Pahua and the Soul Stealer

I loved this book so, so much.

Pahua Moua is an 11-year-old Hmong girl who spends her days using her imagination to escape how lonely she is. On top of that, she can see spirits. When she accidentally untethers an angry spirit form a haunted bridge, she has to save her brother's soul from the spirit. Pahua teams up with a warrior shaman and her best friend, a cat spirit, to try to save her brother's soul before it's too late.

The worldbuilding was absolutely stunning in this book. There's also a lot of commentary about how Hmong folktales are passed down orally, so many of the stories vary, as well as the fact that children of immigrants, such as Pahua, sometimes don't get the chance to learn all the myths and stories of their culture. I didn't know a lot about Hmong culture before reading this book, so learning the stories as Pahua learned more about her own culture was charming. Learning about Hmong gods, demons, and realms while Pahua embarked on her journey was so much fun.

I loved reading about Pahua's complicated relationship with her identity - there's a lot to be said about growing up in a different culture, especially when there isn't necessarily a lot of diversity around you. Children can be very mean sometimes, and it often does result in children of color trying to hide or even in small ways, "reject" the parts of their heritage in order to try to "fit in" with other people. We see Pahua struggle to make friends not only because of how she looks, but in little things such as the food that she brings for lunch (it also doesn't help that she can see spirits wrecking chaos everywhere). Because of this, she uses her imagination to try to pretend that things are different.

I enjoyed that Pahua believed the entire time that her strength was her imagination and that she really more had to be told what her actual strength was, which was very realistic for someone who didn't have a lot of self-esteem after being made fun of for being different her entire life. I also really liked the side characters and how fleshed out their relationship to Pahua was - Miv and Zhong were fantastic characters that supported and pushed Pahua to really grow and confront her identity and her role as a powerful shaman warrior. Pahua's relationship with her younger brother is also really adorable.

The book sets up pretty nicely for a possible continuation of this story, and I can't wait to see what else is in store for Pahua.

Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide, Rick Riordan Presents, and NetGalley for the ARC.