging around for kids to play with? What about the ones at the bottom of the sea where there are shipwrecks? Do their soul never find peace since their stones won’t ever get to the Isle? Lots of unanswered questions about these stones. They eventually find the island (that’s the whole point of the story) and a couple of rich people bring their important stones. What about everyone else who died in the last 100 years? Who gets to scoop them up and sail them over?
Saoirse’s magic isn’t well defined either. Yes, part of that it because of the tattoo that her father put on which partially blocked it (and part of the I’m sorrys because she never told Faolan that the magic he needed to find the island was now blocked). She had moments of visions of the future, such as when her brother died. Apparently, she tried to stop him but he didn’t listen to her. She also had feelings to look this way or that way and saw what she was looking for. Was that really magic or just looking around while they sat her to the side while the real pirates did the work.
Obviously, with several 4/5 star reviews, I am the only one who didn’t find anything redeeming about this story. It also turns out that this is book 1 of a duology. I felt the story was finished even if it wasn’t great so I don’t know where the author plans to go from here, but she is going on without me.
