kevinscorner 's review for:

Soul Cage by L.R. Schulz

4.0

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Soul Cage is an epic fantasy series opener set in a world where magic is linked to the taking of another’s soul. Myddrin is a teacher who becomes the most powerful mage of his world after power literally falls onto his spear in the last war. Now after years of being tormented by the thousands of souls in his possession, he is an addict and drunkard when war has come again and he is called upon to fulfill his duty. Meanwhile, Will is a young neurodivergent boy who dreams of becoming a mage knight as he learns of the cost and its burden. On the opposite side of the war is Tvora, a soul-broken woman who needs to consume more and more souls to maintain the constructs that make up her friends.

Told from three perspectives, the book offers a rounded view of its world and the people within it. The author has built a world rich in history and steeped in tradition and conflict. Especially of note is its magic system where magic is fueled by the souls of the murdered while magic is manifested as objects or creatures, similar to Green Lantern powers. The story offers imaginative and intense action set-pieces that are grounded by deliberate character work.

My favorite character is definitely Will, but that’s pretty much given since I always love the classic young hero archetype. I did appreciate that he was neurodivergent and how important that part of himself was to his story arc and not treated as a quirk or novelty and eventually forgotten. His challenges in relating with others and how his own mind works is just utterly relatable and makes his journey as a knight in training that much more relatable.

I also really liked Myddrin, who is arguably the main protagonist of this book. He is the most understandable of the characters and whose motivation is the most compelling. He had unwanted power thrust upon him and is tormented by the burden of the many souls he is forced to carry. Hence, he has made it his mission to discover a way to end magic and thus free all the souls that mages carry in their soul cages. He struggles with sobriety which impedes on his ability to carry out his noble mission, and I can’t help but root for this mess of a man.

Tvora had me the most conflicted. She was probably the most interesting character with her broken magic and the three sentient animal companions she manifests, but I just could not quite get behind her. Her actions sort of make sense for her motivation, but very antithetical to who she is. I guess that was the point, but I was as conflicted with her as she was with herself. I was eventually won over by her turning point of sorts.

What I do want to see is a bit more depth in the prose which I do find to be too simple, as I do want my prose to be more complex in my fantasies. Otherwise, both the story and worldbuilding are already great and it’s just the delivery that I want more out of. I will be sure to read the sequel as I want to know where the story goes.

*Thank you to the author for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.