Soul Render

Soul Stones, Book 1

By: T.L. Branson

Narrated by: A W Dickson

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

It takes a god to kill one.

Resistance fighter Will Sumner wants little more than to avenge his father who died at the hands of the ruthless king Alexander Drygo. When the opportunity arises to steal the king's most valuable possession, Will and his brothers launch an assault to retrieve it.

Obtaining the unimaginable power of a legendary soul stone, Will learns that the gods of old aren't dead after all. But even his newfound ability is no match for the tyrant that sits on the throne.

Now, the power he thought would be his salvation may very well claim his life - or his soul. To help tame this uncontrollable magic, Will seeks assistance from an unlikely source and aligns himself with a rebel group that may not have his best interests at heart.

Will's brothers have forsaken him, his friends may deceive him, and his enemies will stop at nothing to end his life and seize his power for themselves.

Fans of R.A. Salvatore, Brandon Sanderson, and Sarah J. Maas will love this epic sword and sorcery adventure.

©2018 T.L. Branson (P)2018 T.L. Branson

Interesting world

The narrator was great! He has a good range of voices with good tempo and inflections that (at least mostly) match the text. I have no complaints.

Now, at the prose level, the writing just seems a bit stilted to me. Not enough to prevent me from staying in the story, but it was enough to irk me a bit.

And yes, that slight stilting did translate to the dialogue as well, though not nearly so bad as some other books I've read recently.

The author has created an interesting (if under developed) world, with some really fascinating mechanics and a lot of things happening.

Unfortunately, the whole idea of the soul stones and what they actually do just doesn't really work for me. The source of their power (and how that came to be) especially doesn't work for me.

For what it's worth, I think it could make an awesome D&D game, but as a novel it just leaves something to be desired.

But the bigger issue for me is 1, so much of those happenings in the world aren't "seen" in the narrative, and 2, I just don't like Will. He's petulant, self-centered, whiney, and tries to be funny at all the wrong times.

And frankly, "Red" isn't much better. I like who she became later in the book, but through the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the book I really didn't like her.

Robert, on the other hand, is a solid character (apart from having only the thinnest veil of an expressed reason he doesn't like Will). His scenes are much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the 1/2 to 2/3 mark, his POV completely disappears. While I understand why the author chose to do this, it really made the last bit of the book a struggle for me to get through.

And finally, while the story is reasonably entertaining, it suffers from the oh-so-common problem that plagues indie fantasy: it's just too short. It didn't feel like enough time was spent developing each idea, with the side effect that much of it feels rushed and/or skipped over.

All in all, I mostly enjoyed the book, but not enough that I have any burning desire to continue the series.

Soul Stone

Fun Story. Person's soul can enter anyone with a soul stone. It starts out execution, and then the soul leaves into another's body. He's on the run, finds a woman and they go to try and find answers, and a relationship develops, but she's lying about something big.
I really enjoyed this adventure and the concept of a soul stone. The plot was well thought out with plenty of action and intrigue. I'd definitely recommend the book.
The narrator did a good job.

Amazing story!

Great story and the narrator does a fantastic job as well. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Fascinating World Building

Cool worldbuilding, compelling main character, though a secondary character steals the show. I was a little disturbed by the hero's attitude toward destroying souls, though.

A great read!

I really enjoyed Soul Render! The novel had a lot of really great qualities, including the writing. I felt that the author did a really good job at setting a consistent pace that was both exciting and enjoyable. The setting was well described and the characters felt real. I loved the magic and action, and the combination of both! The twists are unexpected, and make the reading fun! I will definitely be looking to read book two and would recommend this book to others who enjoy epic tales! I received this book in exchange for a potential honest review and I decided to post this review on my own.

Just bad writing

This book could’ve of been so much better, first the MC is sooo stupid he blindly trusted anyone that he meets, when he knows the entire kingdom is out looking for him and still goes by the same name. In the beginning he kills 3 people without a thought because they have something he wants, but when he’s caught by those same people and they kill his brother he just says ok no more killing. This book could’ve been so much more.