Her Soul to Take

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and cursing.

Her Soul to Take suggests that finding love can be transformational. Rae and Leon are initially at odds, both attempting to get something from the other. Leon is desperate to get the grimoire from Rae, an item she must give to him willingly. Rae will not hand it over because she wants Leon to protect her from the monsters attacking her. Over the course of the novel, however, self-interest gives way to a bond that makes both Leon and Rae better people, together and individually.

More specifically, Leon’s arc takes him from valuing freedom above all else to valuing Rae and her love even more—enough that he’s willing to die to save her. By the novel’s climax, Leon has the grimoire page with his true name and could return to Hell without a backward glance, and yet he stays to protect Rae. He even takes on a Reaper, which is a fight he knows he cannot win. As he lies dying, he thinks, “Funny, I’d always thought I would die angry. That I’d die for hatred and fury. Dying for love didn’t hurt any less; it probably hurt more.