The Curse of Soulwaker by Sharon Elwood
The Soulwaker Trilogy Book #1
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 0/5
Plot: 5/5
Primary Genre: Paranormal Dark Fantasy
Blurb: Dunegray, commander of the undead Cursed legion, has led it in terrorizing and spilling blood throughout the kingdom of Nahmval. When Zerael, a powerful young sorcerer, lifts the curse, Dunegray and her army must learn to live among the very people they oppressed. But the Curse never forgets its servants. While she struggles with her newfound mortality and haunting visions, Silnus, a dark figure from the past, returns. Dunegray must prevent him from harnessing the Curse, or else she will be Cursed again and forced to destroy the people she’s learning to love, obliterating the last remnants of her humanity in the process. To save her people and this new world she misunderstands, Dunegray and Zerael are commanded to search for new allies in the coming war. This journey throughout Nahmval will reveal hidden motives and a secret that could unravel both Zerael’s country and Dunegray’s identity.
The Good:
* I read an actual TON of fantasy earlier in the year and I haven’t read any lately so this was a nice toe dip back into fantasy after a ton of romance/dark romance. This book still deals with dark themes/elements and the FMC is definitely giving morally gray vibes at times which is a nice switch up from all of the morally gray MMCs that seem to be in almost every romance novel lately.
* It feels so weird to be thinking/saying this but it was actually kind of nice to read a book with no spice in it. There actually wasn’t any romance in this book, it was straight up fantasy. I usually don’t read fantasy unless it’s fantasy romance but I really enjoyed this book because the plot was really interesting.
* There is some interesting exploration of dark moral themes that surprised me. This book went much deeper than I expected it to and that impressed me.
* There was a mystery aspect that made the story even more intriguing
The Meh:
* This isn’t a plot or writing flaw whatsoever but cliffhangers are definitely not my favorite and this book is a cliffhanger. Once I was at 80% I knew and the book seemed to drag for me and I didn’t really want to pick it up because I had a feeling about it and my feeling was correct.
* Towards the end of the book some of the world building started to feel a bit incomplete but I’m assuming that’s at least partially due to the cliffhanger.
Bottom Line:
This was the best fantasy novel I’ve read to date by an indie author. It’s also the only fantasy novel I’ve read with zero romance so that’s saying a lot. It’s got quite a bit paranormal in it and less of the elves/trolls type of characters that you traditionally find in a lot of high fantasy novels. It’s unique in a wonderful way. If you want to dip your toe into fantasy but you prefer it without romance and you want something different than a Lord of The Rings type of vibe, I would highly suggest that you pick this up. Even if you aren’t into fantasy, I think that you’ll enjoy this plot.
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