A review by whatthefawkes
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

4.0

I received this book from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.

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This is the West-African inspired fantasy we all deserved!

Deeply complex and rich with magic and deception, Kingdom of Souls is a deliciously dark take on African mythology. Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah is desperate to come into her powers and perform magic. But after years of failure, Arrah is willing to try one last thing to get what she wants: trade years of her life for magic. Naturally, all is not what it seems. When children start disappearing, Arrah is transported on a dangreous journey where she must discover who and what she is.

You're intrigued, right? Strangely enough, this book reminded me of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman until things took a very dark and interesting turn when who and what had the children was revealed. That was when I felt truly hooked on this book. It opened a very interesting dynamic between Arrah and another character (who I shall not name for fear of spoilers), and opened one hell of a shit storm that would be the second half of this book. At this point, I was rubbing my hands together thinking, 'at last! Some real excitement!'

My main issue with Kingdom of Souls was the pacing (and the ending). There was a lot happening in this book that dragged when it shouldn't have. There were demons, blood sacrifices and evil creeping at every corner but it lacked conviction in places - particularly the middle. And then there was the end... what a lacklustre and confusing mess that was. After all the grand reveals were made, it had felt like we'd met a natural conclusion a number of chapters before the end. Everything after that felt like an attempt to stretch this book into a series. With changes to the ending, Kingdom of Souls could easily have been a (much improved) standalone. I'm not sure how keen I am to see where the next book goes because I didn't care much for this particular villain... but it's likely that I'll read it all the same.

All in all, Kingdom of Souls was an exceptionally fleshed out and dark tale of sacrifice, magic and relationships. Although it takes time to feel invested, it's definitely worth it! The twists and turns will leave you wanting to turn the pages for more.