The Memory of Souls

So far the best book of the series!!!

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.

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!

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

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!