Souldancer - Forties on the Curb

Man alive, a lot of characters die in the last fifth of this book.  Some of them don't even let that stop them.

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Finishing Brian Niemeier’s works always leave me feeling like I’ve just finished watching a David Lynch film.  A little tired, a little confused, but ultimately satisfied.  Most of what I just experienced doesn’t have a full explanation, but it all fits together and makes a certain diaphanous sense.

For my money, Xander winging up with Astlin, who has been essentially cured of her alien-ness and forgiven for the sins committed during her demi-god chrysalis phase puts a neat little bow on the end of Souldancer.  The final confrontation between the All-Father and his naughty, squabbling grandchildren, influenced as it was by Tefler and Xander, really made a lot of what had happened earlier snap into place for me.  It explained why Xander and Tefler could (and pretty much had to) go through death and rebirth.

For one specific example of this feeling, done in miniature, look at how Sulaiman obtained the sacred blade Xander uses to kill Szodrin and free Zadok.  That happens when we return to Kairos after forty-seven chapters, meet a stranger with a glowing white scimitar, and it’s only after he exits that we learn the stranger was Almeth Elocine – last seen in the prologue.  You’ve got to be paying pretty close attention to follow along with that level of subtlety, or at least willing to go back and reread sections.

Again, that's not a complaint.  These books will be going in my re-read pile, because seeing the destination has already opened my eyes to a lot of things that went on along the path to get there.

As a reminder, for anyone who has read Souldancer, and just can't get enough of what the man is laying down, he is one third of the three-headed giant known as Geek Gab. Well worth a listen for fans of fantasy and sci-fi tabletop, video games, books, and film.  This particular episode includes some talk about Souldancer and is highly recommended for fans of this work.