Jenn Lyons

The Memory of Souls is the third epic fantasy in Jenn Lyons’ Chorus of Dragons series. THE LONGER HE LIVES THE MORE DANGEROUS HE BECOMES Now that Relos Var’s plans have been revealed and demons are free to rampage across the empire, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies—and the end of the world—is closer than ever. To buy time for humanity, Kihrin needs to convince the king of the Manol vané to perform an ancient ritual which will strip the entire race of their immortality, but it’s a ritual which certain vané will do anything to prevent. Including assassinating the messengers. Worse, Kihrin must come to terms with the horrifying possibility that his connection to the king of demons, Vol Karoth, is growing steadily in strength. How can he hope to save anyone when he might turn out to be the greatest threat of them all? A Chorus of Dragons 1: The Ruin of Kings 2: The Name of All Things 3: The Memory of Souls

The Memory of Souls

Cassidy Nolan

“…Not everyone worships the goddess of sex, but everybody poops.”

jenn lyons i’m sending you my next therapy bill

I had no idea what to say. Or, no, because that’s not true. I had so many things I wanted to say I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to tell him I would never have asked him to kill me if I didn’t trust him implicitly. I wanted to tell him he deserved to live in a world where he was more than his mother’s favorite knife. I wanted to tell him I’d come back, that Hell itself couldn’t keep me away from him, that Thurvishar and I were going to find a way to make this right.

I wanted to tell him that last kiss had been amazing.

no don’t, keep my loves together 😭😭

“I’ll go with you,” Janel offered, coming to me at last.

“No.” I took her hands. “No. If Teraeth’s staying, you know someone needs to keep him out of trouble. Protect him, please.”

Teraeth grabbed me and kissed me back. His fingers tangled in my hair with insistent urgency as I felt his warm lips, his tongue. I was sinking and floating upward all at once, the whole world dampened into silence. I breathed him in. His mouth smiled against mine just a moment before he bit down on my lower lip with a sharp, exquisite sting. I laughed but didn’t stop.

“But you? I’ve never been prouder of any of my children than I am of you. If anyone can figure out a solution to this mess, it’s going to be you. Whatever happens, I believe in you.”

I could only stare. It wasn’t that I didn’t hear the words. On the contrary, each word vibrated, sank into my soul, shattered me. But Therin spoke a language I only vaguely understood - I had to stop and puzzle over each sentence. Even then, it took a few seconds for the meaning to settle in, for me to realize my father was serious.

therin & khaeriel. it seems i have underestimated you

“How many times must I spell this out? You are my 

, Khaeriel. I love you. You’re every good thing I cherish in the world, every reason I have to draw breath, the only reason I will ever need to smile. I’d pay that necklace of star tears or a thousand like them just to hear you laugh. It hurts to know you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

“No need,” Janel said. She closed the carriage door behind her and sat down between Teraeth and myself. Of course, there was no “between” Teraeth and myself, so she ended up sharing our laps - one thigh on Teraeth’s leg, one thigh on mine. I shifted a little sideways to accommodate her. Teraeth did too. We each ended up with an arm around her for balance, hands on each other’s shoulders.

The smell of sex and sweat lingered in the air, mixing with the odor of cold, dusty stone.

“You son of a bitch,” Teraeth hissed. “You know what the worst thing is? Worse than failure, worse than that moment when you realize you’ve screwed up irrecoverably, the arrows are falling, and you’ll 

 be able to make this right? Watching the two people you love fall in love with 

. Don’t you think it fucking kills me every time I see you hold her hand, every time she cries in your arms, the way you laugh and smile at each other? And who am I supposed to be jealous of? I’ve spent four years trying to win either one of you over, and it took you both one day - 

This is a good time to point out once more that Teraeth and Kihrin are not in any way related to each other in a biological sense. Just in case you may have been concerned.

Judy McClure

Welp, now I have to wait for book four after binging through 1 to 3. Enjoying the series, loving the characters, still frustrated with multiple names/incarnations/what have yous for every character but am somewhat better at remembering who's who. Mostly.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received the e-arc and a finished hardcopy of this book. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Memory of Souls

Author: Jenn Lyons

Book Series: A Chorus of Dragons

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: epic high fantasy, magic

Publication Date: August 25, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, murder, the end of the world)

Publisher: TorTeen

Pages: 608

Synopsis: Now that the city of Atrine has been destroyed and Relos Var's plan to free the dark god Vol Karoth has been revealed—the end of the world is closer than ever.

To buy time for humanity, Kihrin, Janel, and Thurvishar must convince the king of the Manol vané to perform an ancient ritual that will strip the vané of their immortality—a ritual that certain vané will do anything to prevent. Including assassinating the ones bringing the news.

Worse, Kihrin must come to terms with the horrifying possibility that his connection to Vol Karoth is steadily growing in strength. How can Kihrin hope to save anyone when he might turn out to be the greatest threat of them all?

Review: This series is so good! I loved the writing and voice in this book and you can definitely tell that the author improved as the series went on. This book is a fantastic conclusion to the series. The characters are well developed, the ending wraps up nicely, the pacing is still on key, and the plot is interesting and intriguing.

The only issues I had with the book is that the world building was a bit less in this book and that you will need to read books 1 and 2 before you dive into this one. It relies on recent memory and knowledge of books 1 and 2.

Verdict: A fantastic series!

Mariya Tuchinskaya 

Jenn Lyons continues her world building in Book 3 of her Chorus of Dragons series. I feel that with each book we get to see another piece of the intricate world she has created. In this book we finally get to see the semi legendary Vane kingdom, home of Kihrin’s birth mother, Keriel. In addition to getting to explore more of this world I thought that having Kihrin meet his mother’s people somewhat brought his journey full circle since he had begun book 1 by meeting and dealing with his father’s people.

Another thing I enjoyed in this book was how seamlessly Jennifer Lyons has woven these different characters together in terms of the plot. A gripe I had with George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire was that with so many characters it’s easy to forget the importance of characters we haven’t seen in a while. Yet Jenn Lyons manages to re-introduce characters we haven’t seen in a while in such a way that not only do we remember who they are, but they end up having an important role to play in the overall plot. For example, Tallon the Mimic provides Kihrin with some unexpected assistance and Kihrin is also reunited with his birth parents, Keriel and Theron.

“The Memory of Souls” being the middle of the series means that we finally get some answers as to the origins of Vol Karoth and the battle between the 8 Immortals and Relos Var. I really like how with this information neither the gods nor Relos Var can easily be identified as either the hero or the villain, because both sides have somewhat valid reasons for what they are doing. I think it would have been too easy if the good guys were so easy to spot and after all we learned in the first book that the immortals are all too fallible.

I will say that unlike in Book 2 the Janel-Kihrin-Teraeth love triangle is starting to grow on me. This is mostly, because it’s become less a competition now between Kihrin and Teraeth and more of three people who genuinely love one another.

As with the other two books, I didn’t see that ending coming. Kihrin is just so good at doing the unexpected! I really hope there is a happy ending for him somehow, because I just love him as a character! Definitely a 5 out of 5 read. If you love books with great world building then this is a must read for you.

For more reviews like this check out my blog at reviewsbym.com

Michael Hessling

Pretty exciting. I struggled for days with the multiple characters; thank the stars for the glossary, timeline, and family tree. Thinking I might skip the next two until they’re all five complete!

Deborah Kerr

Melissa Railey

Nicholas Conner

Ashlee

'Everything epic fantasy should be: rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling . . . I loved it' Lev Grossman on The Ruin of Kings (book one) The longer he lives, the more dangerous he becomes . . . The city of Atrine lies in ruins. And now Relos Var has revealed his plan to free the monstrous god, Vol Karoth, the end of the world is closer than ever. To buy time for humanity, Kihrin and his friends need to convince a king to perform an ancient ritual. The power released would imprison the god for an age to come. But this may come at too high a price for the King of the Vane, as the ritual would strip his people of their immortality. As a result, some will do anything to prevent this ritual – including assassinating those championing this solution. Worse, Kihrin must come to terms with a horrifying possibility. It seems his connection to Vol Karoth is growing in strength . . . but what does it mean? And how can Kihrin hope to save his world, when he might be the greatest threat of all? 'Delightful and entertaining . . . it’s a fast, pacey read' - Locus Magazine ‘Lyons raises stakes to a fever pitch' - Publishers Weekly The Memory of Souls is the third book in the epic fantasy A Chorus of Dragons series: following The Ruin of Kings and The Name of All Things.

The Memory of Souls

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