Laurel’s journey through time and space continues as she seeks to uncover the origins of the whole souls, and the truth behind their extraordinary powers.One war ends. Another begins.Laurel’s shock at being rescued by the Soul Monger is pushed aside as she battles the enemy on the homeworld of Gartrya. She secures the weapon so desperately needed to destroy the fortress, but victory comes at a … fortress, but victory comes at a price. Deploying the weapon condemns Gabriel to certain death, and as Laurel, Helen and Darlen engage the enemy in an effort to escape Gartrya and rescue Gabriel’s family, his mother is killed, and Laurel is seriously wounded.
With the knowledge that Canon Akkuh is responsible for the massacre of the Semevalians, Laurel must now expose the ancient sins of the League. To that end, she must commit treason, and in so doing, uncovers a mystery that leads her on a quest to find the origins of the whole souls and embark on a journey that will take her to the ends of the universe.
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A disappointing beginning is followed up by a colourful space odyssey
Score: 4 out of 5 (Warning this review contains spoilers)
I read and reviewed the first Soul Monger book a couple of weeks ago, and it caught my interest, so I decided to move on to the second part of the instalment. Like the first book, the second book has enjoyable writing and is an exciting fantasy science fiction book that focuses on character development and vivid descriptions instead of made up scientific explanations.
I must say I didn’t enjoy the first 20 % of the book (I read it on a kindle, so maybe first 50 pages). At the beginning of the book, the protagonist Laurel accompanied by two friends, walk into the palace of the main bad guy, kill his right-hand-man, and steal his magical crystals from his throne without much opposition. They also save the son of Laurel’s Stockholm syndrome crush from the first book from certain death at the hand of the Duke. Unfortunately, Laurel is injured as they escape the palace and wakes up from a coma several weeks later.
When Laurel wakes up, the war is over, and the evil duke from the first book has been killed off off-screen with a nuclear weapon made from the magical crystals that Laurel stole from his palace. This was a big letdown for me. Building up this menacing character and then killing him off unceremoniously is an unsatisfactory conclusion to his character arc.
Clearly, Laurel is also a bit disappointed that she didn’t get to confront the Duke, so she finds a new personal enemy, Canon Amukh. Canon Amukh is the seemingly benevolent leader of the League, the faction that Laurel fought for in the first book. But Canon has a secret. 500 years ago, his ancestors committed genocide, and Laurel decides this is a reason to break into the Canon’s palace to steal the secret documents proving the genocide. Laurel succeeds, and she finds the data files to get the Canon ousted from office. More importantly, she finds a magical stone tablet that can only be accessed by a Whole Soul, and this sets up the rest of the story.
Laurel and some of her friends are Whole Souls, I.E. humans with superpowers and having found this magical stone tablet, Laurel gathers some friends to travel the galaxy to find out the truth and the origins of her species and her powers. This sets up the rest of the book and is captivating space odyssey travelling to different worlds, facing off with various villains along the way. The cast of characters are diverse and adds to the story as Laurel slowly uncovers the secrets of the Whole Soul’s while still leaving their exact origin open to interpretation. (or saving the answer to the third book) During the odyssey, Scotney weaves in new connections to the Bible and the Chosen ones, time travel, and interstellar travel in a satisfying way.
Conclusion: The last 80 % of the book was a colourful and exciting odyssey. For the first 20 %, I’d much rather see that Laurel got her stone tablets after confronting the Duke. The Canon Amukh storyline felt a bit unmotivated unless he somehow makes a return for the third book. I.e. he was the dark lord all along or similar.