TL;DR Review: Murder for power, magic from death. A familiar-feeling story that is immensely readable from start to finish.
Synopsis:
Murder Breeds Magic
All power comes with a price. In a world where magic is transferred by the act of killing another, Myddrin stands above the rest. Having accidentally killed the most powerful mage in all of existence, Myddrin now lives a peaceful life in isolation. But there is no such thing as peace in the land of Otor. War calls. The voices of the dead haunt him, and there is nowhere to hide.
Cursed with the deathly taint of magic, young Will must seek acceptance among the Knights of Aen. There, he must learn to touch the otherside, control his abilities, and decide for himself what is right, and what is wrong.
Tvora’s soul is broken. The price of vengeance was her sanity. Her companions help her keep a tenuous grasp on herself, but with the urgent need to absorb enough magic to sustain them, she is pushed to choose a side in the upcoming war. The question remains, will she choose the right one?
Full Review:
From the cover of Soul Cage, you’d expect a dark fantasy (or even grimdark) story. Instead, you get a slightly darker flavor of what feels like classic epic fantasy.
There are three stories taking place at the same time:
Will’s story, a quintessential coming-of-age/young hero finding their magical ability tale. Will was my favorite by far. Clearly on the autism spectrum, he is immensely relatable and his neurodivergence is portrayed wonderfully as a strength more than a weakness. Though young, his hard life has made him a more mature character, and his journey to discovering his soul magic was certainly the most enjoyable.
Tvora’s story, the classic “descent into darkness/madness” story. Tvora has “broken”, her magic and mind shattered. To cope, she continually seeks to gain more power in order to fuel the creation of her “friends”, the souls of those she lost infused into the minds of magical animals. Her evolution rivals Will’s, and though her story was the darkest, it was also the one that saw the biggest changes and the most raw emotional stakes.
Myddrin’s story, the story of the most powerful mage in the world broken by loss, despair, and addiction. His story was the least enjoyable for me. He never really strived to be better—or for very long—but simply slipped back into his old habits of self-pity and drowning in drink and drugs anytime things got hard. The few times he was on-screen, he was arrogant to the point of being cocky, but when given the chance, couldn’t really use his power to the fullest extent. However, though his evolution was smaller, he does grow enough that by the end, you can see him heading in the right direction.
Mydrrin was used to develop the more advanced elements of the world’s magic system, while Will was used to showcase the basics (as a newbie learning to master his abilities). Tvora was cleverly utilized to develop the “evil” characters, showcasing just how cruel the enemies could be and what lengths they were willing to go to in order to achieve their ends. All very well written to give a grand scope of the world at large.
I very much loved the “murder for power” flavor of the magic. To gain power, the people of this world need to kill, and every soul gained is an addition to their power. Killing stronger enemies adds hundreds or even thousands of souls to one’s “soul cage”.
Time and again, you see people willingly and freely murdering others to grow more powerful. This is where the “dark” flavor is certainly at its most evident. Both the “good” kingdom and “evil” kingdom’s cultures revolve around death and killing to gain power in a very intriguing way.
The story overall is fairly straightforward, with nothing too surprising or unexpected. In that, it feels like a familiar, comfortable fantasy adventure, filled with evil emperors, scheming priests, treacherous assassins, and brave knights.
Easy reading and very engaging from start to finish!
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