Buckle up buttercup! This concluding edition will have you coming back to reread the entire series as it did for me. What a spectacular conclusive addition to this story!

A great many twists and turns in this book and nothing happened quite as expected. This is a good thing as didn't want to be able to predict what would happen. The book is still written in a very accessible style with good pacing. I still am not a great fan of how she tells the story by reading the characters accounts in a journal or book. The story itself is on an epic scale and one that I think will please a great many people.. This is starting to feel a little like a soap opera when it comes to the relationships between all the characters. So much is happening and trying to keep all the history and characters in order is an undertaking that requires a great memory or taking notes. Have to give thanks to Tor and netgalley for the opportunity to read this very good book.

This book was stunning. And possibly my favorite book of 2020 so far. The characters, the plot twists, the twisting morality: *chef's kiss*!

You absolutely cannot read this without prior knowledge of the first two books. You will literally be so confused. But aside from that, this does not pick up quite where The Name of All Things left off. Thurvishar and Khirin are telling each other a story after the events in The Memory of Souls happened and the structure is similar to that of The Ruin of Kings, but I think this will done better. I understood events perfectly and although the time structure wasn't linear, I could still follow it. But basically, after Relos Var tricked everyone in Atrine, Thurvishar, Janel, Khirin, and Teraeth have to go into Manol for The Ritual of the Night. Of course, things don't go quite as expected and many, many events occur in this books. So many events, so many characters and I loved all of it.

Let's first talk about worldbuilding. The maps in the front are beautiful as usual. Geography is explained in beautiful detail and each city and town has its own special uniqueness and quality that makes it special. Entire cultures and traditions and languages are intertwined within each other, showing that Jenn Lyons possesses an extraordinary mind for detail. (I literally have no idea how she keeps this all under control and in her mind.) But something really fascinating to me was the empire of Quur and the nation of Manol. So detailed and so complex.

Moving on to characters. There was so so many characters that before I would be mad about and would be constantly going back to the glossary. However, there isn't a character that I actively dislike except for Thaena, not even Relos Var. What was so fun about these characters was their complexity: they weren't black or white, even Senera and Relos Var has moments where you understand what they do, even if you maybe you don't understand their motivations. Khirin's wit sparkled and shone throughout this book and sometimes was a relief from the heavy and serious moments. Teraeth and Janel and Khirin really made my year. And I loved Thurvishar's little comments and his little fight with Senera on accuracy and citing your sources. Some other amazing characters: Xivan was ferocious gold, Talea was so so sweet, Valathea and Doc/Terindel was my absolute favorite, and even Khaeriel/Therin was the best.

What makes this book so good, why I couldn't put this book down was truly the plot. Because you have just enough threads to weave together what you might think comes next, and just as you think you know something, the threads tighten and tug you down a different road. Every time the plot took a turn I never expected, I was thrilled. It kept me hooked for more.

I'm kinda sad I got this book early because I cannot believe I have to wait for August for it to come out, and then another year for the next book! Then again, I am very grateful that Lyons is churning out these books so quickly. This is shaping up to be my favorite series of all time. It's really up there with the Wounding Kingdom trilogy, the Amberlough Dossier, and the Green Bone Saga - all book I recommend if you liked this series! I am so hungry for the next book!

Jenn Lyons is a new name in fantasy, well not new new, but recent, but I think she is there to stay. She provides a fresh taste of adult fantasy, she writes well and deliver each time. Now three in three so that got me expecting the next one, in this series or maybe a new one.

#TheMemoryofSouls #NetGalley

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair, spoiler free review of the story.
I absolutely loved this story, and would say so if I did not, and have been hooked since the first book. The novels are multilayered, stories within stories, and this book was structured the same way, although a different character was the “writer” this time, just as book 2 had a different narrator than book 1. A reader would be advised to start with the first book here, even though this book has enough merit to stand alone, the backstory and characters will be very difficult for someone to appreciate without having read the first two novels.

The action picks up with the main characters escaping the situation from the end of the last novel and figuring out how to deal with what is originally presented as the big bad evil in the story, yet in the spirit of this series, it gets more complex later on. All this is done while battling brothers, mothers, and sisters…from this life or previous lives. There is some romance mixed in here as well, including a love triangle. The book succeeds in revealing backstory and the detailed worldbuilding. In addition, the reader is comfortable enough with the characters by now to appreciate jokes based on their personality, much like one would laugh at Ron Swanson’s reaction to being fed a salad at a large social gathering. This is completely engaging for me, in addition to wanting to see where the story goes. The author is great at keeping you guessing, and pulling the rug out from under you in terms of what you “should” be rooting for to happen.

This was my first time reading the story in ebook format-the footnotes, which are a wonderful signature move that the author makes, are much more enjoyable here. You click on it, and often a joke will pop up. And since you know the characters so well, the jokes even become kind of inside jokes between the ‘writer’ within the story, the author, and you. One example, without spoiling with context, a character makes something amazing, but adds reading nooks. This character, who is the writer of this novel, is an avid reader, and the footnote pops up with “guilty!” which I found to be hilarious. There are other running jokes that add levity via the footnotes, like the identity of an animal that one character doesn’t know but the writer does. The layers of this story are complex-the closest I would veer to a criticism is more about me than the author, and that is about keeping track of which characters were which in the past history. But I think this actually is a great thing for the series since this will add richness to an eventual re-read. The best fantasy novels unveil themselves in full glory upon re-reading, where you can see foreshadowing with the benefit of omniscience and can enjoy the intricate structure as much as the plot. The author I think compensates for the depth of plot and complexity of characters by keeping the POV down, which definitely helps, even if I have a hard time tracking when a character is a grandpa to someone younger than they are…or something similar.

This book took me a long time to read for a novel, but Lyons novels are meant to be epic escapes and I think it took about the same time as book 2. On a personal level, dealing with a very sick family member and being in quarantine, this enabled me an immersive escape from work and kids. Even if I had to stay up super late and get bleary eyed. I am appreciating the humor here more in this book, and maybe I wasn’t paying attention, or Lyons is getting more proactive at inserting them but I was giggling quite a bit more than I recall from before. This had a reminiscence of what you might see with Pratchett or, for me, David Eddings work, which was epic yet had a sense of humor about it.

Because the characters have a POV, the reader learns about how the world works as they do, and unraveling the mystery will hold the readers attention. What is the bad guy? Who is the bad guy? Even, what is bad? The stakes feel high and all kinds of craziness ensue in part 3 (~final 10%) of the book. I found myself as incredulous as one of the characters at what occurred near the end, which leaves a nice cliffhanger for book 4. In this instance, the character has a plan the reader does not know but the story will deliver on this eventually.
People who like complex stories with multiple timelines, like NK Jemisin fans will like this. I think the story within a story narrative, though a little bit less so in this novel, feels like something I was first exposed to in the Rothfuss novels. So I would say Jemisin, Rothfuss, Eddings fans will definitely like this, as would any fan of epic fantasy. Thanks to Tor books for the copy and for the people who are reading this. This story will deliver multiple times for people who buy the books as it will definitely hold up on a reread and reveal additional complexity. I would highly recommend this book and give it 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc. I’m obsessed with this series, so I was quite excited to see I was approved. Wow, this book did not let me down at all. I think it was the best one yet. There were so many twists and turns I didn’t see coming, especially the ending. I’m officially dying. I can’t believe this book doesn’t come out until August, and I have to wait so long for the next one. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. Long story short, if you haven’t picked this series up, you should. If you haven’t started it yet, you should do so now. If you haven’t preordered, well, I think you know what I’ll say next.