Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

In all honesty, I was bored throughout most of what I read, but when 25% rolled around (which is usually my cut-off point) I thought maybe it just needed a boost to get going. But suddenly at 30% it was Part Two and I didn't understand the point of Part One, so I gave myself a break and gave up on the book. Ultimately, while the world was awesome and there were the foundations for a good story, it refused to get on with it. Far too much unnecessary exposition and information dumping in the middle of scenes, making the plotline itself disjointed. The worldbuilding is great, but I don't need to be told in great detail because you want to delay until some action happens. Please, tell me a story, not anecdotes. In all fairness, this usually wouldn't be enough for me to wholly give up on a book but I found Arrah, our heroine, so passive as a protagonist that I was more rooting for something to go wrong to have some drama than for her to triumph. Not only does she not shut up about not having magic (even though she says she doesn't need it), she proceeds to refuse to attack her problem from a different angle. I'm pretty sure she will later develop magic in the book (or prove she doesn't need it) but she wasn't anywhere near that point a third into the book. I hope other people enjoy Kingdom of Souls more than I did, but in the end it wasn't enough to persuade me to invest more time in it.

Firstly I just want to say thank you for giving me the chance to review this book. It's been so hyped up in the #bookstagram community that I was so excited to read it.
I loved the idea of the book. A young girl waiting for her magic to come to her as she is from a family of highly regarded witch doctors. When this doesn't happen we see how far she will go to aquire magic and at what cost.
I didnt anticipate that story to be quite so dark! It was very rich in culture and I felt it took forever to really get going and I struggled to keep reading as it wasn't grabbing me.
Great story idea but sadly not for me

This is a refreshingly novel fantasy story with a strong African influence. There is nary a dwarf or elf to be seen, but plenty of demons and witch doctors to add to the monarchy, high priests (and priestesses) and a pantheon of deities – the Orishas. Despite much that at first seems unfamiliar, there are still the universal themes of good and evil, love, family and belonging.
The heroine, Arrah, dreams of being a witch doctor, like both her parents. She can see magic all around her, but is unable to manipulate it. Family is important to Arrah, and her feelings for her family (and theirs for Arrah) are tightly bound with her (and their) feelings about magic. To have no magic in a world and family full of magic, makes Arrah feel that she does not belong. While her father makes it clear that he will love her, whether she gains a talent for magic or not, her mother (Arti, High Priestess at the Almighty Temple) makes it even more clear, that Arrah is a failure, and has been a disappointment to her for most of Arrah’s short life.
“They don’t know what it’s like to feel you don’t belong, to feel you’re not worthy. To not measure up to a mother who all the Kingdom admires”.
Arrah so desperately wants her mother’s approval, that she puts her life at risk to try to get control of her magic.
It soon becomes apparent, that poor mothering is not Arti’s only crime, but can Arrah – with no magic of her own – stop Arti and her demonic plans?
There is a Romeo and Juliet style romance between Arrah and Rudjek (son of Arti’s greatest enemy), with Rudjek determined to keep Arrah safe, even when he does not understand all that is afflicting her.
Arrah has a lot of maturing to do. She comes to realise that magic can be a curse as well as a blessing:
“Now I understand why the holy scripts say that the orishas wanted to keep magic out of the hands of mortal kind. Magic isn’t good or bad. It’s people who make it dangerous”
and that she is a person of great value, even without her mother’s style of magic:
“Grandmother once told me that our greatest power lies not in our magic, but in our hearts. I thought she was trying to placate me, but no, she understood the importance of knowing one’s strength”.
I found the book initially quite slow going, but by about quarter of the way through, I was hooked, and really enjoyed the ride as the pace and complexity greatly increased. The world building is excellent and the story very well written. However, I cannot give it five stars, as the ending did not work for me. I am not quite sure what I wanted – or why – but it was not the way the book closed.
I would still recommend the book as a fascinating, unique and enjoyable fantasy novel.

*Arc provided by Netgalley and the publishers*

Omg this book was amazing. I now understand the hype for this this book!

Magic has a price, if you're willing to pay.
Arrah is born into a family of powerful witch doctors, but every year she fails to bring forth her ancestral powers.

After Arrah's friend goes missing and the city does nothing about it, she takes it upon herself to do everything she can to get magic on her own - even at the risk of her own life.

The world building is so rich and detailed without it being overwhelming. It drags you in straight from the first page. Although there is some romance in the book, it is not the main point throughtout.

I have so many thoughts on this one! I'm going to try to be as coherent as possible. And no, that doesn't mean this was a five star read (not quite!) but it ended up being a very solid four star one!

I read this book in two days. Partly because I had to (deadlines!) and partly because by the mid-way point I was kind of hooked. After about fifty percent, the book starts to kick off and I just could not put it down. But I should probably start from the beginning first.

I will admit, I didn't love Kingdom of Souls to begin with. My two main issues were Arrah, the main character, and the writing style that didn't really lend itself to the rich world building.

Arrah started out incredibly whiny. She kept going on and on about how she really wanted magic, how she was never chosen, how she was always last... and it all got a bit grating. For the first ten percent of the book I was rolling my eyes at her and was kind of like just SHUT UP.

The writing style started off very simple, and it put me off a bit because it was mixed with very rich and well-thoughtout world building. I wanted the writing style to match that. But instead we got quite a bit of "Arrah did this, and then met twenty other people whose names you're not going to remember later". I feel like this could have been polished more.

But that all got so much better.

Once we got to know Arrah a bit, her thoughts and emotions made so much sense. So she was seemingly whiny, but we learn that she's actually descended from the most powerful witchdoctors there are, so it makes sense that Arrah really, really wants to live up to those expectations. On top of that, her mother is a Priestess (THE Priestess), and is super beautiful and powerful, and has people basically dropping at her feet. Plus, Arrah's mother barely pays attention to her, and Arrah thinks that's because she doesn't have magic and she's a disappointment.

My advice if you think Arrah is whiny and needs to stop? Keep reading, because as you get to know her more, her actions make so much sense. And it's a little heartbreaking the more you think about it.

As for the writing style, it did improve. I think I got used to it as I also got used to the massive cast of characters (there are twenty gods alone, and then all the witchdoctors, and THEN all the people in Tamar without magic). Barron did a fantastic job of balancing everything, although I think it may have been slightly too much of a challenge for a debut author to tackle at first.

Massive points for the representation as well. This is is obviously West African inspired, and there are a few other cultures (mildly) represented in there as well. There's also what I think is a non-binary god as a minor character (who might become more relevant in the sequel??) and a couple of other mentions of LGBTQ+ characters. Minor, but woven into the world quite well. I'm hoping for more of that from the sequel!

By the way, there's a SHIP. I haven't had a good ship in YA books for so, so long. I never get invested any more because, to be honest, I'm probably a bit old for that (*gasp* I can't believe I just said that either). But Arrah and Rudjek read more like adults to be honest, and I think that's why I ended up rooting for them. I'm really worried about where they're going to go in the sequel, after what happened at the end there. Is this going to be another Shadow and Bone situation for the shippers?

While we're talking about relationships, I'm going to quickly mention Arrah and Efia. I was a little let down by how this relationship was handled, purely because I feel like a lot more time should have been spent on it. I would have been a lot more emotionally involved if I had seen them interact more, especially if they had had more cute moments. Instead they only had one, and then it was quickly onto the next thing. I understand why Barron had to speed things up, but this relationship was kind of crucial to the entire second half of the book, ya know? So more of that would have been good so I could have become more invested at the end.

There's also a twist that I didn't see coming. I won't say where it was or anything about it, but I did think it played out really well and I'm quite impressed that Barron tricked me like that.

Overall, Kingdom of Souls is one I would recommend! It's not a new favourite of mine, but it definitely stands out against the rest of the YA fantasy I have been reading this year.

Possibly one of the best books I have ever read! I cannot wait for the sequel to find out what happens next. Honestly, this blended some of the best elements in a story together and I do not have the words to express how good this book was just yet!

This book is dark, gritty, ugly and exciting fantasy. It's a complex, richly-imagined world and takes a no-holds barred approach to both the story and characters.

There's magic in her blood - and this is a story of blood magic, witchdoctors and deep, deep betrayal.

The Kingdom and the tribal lands are two hugely complex societies that Rena Barron somehow manages to explain clearly or, at least, explain through contined displays of power, conflict and magic throughout this novel. Whether that is the edam, or the face off between the Ka-Priestess and the Grand Vizier, or the Blood Moon festival, these were all fantastic elements of a thoroughly complex society.

Arrah is a powerful heroine, who slowly comes into her own across the novel. I occasionally found her 'YA' voice frustrating - she frequently repeats what's happened to herself, why she's so angry, why she's so betrayed, what she's going to do ... and then does something completely different. However, I can forgive her the majority of this. Likewise, her romance with Rudjek was both a perfect summary of a teenager's infatuation, but also a YA distraction from a powerful story.

However, I can forgive virtually all of this because there is so much grim complexity and desperation to Arrah's story, as well as that of her family, who are both caught up in and drive the narrative.

I did wish that there had been more development of this aspect of family in the later part of the novel - admittedly this would probably double an already hefty novel, and was reasonably solved by the strange passage of time (which I loved), but I would have really appreciated further development in this area - I say no more, because, spoilers.

There was something like a forgotten memory about so much of Kingdom of Souls for me - so many elements drew out ideas of forgotten fairy stories or folk tales and felt like a half-imagined dream. Although a gritty and dark one at that.

I'm definitely looking forward to see what can happen next.

Do you ever wish books won’t be compared to others? Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron is likened to Children of Blood and Bone. While I can see some connections in the premise in terms of an almost-tribal magic, that’s as far as it goes for me. I had big issues with Children of Blood and Bone, but Kingdom of Souls is one of my top reads for the entire year.

I’ll start with the characters. The story is told through a first-person narration, following Arrah on her quest first of all to be gifted with magic, then dealing with the horrific consequences when she glimpses power and is opened up to a whole new world, turning everything she thought she knew upside down.

Arrah has complex relationships: she craves her mother’s approval, until suddenly that’s the worst thing. She starts to realise her feelings for her best friend might be more than that. She wants, more than anything, to keep those she cares for safe. Arrah is strong; vulnerable; powerful; humble. There’s never any hysterics, never any all-powerful moments: she’s a grounded, realistic character you easily relate and engage with.

Arrah’s relationships are perhaps the best I’ve read for a young adult. Her friendships are genuine and true, with teasing underlying the loyalty between the group. The subtle romance tones between her and Rudjek, the son of her mother’s enemy, develop in a slow and gentle way: there’s no rushing each other, despite their ages, and it makes it even more romantic.

The plot is full of twists and turns. Children start to go missing in the city and magic is involved. I didn’t expect the culprit to be revealed at the half-way mark, and had no idea how intense and developed the rest of the story would go. New threats are revealed time and time again, with the stakes higher each time. There’s no telling what will happen next; it quickly becomes clear no one is who they say they are, and when magic and Gods are involved, that becomes tricky.

The tension steadily grew throughout before almost exploding in the final confrontations. The fights are dramatic and the stakes are high. There are a few moments I didn’t see coming; deaths that I didn’t foresee. I literally couldn’t put it down, desperate to know how characters would be stopped and events prevented from unfolding.

There was one part that didn’t work for me: there are moments scattered throughout that are from someone else’s narration, written in the style of overhearing a conversation between other characters (normally the Gods). It acted as exposition, giving a quick backstory, or filling in the blanks. While it avoided characters having pointless conversations, it did jolt you from the story a little, especially then figuring out who was narrating.

This was such a strong book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I refused to put it down, anxious to know what was going to happen. I’ll definitely be following this through the series.

4.5

Nossa, que livro bom!
Ainda estou tentando me recuperar daquele final e de tudo o que aconteceu com a Arrah nos últimos capítulos. Aquele plot twist no quase final é tudo, sério.

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2019/09/02/kingdom-of-souls-kingdom-of-souls-1-by-rena-barron/
Kingdom of Souls has left me with very mixed feelings. I loved elements of this book, the magic, the world building and the truly unique fantasy setting, but, on the other hand it’s very dark indeed, it suffers a little by being overly ambitious and in some respects it felt like I was reading two different stories. I liked this but it didn’t quite bowl me over in the way I expected. In fact, this review has been really difficult to write because of how jumbled up I feel, hopefully my thoughts will come together as I write on.

Firstly, the start. I loved it. The introduction to this world and Arrah. Arrah is the daughter of two powerful witch doctors but as the story sets out we learn that the magic that flows strongly through her family refuses to visit her and she feels hurt and humiliated by her lack of ability. Arrah’s parents are from two different tribes and Arrah feels like she isn’t truly accepted by either, fortunately the family moved to the City where Arrah’s mother is a powerful priestess. Arrah’s parents – her mother is a cold woman, feared by many. She seems to have very little love for Arrah and is clearly disappointed in her daughter’s lack of magic. Her father is completely different. Warm and loving, he dotes on his daughter and idolises his wife – I did have a moment of wondering how he could overlook some of his wife’s coldness, not see her true nature, was he truly so enamoured with her looks that he couldn’t see beyond that to the way she treated Arrah? But, anyway, he has a great relationship with Arrah which was lovely to read about. We also meet up with Arrah’s love interest Rudjek. The two share secret meetings in the marketplace. Rudjek’s father and Arrah’s mother are bitter rivals and so the love developing between them will never be acceptable to either family.

I really enjoyed the start of the book, learning about the place, the traditions and Arrah and her family. At this point we start to learn of a mystery, children are going missing in the City and Arrah seems to be the only one who is truly concerned. Arrah doesn’t have any magic of her own but she has learnt that she can bargain for some by trading away years of her life and in desperation, when one of her friends goes missing she takes this step – what she finds is shocking, both in terms of the missing children and who is taking them but why they are being taken. Arrah uncovers a plot that threatens her entire world.

The thing with this review is it’s going to be truly difficult to outline those aspects of the book that held me back without giving away spoilers so the rest of this review will probably come across as something of a tease.

I had issues with the pacing. I loved the start, as already mentioned, I felt like the middle dragged a little and then the end was fast and furious. Then there’s the scope – this is undoubtedly epic, a story that spans the ages really but at the same time it feels like there’s such a lot going on, so many different aspects introduced over such a relatively short period that I felt like it was difficult to absorb everything, I don’t think I ever had that feeling of settling into the place and becoming comfortable before things were moving on again. And, there were so many different ideas and planes – like the place that Arrah and her family moved to – it was just so unusual that I couldn’t get to grips with it really. Then there’s the plot, it starts out as a sort of mystery, it develops into a conspiracy and then it goes into new territory completely that even now I’m not sure I’ve got a grip on.

Okay, I’m probably not painting a very positive picture here which is a little bit unfair and I certainly don’t want to discourage others from reading it. This is a story that has such a lot going for it. I can’t praise highly enough the imagination, the creativity or the uniqueness of this book. I was stopped in my tracks when Arrah first used her ill gotten magic to find out who in the City was stealing the children – I mean literally gobsmacked – and then the following chapters had my eyes nearly popping out of my head. I was stunned – in a good way. I mean I just didn’t see any of it coming and it took my breath away. But then, it got a little bit more unusual, a bit weird even, sort of a strange combination of Rosemary’s Baby meets the Omen meets Clash of the Titans. Actually, that does sound like a pretty cool mash now I come to think of it.

I think my real issue with this boils down to perhaps it being a little over ambitious and maybe a bit too dark – you think GRRM is brutal – hah. All I can say is be very afraid to form too many attachments. Very. Afraid.

Overall, I think it’s fair to say that I still have mixed feelings. I liked this, it has such a lot of exciting ideas, twists and turns and fantastic and unique world building and characters. But at the same time I can’t deny that I had issues that left me feeling a little frustrated and confused. To be fair I think this is a book that would be great to reread – I just need to carve out some spare time now in order to do so.

Apologies if this review is an incoherent babble – I did try to form my thoughts but I think I failed so I’m going to step away now. I’d love to know if you’ve read this and what your thoughts are – hopefully they’re more understandable than mine.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Rating 7 out of 10 or 3.5 of 5 stars.

This is essentially African-inspired epic fantasy with a strong POC protagonist in Arrah and an interesting, coherent structure of magical with important differences in tone and effect within the various tribes. I really enjoyed the backdrop, the feel of the book and Barron’s vivid, gritty writing. The supporting characters were also layered – I particularly loved the depiction of Arrah’s mother, who is by far the most interesting, charismatic character for at least the first half of the book. But none of this would have worked if Arrah’s own personality hadn’t pinged off the page in her desperate longing to fulfil the destiny that was well nigh flattening her from the time she was old enough to realise who she was supposed to be. It is often a trope within SFF – a protagonist is lacking that vital talent or magical ability so confidently predicted from their birth. But rarely is that disappointment so acutely experienced as in Kingdom of Souls. It was a real heartbreak to see Arrah’s pain as her mother increasingly distanced herself from her daughter, while her father desperately tried to compensate by providing all the love and companionship she could want – incidentally immersing her in his own blood magic rituals, presumably hoping some of it would rub off…

I loved the fact that family went on mattering to Arrah throughout the length of this twisting plotline – in fact, it’s a major theme that recurs within the narrative arcs of a number of the supporting characters, too. As someone who is fascinated by the family dynamic and also writes a lot about it – this is meat and drink to me.

Do be aware that this is a gritty read including child abduction and death, parental rejection and dark magic – much of which appears in medieval-era fantasy tales as a matter of course, but somehow the more exotic setting and different flavour of magic manages to give a more menacing aspect to these events. I also think that Barron’s intense, sensual writing style packs a punch.

This is a triumphant debut by a very promising author. It’s not perfect – there are places where the pacing could have been tightened up as the description took over at the expense of the action. But given the ambition and breadth of the book, these lapses were relatively few and far between. Highly recommended for fantasy fans who appreciate something different. The ebook arc copy of Kingdom of Souls was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
8/10

I don’t really know where to begin with this review. There was so much about ‘Kingdom of Souls’ that I loved. I adored the world building, the rich mythology and learning how magic works in Arrah’s world, yet at the same time I was introduced to so many characters, tribes and gods that I found it difficult to keep track of them.

Enter my cheat guide. I had no idea who or what was going to be important later on and I was so overwhelmed in the beginning (up to about 20%) that I found myself frantically making notes about practically everyone. I’ve included these notes in this review mostly for my benefit in case I need a refresher course prior to embarking upon the second book but if they help you in any way, you’re welcome.

I’ve marked them as spoilers because I mention some characters that don’t even appear in this story until near the end. I’ve tried to avoid spoilery type info dumps here but please still be aware that you may read something in there you don’t want to know yet.

Arrah’s Family
* Arti - mother, from the Mulani tribe, “Ka-Priestess of the Kingdom”
* Oshe - father, from the Aatiri tribe, has a store in the West Market
* Efia - sister

Arrah’s Family’s Staff
* Nezi - porter, has burnt hands and a limp
* Ty - matron, does the cooking, doesn’t speak to anyone, has “episodes”
* Terra - has only been on staff for 2 years, does the rest of the chores, Arrah’s age, gossips

Arrah’s Friends
* Hassana - female, beautiful, Aatiri
* Rudjek - male, smells of lilac and woodsmoke
* Sukar - male, tattoos on his forearms and shaved head glow when the magic is there or he’s near someone with the gift, Zu

Rudjek’s Family
* Serre - mother, daughter of the North, her country is Delene
* Suran Omari - father, Vizier
* Uran - older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage
* Jemi - older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage, killed a merchant
* Crown Prince Kelechi - brother, two years older than Rudjek
* Second Son Narmer - brother, Arrah’s age (16)

Rudjek’s Attendants
* Majka - best friend, gendar, parents are commanders under the Master of Arms, 17
* Kira - 17, father is the Master of Scribes

Kingdom Hierarchy
* Almighty One - the most powerful position, held by Dereje, who was best friends with Suran before he rose to the throne
* Vizier - second most powerful position, held by Suran Omari, “governs the Kingdom”
* Ka-Priestess - the third most powerful position, held by Arti, “the voice of the orishas”

The Vizier’s Guildmasters
* Master of Arms - Rudjek’s aunt and the Vizier’s twin sister, General Solar, “leads the military forces of the Kingdom: the gendars, the guardsmen, and the shotani.”
* Master of Scribes - Ny (Kira’s father)
* Master of Scholars
* Master of Laborers
* Artisan’s guild - Guildmaster Ohakim

Shotani - elite assassins, have some magic, live in the Kingdom

Crests - show rank or position
* Omari - lion’s head
* Sukkara (the royal family) - ram, “symbol of their blood connection to the sun orisha, Re’Mec”

Some of the Locations
* Tamar - where Arrah, Rudjek and their families live
* East Market - in Tamar, Kofi (Arrah’s friend) works there, charlatans are also there
* West Market - in Tamar, Oshe’s store is there
* Kefu - time works differently there

Tribes of Heka - Heka gives magic to the tribes
* Aatiri - “do not walk or leap, for clouds of magic carry them. Grandmother’s silver locs coil on top of her head like a crown, and she wears a half dozen necklaces of teeth. The Aatiri are tall and lean with prominent cheekbones and wiry hair braided like mine.” Arrah’s grandmother, Malikah, is the Aatiri chieftain. Malikah’s grandmother was Yaaba. Other ancestors are Machie and Ara.
* Kes - the smallest tribe. Their lands “border the valley to the northwest. Their diaphanous skin and near-colorless eyes remind me of the Northern people.” “lightning cuts across the sky and sparks dance on their skin”
* Litho - “lies southwest of the Temple of Heka in the woodlands. White dust covers their bodies and vests of rawhide.” “The ground shifts beneath their feet, moving as gentle as ocean waves”
* Mulani - “live the closest to the Temple of Heka.” “It was a Mulani woman Heka revealed his presence to when he first descended from the stars a thousand years ago. Now the Mulani chieftain serves as his voice. The position would belong to my mother had she not left and never looked back.” - their witchdoctors are all women. “They have broad shoulders, curvy bodies, and skin ranging from deep brown to alabaster.” The Mulani Chieftain is Arti’s first cousin
* Zu - “from the mountains south of the Temple” “leap above our heads, their feet supported by air. Tattoos cover their bodies and they wear crowns of antlers”, the Zu seer is Barasa

Orishas - worshipped in the Kingdom, they have human and animal aspects
* Esi - the sky god
* Fayouma - the mother of beast and fowl
* Fram - the balancer of life and death
* Kekiyé - orisha of gratitude
* Kiva - protector of children and innocence
* Koré - moon orisha - female, twin god
* Mouran - master of the sea
* Nana - god that shaped the earth
* Oma - orisha of dreams
* Re’Mec - sun orisha - male, twin god
* Sisi - guardian of fire
* Ugeniou - the harvester
* Unnamed - cobras around each of her arms
* Yookulu - weaver of seasons

Cravens
* Fadi - the group’s leader, male, excels at shifting
* Juhanah - female - group’s best tracker
* Lumo - Mensah’s twin, group’s best healer
* Mensah - Lumo’s twin, group’s best fighter
* Riham - female, shortest of the group, “can bend space and manipulate her environment”

Demons
* Dayo - Demon King
* Merka - possesses a cat before they possess a fisherman

Familiars - shadowy, shapeless and ever changing. They can only be seen by people with tribal blood. They’re believed to be relics of people destroyed by demons. “Wherever the Familiars go, death soon follows.”

I think it was because I was so bogged down in my note taking that I managed to entirely bypass the whole ‘connecting with any of the characters’ experience. One character that I thought I would form a connection with early on died soon thereafter and the villain I was hoping to cheer on didn’t make much of an impact on me.

Had I found the guide on the book’s website before I read this book instead of after, my reading experience may have been vastly different. I learned things from this guide that I missed entirely when I read the book. However, considering a couple of the characters illustrated on the cast page don’t exist in the first book, perhaps some of the guide also relates to later books in the series.

Impacts of trauma play out in various ways with multiple characters, which I found very interesting. Although it’s not mentioned by name it’s almost certain a few characters could be diagnosed with PTSD. The violation involved in the mind manipulation wasn’t that dissimilar to survivors’ experiences of sexual assault.

Some of Arrah’s thought patterns were quite repetitive. Hearing about how much of a disappointment she was to her mother and how she had longed to have magic her entire life provided me with sufficient underdog fuel to want her to succeed initially, but the amount of times she lamented both began to annoy me as the story progressed.

Although I witnessed plenty of action, with fight scenes, destruction and all round mayhem, it also felt like I spent a good portion of this book waiting around with Arrah for the next sequence of events to begin to unfold.

The ending was quite abrupt and left a ton of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be addressed in the next two books (yep, I found out after I started reading that this is the first book of a trilogy). However, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll still be as eager to know some of the answers, like what two of the characters were whispering about, by the time the second book is released.

If I read this book a second time I would spend less time focusing on the minutiae and try instead to form meaningful connections with the main characters. It felt like Arrah’s world was real and this is why I’ve given this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ instead of ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Had I been emotionally invested in Arrah’s journey this could have been a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book for me.

Content warnings include abusive and neglectful parents, animal possession, blood magic, death by suicide, death of children and mind manipulation.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperVoyager, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, for granting my wish to read this book.

This was an amazing book! I was hooked from page one and I loved how it began with the tribes and their magic rituals. The writers and the world building were great.. Arrah was a great heroine, badass, smart and brave, but relatable with flaws. A great start to the series!

I liked Kingdom of Souls premise. The dark and cunning theme in the story makes this story fascinating and enchanting with a gory and haunting vibe.

I thought this would be an African Mythology wherein the protagonist needed the help of the gods to bring back magic, but it is not. Arrah's character was well-built and the whole world-building was astounding.

The premise in the story was quite predictable due to the arising conflict between the characters but the whole totality of the concept was good.

I didn't expect that this would be a darker story than the other African-Mythology based stories.

The Kingdom of Souls was a great read.

Wow! This was such a dark and twisty story. I loved every moment from the characters to the cultures to the world and mythology.

The story is fast paced and constantly changing and truly remarkable debut and an epic fantasy I'd recommend.

It reminded me a great deal of both Children of Blood and Bone as well as A Spark of White fire so if you like one or both of them I'm sure you'll love Kingdom of souls as well.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K./HarperVoyager for granting my wish via NetGalley of an eARC of Rena Barron’s YA fantasy, ‘The Kingdom of Souls’ in exchange for an honest review.

This title has been widely anticipated on both sides of the Atlantic and I was delighted to discover that this excitement was well deserved. Barron has drawn upon the rich mythology and religious traditions of West Africa to create a powerful, dark fantasy.

It’s lead is sixteen-year old Arrah, who comes from a long line of witch doctors. However, she is discouraged that her magic has not yet manifested and is reluctantly realising that it may never. While attending the annual Blood Moon Festival she has a disturbing experience when her grandmother casts the bones for her. After this she and her parents return to the Kingdom where they learn that children are disappearing.

I won’t provide more details as it is a complex story and I couldn’t begin to do it justice. The theme of relationships with family and friends is very central alongside the rise of a demon king that is hungering for human souls.

Arrah was an amazing character and it will be interesting to see where Barron takes her in Book 2, set for publication in 2021. I plan to reread ‘Kingdom of Souls’ by then, likely via its audiobook edition.

A fantastic novel with complex world building and strong characterisation. It heralds the debut of a powerful new voice in fantasy. While marketed as YA, I expect that it will appeal to all ages.

TW: violence, parental abuse
This was definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2019, and it definitely delivered in some ways, however I was left feeling like I wanted Kingdom of Souls to do just that little bit more for me. It was incredibly ambitious for both the first book of a series and also a debut novel, so I applaud the author of going big for the gorgeous worldbuilding and lore/religion, however I just feel as though there was a little TOO much to digest, in the end. I also felt like the story slowed down towards the end, making it a bit of a task to try and finish, but overall I enjoyed the book and will definitely continue the series when it is published.

This book was definitely different to the usual fiction books I read. I did enjoy parts of it but was not overly engaged in the storyline. As a fantasy novel it did not hit the spot for me.

Kingdom of Souls was, in the end, a solid debut novel. It was an epic fantasy full of twists and turns, and with characters to love right from the beginning. And, for the most part, I really enjoyed it. That sounds ominous, but it’s not to say there were parts I actively hated, just. Slightly disliked, I guess.

The book starts with the premise that Arrah, the daughter of two of the most powerful witchdoctors in the country, does not have magic. This proves a constant disappointment to her mother, although her father is more circumspect about it. When one of Arrah’s friends disappears, along with a number of other children, she decides to bargain in a ritual which will give her magic.

The storyline is less a mystery than I was expecting, in all honesty. That’s not a bad thing, because the route it took made the book a lot more tense. Because you (and Arrah) know who did it and their plan, but there’s magic involved, and just how is Arrah going to get out of this situation. And the way Rena Barron builds up that tension across the book is incredible. Which is why the last fifth of the book or so felt a little disappointing. All that tension is lost in favour of some meandering (and absolutely unnecessary het drama). Add into that the fact that there didn’t seem to be limits on the magic people could do? Some scenes felt like they finished too quickly. So, really, it just lost a little momentum towards the end (although the end itself was great).

There were also a couple of other things that clearly marked it as a debut for me. One was how the story flowed. For the most part, it was fine, but once or twice events would happen abruptly and just gave me a bit of a huh? moment (events that you wouldn’t expect to happen abruptly, in particular). The other thing was there were sometimes lines which I was clearly supposed to take as some obvious conclusion to draw given some previous information. Only I didn’t know the previous information. Obviously, both these things could just be me, not paying enough attention while I’m reading or whatever. And also, if not, they’re things that can resolve with experience anyway.

But, to end on a positive note, the best part of this book was the characters. I loved them all (at least those that I was supposed to), although certain characters made me want to shake them (that het drama……..) and others I wanted to see more of (give me that f/f). Overall though, I think you need a combination of great characters and fast moving plot to write a good fantasy novel, and this had both of them.

And now, after that final twist, I will be waiting impatiently for the next book.

Magic has a price- if you are willing to pay
Kingdom of souls is about Arrah who yearns to have magic but each year it passes her by.
The only thing she hasn't tried yet is trading her years for magic. When her friend goes missing she trades her years for magic to find her friend. But what she discovers is much worse.
This book was darker than what i expected. its is 2% happy and then 1000% pain. The characters are like Romeo(Rudjek) and Juilet(Arrah) meets Maleficent( The demon king). The book is West African inspired the mythology was based on Yoruba deities The Orisha but I didn't see any similarities I can only guess that she built her own God system based on them. I liked the magic system and I hope it is better explained in the next book.
The writing confused me at first especially when the Orishas were talking, who were they talking to? Also was it in the present or past. Aside from that tiny bit it was okay. For the characters I'll admit I was a bit harsh on Arrah at first because I expected her to develop her self instead of pining for magic but when her mother was introduced I was like "ah...the YA parenting issues has struck again". I wish Efia was more developed her character felt rushed, i would have liked to see more of her.
As this is the first book in the series I liked that a glimpse of everyone's background( the main MCs) was given that's a good set up for the rest of the series, I expect more growth and a clear understanding of the magic, the other characters and God system in the next book.
This is a good beginning to the series. Thank you to the publishers for a copy of this ARC.