Alpi, a young girl traveling with her assistant Perenai, is a soul sender, a human who has the power and resistance to help release spirit souls after their physical forms perish. Regular humans succumb quickly to the curse, however, soul senders are able to perform valedictions while taking in only a small amount of the curse themselves. Over time, the curse does build up, and they must visit a temple to purify themselves and cast out the curse. Alpi is pretty young to be working as a soul sender, but she is traveling to find her parents, who are also soul senders and who stopped sending letters home after a recent mission. Alpi is hoping to follow the clues in the previous letters to retrace their path and eventually find them. Along the way, she encounters several towns that need her ability. Sometimes they must work together to find a creative solution to the rather large problems they are facing.
Each chapter in this volume is referred to as an episode, which feels appropriate as most of them contain smaller conflicts that are resolved in the chapter. The final two chapters of this volume cover a longer conflict that goes more in depth into the relationship between humans and spirits. The level of detail in the black and white illustrations adds an extra layer of enjoyment to reading this title. Although it is difficult to differentiate small villages in similar landscapes, the illustrator does their best to give each location its own feeling. Usually that is created through the characters interacting with Alpi and Perenai. The overall feeling for this narrative is that you can overcome obstacles at any age if you work together to solve problems, which is a great message for our younger readers. This series will do well in a middle grade collection in a public or private library. It may be challenged in a school library due to the depiction of spirits and talk of souls.
Alpi the Soul Sender Vol. 01
By Rona
Titan, 2023
ISBN: 9781787741300
Publisher Age Rating: All
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11), Tween (10-13)
