Lonesome

Tales of the Souls #1

by Niki Pleva

He would rather watch the whole of Vitajria burn than let the universe turn without her beautiful and peaceful existence.
Stefania knows only duty.

For five hundred long years, cloak stitched with a king cobra heavy on her skin, she has gathered the souls of the dying. Her sole companion is a sarcastic shape-shifter and her only friends are the mortals whose souls she will eventually gather. Death's loneliness, it seems.

But when she cradles the soul of a traumatised girl, something dormant awakens within her. With that, she is no longer an invisible servant of death but a weapon against the demon of destruction. She becomes the Seraph of Light, the most celebrated prophecy that ever existed. She becomes the prophesied saviour of Vitajria.

Thrown into the rusty restrains of a war which has been brewing for aeons, she must navigate through kidnapping of her friend's soul, the existence of slavery and keeping the host of Destruction safe.

Then there is Amudilio. He is ancient, he is enigmatic, and he also betrayed their friendship five hundred years ago. Yet in the frozen restrains of the mission, Stefania begins to see his heart beneath the crown—against better judgement, despite five hundred years of solitude, she begins to feel something she can never have.
She can never know love, for, in order to save the whole of Vitajria from Destruction, she must die. ​

'Tell me, Amudilio, can you let her go?'

Amudilio Could not.

327 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication November 11, 2026

Reviews

[Beth Holmes]

Arc book review Lonesome - Niki Pleva

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

I really enjoyed this book! 🖤📚 I loved the characters and watching their development throughout the story. There were a few parts that felt a little slow for me, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying the overall story.

I LOVED the twists and honestly didn’t see some of them coming! 👀✨ There were definitely moments that caught me completely by surprise, and I’m so intrigued to see where the story goes next.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens with these characters and can’t wait to continue the journey! 🖤✨

📖 SYNOPSIS

Stefania knows only duty.

For five hundred long years, cloak stitched with a king cobra heavy on her back, she has gathered the souls of the dying. Her sole companion is a sarcastic shapeshifter, and her only friends are the mortals whose souls she will eventually gather.

Death’s lonesome, it seems.

But when she cradles the soul of a traumatised girl, something dormant awakens within her. With that, she is no longer an invisible servant of death, but a weapon against the demon of destruction.

She becomes a Seraph of Life, the most celebrated prophecy that ever existed.

She becomes the prophesied saviour of Vitajria. ✨

✨ TROPES & VIBES

🖤 Gothic fantasy
🧚 Epic fantasy
❤️ Fantasy romance
🔥 Slow-burn romance
⚔️ Ancient war
👑 Enigmatic MMC
🥀 Tragic romance
🔮 Prophecy
✨ Chosen/prophesied heroine
👻 Souls & death
🐍 Shapeshifter
🌑 Demon of Destruction
🏰 Political intrigue
💔 Forbidden/complicated love
🌌 Immortal/ancient characters
📖 Series starter

I would definitely recommend you adding this to your tbr.

[Minato Aquila]

First off, I received this book as an ARC reader! Niki is such a sweetheart, I think I’d read her books always just because of how awesome of a person she is. Second, her writing style is SOOO good, I’m envious of her descriptions because they are far better than anything I could do; Because of how well she was at describing things, the book felt more intimate to me. I also really enjoyed the gothic genre of this book as well as the slavic mythology elements.
There were definitely parts where I had to highlight a passage and think, “Dang, that was good, I liked that.”
My only complaints were that it was a bit confusing and I felt like Stefania was reaching a bit about the “betrayal” between her and Amudilio. It was ten days of friendship and 500 years later she was still butthurt about it. I did try to imagine myself as her, and I feel like I could understand a bit better that way, but otherwise, I wouldn’t really call it a betrayal.
This book wasn’t my favorite, however, I do believe it can be many other’s favorites. I can’t wait for the other books in the series to come out!! 💜

[Lindsey White]

I received a free ARC of Lonesome Tales of the Souls Vol 1 and leave this review voluntarily.

Blurb:
"Amudillo never wanted to be a king and never wanted any part in the unbreakable bond.

Yet here he is, in the middle of a brewing war of immortals promising revenge for a woman he truly loves.

That woman is Stefania-A weapon against Destruction destined to die.
Will he let her die?"

When I say I truly enjoyed this book from the beginning I mean it! I did not want to put it down!! It is a true slow-burn romantasy with A LOT of yearning that will have you holding your breath for more! It has fantastic world building, and has a uniqueness unlike other romantasy books.

From the morally grey king, who may not be the traditional definition of "morally grey" at least when it comes to the soul gatherer who seems to be the only one he has a soft spot for. To the sarcastic cobra shifter friend who you instantly love.

The twists, turns and emotional damage you will endure throughout their journey will leave you wanting more. I will reread and continue on with this series as I cannot wait to see where it is heading!

[Hannah]

⭐️⭐️⭐️-⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
I really loved the concept of this book and there being soul gathers tasked with guiding mortal souls to their final resting place after their passings. This author has an extremely lyrical writing style, which adds tons of detail to the descriptions throughout the story. I really enjoyed the characters and found them very fun to see change as we learned more about them. What got me personally was the fact that I found myself lost in the transitions of time. This may be a personal problem, but I found it very hard to keep track of what was actually happening and when. There were flash backs that added a lot of detail to Stefania's life, or even transitions from one place with one set of characters to a completely different place with another set of characters, where I would become lost in how we got there. Overall I think after some polishing this will be a very lyrically written story with an interesting set up into the next book.

[Debbie The Purple Reader]

I’d like to thank Niki for the ARC of Lonesome.

He would rather watch the whole of Vitajria burn than let the whole universe turn without her beautiful and peaceful existence.

Well that just made me want to dive straight in and I enjoyed every moment of it. Niki’s writing was beautiful and the story was mesmerising. There were moments that made me giggle, especially Stefania’s shape shifter companion Nazaria. The chemistry between Amudilio and Stephania is poetic and I love that this is not a rushed romance as the yearning is everything. This is a very slow burn and it’s just done perfectly. Niki has created an incredible world and she pays incredible attention to detail. I feel like there is so much more to come and I’m really looking forward to seeing where this story goes next.

[Alyssa Marie]

Thanks you so much, Niki! I really enjoyed getting to be an ARC reader for your book. This was my first time.

I enjoyed this book. I found the writing style to be so descriptive. I felt as if I could visualize everything very well. I also enjoyed the concept of the soul gatherer and this world we were thrown into. I do feel I did get a bit confused sometimes as time passage was not very clear. I also think I would have personally enjoyed it more if there was more of a background into this land, its history, its lore. However, I do realize this is the first book in a series and more may be to come. 3/5 stars. 🩷

[Amyytje]

I want to thank the author Niki Pleva for sending me this eARC copy!

I didn't read a blurb, so I had no idea what to expect and went into the book blind. I have to admit the story was hard to get into, not because the story was complicated, but because English is not my first language. There was one moment everything fell in place and I started to really enjoy the Journey of Stefania. I really love that name btw, you don't see that name a lot.
The story itself is exiting, emotional and surprising. I've never seen a book like this one before!

[Lianne]

I receive this book as an arc from the lovely author.

I really enjoyed the gothic aspect of the book, a perfect autumnal read.
The character development of the fmc was great, she really come into her own and found herself along the way.