Souls of the Never

Book One of the Tales of the Neverwar Series

By: CJ Rutherford

Narrated by: Katie Welburn

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Something wants our world...and it’s coming through her to get it!

Katheryne, a kick-ass Irish heroine, and Derren, her dimension-hopping boyfriend, along with a ragged team of misfits, are pitted against the powers of darkness; powers that want to free magic – and their malevolent god – from its ancient prison.

The fate of two worlds lies in their hands, so cue time-travel. Cue epic battles. Cue re-runs of Friends…hey, even heroes have down time.

Souls of the Never will have you on the edge of your seat in the breakneck adventure through science and fantasy, where two worlds battle to save reality…and the Super Bowl final.

©2014, 2015 Colin Rutherford (P)2015 Colin Rutherford

Three worlds. Romance, Fantasy, and War.

Would you consider the audio edition of Souls of the Never to be better than the print version?

Yes. The performance is excellent-- neither overdone or wooden. Great balance.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Souls of the Never?

There are many, all centered around the very real caring that Perry shows for Kat. It sounds like actual people we know.

Which character – as performed by Katherine Welburn – was your favorite?

Perry. Coy, cute, and sharp. Genuine.

Kathryn vs the world

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.

I found the story a little difficult to read. I'm used to reading romance and YA which focus on two different perspectives, alternating every 1-2 chapters, but we've got 4 or more here, and many of them seem to be minor characters we don't hear much from until later. The chapters are really short, which makes the frequent perspective change a bit more difficult to manage. The first half of the book is primarily background, and things don't really start moving until a kidnapping at the halfway mark. After that, I felt the story improved as everything starts coming together.

The narrator gives a bit of a quiet voice to the story. I like her character voices; perry and julia come to mind. I think she could have done a little more to help differentiate the different perspectives, though.

Worth the read...or listen.

The narrator was great, no annoying voices. The story was interesting, although the ending was a little depressing. I am intrigued to see how the next one will go.

Great narration, Story was fun.

Would you consider the audio edition of Souls of the Never to be better than the print version?

Yes, the print version would require guesswork of intonation at the beginning of the book when you're still figuring out the relationship between each character.

What did you like best about this story?

Focusing less on the physicality of romance, more on the big picture of beating the bad guys.

What does Katherine Welburn bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Inflection & Intonation from a girl named Katherine. The experience became much more real! Ms. Welbrn's reading makes sure you're engaged in the story. She has a good range of voices, and her talent of utilizing pace / tempo seems to improve throughout the book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

One exceptional girl challenges the threats of evil that spans the realities

Any additional comments?

While I was a bit confused with the characters' relationships at the beginning, I eventually figured things out and enjoyed a great novel.

an honest review in exchange for a free copy

overall a very good book. it took me a little bit to get into it, in the beginning, but it seemed to just click for me. honestly not sure if that was me or the book, but I look forward to hearing it again. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good book.

Souls of the never

Katherine and perry are friends. They do everything together. When she met Darren she fell in love with him. When he get captured. She and her friend trying to save him. But she have also save her mothers soul. To save her she have to gave her sister up to tenybris. Because she get in a depression her friend perry get her out of it she is the chosen one. Great narrated by Katie Welburn. I love the story full with twists.

Epic story. Great narrator.

What made the experience of listening to Souls of the Never the most enjoyable?

The ideas behind the story were deep and made me think. The book could have easily gone on for four times as long as it did without diluting the story. This is one of those alternate reality books that makes you wonder if it really could be... I also really appreciate the absence of the F-bomb. Thank you.

What about Katherine Welburn’s performance did you like?

I've listened to tons of audiobooks over the last 15 years. In general, I prefer a male narrator. I rarely run into a female narrator that offers a compelling, engaging, and relatable performance. Katherine's performance as narrator of this book is easily in my top three female narrators of all time. I hope they keep her throughout the trilogy. She made it very easy to figure out which character was speaking as she was perfectly consistent in her tone and presentation for each character. I especially liked her approach to the epic (good) ancient (yet young) character (can't remember his name...).

Saving Souls

Any additional comments?

Although read clearly and with great fervor, the narrator's vocal range did not permit as full a distinction of characters as the broad cast demanded. Nonetheless I found myself mesmerized by the story as we slipped from world to world and time to time as the narrative built to its conclusion. I found it helpful to have enjoyed the prequel which sets the background for the first novel in the series, but the tale also stood very well on its own. The author has imagined a rich universe of many worlds and creatures struggling to survive the chaos of an epic battle between good and evil.

Confusing at first but worth it

This book was really really confusing at first, but it was interesting. The longer I listened the more it made sense and was worth it to keep reading. Katie did a great job as the narrator. At times I had to really listen because she is so soft spoken. I loved the story and all its complexities. With stories like this it's so hard to just pick one person or one place even to talk about, but it's well worth listening to or even reading. I will say though that the Brownies are my absolute favorite race.

pros and cons

Pros. Great idea. Epic scale.
Cons. Unbelievable/unsustainable love story. Gag me now. But I finished.