Anika Claire's Reviews > Soulwoven

Soulwoven is a proper old-school high-fantasy, complete with dragons, swords and sorcery.

Brothers Cole and Litnig each have strange dreams that lead them to an awful discovery. The heart dragon statue at the temple has been broken, the soulweavers guarding it butchered. If the other heart dragons are broken, the great dragon Sherduan will be released from banishment and wreak destruction upon the world once more. The brothers set out on a journey with various other companions to protect the other heart dragons from the cult that seeks to bring the dragon back into the world.

Soulwoven was written and originally produced on Wattpad (an online storytelling platform), but a Kickstarter campaign helped Jeff Seymour to get the book edited and produced as a self-published work. Self-pubs can sometimes be a bit hit-and-miss, but I am pleased to say that this is one of the best self-published books I think I’ve ever read.

Sure, there is a fairly simple storyline with a group of various young people heading off on a quest to save the world. Sure, there are humans, elf-like Sh’ma and dwarf-like Aleani, but they each feel different enough from their Tolkien counterparts to not be too obvious.

The world that has been created for this story is beautifully described all the way along, and they do cover quite a lot of ground as the story goes on. The traveling parts can get a bit slow, as traveling parts do, but the action scenes – wow, they are amazing! I really loved the sections where the soulweavers are battling each other – I was on the edge of my seat! The magic in this world is also really interesting – it consists of the ability to manipulate the River of Souls, a concept that is described beautifully. I’d like to hear more about the Wilderlengs and their “second river”, as that was never really explained.

This story is told from multiple points of view, and sometimes the same events are shown from different people’s points of view. This actually isn’t as confusing as it sounds. The main thing that I found that happened was that after the major action scene, they all sat around while everyone had a think about what had just happened. It’s probably quite accurate as to what would actually happen after a big battle or the end of a chase, but it really drops the pace and tension. It does mean that the reader ends up with a great idea of what each character is thinking and how their relationships are developing through each event, but doesn’t always keep the pace rolling as the story continues.

I really enjoyed this debut from Jeff Seymour. The second book in the series has just been released – Soulwoven: Exile. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what each of the characters will do next!

4.5 Stars – A very well-written high fantasy, it just gets bogged down slightly with telling events from multiple points of view. Brilliant action scenes and world-building though!

This review was originally posted on Tea in the Treetops in December 2014.