Soulstar
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3.9 • 24 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Aurora Award for Best Novel
A Reader's Digest Top 25 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written
With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume.
For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago.
Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Customer Reviews
Fitting Conclusion to the Kingston Cycle
“Soulstar” is the third and final novel in the Kingston Cycle Trilogy by C. L. Polk, and it provides a fitting conclusion to the series. It’s a very different fantasy that is set in an alternate world in the nation of Aeland, which is sort of like an early 20th century England. It is the sequel to their novel “Stormsong.”
The protagonist of this novel is Robyn Thorpe, who it turns out is a Deathsinger. This means she is able to summon and speak with the spirits of the dead. The novel begins with Grace, the protagonist of the previous novel seeking her help to ward off horrible winter storms by weather magic.
It’s a time of rapid and unprecedented change in Aeland, when the horrors that were exposed in the first novel have to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, those who held power before try to regain it. Robin becomes a focal point for social change when her mentor is assassinated during a political rally and dies in her arms.
The world building in these novels is amazing. It’s been referred to as gas lamp fantasy and silver fork fantasy. It has aspects of mystery, romance, social commentary, and high fantasy. The world it describes is rife with class inequality and colonialism. The story it tells is alternately heartwarming and horrifying. It should be noted that the Kingston Cycle was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series.
Kingston 3
Drivel. Couldn’t even finish this steaming pile of propaganda.