Souls of Astraeus

Akallian Tales #1

by Jeramy Goble

Living one life is hard enough. Try living billions of lives.

Akal Atka, a simple and submissive young man of the future is faced with losing the love of his life. Within moments, however, a catastrophic event makes him aware of the fact that he has lived billions of previous lives. As he explores the multiverse using exciting ships and technology, he reacquaints himself with countless races and gains access to the knowledge and abilities of his previous lives. But, why did this happen to him? Will he be able to save his love? Are there others like him? If so, how are they using their gifts?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

302 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2013

About the author

Jeramy Goble is a refreshing fantasy and science fiction author originally from Morganton, North Carolina. While traveling with his sister, mother, and military father, Jeramy accumulated passions for the wonders of world faiths, and the excitement of science and technology. In addition to being an author, Jeramy is an IT professional, composer and avid gamer. After studying music, Jeramy received his bachelor's degree in 2004. He and his wife, Julia, were married in 2010.

Reviews

[Caru · Rating 5 out of 5]

***I received a physical copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!****

This Review Can Also Be Found On My Blog @ My Addiction:Books

Rating:★★★★★


My Opinion Of This Book: It's fantastic & brilliant!!!

_____________________________________________________

Liked:
-The Cover/Illustrations
-The Concept
-The Plot/Storyline
-The Writing
-The Ending/The Epilogue
-Akal
-Lannya
-The Trio (Heersan, Rigella, and Carthal)

Disliked (as in 'I hate these characters, but they're well developed'):
-Azli
-Daebaugh

The Cover/Illustrations
Yeah, I'm a cover judger (though I still read books that have a bad cover, but sound interesting) But hey, what do you expect? I love art and want to be an artist so..*shrugs*
So, I recieved a review request for this book....I read the synopsis....and saw the cover, and yes!Of course I'm wanna read & review this!!The cover is frickin' AMAZING (plus the synopsis sounds awesome)!! Yup, one of my favorite covers ever, that's for sure!
And now onto the illustrations. Okay, so, there's a few illustrations in this book...and they're really great!!!

The Characters

All these characters are well developed!

The Characters I Liked

Akal
Akal is the protagonist. And I think everyone knows I love reading from a male's POV so that's a plus. And also, his name, Akal!That is so original and it looks/sounds awesome!!Well, anyway, Akal is realistic/relatable. He's definitely a great protagonist!

Lannya
Lannya is Akal's wife. I like that she stands up for herself, and that she's stubborn, I find her to be really brave and kick***!


The Trio
The Trio -Heersan, Rigella, and Carthal- are Akal's friends. I like all three of me!They're trustworthy and definitely friends that eveyone would like to have! They were kind of funny at times too!

The Characters I Didn't Like

Daebaugh & Azli
Daebaugh is a well developed character, but yeah I hate him so much!!
And....Azli ....I can't really say much without spoiling, but I'll let you know one thing: I hate her!!Ok...I like her name...yeah, I'll give her that.

The Plot/Storyline/ Concept
Um, let me just start off by saying I'm a sci-fi kinda girl! So, this was really up my alley!
Seriously, Souls of Astraeus? That is, like, the most amazing, unique concept ever!!
Everything is explained and there's plot twists you never saw coming! This book starts off fast and you get into it real quick!

The Writing
Is that GREAT writing I see?!
I really liked the writing! It's descriptive, flows well, and great word choice is used!

The Ending/The Epilogue
What?!Oh my gosh!!!Cliffhanger!!!

Overall

Yeah!This is one of my all-time favorite books now!!
If you like a unique, amazing, sci-fi story, then this is the book for you!!

[Mkittysamom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Miles and Dante (his horse) were headed toward Fort Missoula. Away from the horse farm he owned with his brother, on the northeast corner of Flathead lake.

"If peace had a scent, it would smell like honeysuckle. ....Honeysuckle was a timeless scent and it made me think of what I knew was to come, and how hopeless it seemed to try and change Earth's fate."

He came for information from the Army's Colonel Gibbons safe, but before he was done, the Colonel was back... He rides away getting shot in the leg which he mysteriously heals. He wanted to warn the Indian's (the Nimiipuu) that the Army was waiting to attack their people. He wanted to change history and save the Nimiipuu from their fate.

I needed to allow time to advance a bit, and then it would be back to the 24th century Earth to meet up with The Trio and share what we had collectively discovered. The fate of the multiverse had seemingly been decided much earlier than any of us knew. Fate itself was being manipulated. And those doing it were no friends to the Astraeans."

The Astraeans are beings who can cross time, and have lived many many lives until they wind up on Astraeus. A beautiful world, I can't even describe!!

This book is about Time Travel, rescuing loved ones, the world and figuring out life's mysteries!! I had a lot of fun traveling through all the worlds and meeting all the characters of Jeramy's world!! If you are looking to escape into an adventure and discover new worlds, then this is the book for you!!

I was given a copy by the author in exchange for my honest review.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Miles isn't who you think he is.

What starts out as a perfectly normal day, with a horse trader riding into Fort Missoula in 19th century America, quickly turns bad when he's caught breaking into a safe and has to rely on, well, unusual means to escape.

Fast forward a millennium or so.

Akal lives in a habitat on Earth, shielded from the outside environment that has become hostile to humans. Rebelling against authority when their regulated lives become too much to bear, Akal discovers that death isn't as final as he always thought it was.

I enjoyed this book very much. It has weird and wonderful beings from other planets, spaceships, and Doctor Who-esque jumping back and forth in time. Mr Goble has a wonderful imagination and takes you for a ride in the coolest spaceship ever.

And the cliffhanger at the end is great, I can't wait for the sequel to come out!

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't always like when an author narrates their own book, but he did a good job with this one. The characters voices were not very different so it was a little difficult to distinguish who was talking sometimes. He did a wonderful job of expressing the emotion that the character was feeling though!

This book started out a little slow for me, but picked up a couple of hours into it. I enjoyed listening to the book, but it was not the type of book that I just couldn't stop listening to. This is told from the main character's point of view. Through the story, he is taught about love, forgiveness, and how the whole universe can come together for the greater good.

[Esme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had already read this book a while ago, but the review doesn't match the rest of the SPFBO books. It was part of Qwillery's grouping and has since been eliminated.

Plot:
The main character, Akal is an Astraean, who are a nearly immortal like race of beings that can live for billions of years and take millions of forms. Akal is about 11.5 billion years old and has lived as light/energy, trees, humans, other sentient alien species etc. Bein Astraean is something that happens to you, rather than being born into it, so a lot of the plot is revolving around Akal figuring out what it means to be Astraean.

He has a wife on Earth after a World War that has ended life on Earth outside of a handful of habitats, one or two per continent.

The people who survive the world war and built these habitats called themselves the Earthly Nine, there are 9 habitats across the globe, and they have banished all previous country allegiances. They attempted to make a 'perfect society', where weapons of all kinds are banned, you can't proselytize about your religion, there are strict rules on how to address people and show respect - and if you break any of these rules you can be thrown out of the habitat, which is essentially a death sentence.

He and his wife, Lanya, want to have a kid, so they've applied to the population control agency to ask for the permission to have a child - but the wait list is at least 6 years long and Lanya doesn't want to wait around for that. She gets angry and volatile during a meeting with the council and she gets thrown out of the habitat, and shortly after Akal is murdered and has to find a way back to Earth at the right time to re-do the events of history.

The Astraean life style, culture, and how everything works with them is fairly complicated, and it'd take a lot to type it all out. But, long story short, Akal is a newbie to being an Astraean and needs help learning how everything works and you learn along with him.



Final Score: 7/10

Characters:
Akal is deeply in love with his wife and most of the book revolves around him trying to get her back. Although he tends to be caring towards most people and things, being a polite person who's helpful when he can be - if you piss him off (like killing his wife) he has a darker side and doesn't mind killing people. He even enjoys it and plays around with someone's blood mocking them as they die.

Final Score: 7/10

World Building:
I think the most fascinating part of the book was going to the city full of Astraeans, The Harbor, and seeing what these billion-year-old beings live their daily lives. It's a city of beauty and awe, and everyone is extremely friendly and helpful as if everyone is close friends with one another. There's a reason for it and it's pretty cool.

There are a ton of alien races that are addressed, including alien species from other universes, The Harbor is sort of "outside of time" but can be visited by other species through specialized transport.

"Ribbons" come in and out of The Harbor and allow Astraeans to come and go from their lives across the universe. Specialized transport allows them to ride the ribbons and get precise dates and places where they want to go.

The Astraeans are supposedly unique in the universe, but old lore says there may be another race like the Astraeans, but with more malicious intent. The Astraeans are generally a 'good' race of beings.

Astraeans don't reproduce in a normal way, and they are related by 'spirit' rather than genetics

Final Score: 8/10

Pacing/Prose/Tone:
It's not a terribly long book, and the pace was fairly steady. The world building and plot got you to turn pages rather than a book with a lot of 'action' or fight scenes.

The tone is sort of hard to pin down, there were some moments when Akal was really happy, and somewhere things were super shitty or sad. Overall though, it wasn't a bleak or depressing book.

Pacing Final Score: 7/10

Writing Final Score: 8/10

Originality:
This is one of the more unique books of the SPFBO batch I've read this year, this is like taking Dax from Deep Space Nine and jacking it up a few levels.

Final Score 9/10



Audience:
For people who like sci fi
For people who like unique nonhuman POV's
For people who like alien species
For people who like exploration
For people who like single pov
For people who like low violence


Final Score: 46/60 ~ 7.6/10  ~ 4 stars GR

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a bit of a slow start, I really began to get into this book. By the second chapter, I was hooked.

I plan to read both the second and third books, as well.

[Ruth B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Souls of Astraeus is a science fiction charged with excitement, solid explanations, great characters and awesome illustrations. Even if you are not a sci-fi fan you will enjoy a good story about who we are and the immensity that surrounds us.

Akal discovers that his soul is really ancient and has gone from life to life, from form to form, from planet to planet. And he is one of the lucky ones to get the chance to be called an Astraean. The Astraens have the chance to obtain knowledge from all their previous lives and can visit all their previous forms, planets or galaxies. Once you start to read about I’m sure you will be overwhelmed and feel very small. It's almost impossible to imagine this vast universe with so many possibilities.

I think that Souls of Astraeus is about some fundamental topics as humanity, love and friendship. Akal goes through a process of learning and healing while discovering that chaos and corruption are part of the universe. And whether we like it or not, there always will be people against the greater good.

The story is told from Akal’s point of view. In this case I think it was important to read the story directly from someone who was living this incredible, humbling and extraordinary experience. However, there was a moment where I found disturbing that he described everything through human feelings. Let me explain… he has lived in the form of more creatures and beings that you can imagine but is like all of them have human minds. But here is the good part: the author smartly explains that Akal sees all with human eyes (and with a human mind) because his last life was in human form. Clever, don’t you think? I hate when author describe aliens forms of life that act like humans, in this case the explanation makes sense.

The author creates a vivid, colorful, sensorial world. His words really transport you to a new universe where you can picture everything as real. Of course the illustrations help a lot because they put in images the author’s words. So, the writing is really good, the descriptions are easy to follow but complete and the characters are likeable.

Overall, if you are a sci-fi reader you should read it. If you look for a profound and honest book you also should give it a go. I look forward to read book two.

*** I received a complimentary copy from the author in exchange of an honest review. ***

[Samyann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is over three hundred pages long in written format and just under seven hours of listening in audiobook format. Unusual for the self-published book, Souls of Astraeus is available in all formats, hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook. This reader took advantage of the ebook and audiobook options. The reason I included the audiobook, is that, also unusual, Souls of Astraeus is read by the author. How better to grasp the nuance of the written word than as interpreted by the author? An example is Bag of Bones … written, and read, by Stephen King, a wonderful story. Personally, I’m of the opinion that a new author approaches writing with truly serious intent if his first published work is available in all formats.

Back to Souls of Astraeus. The story begins in a dystopian world wonderfully described. The human race has pretty much wiped itself out, with the exception of a fractional number of people who have defined a strict set of guidelines to insure the survival of humanity. About seven hundred years further into the future, the lead character, Akal, is thrown into circumstances of rebellion. His wife is banished from the safety of the collective group, simply because she gets angry about population control rules … she’s not able to have a baby unless they say so, well … she sort of pitches a fit. An angry Akal winds up getting himself killed. These events are the catalysts for Akal to rescue his wife from unknown fate and stop the life restrictive rules of this society.

Throw into the mix the fact that Akal has lived a few billion previous lives, and not all of them on earth, and not all of them human! You’ll also witness Akal emotionally and mentally grow and mature. Of particular creative genius are amazing perceptions … the processes we have all wondered about death and possible reincarnation. Has anyone never asked themselves, ‘What happens when I die?’. Well, Souls of Astraeus will surely present more ideas to ponder.

If you enjoy Sci-Fi, a future of unimaginable thrills and inventive artistry, go directly to Amazon. You’ll be glad you did. Enjoy!

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Living in a heavily regulated society in the distant future, Akal dies defending his wife, Lannya, who was banned from the colony for defying its strict pregnancy regulations. At the moment of his death, however, Akal becomes an Astraean, a being with the ability to travel on "soul ribbons" across time and space, known as the "multiverse." Traveling across the multiverse in many forms and during many lifetimes, Akal learns that Lannya has died as a result of her exile into an inhospitable land and vows to avenge her death. Through his experiences throughout the multiverse, however, Akal realizes that it is love, not revenge, that transcends space and time.

The premise of this novel is unique and thoughtfully fleshed out. I enjoyed the contrast between the hardness of science fiction and the emotional development of the characters, as well as the mental imagery the author's writing evoked. The illustrations by Jonathan Powell are very well done and added a nice touch to the book.

The concept of "Souls of Astraeus" is fresh and original, and I look forward to Jeramy Goble's development as a writer.

[Heather Ochse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read! If you enjoy science fiction/fantasy books, you will enjoy this book! And I can say I went to the college with Jeramy Goble! A very proud friend!!

[Derek White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read and reviewed books before where the story starts when the central character dies, but none as gripping as this one. There is no shortage of variety of adventures for the central character Akal, who finds himself at various times involved in the American Civil War and in a future intergalactic conflict to name just two. He is driven by an impossible dream, or so it seems, as he wishes to find his wife and be reunited. You will, as I did, enjoy his adventures and agree with the conclusions he draws. Both the story and the telling of it are well worth the five stars I gave.