Kingdom of Souls

Kingdom of Souls Trilogy, Book 1

By: Rena Barron

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Explosive fantasy set in a West African world of magic and legend, where one girl must sacrifice her life, year by year, to gain the power necessary to live up to the expectations of the mother she has never been good enough for. 

Perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Tomi Adeyemi and Black Panther 

There’s magic in her blood. 

Arrah is a young woman from a long line of the most powerful witch doctors in the land. But she fails at magic, fails to call upon the ancestors and can't even cast the simplest curse.

Shame and disappointment dog her.

When strange premonitions befall her family and children in the kingdom begin to disappear, Arrah undergoes the dangerous and scorned process of selling years of her life for magic. This borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal and a danger beyond what she could have imagined. Now Arrah must find a way to master magic, or at least buy it, in order to save herself and everything she holds dear.

©2019 Rena Barron (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom of Souls. Wonderfully written, and full of dark magic and danger, it was a story I couldn’t wait to escape into. Highly recommended!” (Kendare Blake, number one New York Times best-selling author of the Three Dark Crowns series)

Great characters and world building

Really enjoyed this book.
Characters: Arrah, the mc, is a very engaging and likable character. She makes some very difficult decisions throughout the course of the book but her choices are always reasonable and understandable. While the other chatacters are not as fully developed they are interesting and they all have their own voice.

World building: The world isn't revealed to us through boring exposition but through Arrah's pov. This is done in a very interesting way and the world is fresh and unique. A different setting to that of traditional fantasy.

Story: An original and interesting story. I was fully engaged from start to finish my only complaint, and this may simply be personal opinion, being that the final quarter seemed a little rushed. Most of the story was very well paced but i felt that Arrah's relationship with her sister could have been better developed.

Magic: The magic system is detailed and clearly defined. Again it is unique in a positive way.

Writing: Barron is a good writer, better than many others in the genre. Her use of language and description helps you stay immersed in the story.

Narration: Maybe the best narration i've heard. Outstanding!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great mc and an interesting story set in a fascinating and unique world.

A dark and adventurous story

I really enjoyed listening to this story. The narrator's performance is brilliant!
This is pretty dark fantasy that really packs a punch.
Arrah deals with so much in this story and it's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster as the stakes are raised higher and higher.
I loved this story I look forward to reading the next one!

awesome introduction to the world and lore

very compex and indepth lore inspired by African mythologies that leaves you asking questions and wanting more.

Wonderful story, excellent narration

I love it when there's something that feels fresh at the same time as feeling old as time. High magic fantasy setting inspired by West African mythology. The world feels rich and tangible and I really enjoyed the narration.

The formatting of the chapter breaks meant it wasn't always easy to tell when there was an actual chapter break, so it did make the pacing feel very erratic in places, but I felt like that was more down to the editing rather than the story or the VO.

Highly enjoyable, with a diverse cast. I normally steer well clear of anything so much as hinting at romance, but it doesn't feel forced (although by the fourth time you hear about Rudjek's eyes being "obsidian," you'll be rolling your own) and all of the characters are interesting in their own ways. They all have their own stories going on.

This is wonderful. Pick it up.

Warning - Very dark

Really well written book but it’s extremely dark 😩 I’m not sure I’ll read the other book but I recommend to people that enjoy a well written book with a dark story

Boring

Boring, ! this book did not pick up pace until Chapter 16. not for me

(Updating earlier review) Most excellent!

Will update this when I'm done but this is such a compelling story - one for those who love Nnedi Okorafor. And another superb performance by Robin Miles (it's because her readings are so great that I found this, and I'm so happy I did). Incidentally I found the first 20 mins or so really weak - I nearly gave up at the beginning and returned it. SO glad I didn't. HIGHLY recommended so far. **UPDATE** Doesn't disappoint. A rollicking adventure and a superb bit of mythmaking, with a great senso of growing uncertainty about identities and motivations. Loved it. Would I have liked it so much on paper...? Dunno. Probably not. But I highly recommend the audiobook.