Soulbrand

The whole "I'm mad at you" bit in the first half was infuriating. That is not how relationships work and nor should anyone tolerate that. Otherwise, I enjoyed the continuation of the storyline.

<strong>Set the series on a good track</strong><br /><br />I highly recommend this book.<br /><br />I read a lot of fantasy, and a lot of more pulpy kinds of fantasy. Rowe's unrestrained style is one of the reasons I love his book so much, but there are downsides to madcap fantasy with a hundred or so plot threads. It's easy to lose control of the different story elements and ultimately fail to tell a good story. After Diamantine, I was seriously concerned that it was all going to fall apart into a mush of funny dialog and bizarre and too earnest plot threads. Soulbrand completely alleviated my fears, he brought the plot threads together and restored to pace to something much more calculated. For all the things I saw coming, I was surprised and excited by the trajectory set up by the end of Soulbrand. I loved this book. If you were worried after reading the second book in this series, stop. Get this book. I read it straight through as fast as I could. So excited for the next in the series.<br /><br />Get it.

<strong>Good Storyline but too much filler</strong><br /><br />The book continues the storyline and provides some closure but not much on main tournament. I was speed reading through a decent amount. There was a significant amount of filler story and details in this book. It was quite exhausting actually. The main story is very interesting and fun to connect with his other books. However, like his last book(Arcane Assenion 3) there was way too much detail and filler in this book. You don't need to know every detail of the environment that it becomes overwhelming to remember. There are several scenes of battles between the major rounds that se to be just adding length rather than content. Possibly a bad analogy but reminds me of DBZ and just staring at the fighters for about 2 minutes before anything happened. If I wasn't already committed to learning the end I would suggest not reading it. Though if it continues like this I may call it quits. Bummer cause the main story is fascinating.

I'm a huge fan of this series and all of Andrew Rowe's other series involving the same characters (Weapons and Wielders, Arcane Ascension, The War of Broken Mirrors). I want to make this quick,<br />so I'm not going to review the series or universe this book is set in, I'm just going to review how this book compares to the others by Andrew Rowe.<br /><br />This is one of the better books he's written. It flows a lot better than his earlier works and does a good job of mixing the action, character building, and RPG-lite stuff. I don't remember a single part where I felt bored and wanted him to move on to something different.<br /><br />The action scenes follow the same kind of structure as the previous book in this series since the characters are still competing in the tournament for Diamantine. If you liked that stuff you will like this as the scenarios are still creative and heavy on video game features.<br /><br />The previous book left a lot of plot threads hanging and I'm happy to say that this book managed to pull off some great reveals without it feeling cheap or like deus ex machina. Basically, if it was related to the tourney then by the end of this book you will understand it. <br /><br />Really if you enjoy his other work then you will enjoy this one lol. It's nice to see that Andrew Rowe is growing as a writer, and this book has me excited to see what comes next.

Part three of Man Talks at People on a Train for Hours! This time the listeners were held captive for 25.5 hours while our main character over explained how the Soul Blade Tournament ended.<br /><br />I really enjoyed the first book, the second book improved on so much of what made the first book fun...but it also hinted at something that kills this story for me...the main character is just talking at people...that's how we're learning his story...he's just there retelling a moment in his life in such an unnatural way. When Kvothe sits down and retells his life in such a way it's because this story is being documented...and even then the author gives us breaks from the past and brings us to the present. <br /><br />This book completely burnt me out on how this author uses snark...it is beyond obnoxious in this book. So many conversations revolve around the characters talking in wishy-washy ways...so many words are used and rarely is anything of value conveyed.<br /><br />Lots of half-baked destiny shit too. And even when characters were explaining odd realities concerning our character...nothing is actually said...it's all so fuckin vague.<br /><br />This book could have been 10 hours shorter if people talked realistically.

Rowe's novels are consistently very enjoyable to read; some of them, however, have been a little unpolished at times. Soulbrand is not one of these--it, instead, was highly polished.<br /><br />Rowe writes great, fun fantasy, especially for those who love a good RPG, and this was one of his best books and a testament to his skill in the genre. I'm excited to see where he goes from here.

<strong>As always great showing from Rowe.</strong><br /><br />This is a wonderful continuation of the story so far and a great wrap up for the tournament story line. Excellent characters, excited to see where they go. Hopefully we'll get even more answers to all of the questions in the next book.

I don't know how or why but each book of this series evolves into something about two hundred pages more than the previous one. Maybe the next book is going to be near thousand page! <br /><br />However, the plots are expanding smoothly, there are multiple leads to pursue. The author has built the story well. It is also getting better and better. I do not have much to complain about. Now all I have to do is to wait for the next book. <br /><br />Personal rating: 4.5/5

The tournament arc dragged on a bit too long for my liking, but excuse me where's the next instalment how dare you end like that &gt;:(

So much I want to say... So much... ?