Tell us a bit about yourself. I have come late to novel writing, having devoted my professional life until now writing, editing, and creating nonfiction science materials for young adult and adult readers. After earning a B. I later ventured into the world of publishing as a way of marrying my scientific training to my literary ambitions.

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Army as a preventive medicine technician and surgical technician, in the United States and in Italy. Feeding my wanderlust, in my late teens I went to sea as a merchant seaman, visiting ports in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. As a science journalist working at Scholastic, Inc. I also observed, but did not interview, lumbering Weddell seals and frisky Adelie penguins.

Follow me on Twitter: How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words — Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness — can you give us a brief storyline? Subtly, she transfers a small package to a mysterious man in a nondescript business suit. The man saunters out of the terminal and disappears into the darkness of a New York summer night. The woman, satisfied that she has followed orders exactly, watches uninterestedly as a plane bound for Turkey departs without her.

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Interview with Carl Proujan, author of The Madness Analog

Sign me up for your weekly newsletter. Sign up for our newsletter. Click here to browse our fantastic gallery of FREE or hugely discounted novels. Interview with Lance Charnes, author of South Thriller. Interview with John Phelps, author of Visits Thriller. Mealing is an author to keep an eye on, because this is a wonderful accomplishment of a debut. This review and other reviews of mine can be found on Book Nest!

Thank you to Orbit and David Mealing for this opportunity. View all 34 comments. May 01, Liviu rated it it was amazing Shelves: Definitely needs a re-read to pick subtler points and the cryptic utterances of Sarine's magical reptilian like companion Zi who is one of the coolest characters of the novel - having Zi who manifests himself at will to anyone else so is unseen by most people incidentally makes Sarine one of the few ever to have two kinds of magical power, the colonists' kind with bindings of various types and the rare and unknown at start to most people color based which Zi manifests, while the tribes' magic with spirits and talking with the magical beasts is the 3rd kind of course Overall quite highly recommended and a top 10 of mine for the year with the sequel a huge asap there is an author interview at the end which gives hints about where the sequel will go and what new characters will appear View all 7 comments.

Aug 08, Mpauli rated it liked it. Complex and interesting flintlock fantasy with 3 separate magic systems. The writing is a bit dense though, but the series has definitely potential. Sep 05, James Islington rated it it was amazing. Likeable main characters using multiple well thought out and more importantly, interesting magic systems, in a French Revolution-influenced setting. First thing I did upon finishing was look for any news on the sequel, which is always a good sign! Anyway, bottom line — I really enjoyed it. If epic fantasy is your thing, Soul of the World is definitely worth a look!

Review from Tenacious Reader: Soul of the World is a good debut that sets the stage for an epic, world spanning series featuring magic, fantastical creatures and beasts. Three very different perspectives are used to give us the world view, which features a new and old world, and while there are different names, it feels much like England, France and the Americas. There is a strong tradition Review from Tenacious Reader: But we do see strong females here, women can hold on to that magic as a power for themselves.

Erris shows the reader what life is like on the battlefield and an understanding of the war that is going on. She is in command of a military campaign and is doing a stellar job I love women who excel in military positions. I really like Erris, she is a strong leader and soldier. She also has magic to aid her, and uses that to her advantage in keeping her troops as safe and effective as they can be. It is a city that is beginning to boil with unrest, and Sarine finds herself with a prime seat it in action. In fact sometimes I felt like I loved her chapters to the point of it being a detriment to the others.

Sarine also has a mysterious familiar descriptions make it sound like a small dragon like creature that is invisible to others. This creature helps guide Sarine, though his motivations and reasons are not always clear, it is clear he is helpful. And she is powerful. Anyone with magical ability is supposed to be tested and then pretty much branded , but Sarine has managed to avoid that fate and keeps her abilities hidden. That adds a level of risk for her whenever she taps into her ability, as doing so runs the risk that someone might detect her ability. But for me, I felt a much stronger connection to Sarine and her story followed by Erris.

Is it wrong the author made me love them so much? I know these chapters are needed, and that there will likely be a stronger pay off as the series progresses, but currently, I feel more detached. Overall, I would Soul of the World is a strong debut that brings interesting magic to a world that is on the brink of major changes and conflict. I am hoping some of the places where my interest waned a bit pay off in subsequent books because when there is so much to learn about a world, sometimes the pace can slow. Jun 21, Crazy4Books rated it it was ok Shelves: The magic system was creative, the beast were fascinating, the characters were well developped, and the world was intriguing.

Despite all that, I had quite a few issues with it. All the names and titles were pretty confusing and some of the french was a little off. For example, instead of "sauver" it said "saver". Not to mention, one of the major enemies could have been eliminated if the ma Actual Rating 2. Not to mention, one of the major enemies could have been eliminated if the main character had just killed him when he was unconscious instead of running away in the first part of the book.

It also took me a while to understand the world and I had to reread a lot of sentences at first because I didnt know what was going on. Once I understood the world more I was able to appreciate the fact that we get two different worlds in this book. The different magic systems in these 2 different worlds was fantastic.

The magic was one of the best parts. I thought the tribe magic and culture were compelling.

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I dont mind strategic war planning but the terms I didnt understand were a big issue for me personally. I still thought she was a kickbutt female with an engaging story line. My favorite of the three main characters was probably Sarine. I loved that shes an artist and the idea of her having a familiar, but sadly, I didn't like her familiar all that much. He was just plain frustrating and not very likeable.

The main character from the tribes, ArakJur had an interesting story line, but some of his thoughts seemed a bit ridiculous at times. For example, "Let Corenna grieve with tears and sickness, the way of a woman. He would grieve with the roar of a man. I ended up rooting for a relationship between ArakJur and Corenna instead. I really liked Corenna. I thought she was a wonderful and strong female character.

I almost gave up on this book because it felt like it was taking me forever to finish. I have a short attention span so books need to be fast pace to hook me and this book wasnt. It took me over a week to read which is twice the amount of time it would take me to read a normal book that size. Once I finally got invested in a character, the story would switch to another characters perspective and Id lose interest.

I was also disapointed that some of the plot twists were obvious, but I found the gods and spirits plot line entertaining. Overall, I just wasnt the right reader for this. I dont have the patience for it, but adult fantasy readers should enjoy this more than I did. Apr 24, Nick T. Borrelli rated it it was amazing. Click here for my full review: Set in a colonial, flintlock fantasy era, Soul of the World provides a fascinating reflection of North American colonialism with more than a dash of French Revolution stirred into the mix as well.

While the elite are embroiled in their machinations, the soldiery is up against a foe that seems to know their every move, and the streets of New Serresant are about to erupt in riots. People are crying out for equality and a proper meal. The tribes were fascinating and had just as much as drama as the pseudo-European nobility found in the colonies. The magic system in Soul of the World is comparable to the storyline in its complexity.

I found that as the story progressed it got more and more confusing because the basic rules which were vague were no longer applicable. Let me give you a brief and simplified overview. First of all, you have Binders which use the energies found along leylines to summon power. They can enhance their senses, break bindings, set things on fire, and heal to name a few abilities. Guardians gain the blessing of beast spirits each time they defeat a great beast, meaning they can mimic its abilities.

Shamans can see the future and the women have elemental magic. Lastly we have those individuals like Sarine, who has an invisible companion called a kaas, which is a gem-like serpent creature that grants her some unique powers. Like I said, this is much simplified but you can begin to see how much of a role magic plays in Soul of the World. Soul of the World was an excellent debut and a fine addition to my book collection. The whole point of the book is to introduce readers to the characters that will possibly be ascending to a semblance of godhood.

The interludes give readers a glimpse of those who currently hold that title and how they work to hinder or help those that may replace them. I found the introduction to the larger purpose to be somewhat unenlightening and felt that it really needed more than a bare handful of chapters to really make me care.

The characters however… I loved the characters. Dec 05, Roy rated it liked it. I enjoyed this is parts. Great world building, some interesting characters 3 POVs and 3 different magic systems for the separate characters. It was slow at times with a tonne of info dumps. I felt like this was very similar to Sanderson in style but just didnt get there in the end. Each characters has there positives but I really didnt care too much for Erris.

There just didnt seem to be a great connection there. Sarine was by far the best storyline as well as the side character Zi. Another gr I enjoyed this is parts. Another gripe I had was that I just found that I was reading 3 separate characters who were slowly powering up in a sense like WoW. The world buidling was slow but amazing, very reminiscent of a North American colonial times French etc.

However, I also found the setting and stylistic features very familiar, as if the author had just read Sandersons stormlight archive series and written his own version. I really enjoyed the magic systems but maybe if theyd been explained a little more in detail or quicker may have engrossed me a little more. I was a little confused with the ending and some decision making on behalf of characters. All in all a solid debut, Im sure the sequel will only be better. Apr 09, Alice rated it liked it Shelves: Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I feel very conflicted about this book, hence the 3 star rating. I took me such a long time to understand what was going on and understand which each of the characters were. I really enjoyed reading the parts of some characters, but the others felt slow and a bit boring. On a better note, I just loved how each story is intricately l Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. On a better note, I just loved how each story is intricately linked and how the characters meet and interact with each other.

The ending was much more interesting to me than the rest of the book so I will really consider reading the sequel. If you want to write dialogues in French, lease make sure you get this right Mar 13, Claire rated it it was amazing Shelves: Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this book. My views are entirely my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Engaging characters, immersive storylines, a unique magic system and a beautifully painted world will grip characters and leave them begging for the sequel. Oct 24, Kaitlin added it.

I think there were a few things that I struggled with when reading this, namely the different magic systems which seemed fairly complex and didn't really get explained as much as I hoped, and my lack of interesting in all of the storylines. I did find some parts I really liked, and Sarine seemed like a character I could easily enjoy reading about, but in the end her plot was overshadowed by the others which I didn't care for so much. This story has a few different characters. We initially follow Sarine and her "familiar" who work the streets together as an artist and her hidden sidekick.

She's a pretty intriguing character as personally I love artist characters and I think she had a lot of potential for slipping into interesting places and seeing things. However, her familiar was also a big draw and Zee I think he was called that, it was on audiobook I listened to this kept me really fascinated.

We then have Arak'jur who is a shaman of some kind. He wields a beast power and his is hoping to help his people as there is in-fighting all around him and he wants to unite them and teach them to fight for a good cause. We have Erris too who is a cavalry officer leading a charge. I found her to be interesting at first a lady in command is definitely more interesting to me than usual but as time went on I didn't enjoy her plot as much as I wanted to and after having read a book quite recently about warfare led by a lady Guns of the Dawn by Tchaikovsky which I felt was executed better I struggled to enjoy her plot.

The magic of this world seems to be a bit vague at first, quite a few systems in play, some involving bindings and using the mind etc. The world was fairly standard too and didn't stand out too much as a unique world to me. I would have liked to see a little bit more variety and see more of the wider world, but maybe that would have come later on in the story.

In the end, I could just tell I was starting to struggle too much with wanting to read this, and I decided that I needed to give up on it. Mar 16, Snowleesi rated it really liked it Shelves: Readers praise this novel for its unique magic system, and it definitely is that - alas, it is also very confusing. Persistent confusion was my constant companion as I was reading the novel, and I had to resort to frequent scanning of previously read chapters to try to make sense of the divine structure - a structure which just did not seem 4. Persistent confusion was my constant companion as I was reading the novel, and I had to resort to frequent scanning of previously read chapters to try to make sense of the divine structure - a structure which just did not seem to add up.

I have to admit that it lessened my in-the-moment enjoyment of the book considerably. The one allowance I was willing to give the author was that the scope of the novel was admittedly enormous - and very impressive. And then there were the characters, which are the real selling point of the novel for me; had I not invested heavily in two of them from the get-go, I would have given up on the novel.

I fell for the first POV immediately; Sarine is a perfect choice for our introduction into the world. I was then pleasantly surprised that the second of the three main characters was another woman, Erris, and that the position of power and respect she commanded was not an aberration, but a norm in this world. The novel's treatment of women as equals and its lack of male bias makes it a definite stand out in the genre, especially taking into an account that the story is roughly set in the equivalent of our own American Revolution.

The only character I did not feel affinity for was Arak'Jur, the novel's version of a Native American, and for about half of the book I inwardly groaned coming across chapters with his name in the marquee. I have to add, too, that the persistent questions of "where is this going? It felt as if the author dropped us in the middle of this world and left us there to explore without giving us any actual direction what to look for. The feeling quite snuck up at me.

I also became much more invested in the previously unappealing Arak'Jur. It's hard to express reasons for my sudden turn around without spoiling the plot, so all I can say to those who might be struggling with this novel is to keep on going and latch on to whatever it might be that you love about it, and sooner or later the novel will open up to you like a flower bud blooming open. Please forgive the awkward metaphor, but it works for me.

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The places this story goes are delightfully surprising, the characters worth rooting for, and while the ending will probably leave you with some lingering confusion, well, that's what the next books in the series are there for, I suppose. And I cannot wait to get my hands on those. Is this an alternate reality?

Or is this still our Earth, only a different "cycle"? So many great questions Jul 25, Bob Milne added it Shelves: This just didn't work for me. The narrative style kept me at arm's length, the world-building seemed rather unfocused, and the characters didn't engage me,. Feb 17, Carrie rated it it was amazing. I'm writing this review because I loved this book and great books deserved to be talked about!

It's no secret I love epic fantasy. I enjoy a ton of genres, but there's no shaking epic fantasy from the 1 spot. However, it's a very frustrating genre because it's been so focused on straight white male protagonists. To me, and to many other readers, that's tired and boring by now. I don't need the genre to be reinvented. I just need it to be more inclusive, and I'm very happy with this one.

I picked up Soul of the World on a whim. I knew I wanted a big, thick fantasy, but honestly, I often shy away from male authors. Basically, the story takes place in a new world across an ocean from the old, so very much inspired by Europeans coming to North America.

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In this new world, there are indigenous tribes, colonies of Sarresant and Gand, and a wall that divides the two. The plot isn't easy to distill into a sentence or two because there's just so much going on. There's very cool magic and revolution and a shifting of gender roles and giant animals and gods with mysterious motivations. There's so much in this book to love. I knew within a few pages that I'd enjoy this book, but it wasn't until I was about pages in that I realized I couldn't put it down. No, not everyone's going to be down with the pacing, which is deliberate.


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This is epic fantasy, though. When is pacing not deliberate? Mealing's working with three main characters in three different locations with three different story-lines. Just like it takes time to get one ball rolling, it takes even longer to get three going. The main characters as previewed on the back-cover synopsis: I liked Sarine right away because she's an underdog.

She makes a living by selling her drawings of the city and its noble inhabitants, and she lives in a church with a priest she calls Uncle. She also has to hide her magic, which she often uses to sneak into places in order to sketch nobles, because anyone with magic has to either serve in the army or buy their freedom. She also has a dragon-like companion named Zi, who's mysterious and doesn't like to give straight answers.

That's one of the four magic systems, all of which are incredible and a lot of fun, present in the book. Arak'Jur is a member of the Sinari, one of the indigenous tribes. He bears the "Arak" in his name because he's a guardian of his people, which means when he kills an animal, he can ask to be granted a gift from that animal.

It's a little hard to explain, but he can call upon these gifts, such as speed, in battle. In addition to guardians, men from the tribes communicate with the spirits in order to see the future. Those together are the second of the magic systems. It took me a little while to warm up to Arak'Jur, but that might have been because his is the only non-colonial perspective. Consequently, I spent a lot of time at the beginning of his story trying to gauge how it would dovetail with the others.


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  • The tribes have different roles for men and women. Even their magic is considered to be separate, and here's where the third form of magic comes in I'm counting the men and women's magic as two separate systems. One of the aspects of this story-line that I really enjoyed was how Mealing explored gender role within the tribes through Arak'Jur's eyes. Arak'Jur is also the only perspective from a person of color, as far as I can tell. I can't decide for anyone else whether it's good representation, but I think it's great that, in the white-male-protagonist-dominated world of epic fantasy, Mealing chose two women and a man of color for his main characters.

    And, oh, my goodness. I can't even explain how much I liked Erris. She's a badass rising through the ranks of the army and doing everything she can to defend New Sarresant against Gand by wielding the fourth and final magic system, which involves being able to see different forces resting along leylines and "tether" them to oneself or someone else. The main forces are Life, Death, Body, and Shelter, and exploring the new continent exposes them to more.

    Also, Erris's motto is "only excellence, nothing more," and she even relies on it when she disagrees with a command straight from the Crown Prince. I love all three mains, but I'm really looking forward to seeing more from Erris in book two. There's a lot I can't say without giving things away. I just want a lot of people to read this and love it and talk to me about it, okay? But seriously, I'd recommend this to any reader who loves epic fantasy and is patient enough to settle in for a long, intense journey. Oct 31, Rituranjan Gogoi rated it really liked it. A debut epic fantasy with a ton of potential.

    This is a pretty fat book, and almost took me a week to finish reading. Being a debut it has its flaws, but, nonetheless it delivers a strong story, with a unique magic system and battle-actions to prove its merit. At some point, I was on the verge of giving up due to its slow pacing, but, as I'm a lover of fantasy I persisted, and was paid off moderately. Being a first book in the trilogy this book is almost bowed down by the worldbuilding, which at A debut epic fantasy with a ton of potential. Being a first book in the trilogy this book is almost bowed down by the worldbuilding, which at times is rather rugged and cumbrous.

    The writing at places is a bit rough which irked my attention to the story at some point. The mythology and the religion surrounding the world is also yet to be explained, which remains vague, and as a result I'm not able to grasp the full scope of events that were happening and are about to happen. I have to mention the fact that I'm very much confused about the nature of the gods and goddesses in Mealing's fantasy world.

    The process of Ascension and 'The Three' is yet to be explained in detail pertaining to the myths hinted in the story. So, the world of Mealing is comprised of the Old World and the New World colonies in this respect , and the division between the civilisation and savages comes into portrayal of the tribes in the wild. Many readers might find in this tale a allegorical thread bringing up the era of colonisation and imperialism in the fabric of fantasy, but whatever it is The story and the plot is rather slow, although there are tensions prevailing in the midst. The setting of New Sarrasent reminded me of 18th century France, and the uprising revolution brought a historic reminiscent of the day of Bastille, going red with canons, muskets, and Swords.

    The story is told through three viewpoints of the principal characters- Sarine, Erris, and ArakJur, with occasional interludes that incorporates minor characters or other players behind the game. The plot is divided into four major sections named after the seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, insisting perhaps at the nature of the Gods and Goddesses. The battle-scenes were rightly done with the chaos, destruction, gunfire, and gore which reminded me of Erikson's Malazan series.

    This is a plus point for the author. I already mentioned about the rough writing, but it smooths towards the end. And, the characters are interesting, though I wasn't emotionally invested in them in the beginning. But, as the story progressd I was able to connect with them and their motives and actions. Mealing gives us strong female characters here in Sarine, Erris, and Correna. ArakJur, the guardian of the Sinari tribe was a good male character with strength that plays his part in the story.

    I suspect that we are yet to get the full cast in this starting point, but these characters didn't fall flat with the somewhat tedious worldbuilding.

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    I'm very much interested to know more about their part in the big game. The magic system is new and inventive, and I would credit the author in this. The beast magic, and the power of spirits connected to nature and the wild wielded by ArakJur and the tribes is pretty cool. The other magic linked to something called leylines or faith was complex which manifests in colours: There are also mysterious creatures called 'Kaas' linked to the leylines magic users, and, Zi, the mysterious companion of Sarine is very interesting, which I would like to know more about and his magical powers.

    All in all, this was an interesting read, I wouldn't term it as entertaining, but, I'm curious about what is to follow in the later books. I think that the author perhaps pulled too much strings in worldbuilding which affected the pace of the story. It's not until some pages that the tempo starts to build up and the story progresses at a modest pace. I'm not yet sure about the minor twists and the open ending, where I expected a sort of blast, the ending was abrupt and the action not satisfactory.

    I recommend this novel to patient fantasy lovers, who have the tenacity to go through slow plots, and vague easter-eggs that is littered in the story. For myself, I would definitely be waiting for the sequel to come out.

    Jun 09, Barbara Cerda rated it it was amazing. Impressions This is an epic and deeply ambitious read. Military battles and the politics of civil war come to life in a fantasy world filled with magic. But this telling of war also includes love and betrayal that accompanies magic. The concept of tethering a leyline to bind paranormal powers is a fascinating concept. Also, the acquiring of spirit powers from slain beasts is an almost forgotten legacy from the original tribes of earth.

    Each chapter of this book effortlessly explores the diversions between opposing cultures while magic seems to be the binding force. The transition from chapter to chapter and the development of storyline was, for me, extremely enjoyable. It kept this reader wondering how the main drivers of the tale could eventually come together and become heroines and hero. I felt the disappointment at the loss of friends and fellow soldiers. I laughed at the ribald in your face language from wine laden lips. Putting aside the pain of loss and war, he learns how questioning the unquestionable becomes an important tool for survival.

    Three must rise This novel is about a fantasy world that finds its fated path darkened with civil war. The journey is also about the politics of court intrigue, love, and death. But soldiers and the resistance yearning for a renaissance are fighting in an enchanted world where magical shamans speak truth from gods. Streets and sewers run red with blood. And tribal guardians assume the power of the animal spirits they slay. Evil takes residence in the hearts of the oppressed in the cities of the Gands and Sarresants. Three women from divergent cultures define the outcomes of this war between good and evil in a fantasy world in the grips of a fight that may never end.

    Who among the gods will survive and who among men will ascend to the Veil. Their weapons of choice are warding spells, binding powerful magic and the power of spirit guides. Main Characters Sarine Thibeaux is a street artist inhabiting the slums call the Maw. A freebinder, she possesses innate and rare abilities.

    Inside her lies a hidden secret that will change and save her world. Born to a blacksmith and trained by the military, she becomes a formidable commander and leader of her world New Sarresant. He embodies the strength of his tribe and is the protector. His leadership balances the wisdom of the seer the Ka or shaman with the spirit powers of the beasts he slays.

    Llanara is the ambitious young Sanari woman. David Mealing's work is as ambitious a tale as sand worms and desert planets. It is a long read…. Finely edited, the transitions and development of characters was spot on. Not just a good read…. Link to my blog: Woooowww I am super pleased I picked this up on Boxing Day! This was the one I was most dubious about, because of the exorbitant price, but I am so glad I gritted my teeth and did: D Right from the start, it was a 5-star.

    The whole magic system, the different types of supernatural elements, the multiple POV and different settings of all of the characters. The writing style was top notch, the character development and backgrounds and everyt Link to my blog: