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Roadsouls
Roadsouls explores the power of art and creativity for transforming not only ones own life but also the world one lives in. Timid Duuni has spent her life as abused and guarded property. Blind, arrogant Raím is determined to be again what he once was: hunter, lover, young lord of the earth. Desperate to escape their lives, the two lift up their hands to the passing Roadsoul caravan, and are literally flung together naked. Each of them soon learns that saying yes to the Roadsouls is more than just accepting an invitation to a new life—its a commitment that can’t be reversed. For Duuni and Raím, nothing is as it was. Lost to their old lives, hating each other, they are swept out of their cruel old certainties into an unknown, unknowable, ever-changing world of journey and carnival, artists and wrestlers and thieves. Behind them, inexorable, pads a lion. Inexorable, too, is Duuni and Raím’s inevitable encounter with it, an encounter that will change everything.
- GenresFantasy
400 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2016
4 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Betsy James
54 books27 followersAward-winning author-illustrator Betsy James has written and/or illustrated more than a dozen books for children and young adults. She lives in New Mexico where she hikes, grows corn, and shares the shade of a cottonwood tree with one small ground squirrel and several toads.
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October 22, 2021“If I can bear not to force everything to fit the looms I know...if I let the world begin to weave itself, what might it weave?”
CW for sexual assault, including molestation of a child.
So What’s It About?
Roadsouls explores the power of art and creativity for transforming not only one’s own life but also the world one lives in. Timid Duuni has spent her life as abused and guarded property. Blind, arrogant Raim is determined to be again what he once was: hunter, lover, young lord of the earth. Desperate to escape their lives, the two lift up their hands to the passing Roadsoul caravan, and are literally flung together naked. Each of them soon learns that saying yes to the Roadsouls is more than just accepting an invitation to a new life - it’s a commitment that can’t be reversed. For Duuni and Raim, nothing is as it was. Lost to their old lives, hating each other, they are swept out of their cruel old certainties into an unknown, unknowable, ever-changing world of journey and carnival, artists and wrestlers and thieves. Behind them, inexorable, pads a lion. Inexorable, too, is Duuni and Raim’s inevitable encounter with it, an encounter that will change everything.
What I Thought
No star rating will really do justice to my feelings about this book, because I absolutely loved some parts and really struggled with others. I’ll do my best to explore both sides of my experience here. To start with, I think the book’s central themes are beautiful ones that are explored really effectively. The main one is what I would describe as “breaking the batten” - taking the terrifying step of embracing the world in its true complexity and diversity and embracing that you can live outside the restrictive mold that is prescribed for you.
The book makes it clear that art is one of the main ways that this can be accomplished, and Duuni’s progress over the course of the story is built upon this idea. She starts out absolutely terrified of the world and her own power because of the abuse she has experienced and the incredibly patriarchal land she grew up in, but she gradually grows more confident and self-expressive as she makes a living with her art, falls in with a mentor who teaches her the value of art as prayer, and learns to stop being scared of the power of her creation, represented by the tiger that follows her through the story.
Another main way that this idea of “breaking the batten” is conveyed is through the way that the main characters travel throughout the story, learning about different cultures and struggling through their preconceptions about the world. They learn that words mean different things in different places (there is a running joke about Raim’s name meaning different unflattering things) and they see that the tasks and roles assigned to men and women in different places vary a great deal. Raim struggles with this in particular, wondering if different things that he knows how to do, like weaving, “make him a woman” because they are gendered differently in different places.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about Roadsouls is how good Betsy James is at writing children. Nine, one of the Roadsoul kids, plays a big role in the story and is an absolutely delightful little scamp. I’m not sure how James accomplished it, but she managed to write a kid character who is clearly very annoying to the characters in the story but not the reader themselves. I also love Ratling, the little girl who Raim befriends when he is enslaved. They survive together in the terrible mill, play a game where she finds unique objects to bring him so that he can guess what they are, and escape together to a better life. The writing in this book is also absolutely lovely in a free-wheeling and poetic way.
As for the things I struggled with, the main one is Raim and Duuni’s relationship. When Duuni tells him that she was molested as a child, his response can basically be summarized by that one meme of Britta from Community: “I can excuse [myself being a rapist] but I draw the line at [pedophilia].”In essence, he tells Dunni that not every woman he has slept with has “wanted it” and he has seen them resisting and saying no as a challenge, but it’s horrifying that she was molested and he would never do that to her (spoiler alert: he does almost assault her later in the story when she says no to him!).
I understand that his preconceptions are challenged by his own debasement and helplessness over the course of the story, his growing feelings for Duuni and his protectiveness of Ratling, but the internal journey with all of this never really goes beyond him thinking “Huh, I never really thought about what it was like for a woman to be raped. I guess it’s bad.” His boundary crossing with Duuni happens after the point where he has this thought, he apologizes and gets mauled by the tiger, and then they end up together and are about to have sex at the end of the story. His development in this regard is just fairly unconvincing to me. I do think it’s entirely possible that it isn’t supposed to be a fully satisfying redemption arc, however. Maybe what I wanted from Raim’s development was too complete and tidy and James had something messier in mind.
I do think that the very ending of the book is a bit confusing in how it resolves all of this. Raim almost assaults Duuni and she flees, and then he gets kidnapped and enslaved. When he is freed and returns, he apologizes, but Duuni just tells him that she doesn’t know if she can have a relationship with him anymore. She moves into a room next to a Roadsoul who she’s kind of had a crush on this whole time and he kisses her; Raim notes that they are spending a lot of time together. So Raim is wallowing in self-pity but then Nine suddenly reports to him that Duuni said she would be his lover in a heartbeat if he would just make a move. So he does, and that’s how the book ends. Duuni’s decision feels quite abrupt to me, and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense given all of these other developments.
In a note at the end of the book, James says that she wrote the Roadsouls as an analogue for the Romani people and tried to make it clear that they aren’t “good or bad; they just are.” That’s a noble goal, but they DO buy Raim, keep him chained up, force him to fight, and lock him in a tomb where he has every good reason to believe that he is going to die. We’re later clearly supposed to think that the mills are evil for buying and “indenturing” people, but it’s strange that we apparently aren’t supposed to think the same when the Roadsouls do it.
I’d also mention that there is a lot of repetition to the plot: Duuni is almost raped and is rescued by the Roadsouls. Raim falls off a cliff; he is rescued by the Roadsouls, tricked by Doctor Amu, and then taken in by a nice and wise old lady. He gets tricked again and sold to the Roadsouls. Duuni is taken in by a nice and wise old lady, and is then tricked by Doctor Amu. She is almost raped and then she falls off a cliff. She is taken in by another wise and nice old lady and is taken in by the Gatehouse. Raim is taken in by the Gatehouse, tricked by Doctor Amu and sold to the Mill. He is rescued by the Roadsouls.
So, yeah...very messy thoughts about a very unique book. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.
CW for sexual assault, including molestation of a child.
So What’s It About?
Roadsouls explores the power of art and creativity for transforming not only one’s own life but also the world one lives in. Timid Duuni has spent her life as abused and guarded property. Blind, arrogant Raim is determined to be again what he once was: hunter, lover, young lord of the earth. Desperate to escape their lives, the two lift up their hands to the passing Roadsoul caravan, and are literally flung together naked. Each of them soon learns that saying yes to the Roadsouls is more than just accepting an invitation to a new life - it’s a commitment that can’t be reversed. For Duuni and Raim, nothing is as it was. Lost to their old lives, hating each other, they are swept out of their cruel old certainties into an unknown, unknowable, ever-changing world of journey and carnival, artists and wrestlers and thieves. Behind them, inexorable, pads a lion. Inexorable, too, is Duuni and Raim’s inevitable encounter with it, an encounter that will change everything.
What I Thought
No star rating will really do justice to my feelings about this book, because I absolutely loved some parts and really struggled with others. I’ll do my best to explore both sides of my experience here. To start with, I think the book’s central themes are beautiful ones that are explored really effectively. The main one is what I would describe as “breaking the batten” - taking the terrifying step of embracing the world in its true complexity and diversity and embracing that you can live outside the restrictive mold that is prescribed for you.
The book makes it clear that art is one of the main ways that this can be accomplished, and Duuni’s progress over the course of the story is built upon this idea. She starts out absolutely terrified of the world and her own power because of the abuse she has experienced and the incredibly patriarchal land she grew up in, but she gradually grows more confident and self-expressive as she makes a living with her art, falls in with a mentor who teaches her the value of art as prayer, and learns to stop being scared of the power of her creation, represented by the tiger that follows her through the story.
Another main way that this idea of “breaking the batten” is conveyed is through the way that the main characters travel throughout the story, learning about different cultures and struggling through their preconceptions about the world. They learn that words mean different things in different places (there is a running joke about Raim’s name meaning different unflattering things) and they see that the tasks and roles assigned to men and women in different places vary a great deal. Raim struggles with this in particular, wondering if different things that he knows how to do, like weaving, “make him a woman” because they are gendered differently in different places.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about Roadsouls is how good Betsy James is at writing children. Nine, one of the Roadsoul kids, plays a big role in the story and is an absolutely delightful little scamp. I’m not sure how James accomplished it, but she managed to write a kid character who is clearly very annoying to the characters in the story but not the reader themselves. I also love Ratling, the little girl who Raim befriends when he is enslaved. They survive together in the terrible mill, play a game where she finds unique objects to bring him so that he can guess what they are, and escape together to a better life. The writing in this book is also absolutely lovely in a free-wheeling and poetic way.
As for the things I struggled with, the main one is Raim and Duuni’s relationship. When Duuni tells him that she was molested as a child, his response can basically be summarized by that one meme of Britta from Community: “I can excuse [myself being a rapist] but I draw the line at [pedophilia].”In essence, he tells Dunni that not every woman he has slept with has “wanted it” and he has seen them resisting and saying no as a challenge, but it’s horrifying that she was molested and he would never do that to her (spoiler alert: he does almost assault her later in the story when she says no to him!).
I understand that his preconceptions are challenged by his own debasement and helplessness over the course of the story, his growing feelings for Duuni and his protectiveness of Ratling, but the internal journey with all of this never really goes beyond him thinking “Huh, I never really thought about what it was like for a woman to be raped. I guess it’s bad.” His boundary crossing with Duuni happens after the point where he has this thought, he apologizes and gets mauled by the tiger, and then they end up together and are about to have sex at the end of the story. His development in this regard is just fairly unconvincing to me. I do think it’s entirely possible that it isn’t supposed to be a fully satisfying redemption arc, however. Maybe what I wanted from Raim’s development was too complete and tidy and James had something messier in mind.
I do think that the very ending of the book is a bit confusing in how it resolves all of this. Raim almost assaults Duuni and she flees, and then he gets kidnapped and enslaved. When he is freed and returns, he apologizes, but Duuni just tells him that she doesn’t know if she can have a relationship with him anymore. She moves into a room next to a Roadsoul who she’s kind of had a crush on this whole time and he kisses her; Raim notes that they are spending a lot of time together. So Raim is wallowing in self-pity but then Nine suddenly reports to him that Duuni said she would be his lover in a heartbeat if he would just make a move. So he does, and that’s how the book ends. Duuni’s decision feels quite abrupt to me, and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense given all of these other developments.
In a note at the end of the book, James says that she wrote the Roadsouls as an analogue for the Romani people and tried to make it clear that they aren’t “good or bad; they just are.” That’s a noble goal, but they DO buy Raim, keep him chained up, force him to fight, and lock him in a tomb where he has every good reason to believe that he is going to die. We’re later clearly supposed to think that the mills are evil for buying and “indenturing” people, but it’s strange that we apparently aren’t supposed to think the same when the Roadsouls do it.
I’d also mention that there is a lot of repetition to the plot: Duuni is almost raped and is rescued by the Roadsouls. Raim falls off a cliff; he is rescued by the Roadsouls, tricked by Doctor Amu, and then taken in by a nice and wise old lady. He gets tricked again and sold to the Roadsouls. Duuni is taken in by a nice and wise old lady, and is then tricked by Doctor Amu. She is almost raped and then she falls off a cliff. She is taken in by another wise and nice old lady and is taken in by the Gatehouse. Raim is taken in by the Gatehouse, tricked by Doctor Amu and sold to the Mill. He is rescued by the Roadsouls.
So, yeah...very messy thoughts about a very unique book. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2020
"I am whole," said Raím. "Broken and whole are the same."
Roadsouls is an absolutely beautiful book. I've never read anything quite like it-- it's certainly one of my top books I've read this year. I'm not sure I can explain it, but let me try.
Roadsouls follows two characters closely: Raím, a vain young man who seems to have it all-- beautiful, strong, skilled-- until he loses his sight and becomes bitter, proud and reclusive; and Duuni, a sheltered but skilled young painter and weaver who has been abused her whole life and all she's destined for is more of the same.
Both of these characters, when they come across the Roadsouls caravan, lift up their hands out of desperation and are taken in by the traveling troupe. But both have very different journeys to take.
Raím is angry and arrogant, so closed off in his heart that he isn't able to accept help, much less love, from anyone. He wants so achingly and deeply-- for companionship, self-efficacy, value in the eyes of others instead of being viewed as helpless, a worthless blind beggar. He wants for the identity he lost when he lost his sight. But he sabotages his own desires with his relentless pride.
Duuni is naive and terrified, her entire knowledge of men based on a life of forced submission and abuse, being beaten, being owned. She finds freedom with the Roadsouls, a place where she has agency, where she can contribute-- but she struggles to find the courage to step out of her open cage.
And of course, the characters the two come across are wonderful (and terrible), as is the breadth of the world as we discover it through Raím and Duuni's eyes as they travel from their homes for the first time. The meaning of a name in different regions and languages plays a significant part in Raím's personal journey, with a beautiful resolution.
What I loved most about this book is the writing: philosophical, fluid, lyrical, true. The dialogue and the character interactions are often left open-ended, James doesn't hand-hold or hit us over the head with each scene's significance. But they are all significant. James does not shy from showing the truth of a character--their deepest desires and twisted logic, flaws, joy, shame. But while each character (particularly Raím) makes many mistakes, the reader is still endeared to them. The reader IS them.
But ultimately, each character's journey is their own. While they're deeply entangled in each other's stories, their growth and choices and mistakes are their own. I found that beautiful. The whole thing is beautiful. It's worth hunting this one down if you can get hold of it.
Roadsouls is an absolutely beautiful book. I've never read anything quite like it-- it's certainly one of my top books I've read this year. I'm not sure I can explain it, but let me try.
Roadsouls follows two characters closely: Raím, a vain young man who seems to have it all-- beautiful, strong, skilled-- until he loses his sight and becomes bitter, proud and reclusive; and Duuni, a sheltered but skilled young painter and weaver who has been abused her whole life and all she's destined for is more of the same.
Both of these characters, when they come across the Roadsouls caravan, lift up their hands out of desperation and are taken in by the traveling troupe. But both have very different journeys to take.
Raím is angry and arrogant, so closed off in his heart that he isn't able to accept help, much less love, from anyone. He wants so achingly and deeply-- for companionship, self-efficacy, value in the eyes of others instead of being viewed as helpless, a worthless blind beggar. He wants for the identity he lost when he lost his sight. But he sabotages his own desires with his relentless pride.
Duuni is naive and terrified, her entire knowledge of men based on a life of forced submission and abuse, being beaten, being owned. She finds freedom with the Roadsouls, a place where she has agency, where she can contribute-- but she struggles to find the courage to step out of her open cage.
And of course, the characters the two come across are wonderful (and terrible), as is the breadth of the world as we discover it through Raím and Duuni's eyes as they travel from their homes for the first time. The meaning of a name in different regions and languages plays a significant part in Raím's personal journey, with a beautiful resolution.
What I loved most about this book is the writing: philosophical, fluid, lyrical, true. The dialogue and the character interactions are often left open-ended, James doesn't hand-hold or hit us over the head with each scene's significance. But they are all significant. James does not shy from showing the truth of a character--their deepest desires and twisted logic, flaws, joy, shame. But while each character (particularly Raím) makes many mistakes, the reader is still endeared to them. The reader IS them.
But ultimately, each character's journey is their own. While they're deeply entangled in each other's stories, their growth and choices and mistakes are their own. I found that beautiful. The whole thing is beautiful. It's worth hunting this one down if you can get hold of it.
November 27, 2017
I fell into this book, its characters, its world. I fell into it and I didn't want to leave. It is a beautifully told, beautifully felt story of two people, each broken in their own way. It reminds me of Ursula K. Le Guin, which is one of the highest compliments I can offer. The world is invented and contains a background thread of fantasy, but it is also a real place, in the way that all good books bring us to visit real places and people that come to matter to us. I recommend it very highly.
P.S. I note that "Roadsouls" was a finalist for the 2017 World Fantasy Awards.
P.P.S. I see that the author's website identifies this as a young adult novel; I consider it suitable for adults both young and old.
P.S. I note that "Roadsouls" was a finalist for the 2017 World Fantasy Awards.
P.P.S. I see that the author's website identifies this as a young adult novel; I consider it suitable for adults both young and old.
November 23, 2017
Roadsouls is a fascinating and wonderfully different kind of fantasy novel. As Suzy McKee Charnas noted, it's not about royalty, war, and magic as a weapon. This book is character driven, and works as deeply with the characters as any I have read. The protagonists, Duuni and Raim, are both highly capable and deeply flawed. Duuni is an artist channeling her work as though from elsewhere, and this is where the book is the most "fantastic". Raim is a highly capable man, but blind, caused when he became reckless through his pride. His anger at this fate never left him. Raim in particular suffers trials that make Job look weak. Duuni's struggles are more interior. It's a fine description of differing cultures, told very strictly through how Duuni and Raim experience them. Also plenty of excitement, with suitably villainous people as foils. A very good read indeed.
December 24, 2017
My 3 star ratings is purely based on the fact that I just don't really like magic realism. I keep forgetting this and trying to expand my reading repertoire - but its really just not my thing.
If this is your thing this is probably a much better book.
"It was no good, loving a stray kitten in a world of dogs."
If this is your thing this is probably a much better book.
"It was no good, loving a stray kitten in a world of dogs."
April 13, 2018
Betsy James does it again, telling a story about a world that does not exist, but feels eerily familiar and touching on subjects that open and break our hearts. Hers are some of the few books I can read over and over again. There are art and spirituality here that are more real than my breakfast.
July 11, 2016
It never goes quite where I expect, but the ending fits perfectly. Raim and Duuni are wonderfully complex characters. The villain(s) are appropriately villainous.
November 21, 2017
I enjoyed this book for its original concepts, its storytelling hook and the cast of diverse characters who were warm, humorous and poignant, simultaneously.
February 2, 2018
I appreciated the characters stance that if adults were going to abuse them then abuse needed to be a topic that children were allowed to talk about.
April 24, 2016
Overall I liked this book, although every time I thought nothing else bad was going to happen to Raim, I was wrong.
December 28, 2018
Beautifully written. Richly textured world.
Very dark in places, includes rape, child abuse and slavery if you need to avoid any of those...
Very dark in places, includes rape, child abuse and slavery if you need to avoid any of those...
March 29, 2025
Vivid and surreal. Sounds, scents, colors, heat, cold all emerge from the page like the lion from the painted cart.
My favorite of Betsy James's work — a wonderfully real work with two wonderful characters at its center.
My favorite of Betsy James's work — a wonderfully real work with two wonderful characters at its center.
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October 10, 2021DNF
Too YA for me.
Too YA for me.
September 11, 2022
Rich in all six senses. Immersive. Astounding.
December 17, 2018
This is a wandering wondering tale of two people who seem to be opposite souls, both outcasts, and both rescued by the Road Souls. Although the rescuing doesn't mean their journeys are over, not by a long shot. James conjures up a world that lures you in, and two people that you care about, even if they try to push you and each other away.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews