Soul of the World

By David Mealing

Publisher Description

Starvation and corruption have pushed the citizens of the New Sarrisant to the brink of rebellion. It will take only a spark to tip the scales towards violence, but as the Great Barrier weakens and rare arcane powers return to the land, war seems a foregone conclusion in David Mealing's cinematic debut epic fantasy.

The Great Barrier has kept the colonies of the new world safe for hundreds of years. But the colony is a powder keg. Food shortages stir the citizens to riots against the crown. Dissidents whisper of revolution. And worse, the strength of the Great Barrier seems to be slipping.

Sarine is a street artist, selling her sketches for coin to feed her family. With the help of her magic powers, she's so far been able to escape the notice of the city police. But a strange man with powers more terrifying than her own threatens to expose her secrets.

And she's not the only one whose life threatens the strange figure threatens to upend.

Start reading this incredible addition to the epic fantasy canon. For fans of Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, and Brian McClellan.

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22 Reviews

3.5

ArgentRabe

Created 3 months ago

Lisa (@TenaciousReader)

Created 6 months ago

“Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2017/08/21/review-soul-of-the-world-by-david-mealing/ Soul of the World is a good debut that sets the stage for an epic, world spanning series featuring magic, fantastical creatures and beasts. Three very different perspectives are used to give us the world view, which features a new and old world, and while there are different names, it feels much like England, France and the Americas. Aruk’Jar gives insights into the wilds and tribal life and customs. There is a strong tradition of gender roles here and even the magic is split according to “women’s magic”. But we do see strong females here, women can hold on to that magic as a power for themselves. Aruk’Jar has a very “do the right thing” type of personality and is driven to his best for the benefit of his tribe. Erris shows the reader what life is like on the battlefield and an understanding of the war that is going on. She is in command of a military campaign and is doing a stellar job (I love women who excel in military positions). I really like Erris, she is a strong leader and soldier. She also has magic to aid her, and uses that to her advantage in keeping her troops as safe and effective as they can be. Sarine is a street artist, and through her we find out what city life is like in New Serresant which seems to be on the brink of a revolution as the common people are beginning the fight for equality and to bring an end to nobles/aristocrats having so much control. It is a city that is beginning to boil with unrest, and Sarine finds herself with a prime seat it in action. I love Sarine. In fact sometimes I felt like I loved her chapters to the point of it being a detriment to the others. I didn’t want to leave her, and found my interests waning a bit when I would have to shift gears and focus on another story line. Sarine also has a mysterious familiar (descriptions make it sound like a small dragon like creature) that is invisible to others. This creature helps guide Sarine, though his motivations and reasons are not always clear, it is clear he is helpful. And she is powerful. Anyone with magical ability is supposed to be tested (and then pretty much branded), but Sarine has managed to avoid that fate and keeps her abilities hidden. That adds a level of risk for her whenever she taps into her ability, as doing so runs the risk that someone might detect her ability. My main complaint with this book is that I hate when I rank POVs so easily. And there was a definite hierarchy here for me, with Sarine at the top and Aruk’Jar at the bottom. I am guessing that won’t be the case for all readers as I do feel like all POVs are well written, and each has their own interesting element to add to the over all narrative. But for me, I felt a much stronger connection to Sarine and her story (followed by Erris). Is it wrong the author made me love them so much? No, definitely not. I just wish I was able to have a bit more of a connection to Aruk’Jar’s storyline. I think I felt somewhat similar to his storyline as I did about most of Daenerys’s chapters in <em>A Song of Ice and Fire </em>by George R. R. Martin. I know these chapters are needed, and that there will likely be a stronger pay off as the series progresses, but currently, I feel more detached. Overall, I would Soul of the World is a strong debut that brings interesting magic to a world that is on the brink of major changes and conflict. I am hoping some of the places where my interest waned a bit pay off in subsequent books (because when there is so much to learn about a world, sometimes the pace can slow).”

Nina_reads

Created 12 months ago

“The world building in this book is amazing. There are so many POVs I wasn't super connected to any of them but by the end I was so curious where this story was going to go I needed to get the second book ASAP.”

abooks

Created about 1 year ago

walkpack

Created almost 2 years ago

“i’m somewhere between a 3 and a 4 on this book. there were some really great things about it, cool magic systems, some great character relationships, very interesting foreshadowing to future books, but there were also some things that i really struggled with. each chapter (and pov of a main character) was way too short, so instead of me really enjoying the characters a quarter of the way through or so, i didn’t really like or enjoy any of them until i was well half way through the book; simply because i didn’t have enough time to live in their shoes and understand them. the author also had a knack of jumping forward past things that i felt would have been really cool, or important to actually read. for example, some of the big climaxes kind of fell short (in my opinion) because one minute everything was happening and the next minute it was like, “the next day after yadda yadda yadda.” i also felt like the author really wanted to introduce cool things dealing with all the gods and magic and ascensions throughout the book in secret and mysterious ways, but it really just ended up confusing or taking away from the current story. i love that there is more going on, but if i don’t enjoy the main story that i’m reading, then i’m not going to want to keep reading to find out what you’re hinting at. i think all-in-all i did enjoy this book and want to read the sequels, but it took me a long time to get into the story and the characters at the start. the ending interludes alone almost made me want to increase my rating to a 4, but once again, i need to enjoy the story in reading before i can enjoy what’s to come.”

About David Mealing

David Mealing grew up adoring all things fantasy. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, where he taught himself to write by building worlds and stories for pen and paper RPGs. He lives in Washington state with his wife and three daughters, and aspires to one day own a ranch in the middle of nowhere.