Review by: G.J. Terral

Blurb:

The whispers followed her. Since her first rebuke they persisted in their pursuit, distant yet clear, they offered the same deal. Power. Freedom. They swelled when she acknowledged them, the fierce static eschewing reality in its sudden onset.

Exiled from his home and his noble heritage in disgrace, Rurik toils in the mines of an ancient, underground ruin as foreman to a group of breakers: prisoners, cutthroats, and dregs of society forced into indentured servitude.

His responsibility to his crew weighs heavily on his conscience-for even the most minor job can prove fatal, and earning his life back can only be paid for with the lives of his friends. With his absence, his twin sister, Arkalis, is left to deal with Rurik’s failures.

With a hostile occupation of her family’s lands and new responsibilities as her ailing father’s heir she finds herself trapped in an impossible situation, one she’d rather drink her way through.

Accosted on all sides, neither could foresee their actions as the spark to an apocalyptic war, one responsible for the emergence of dark gods long since thought defeated. Chaos, it seems, is their last hope.

Review:

Immediate Spoilers—This story is chaotic. But in a very controlled way. Souls are also very, very present as a concept.

The story finds two main characters, Arkalis and Rurik, siblings by the way, in situations that on the surface seem as far from each other as they could be even though thematically their positions are very similar. Below the rune-covered surface lies a story about expectations of station, responsibilities, and of course, world-ending threats.

Arkalis sees more growth than Rurik. If I had a complaint, it would be related to some of the suffering Rurik eventually endures. Not a complaint that it happened, mind you, but a complaint that because of the enjoyably fast-paced narrative, we don’t get to sit with him in any meaningful way in the aftermath. (There is some sitting, but Rurik is a better man than me for moving on from the…. Events as quickly as he did.)

It is apparent that the author excels at forming and running parties— given that the action scenes were clear in my mind, and there was an established party composition when a good chunk of the combat took place.

The magic system (science system?) wasn’t explained in detail, and I believe the book is better for that, at least for now. As the characters learn more about the world, I would expect our understanding as readers to grow with it.

I very much enjoyed my time in the Soul of Chaos and look forward to diving into more of Gregory Wunderlin’s eventual works.

If you enjoy fast-paced action that doesn’t skip out on interesting characters, set in a world recovered from an apocalypse, on the verge of seeing another one, you’ll likely enjoy The Soul of Chaos. 4.5 Souls out of 5.

https://a.co/d/3CXvmWx