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Sundering the Gods #2.5
Solineus
Solineus rises from the drowning waters a second time, saved by the hand of a new Morik of the Eight Kingdoms. Driven from his homeland by the demonic Shadows of Man, Solineus helped lead his people to a new frontier and the hope for peace, but this victory is one he won't be able to A new life with his adopted daughters will have to wait.The Lady from the Blue won't tell him who he used to be, but promises to show him who he is, and who he will become, if he will bend to her will one more time.Solineus' pilgrimage will take him along the Holy Foundations of the Dragonspan Mountains, to the heights of mighty peaks, and to the depths of the deepest caves, as he sets the stones in the road to peace with the Kingdomers. His is a journey of dangers and discoveries, but only when he reaches the Gulf of Volgrâhar will he find his final destination and come face to face with himself.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2019
6 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
L. James Rice
13 books411 followersL. James Rice is the #1 International Best Selling Author of the multi-award-winning Epic Fantasy, Eve of Snows, and the Sundering the Gods Saga.
Having lived in his own world for many years, L. James Rice decided he might as well share that world with folks otherwise trapped in reality, and got serious about writing. He has made enough wine to no longer enjoy wine. He has not eaten enough steak or pizza to no longer enjoy steak or pizza, but is working on it. "Challenges are good," he maintains. He is an old English Lit major who also studied screenwriting at UCLA.
Having managed to graduate high school only rarely turning in homework, he moved on to a university to find it even more forgiving of lax study skills. He celebrated with copious amounts of beer. With scant few memories of either educational facility or anything they reputedly taught him, he refuses to confirm or deny their usefulness. Probably because he is wishy-washy, but I'm not sure of that. 98% sure... or maybe only 50%. Hell if I know.
His proudest success in life does, however, harken back to high school. In geometry class a teacher set a remarkable challenge by saying (paraphrased) "In ten years you might forget everything you ever learned in class, but you will not forget..." Taunted by this teacher's arrogance, L. James Rice managed to not only forget what it was he learned, but the name of it too. And for good measure, the name of the teacher. But not the challenge itself. That would've made the exercise of forgetfulness pointless. To pile on insult to injury, he does remember the name of a spell from the video game Wizardry which he played often during this time: Tiltowait. Take that, geometry!
Born and raised in the midwest, US of A, L. James Rice has a lovely wife and two beautiful daughters, the names and birthdays of whom he remembers most of the time. Plus, two dogs, an unknown number of chickens (always in flux with predators and other natural causes), and a gosling he assumes will someday be a goose who lays non-golden eggs... stupid goose anyhow.
Having lived in his own world for many years, L. James Rice decided he might as well share that world with folks otherwise trapped in reality, and got serious about writing. He has made enough wine to no longer enjoy wine. He has not eaten enough steak or pizza to no longer enjoy steak or pizza, but is working on it. "Challenges are good," he maintains. He is an old English Lit major who also studied screenwriting at UCLA.
Having managed to graduate high school only rarely turning in homework, he moved on to a university to find it even more forgiving of lax study skills. He celebrated with copious amounts of beer. With scant few memories of either educational facility or anything they reputedly taught him, he refuses to confirm or deny their usefulness. Probably because he is wishy-washy, but I'm not sure of that. 98% sure... or maybe only 50%. Hell if I know.
His proudest success in life does, however, harken back to high school. In geometry class a teacher set a remarkable challenge by saying (paraphrased) "In ten years you might forget everything you ever learned in class, but you will not forget..." Taunted by this teacher's arrogance, L. James Rice managed to not only forget what it was he learned, but the name of it too. And for good measure, the name of the teacher. But not the challenge itself. That would've made the exercise of forgetfulness pointless. To pile on insult to injury, he does remember the name of a spell from the video game Wizardry which he played often during this time: Tiltowait. Take that, geometry!
Born and raised in the midwest, US of A, L. James Rice has a lovely wife and two beautiful daughters, the names and birthdays of whom he remembers most of the time. Plus, two dogs, an unknown number of chickens (always in flux with predators and other natural causes), and a gosling he assumes will someday be a goose who lays non-golden eggs... stupid goose anyhow.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 19, 2023
And so here we are for the untold adventures and epic awesomeness that Solineus embarks upon after the events at the end of the second book in the saga of Sundering the Gods.
I feint in the light of the shadow of myself,
a dearth of hope, a dirge for freedom,
a Soul a splinter’s blink from the black of the eye.
Just try to ask why; prepare for the lye,
the burn, the scald, the scar.
Permanent nothing.
—Tomes of the Touched
L. James Rice just keeps topping up his world-building recipe that started albeit slowly from book one and grew into a many headed hydra of survival, religious war, inter-dimensional monsters, myth making and culture.
I feint in the light of the shadow of myself,
a dearth of hope, a dirge for freedom,
a Soul a splinter’s blink from the black of the eye.
Just try to ask why; prepare for the lye,
the burn, the scald, the scar.
Permanent nothing.
—Tomes of the Touched
L. James Rice just keeps topping up his world-building recipe that started albeit slowly from book one and grew into a many headed hydra of survival, religious war, inter-dimensional monsters, myth making and culture.
“They took our mountains, razed the temples they could find, and populated our cities. Our masters, whoever they were, beat our gods from our souls, but the Foundations would not take defeat so easy. No. The priests and the people prayed in dark, hidden places. They prayed every day to Rînkodûl the Storm-Eye for freedom and revenge. Rînkodûl and the other gods gathered, and though too weak to face their enemy in pitched battle, they beseeched Bodomyûl, the Great Creator to which no mortal prays, to send the enemy away.The own world mythology gets some much needed expositions and answers within this volume so it's an absolute must read before the third book. Also, it's a really interesting, unique quasi-medieval magical high fantasy at it best! I highly recommend.
“But the gods did not know what fearful thing they asked for. Bodomyûl asked them three times if they were certain, and each time they answered yes! And Bodomyûl went to war, breaking the world, destroying our enemy in a Forgotten blink and banishing our enemy’s gods from this world. But the lands changed, mountains tumbled, and the memories of men vanished.”
It took Solineus several flickers to digest the tale being told. “The Great Forgetting.”
“So many call it, but we of the Eight Kingdoms call it Bodomyûl’s Wrath.”
“The whole world paid the price for freeing your people?”
“The whole world paid the price for enslaving my people."
August 18, 2019
Brilliant
Great companion book to the series, I loved the back story which turned out to be a book in itself.
This author writes really well, although I don't confess to understand the "tomes of the touched" ?!
Great companion book to the series, I loved the back story which turned out to be a book in itself.
This author writes really well, although I don't confess to understand the "tomes of the touched" ?!
October 3, 2019
Wonderful novella focusing on Solineus’ travels. The world building in this series is incredible. Each book builds on the next and gets more and more complex. Great fantasy! I look forward to the next Sundering the Gods novel.
March 18, 2025
I stepped away for a while before writing a review on this book because I wasn't sure what to say. I loved the book, minus one quibble, but it is definitely a different mood than the previous installments. I call the previous books dark epic fantasy bordering on horror. This was more of light and humorous mood. I mean, yes, he has plenty of humor in his other works, but also existential dread. This book has much less existential dread.
It is something of a fish-out-of-water tale which certainly aids in the feel of levity. The great warrior finds himself in a web of political intrigue in a land and culture he does not know. It is more of a chess game than a fight-to-the-last-man scenario (where Solineus probably feels more at home in the latter).
The tale itself is something of a side tale. I was hoping we were going to get more of an origin story (that's the quibble mentioned above) but the bits and pieces of this character continued to be dolled out in small bits. I'm not saying that's bad (probably it is good, even), just that the tome is called "Solineus" and I went in thinking it would be more about Solineus. Instead I would say it is a Solineus POV piece.
But it is good. I enjoyed it greatly. The Kingdomers are entertaining. Solineus is forced to use more skills than just his swordsmanship. Another excellent book in the series. I've liked them all so far.
It is something of a fish-out-of-water tale which certainly aids in the feel of levity. The great warrior finds himself in a web of political intrigue in a land and culture he does not know. It is more of a chess game than a fight-to-the-last-man scenario (where Solineus probably feels more at home in the latter).
The tale itself is something of a side tale. I was hoping we were going to get more of an origin story (that's the quibble mentioned above) but the bits and pieces of this character continued to be dolled out in small bits. I'm not saying that's bad (probably it is good, even), just that the tome is called "Solineus" and I went in thinking it would be more about Solineus. Instead I would say it is a Solineus POV piece.
But it is good. I enjoyed it greatly. The Kingdomers are entertaining. Solineus is forced to use more skills than just his swordsmanship. Another excellent book in the series. I've liked them all so far.
December 30, 2019
I can not quite call this book comedy relief after Trail of Pyres, but! it is a change of pace. A bit more adventure, less blood, and a whole lot of story seeds planted. There's just no way in the world some of the events Solineus breezes around don't come back into play, and I'm looking forward to it.
Just flat-out a good time read that pokes in the chest and says "ha ha!" while prepping you for the next book.
Just flat-out a good time read that pokes in the chest and says "ha ha!" while prepping you for the next book.
May 3, 2020
Solineus has been one of my favorite characters throughout the Sundering saga, so I was pretty excited when I found out he was getting his own novella. As others have said, this one definitely has a different feel than the rest of the series, but not in a bad way! Aside from a good story, this book also contains some interesting information about the world itself and answers a few questions I've had for a while.
October 18, 2019
Okay! I should've seen that end coming, LOL. Well, not exactly... but close.
This book sets up so much... maybe further down the road past Book 3? No way to know until we get there, but an excellent read. The character of Solineus can range from brutal to funny as heck, can't wait to see where he goes from here.
This book sets up so much... maybe further down the road past Book 3? No way to know until we get there, but an excellent read. The character of Solineus can range from brutal to funny as heck, can't wait to see where he goes from here.
September 12, 2019
In Solineus we see a turn in the narrative, a little lighter piece of story. Did I predict where this tale was going? Umm, no. I continue to be happily surprised by the twists and turns this saga throws at us, and I'm looking forward to its continuation.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews