I was excited to read Soleri because of the Ancient Egypt aspect, as that has always been an obssession of mine and certainly one that I like seeing in fantasy, and I will say that it made for an interesting book. However, it also felt a lot more like a historical fiction novel with a slight dusting of fantasy towards the end, than fantasy or even historical fantasy which is what I had been expecting. As an historical story it worked very well, and I think Johnston did an excellent job of capturing the world, and all the twists and turns – and there were a lot – of the various alliances and secrets, and it is certainly a book that is packed to the brim with events happening and demanding your attention. The richness of the details, and those twists and turns were right up my street, and although it might not feel particularly revolutionary it is something I enjoyed, however, where Soleri lost me was with the characters. It’s not that they’re not well-written, it’s just that the connection wasn’t there for me – and I found myself more interested in the intrigue and details than the characters, but also in the secondary characters more than the main characters. Still, I enjoyed this one - especially the setting, although I was expecting something different.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Soleri is the first book in an epic fantasy series, that will ensnare your attention from the output.
The world-building is extremely immersive and takes inspiration from ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians and the Romans.
There is ruthless political intrigue and deception, where characters are ambitious for their own gains.
This is a story that is full to the brim with twists, secrets, and betrayals - it will keep you hooked until the very end.

Soleri is definitely a book for fans of high fantasy series such as Game of Thrones.

I will be purchasing a physical copy at some point in the future!

It's no secret I love ancient Egypt, so when a fantasy novel heavily inspired by this fascinating culture drops in my lap, I'm all over it. Soleri by Michael Johnston has a lot of depth and breadth, and he offers us a fascinating chunk of world building. And I enjoy seeing how he subverts ideas I know so very well.

I'm going to do the awful thing that I am loath to do, by comparing this novel, at a glance, to GRRM's ASoIaF, because it follows a similar theme – a family torn asunder by political intrigue and war. And there were certain predictions I made while reading which had touchstones of familiarity in terms of theme.

It's going to be difficult for me to give an overview without spoilers, but I'll do my best. We meet Ren, who is the heir to the Harkan throne. Like all heirs, he's sent to the capital of the empire, to be held as a hostage in the Priory, along with the heirs of the other vassal kingdoms.

We get to know the Harkan king, Arko, who finds himself called to the heart of the empire, where he learns the secret behind the throne of the emperor no one has seen for centuries.

Priestess Sarra, Arko's estranged wife, schemes and plots – she desires power, and she's not afraid of walking all over Arko to get it.

But then we have Kepi and Merit – Arko's daughters. And they couldn't be more different. Merit is the queen regent in Ren's absence, while Kepi is a free spirit, more keen to brawl than take on the responsibility of her bloodline.

This is no loving family – you have been warned.

Overall, the Johnston's writing is fast-paced and filled with action, and I really enjoyed the setting, and the fact that we get glimpses into the history of an ancient city and empire. There were moments where the editing slipped up a bit – a scene where Kepi discards a blade only for it to show up in her hands a few paragraphs later. And at times I did feel that the writing was a smidge on the fast side, where some filling in of characters' motivations would have helped pad things out. But these were not deal-breakers for me.

I have to make mention of the one serious issue that did make me grumble. One of the viewpoint characters has a secret. A pretty big one, too, that they conveniently neglect to think about but then toss in at the end of the story as a big reveal. Firstly, I don't think there was enough foreshadowing, and secondly, I feel that this was a bit of a cheap shot to build suspense – almost as big as a viewpoint character being a murderer and conveniently neglecting to think about what they've done until right at the end. But I'm going on to book two. Even if I'm grumbling a bit about this one thing that was tossed out at the conclusion of book one.

Soleri is part mystery, part military conflict, and court intrigue. The amount of back-stabbing and reversals that occur is quite dizzying at times, and not wholly unexpected given the characters. And the story is set up in such a way that I'm sure every reader will have a particular character that they'll root for. I'm really curious to find out more about who these mysterious gods – the Soleri – really are.

<em>Soleri</em> is an epic fantasy that captures a touch of ancient Egyptian mythology and mixes it with the high drama of a Shakespearean tragedy by Michael Johnston.

One family has ruled the Soleri Empire for longer than the calendars have been recording the history - nearly 3,000 years. No one has seen this family, described as descended from the gods, but their power over the four kingdoms of the empire is iron tight.

Each year there is an eclipse and the kingdoms are meant to pay tribute and honor their god-like leaders, but this particular year, Arko Hark-Wadi - king of Harkana - does what <em>he</em> wants to do, which is go on a hunt. There is strife in his family as his daughters look to buck the long-standing traditions and marry the men they <em>want</em> to marry, and Arko Hark-Wadi's son Ren is held prisoner in the capital city.

Elsewhere, Sarra Amunet, he Mother Priestess of one of the gods' religions, holds some secrets that could destroy not only her family, but end the long reign of the empire if she's strong enough to reveal them.

There is a LOT here in this book. 368 pages feels like twice that, given the intricacies of the relationships and the world.

There were moments when I was completely engrossed in the characters and the developing story - particularly the beginning and the end (which is great since it captures our attention and it sends us off on a strong note) - but there were just as many times (throughout the middle) when I felt the story was repetitive and monotonous - making the 300+ plus number of pages feel twice as long, but not in a good way.

The opening chapters really had me hooked on Ren's story and anytime we weren't with him I really just wanted to get back to finding out what he was doing - which just wasn't enough!

While I wasn't overly thrilled with my reading of this book, I believe that there's much more in here that I missed and this is one of the rare books that I will make sure to read again in hopes that I can pick up more of the intricacies of the story.

Looking for a good book? <em>Soleri</em> by Michael Johnston is an epic fantasy, dense with character and story development that often feels much longer than it really is.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Another series I am going to have to keep up with! Argh! Such lovely pain.

It turns out that this book didn't really appeal to me and I was unable to finish it. In choosing to look at this book I was under the impression that it was a YA book, but turns out it isn't...according to the author. So while I didn't like it I can see that there is an audience out there that would love it and enjoy being immersed into the world of Roman and Egyptian History, betrayal, violence, war, and myths. The writing was well done but it just did not appeal to me as a reader.

I'm glad to have read this, glad to have a new author to follow in fantasy, glad to have met Kepi and Ren and the world of the Soleri.

I am somewhat less happy that while some people who deserved to die did in fact die in horrifying, but mostly appropriate ways, a lot of people who deserved to have longer stories perished. Also, whether intentional or not, the book begins with more men in power and ends with mainly women in power because the men died to further their plot lines. I found this an amusing turn over of the usual fridging of women to further a man's plot.

There are some things here that I wasn't as fond of - in the beginning the constant jumping from unrelated POV to unrelated POV was jarring. Just as one story would get going (Ren facing the Sun's Justice or Merit's plans for Dagrun being thwarted for instance) the next chapter would follow a different character. Until I'd say about 50% in there wasn't a clear leading line of how the different stories came together. It just seemed like a bunch of people in different corners of the world going about their business.

And there are quite a few characters to follow, who's paths sometimes intersect, but not for very long. We have Arko Hark-Wadi, King of Harkana, summoned by the First Ray (a mouthpiece for the god-emperor) to an audience with the Emperor. Sarra Amunet, the Mother Priestess, who escapes the riots of Solus on her path of ambition. Merit, Arko's first born daughter and Regent of his Kingdom in all but name, desperately trying to circumvent social laws to be with the man she desires and attain the power she felt was rightfully hers, even if she has to sacrifice her family to do so. Kepi, Arko's younger daughter, once sent as a wife to the Ferens and now eager to forge her own path away from her family. Ren, sent as a ransom (a hostage) to the Priory ten years ago by Arko, he finds himself unexpectedly released early into a world that wants nothing to do with him or his friends.

Then there's Saad, the new Protector who wants what Sarra the power wants and isn't afraid to spill lots of blood to attain it. Dagrun, the King of the Ferens who faces opposition every which way he turns and called a False King by his people. Suten, the current First Ray of the Emperor, and a pettier man you will never meet. Barca, a rebel threatening to seize control. The San, a barbarous race of cannibals and wild men. And the Soleri themselves, who left a map to their secrets in the most frustrating way possible.

While each character is unique, with their own motivations and their own way of handling things, I became somewhat confused by who wanted who dead exactly. Especially in regards to Dagrun, who we see in Merit's (third person) POV and in Kepi's (third person) POV...but he isn't very consistent across both. Its difficult to tell if this is because he is playing his own agenda, one we never learn of firsthand only through supposition and speculation, or if Johnston wanted to show he was playing both sides against the middle and it was a failure of execution.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I found it intriguing, with a lot of the mysteries solved for the moment if not conclusively and a real attachment for Ren and Kepi. While I was not particularly fond of Merit or Sarra (who are more alike than either realizes or wants to acknowledge), I appreciated that they had depth to them and their strategies.