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The Bowl of Souls #10
Priestess of War
Part Five of the Jharro Grove Saga and the 10th book in the acclaimed Bowl of Souls Series, an action-filled fantasy series set in a world of magic, mystery, and monsters!Born of war and kept young only by the darkest of magic, the Dark Prophet’s most powerful priestess has returned to the Trafalgan Mountains to take control of the Black Lake’s mindless evil. Now, with a growing army of the infested and dead under her power, she turns her gaze on Dremaldria.Fist’s chances of helping his former tribe destroy the Black Lake are bleak at best. The combined help of the Academy and the Mage School may not be enough to help him defeat The Priestess of War.Join Justan, Fist, and Tarah on an epic journey that will pit them against dark forces that plot to destroy the Jharro Grove and end the world. Ogres and trolls, warriors and wizards are destined to clash, their fates guided by The Bowl of Souls.The Bowl of Souls series.THE MOONRAT SAGA1. Eye of the Moonrat2. Messenger of the Dark Prophet3. Hunt of the Bandham1.5. Hilt's Pride4. War of Stardeon5. Mother of the MoonratTHE JHARRO GROVE SAGA6. Tarah Woodblade7. Protector of the Grove8. Ogre Apprentice9. The Troll King10. Priestess of War11. BehemothTHE DARK PROPHET SAGA12. Sir Edge13. Halfbreeds (2021)
- GenresFantasy
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 24, 2016
61 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Trevor H. Cooley
32 books251 followersI was born in South Carolina and have lived all around the United states. Utah, New Mexico, Michigan and Tennessee.
I started reading novels in second grade and my love of Fantasy started with Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. I couldn't get enough, continued with David Eddings, Tolkein, Robert Jordan. All I wanted was to become a published writer.
The characters and concepts that eventually became the Bowl of Souls series started in my teens. I wrote short stories, kept notebooks full of ideas, and generally dreamed about my world constantly. There were several attempts at starting a novel over the years.
Not long after I was married, my wife told me to stop talking about the story and write it down. Here I am, many years and rewrites and submissions and rejection letters later taking the plunge into self publishing.
The Bowl of Souls Series:
THE MOONRAT SAGA
1. Eye of the Moonrat
2. Messenger of the Dark Prophet
3. Hunt of the Bandham
1.5. Hilt's Pride
4. War of Stardeon
5. Mother of the Moonrat
THE JHARRO GROVE SAGA
1. Tarah Woodblade
2. Protector of the Grove
3. Ogre Apprentice
4. The Troll King
5. Priestess of War
6. Behemoth (2017)
THE DARK PROPHET SAGA
1. Sir Edge (Upcoming)
TALLOW JONES
1. Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (Fall 2017)
NOOSE JUMPERS
1. Noose Jumpers: A Mythological Western
2. (Upcoming)
I currently live in Idaho with my wife and four children.
I started reading novels in second grade and my love of Fantasy started with Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. I couldn't get enough, continued with David Eddings, Tolkein, Robert Jordan. All I wanted was to become a published writer.
The characters and concepts that eventually became the Bowl of Souls series started in my teens. I wrote short stories, kept notebooks full of ideas, and generally dreamed about my world constantly. There were several attempts at starting a novel over the years.
Not long after I was married, my wife told me to stop talking about the story and write it down. Here I am, many years and rewrites and submissions and rejection letters later taking the plunge into self publishing.
The Bowl of Souls Series:
THE MOONRAT SAGA
1. Eye of the Moonrat
2. Messenger of the Dark Prophet
3. Hunt of the Bandham
1.5. Hilt's Pride
4. War of Stardeon
5. Mother of the Moonrat
THE JHARRO GROVE SAGA
1. Tarah Woodblade
2. Protector of the Grove
3. Ogre Apprentice
4. The Troll King
5. Priestess of War
6. Behemoth (2017)
THE DARK PROPHET SAGA
1. Sir Edge (Upcoming)
TALLOW JONES
1. Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (Fall 2017)
NOOSE JUMPERS
1. Noose Jumpers: A Mythological Western
2. (Upcoming)
I currently live in Idaho with my wife and four children.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 3, 2017
Waiting for the last book to wrap up this series. I'm ready for it to be done, even though I've enjoyed it. I like the characters (most of them) but the battles feel repetitive and the villains are nearly identical in methodology. Does nobody stay dead? Plus, I'm weary of trolls, trollkins, behemoths, and troll slime. (But thulls are interesting.)
This book left some unfinished business: The Thunder People have been promised a human cook, once the evil was trounced. What about the army reserves the war priestess mentioned — did they just go away? And what about the rock house holding Celos, Cassandra's jade dagger, made by David the dark prophet. Did they get the chest with Cassandra's war trophies? (Maybe she killed Artemis and his dagger Whisper is in there.)
And what happened to this world, long before these people lived, when the four prophets were selected? Is this Earth? Prophet mentions it once or twice in 9 books and never again. Also, who is the 4th prophet, the woman? Who is the creator? Many characters claim they have no faith, and religious worship isn't a big part of the mythology, yet there is so much talk about free will, prophets, and a creator. This feels odd.
The writing quality has improved across the books. Cooley doesn't insert too much internal dialogue: reflection, rumination, worrying, regretting, repenting, etc (thank goodness). Pacing is good. Dialogue is not as wooden as it was.
However, Cooley still has serious problems using a comma. Some examples: "The priestess of war, was proud of her scars." (No comma is needed!) "Others, were wounded, but stood." (No comma is needed. This is so crazy!) A third example: "Among those who were too far gone for healing, were Sally, Dick, and Jane of the..." (Delete the dag-nabbity comma after healing!)
Cooley also has a little trouble with words that sound the same (homophones), using reign instead of rein for example. He occasionally chooses vocabulary that doesn't provide the right nuance (proclivities, for example). But I like his word book for the ogre Fist.
Cooley needs to more fully develop the setting. As mentioned above, what is this place? Earth? How does it look? In all these books, nobody ever goes to sea. No ships are ever mentioned. Yet a coast is mentioned. And a swamp. What does this world look like? There is so much traveling. We need a map that shows all the lands, including Malaroo, Kalphany, etc. The setting is further diminished by modern language. "Hey, big guy" and "major players" and "wee-wee, willy" etc. Plus Fist advanced too quickly from broken English (ogre speech) to a fairly consistent standard English with subject-verb agreement, academic transitions (however), etc.
As I said, I like the characters. That's why I have stayed with this series. I care about the spiritually wounded ones, like poor Talon and Lyramoor, etc. Cooley handles them well. He manages to transform his characters over time. It feels fairly credible. I have even grown to accept the changes in Squirrel, a character I originally thought a silly waste of space.
However, I feel the world setting is still vague after 9 books and the plot relies too much on über-powerful black wizards who won't stay dead.
But despite this, I plan to read the finale when it is published.
This book left some unfinished business: The Thunder People have been promised a human cook, once the evil was trounced. What about the army reserves the war priestess mentioned — did they just go away? And what about the rock house holding Celos, Cassandra's jade dagger, made by David the dark prophet. Did they get the chest with Cassandra's war trophies? (Maybe she killed Artemis and his dagger Whisper is in there.)
And what happened to this world, long before these people lived, when the four prophets were selected? Is this Earth? Prophet mentions it once or twice in 9 books and never again. Also, who is the 4th prophet, the woman? Who is the creator? Many characters claim they have no faith, and religious worship isn't a big part of the mythology, yet there is so much talk about free will, prophets, and a creator. This feels odd.
The writing quality has improved across the books. Cooley doesn't insert too much internal dialogue: reflection, rumination, worrying, regretting, repenting, etc (thank goodness). Pacing is good. Dialogue is not as wooden as it was.
However, Cooley still has serious problems using a comma. Some examples: "The priestess of war, was proud of her scars." (No comma is needed!) "Others, were wounded, but stood." (No comma is needed. This is so crazy!) A third example: "Among those who were too far gone for healing, were Sally, Dick, and Jane of the..." (Delete the dag-nabbity comma after healing!)
Cooley also has a little trouble with words that sound the same (homophones), using reign instead of rein for example. He occasionally chooses vocabulary that doesn't provide the right nuance (proclivities, for example). But I like his word book for the ogre Fist.
Cooley needs to more fully develop the setting. As mentioned above, what is this place? Earth? How does it look? In all these books, nobody ever goes to sea. No ships are ever mentioned. Yet a coast is mentioned. And a swamp. What does this world look like? There is so much traveling. We need a map that shows all the lands, including Malaroo, Kalphany, etc. The setting is further diminished by modern language. "Hey, big guy" and "major players" and "wee-wee, willy" etc. Plus Fist advanced too quickly from broken English (ogre speech) to a fairly consistent standard English with subject-verb agreement, academic transitions (however), etc.
As I said, I like the characters. That's why I have stayed with this series. I care about the spiritually wounded ones, like poor Talon and Lyramoor, etc. Cooley handles them well. He manages to transform his characters over time. It feels fairly credible. I have even grown to accept the changes in Squirrel, a character I originally thought a silly waste of space.
However, I feel the world setting is still vague after 9 books and the plot relies too much on über-powerful black wizards who won't stay dead.
But despite this, I plan to read the finale when it is published.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
Cant be recomended high enough
Mr Cooley has done it again. This is the 10th book in this world and 5th in this series and it's as fresh as his first book. I read a lot of long series and by this point I tend to be speed reading because I've lost interest in the general story but I want to know what is going to happen to my favourite characters. This is NOT the case here, I turned every page excited to see where he was going what twist n turn was coming next. I can't recommend it highly enough so good I bought a second copy for my mother to read.
Mr Cooley has done it again. This is the 10th book in this world and 5th in this series and it's as fresh as his first book. I read a lot of long series and by this point I tend to be speed reading because I've lost interest in the general story but I want to know what is going to happen to my favourite characters. This is NOT the case here, I turned every page excited to see where he was going what twist n turn was coming next. I can't recommend it highly enough so good I bought a second copy for my mother to read.
February 10, 2018
Very good series, I found myself laughing quite a bit during this book. I would buy a 'Big and Little Peoples Tribe' Tshirt with silhouette characters.
December 29, 2016
Great stories
One of the best series out there. So many colorful and wonderful characters. The story lines are well written. Series of books that you actually look forward to reading all over again... I should know because I have.
One of the best series out there. So many colorful and wonderful characters. The story lines are well written. Series of books that you actually look forward to reading all over again... I should know because I have.
January 4, 2017
Great book.
This is another fun book in the series. I look forward to the next book. I recommend this entire series.
This is another fun book in the series. I look forward to the next book. I recommend this entire series.
January 19, 2017
Superb work mr. Cooley. Very entertaining indeed.
September 11, 2017
My Thoughts:
I've had a copy of this book in my phone for the longest time and resisting reading because I did not want to read it before Behemoth is released because I would want to dive into the next book as soon as I hit the cliffhanger ending of this book. Ten instalments down the line, I know how the ending of the books in this series goes. But this time around we actually get some sort of a closure! Hurrah!! Some threads in the story arc are still hanging, of course, but we got an ending on one of the major plot lines! And I like that a lot. And the fact that I got to read on with the next book as soon as I hit the cliffhanger ending negated the cliffhanger-ending-syndrome depression. This is the best book yet in the series. But to get here you have to read through the previous books first because it would make more sense than jumping straight into this book without reading the previous books first. Do I love this book? Oh, yeah!! And I got to read a lot about my favourite ogre too! Kudos to this book!! So why does the book still not get a 5 out of 5 then? Because it still ended in a cliffhanger ending.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 3
Plot = 4
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I've had a copy of this book in my phone for the longest time and resisting reading because I did not want to read it before Behemoth is released because I would want to dive into the next book as soon as I hit the cliffhanger ending of this book. Ten instalments down the line, I know how the ending of the books in this series goes. But this time around we actually get some sort of a closure! Hurrah!! Some threads in the story arc are still hanging, of course, but we got an ending on one of the major plot lines! And I like that a lot. And the fact that I got to read on with the next book as soon as I hit the cliffhanger ending negated the cliffhanger-ending-syndrome depression. This is the best book yet in the series. But to get here you have to read through the previous books first because it would make more sense than jumping straight into this book without reading the previous books first. Do I love this book? Oh, yeah!! And I got to read a lot about my favourite ogre too! Kudos to this book!! So why does the book still not get a 5 out of 5 then? Because it still ended in a cliffhanger ending.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 3
Plot = 4
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
July 20, 2017
I have to say, this was probably my least favorite volume in the series thus far. I DO NOT SAY THIS TO GET YOU TO NOT READ THE BOOK. - The book is worth getting through to get to the near perfect finale to follow!
You should read the book. No doubt. But you should be prepared for what this volume has to offer.
Over the last few volumes, the story has grown and more threads have been created. One of these is wrapped up in this novel. It happens to be the one that has the least interest to me. By the end of the volume I found myself wanting things just to end and move on. This is one of the longer books in the series, and the pacing just did not pull me through as other entries into the Saga have.
The villain (to me) does not feel as fleshed out, or as serious of a threat as other things going on. You have an entire world ending threat happening in another part of the world, and this sees very little progress, obviously saved for the next volume.
Now this is not to say there is nothing of note to be said about this book. The main characters are fleshed out, and there are some exceedingly touching moments.
You should read the book. No doubt. But you should be prepared for what this volume has to offer.
Over the last few volumes, the story has grown and more threads have been created. One of these is wrapped up in this novel. It happens to be the one that has the least interest to me. By the end of the volume I found myself wanting things just to end and move on. This is one of the longer books in the series, and the pacing just did not pull me through as other entries into the Saga have.
The villain (to me) does not feel as fleshed out, or as serious of a threat as other things going on. You have an entire world ending threat happening in another part of the world, and this sees very little progress, obviously saved for the next volume.
Now this is not to say there is nothing of note to be said about this book. The main characters are fleshed out, and there are some exceedingly touching moments.
January 14, 2017
Back on track
In this installment the author seems to be back to form the last few books in the series have largely been disappointments for a number of reasons. In this book like in the origonal "Bowl of Souls" series all of the POV's are fleshed out and the logistics are not glossed over or outright ignored like they so often were in the previous two or three books, where it felt like the author would randomly pull things out of his ass because it was convenient without explanation or with an "oh by-the-way" paragraph. There is none of that in this book and best of all Justan's story arc is finally interesting again, although short.
In this installment the author seems to be back to form the last few books in the series have largely been disappointments for a number of reasons. In this book like in the origonal "Bowl of Souls" series all of the POV's are fleshed out and the logistics are not glossed over or outright ignored like they so often were in the previous two or three books, where it felt like the author would randomly pull things out of his ass because it was convenient without explanation or with an "oh by-the-way" paragraph. There is none of that in this book and best of all Justan's story arc is finally interesting again, although short.
March 6, 2017
Absolutely loved this - epic series
Cannot wait for the next one. The world building is amazing and hard to choose a favourite character amongst the many brilliantly depicted personalities that Mr Cooley offers us. This has been well worth waiting for and makes me want to start the series from the beginning again....which I never do but might have to make an exception when book 11 comes out!
Cannot wait for the next one. The world building is amazing and hard to choose a favourite character amongst the many brilliantly depicted personalities that Mr Cooley offers us. This has been well worth waiting for and makes me want to start the series from the beginning again....which I never do but might have to make an exception when book 11 comes out!
March 9, 2017
Decent addition to the series, but not the best. Some of the scenes and actions of some characters were a bit nonsensical. Still I've been with this series for a long time now and I hope the final novel offers some concrete conclusions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2020
Could've been longer...resolved more issues.
Great great, just seems like a chapter book. They are all so short without real resolution. Too many stories at once and they don't get fleshed out.
Great great, just seems like a chapter book. They are all so short without real resolution. Too many stories at once and they don't get fleshed out.
August 6, 2017
Good book. Ended a little too quickly (he had the makings of a really dramatic ending, but didn't fully engage). But I'm looking forward to the final book in this series.
May 2, 2017
I will pay top dollar for one of those Rogue Horses. Not only will they share their vast energy with you but they are useful in many other ways. This installment is mainly focused on Fist and his bonded who are in the mountains battling the Priestess of War who is controlling the evil surrounding the Black Lake. The Academy sends out some reinforcements to help. There are all sorts of dark made creatures Lupero, Lupolds, and many more. Fist is having dreams of what is to come but has a hard time figuring them out. I love Fist with his kind, naive nature. He is often out-witted by Squirrel who is much more adventurous. Together they might be unbeatable.
They were a few absolutely genius points in the book, one of them is the ‘tiddle-pucky’ cursing contest between the two dwarves, Lenui Firegobbler, and Old Bill. I’m not sure how anyone could come up with that many unique curses but they were hilarious. Another great scene involved an amusing card game with Theodore, the sentient ax, and Artemus, Justan’s sentient scar. Theodore is absolutely brilliantly portrayed. Anyone who enjoys wonderful storytelling should read this entire series. Highly Recommended.
They were a few absolutely genius points in the book, one of them is the ‘tiddle-pucky’ cursing contest between the two dwarves, Lenui Firegobbler, and Old Bill. I’m not sure how anyone could come up with that many unique curses but they were hilarious. Another great scene involved an amusing card game with Theodore, the sentient ax, and Artemus, Justan’s sentient scar. Theodore is absolutely brilliantly portrayed. Anyone who enjoys wonderful storytelling should read this entire series. Highly Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews