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A review by shandyt
The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons
5.0
4.5 stars, rounded up.
By all rights, I should not have enjoyed this third entry into A Chorus of Dragons as much as I did—but here we are. What an amazing journey.
The first book and I have a love/hate relationship (though mostly love), due to structural issues and some jarring tonality, and the second book was a bit of a bore. I wasn't sure what I expected from the third book, but figured there was no way it could top book one. What a pleasant surprise to be so wrong. The Memory of Souls takes the energy of the first book and the 'gender playtime' aspects of the second book and dial both up to eleven. The first two thirds are an exciting, fast-paced adventure, and if the politics of the final third bog the story down a bit, the finale makes up for it. Seriously; it's an ending to rival any Brandon Sanderson book. Holy wow.
I am a big fan of the queer representation in this series. There are intersex characters, asexual characters, LGB and (technically) trans characters, and poly relationships galore. However, that does prove to be something of a downfall at the same time, as by the end of the book, the chart of family/romantic relationships ends up looking like a plate of spaghetti. If you read the audiobook version like I did, try to get your hands on the glossary/maps/family trees—they will be your friends.
I'm not sure where the series plans to go after that firecracker of an ending, but I wondered the same thing after the first book, too, and I trust it will be somewhere fun and exciting.
But for the love of Thaena, Kihrin needs to
By all rights, I should not have enjoyed this third entry into A Chorus of Dragons as much as I did—but here we are. What an amazing journey.
The first book and I have a love/hate relationship (though mostly love), due to structural issues and some jarring tonality, and the second book was a bit of a bore. I wasn't sure what I expected from the third book, but figured there was no way it could top book one. What a pleasant surprise to be so wrong. The Memory of Souls takes the energy of the first book and the 'gender playtime' aspects of the second book and dial both up to eleven. The first two thirds are an exciting, fast-paced adventure, and if the politics of the final third bog the story down a bit, the finale makes up for it. Seriously; it's an ending to rival any Brandon Sanderson book. Holy wow.
I am a big fan of the queer representation in this series. There are intersex characters, asexual characters, LGB and (technically) trans characters, and poly relationships galore. However, that does prove to be something of a downfall at the same time, as by the end of the book, the chart of family/romantic relationships ends up looking like a plate of spaghetti. If you read the audiobook version like I did, try to get your hands on the glossary/maps/family trees—they will be your friends.
I'm not sure where the series plans to go after that firecracker of an ending, but I wondered the same thing after the first book, too, and I trust it will be somewhere fun and exciting.
But for the love of Thaena