The Soul of Power is the third in Callie Bates’ “The Waking Land” series and brings the saga to an end with Sophy Dunbarron, the daughter of the exiled king who has never held the throne of Eren or Caeris. She is the chosen Queen of the united countries, but the crown feels like a bad fit as there is much resistance to her rule among the nobles in Eren. She is also pregnant and not married to Alistar, the man she loves, and someone she believes the nobles of Eren will oppose.

Meanwhile, there is the imminent threat of invasion, the need to find allies, the awakening of magic in the people, the fear that awakening magic causes, the shortages caused trade routs being shut down, and gathering rebellion. Add to that a huge portion of self-doubt and we’ve got trouble in the waking land.

In The Soul of Power Bates reprises the theme that unites all three books in her series, the need to conquer your own fears and find your own power. Sophy’s weakness is deferring to others and not trusting her own judgment. When she comes into her own, when she is decisive and recognizes her own power, she is so much more successful.

This final book in the series is a satisfying end. Sophy struggles with how to show her love for the people, how to unite two countries equitably, and how to encourage self-rule and a form of democracy in a kingdom. These aren’t easy problems in real life, add magic to the mix and it’s even trickier.

I enjoyed this book and the others in the series. They are thoughtful books that struggle with real questions in a fantasy world. They are fast-paced and full of action, adventure, romance, and intrigue. What more could you ask for?

The Soul of Power will be released June 4th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Soul of Power at Del Rey | Penguin Random House
Callie Bates author site
The Waking Land review
The Memory of Fire review

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/05/30/9780399177446/ ( )

This is the third and final book in the Waking Land series. This was by far my least favorite book in this series. I really didn't enjoy Sophy as a character and liked the politics she was enmeshed in even less. Things got better about 70-80% of the way into the book, but I still didn't enjoy it all that much.

I never like reading books that are solely about politics and that is what this one was. I also felt like Sophy didn’t treat the characters that were trying to help and support her very well; I just didn’t like her character much. To be fair she pretty much never gets a break and is constantly having people criticize and pick at her; it was an uncomfortable and depressing read for me.

Elanna and Jance joined late in the story and this improved things some. The series wrap up decently and it ended okay.

This book took a long time to read and I almost stopped reading it a couple times. I pushed ahead because it's the final book in the series. I kind of wish I hadn't read it at all...although it does tie up things at the end.

Overall this was my least favorite book in the series. I didn’t enjoy Sophy or the situation she was in and found the whole read to be slow and depressing. It does tie up the story though which was nice. ( )

Overall I found the final book to this trilogy quite good. It wrapped up all the loose ends nicely. I only wish that the story had focused more on Elanna since she was the main character in the first book and somewhat the second book. I don't think I've read a series where the focus of what I thought was the main character moves onto another character so completely. Other than that I thought the storyline was fantastic and I found myself mentally rooting for the heroes of the story. Makes me wish someone would "wake the land" in the real world. Definitely worth reading. ( )