#Kingdom of Souls

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Kingdom of Souls

Author: Rena Barron

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2019

Genres: fiction, fantasy, mythology, paranormal

Blurb: Heir to two lines of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own...yet she fails at bone magic, fails to call upon her ancestors, and fails to live up to her family's legacy. Under the disapproving eye of her mother, the kingdom's most powerful priestess and seer, she fears she may never be good enough...but when the kingdom's children begin to disappear, Arrah is desperate enough to turn to a forbidden, dangerous ritual. If she has no magic of her own, she'll have to buy it...by trading away years of her own life. Arrah's borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal, and on its heels, a rising tide of darkness that threatens to consume her and all those she loves. She must race to unravel a twisted and deadly scheme, before the fight costs more than she can afford.

#kingdom of souls #reaper of souls #master of souls #rena barron #series #2019 #fiction #fantasy #mythology #paranormal

[nerdynatreads]

☆☆YouTube | Tumblr | Instagram | Storygraph ☆☆

book review || Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

video review || I Love Family Drama -- Recent Reads 001 || October & November Reads

Wow wow wow, this really developed into a much bigger story than I expected!

Out of the gate, I will say, this won’t be everyone’s type of fantasy, as it really reminded me of the Sands of Arawiya duology, but I was engrossed. The atmosphere was perfect for this time of year, really dragged me into the story every time I picked this book up. The world is rich and layered, with West African mythology interwoven, complicating the history we’re told. There’s tons of exposition, in the beginning, to lay out the different cultures we see in the country and the city, plus laying out our cast of characters. All of this is relevant to the plot, which is particularly impressive.

Our main character, Arrah, was by far the most well-created and the development she goes through throughout the story is a rollercoaster ride. Her family is… complicated… but I could never look away. A villain character that we’re introduced to through Arrah’s eyes was equally as fascinating and cleverly written. There’s a bit of a forbidden friends-to-lovers romance for Arrah and I genuinely had a hard time deciding whether I wanted them to stay best friends or become a couple. There were some other factors that began forcing them apart later on in the story, which I’ll admit, did make me start to root for them as a couple a bit more.

The plot, well, it is a RIDE. I was slack-jawed by the end and can’t wait to see what the next steps will be. This was surprisingly dark and at times, I had no clue how our heroes were possibly going to come back. I’ll admit, the pacing is really slow-moving, before taking big jumps to fast, and then mellowing out again.

My biggest complaints were the exposition could get a bit repetitive at times and in regards to Arrah’s reaction to something her love interest goes through. It felt pretty victim-blame-y, but did resolve itself fairly quickly.

4 / 5 stars

#book review #kingdom of souls #kingdom of souls by rena barron #kingdom of souls series #bookblr #booklr #book tumblr #booktube #booktuber #book youtube #bookshelves #book recs #book recommendations #fantasy book recs #fantasy book recommendations

[yaworldchallenge]

🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau

(*inspired)

Region: West Africa

Kingdom of Souls

Author: Rena Barron

439 pages, published 2019 - Part of a series

Original language: English

Native author? N/A

Age: Teen

Blurb:

Heir to two lines of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. Yet she fails at bone magic, fails to call upon her ancestors, and fails to live up to her family's legacy. Under the disapproving eye of her mother, the Kingdom's most powerful priestess and seer, she fears she may never be good enough.

But when the Kingdom's children begin to disappear, Arrah is desperate enough to turn to a forbidden, dangerous ritual. If she has no magic of her own, she'll have to buy it--by trading away years of her own life.

Arrah's borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal, and on its heels, a rising tide of darkness that threatens to consume her and all those she loves. She must race to unravel a twisted and deadly scheme... before the fight costs more than she can afford.

Set in a richly imagined world inspired by whispered tales of voodoo and folk magic, Rena Barron's captivating debut is the beginning of a thrilling saga about a girl caught between gods, monsters, and the gift and the curse of power.

Other reps:

Genres: #fantasy world #magic #adventure

My thoughts:

Another amazing African fantasy world, though not specific to the country.

For a true Guinea-Bissau author, maybe try the poems of Yasmina Nuny.

Review to come.

Bookshop.org link | Kindle link

#guinea-bissau #ya world challenge #diverse books #booklr #ya books #kingdom of souls #rena barron #fantasy world #fantasy #magic #adventure #monsters #west africa #africa

[mistwraiths]

3.5 stars

I liked Kingdom of Souls for the most part, especially since it's considerably darker than most regular YA fantasy books and has some pretty dark stuff happening or alluded to within the book. It's a West African inspired fantasy, following a girl who desperately wants magic but isn't gifted with any. When children start being taken, she uses a ritual to sell years of her life for the magic to find them. Only, it leads to so much worse than she thought.

This book is nearly 500 pages and it is does often feel a lot longer. Despite the fact that things are happening at a rapid pace, it takes awhile for the book to really get to the plot of missing children.

Actually, things happened at such a frenzied pace that I felt exhausted for poor Arrah. Unfortunately, this gives the subject matter hardly any time to REALLY dig into things. The characters, mainly Arrah, can barely react or try anything, or even go over what happened for more than a few hours or so before something else happens. I get it's likely to show futility about what's happening but it's really frustrating to read because it just makes the main character feel like she can't do anything in her own story except react to what's happening.

There's a LOT going on. BEWARE SPOILERS. Arrah sold some of her years for magic to find the children. And it turns out her mother is evil. Then gets cursed by her, which is confusing at times because there's references to her mother's magic curse and demon magic but I am a bit unclear if it's the result of her mother, the ritual, or from before. You've got the mentions of mind rape, killing children, and then a demon/god baby. Which the two above is so briefly touched upon. Then some place where time acts crazy. On top of meddling orishas (immortals). An actual off-screen rape. The main character victim blaming. The main character trying repeatedly to kill her little sister. The witch doctors sacrificing themselves and tying their kas to Arrah. BIG reveal of The Unnamed and a bunch of other twists.

Again, it's a LOT so I would have liked more if it could have slowed down a bit more and really delved into these dark and horrific bits. The strained relationship between Arrah and her mother is really good work and her love for her dad. I wish we could have delved more into the struggle of Arrah learning more of her sister and really dealing with the gravity of that.

Arrah does at least feel this weariness and desperation, and anger which is right. I really like Radjek and his own story is interesting but I really was quite upset with the rape part that happened to him. The other side characters are okay.

I did like the ending with the big reveals and it definitely got me interested in learning the big truth.

#rena barron #kingdom of souls #steph's book review #steph reads #book review

[frongfriend]

Yes, this is the true ending 🌱

#tears of the kingdom #totk #link #gannondorf #loz tears of the kingdom #loz totk #totk comic #totk link #totk ganondorf #totk korok #frong art #frong comic #i poured my heart and soul into this shit post

[mintaii]

stuff i drew this year that i really liked!

#my art #everything everywhere all at once #the legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #one piece #one piece bewitched me body and soul #character ensemble art....... 2022 me lowkey could never

[lightsintheskye]

I have only finished one area in this game and ran straight there can you take a wild guess where I went. Can you.

#Can you tho #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom #zelda tears of the kingdom #zelda spoilers #prince sidon #totk sidon #totk yona #this is also a lie though because i saw bolson dialouge from npc had me running to see him at 4 hearts only for a gleeok to scaremy soul out #i made it #but at what cost

[craske]

a small prediction, or speculation on where the story in beast yeast might go in the future, based on what weve seen in the story mode in the cookie lab

or, as one would say, fuck you unbeasts your jester

#i drew only pilk cookie bc hes the only one weve seen so far #just assume other beasts are there in the bg too #having their soul jam juice sucked out of them #cookie run kingdom #shadow milk cookie #dark enchantress cookie #uhhh small cameos in the bg i wont tag them #my art #fanart #digital art #also im a big fan of the emotive hair eyes for pilk cookie #also for the record i call shadow milk cookie pilk cookie its too long of a story to explain

[fantastic-nonsense]

you think Kaz Brekker's most iconic kill is the guy he threw overboard because he nearly killed Inej

I think Kaz Brekker's most iconic kill is the law clerk he dropped off a lighthouse because he was blackmailing a sex worker

we are not the same

#kaz brekker #six of crows #crooked kingdom #inej ghafa #CK Ch. 2 lighthouse kill my dearly beloved #Unhinged Kaz RIGHTS #listen kanej owns my soul but Kaz respecting and protecting the personhood and autonomy of women he doesn't know wins this one

[sleepyflowershead]

i thought such idea like this after seeing so many pv, sm

pining this so lil intro for my concepts that just become a freaking au-

edit : yall seem uhh to like it so here something for the this one, edit again to make 2 lil more make sense, his name “jester”

shadow milk possessed pure vanilla mhm but he somehow make themselves bound together forever in mind, soul, mental, physical and got physical appearance change, pv can still like fight back but it won’t be enough (edit : finally it got edit of my mind, they pretty much a “mixed” as part of side effect)

2. white lily have tough time thinking be ofc that one 3rd choices but it also result pure vanilla getting seal away with shadow milk too, clock is ticking

she have no choices.

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #pure vanilla cookie #shadow milk cookie #does even reference image like him even counts- #wooooo let go 2 post in one day bruh #she is depressions but i doubt ppl read tags uhhhh maybe? #trapped forever soul au

[five-of-cr]

Them 🧡🩵

#some soft wesper for the soul #kaz is yellow in the 7th one #will add alt text soon #wesper #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #wylan hendriks #six of crows #shadow and bone #crooked kingdom #sab #incorrect six of crows #incorrect crows #wylan van sunshine #incorrect grishaverse #six of crows spin off #save six of crows #six of crows incorrect quotes #grishaverse #incorrect grisha quotes #jack wolfe #kit young

[areyousanta]

Gotta make a matching one like I did with the demon bow

#link #loz #totk #loz totk #legend of zelda #legend of zelda tears of the kingdom #areyouart #gotta also show off that scythe #gives very maka and soul vibes #good shit

[nelkcats]

The Wish

Danny wasn't Desiree, he didn't have the power to fulfill wishes or gain power from it, but he did have subjects. And each of his subjects wanted something different, and since becoming Ghost King he had done his best to fulfill them. Or at least, fulfill the ones that were reasonable.

But there were so many ghosts, many ghosts he didn't know, from all corners of the Infinite Realms, and some had requests that while he could fulfill, maybe it wasn't the best thing for him to do.

The wish he had heard the most was "kill the Joker," Danny didn't know who the Joker was. Maybe a mass murderer taking into account all the angry souls who wanted the same thing. And he would be willing to kill him, but that would be a headache regarding universal balance.

Danny debated how to solve the problem without destroying the delicate balance of the Realms; then he was visited by a soul, a teenager who felt like a ghost but at the same time not (a broken soul? That was rare). The soul had a peculiar request, "let me come back, I will kill the Joker."

Danny frowned, he didn't think creating a halfa with a vengeful obsession was a good idea. But before he could give his verdict, the soul was ripped from his hands.

Danny wanted to deny his request, he wouldn't wish an existence like him on anyone, but if he didn't help that soul might disappear. Such "Lazarus pits" were not infallible, they were rotten, full of contaminated ectoplasm, and Danny knew it (he would have to deal with that later), but he also knew that with a little of his help Jason would survive.

Reluctantly he complied with the teenager's request and Jason returned to the realm of the living. Unbeknownst to Jason he had tied his soul to the King's request (to kill the Joker, not that Jason knew that, or would complain if he ever found out).

Danny, of course, was worried about the boy (halfa?), and decided that if Jason hadn't accomplished his "mission" in about 5 years he would bring him back to the Realms, maybe teach him about everything. He needed to get the kid another obsession anyway.

Bruce never let Jason kill the Joker, and the 5 years went by pretty fast. Danny decided it was time to visit Jason, and maybe take him back.

#dpxdc #ghost king danny #he is trying to be a good leader #and fulfill his Kingdom wishes #Some are easier than others #Ember wanted a concert #Gotham souls wanted revenge #Jason is the souls' leader #mostly because the Joker assassinated him directly and on live #dp x dc #dc x dp #Jason survived thanks to Danny #the Lazarus pits were not enough #his obsession is mostly revenge #Danny wants to change that #he gave Jason 5 years to kill the Joker on his own and spend time with his family before returning to Infinite Realms #Bruce stopped Jason every time #and interfered with his obsession #causing the “pit madness” #Danny wonders if he should just kill the clown and end everything

[nightblood]

I finished Kingdom of Souls tonight and I really enjoyed it.

I only have a few problems with it. Mostly surrounding the bit where Arrah and Rudjek leave the rest of the group. Because all that happens between them leaving the group and reuniting is Efiya deceiving Rudjek to have sex with him. I honestly feel like you could’ve kept the group together and cut that bit.

And I hate that Rudjek apologizes to Arrah and that it was thrown in Rudjek‘s face by Kore like he chose to sleep with Efiya of his own free will instead of being raped.

Maybe it will be addressed in the sequel.

But aside from that I was really invested in the story. I read the entire book over the course of the weekend and I didn't want to put it down.

#kingdom of souls #rena barron #tw rape mention

[swiftiecrow]

girls do not want true love they want shadow and bone s3 and the soc spin-off

#oh no wait they do not want them they NEED these things #am I wrong #I don't think so #I'd sell my soul #s&b #soc #six of crows #crooked kingdom #grishaverse #shadow and bone

[g0blinh0urs]

i randomly made this connection in my head aND NOW I CANT UNSEE IT

#tears of the kingdom #totk trailer #totk fanart #tears of the kingdom fanart #the legend of zelda #the legend of zelda fanart #totk link #adventure time #adventure time fanart #finn mertens #WHY ARE THEY SO SIMILAR #LITERALLY i could still go on #both have a four letter name #both are reincarnations of a great entity #both had an evil (more or less) clone who tried to kill them #both had a super amazing magic sword that shattered/was lost #and that was really traumatizing and tragic #AND THE SWORD HAD A SOUL (kinda) #anyways there's A LOT there