Review: Soulwinder

Author: Travis Daniel Bow

Started reading: February 4th 2022

Finished the book: March 17th 2022

Pages: 424 / 14:27:00

Genres: Fantasy

Published: November 15th 2021

Source: Audible

Goodreads score: Not enough ratings

My score:

Synopsis

Three strangers. Two plots. One champion.
In the crater of a volcanic island, musical magic and enchanted swordplay rule society. Every seven years a champion from each caste climbs the tournament ladder for a chance at a new life. This year three apparent strangers—a sabotaged craftsman trying to save his mentally disabled father, a legendary duelist resisting the machinations of her master, and a Magistry janitor fighting an empathy-sapping talent—are desperate to reach the final battle. But a web of strange coincidence connects them, the city is on the brink of collapse, and nothing is as it seems. Everyone's a puppet… but who holds the strings?

My thoughts

This audiobook was pretty long, but it did not feel that way! The POV's were very different and the narration was great. In the beginning I had a bit of trouble of keeping Tell and Noro apart; not their storylines, but their names. When I listened to it longer, I could keep them apart. I really feel like this is a gem in a big sea of Fantasy books. The only thing that lacked a bit for me, was the ending.

Pros

• POVs: I've seen enough books where the POVs just aren't that interesting, or they're really hard too keep apart. This book had 3 very fun POVs and they were so different as well. I had no idea how it would all come together, because that's what I'm asking myself when there is a book with different POVs. Some of the links between the characters were easy to spot, but some were a bit harder too, and that made for fun plot twist later in the story.
• World building: It's so good. The way the society is build up and the three different castes where people live make for a varied story. It was all described really well and I thought it was fun too, that the characters live in the three different castes, so you really can emerge in that world.
• It comes together: I could not see, for a long time, how the three storylines would come together. But towards the ending, at 80% I could see how it would play out. It's very well thought through and feels like a very smart plot by the author. Definitely could not predict this when I started reading!

Cons

• Soulspinning: The one thing that I could not picture very well in my head was the soulspinning. It's quite a big part of this book, so that was sometimes a bit hard for me.
• Ending: The ending felt, overall, kinda rushed. This book is long, and takes time to build. The last 10% just felt a bit rushed, because so much is happening. It wasn't all that clear to me either. I would've loved some 30 pages more to know how things would go after the ending.

Overall

A good fantasy book with a totally new world and magic system, where society is divided in three different castes. In this book you will follow the story of three main characters who are very different and have very different lives. Still, they have more in common than they would think know and it's so much fun to see how it all comes together. Definitely a book worth your time, and I'd recommend the audiobook too!

Thanks for reading!

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