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Soul Bound #2
Phoenix Ascendant
Xandra has reached Nocturne, the realm of the fey who’ve invaded Loth, yet it is only the first step. She’s accompanied by Jasmine, a high priestess who inspires feelings she wishes she could ignore. Now they have to find those responsible, and determine why Loth was attacked.
Yet Nocturne is a dangerous place, and it will take everything Xandra has to protect Jasmine. Xandra hasn’t come this far to lay down and die, and anyone wanting to kill Jasmine will learn how she destroyed four armies in her youth.
Yet Nocturne is a dangerous place, and it will take everything Xandra has to protect Jasmine. Xandra hasn’t come this far to lay down and die, and anyone wanting to kill Jasmine will learn how she destroyed four armies in her youth.
530 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2022
35 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Medrano
47 books308 followersI was born in October, 1985. Not much of my history would likely be of interest, but I grew up primarily in Utah, a land of ultra-conservative people, and yet oddly open to Science Fiction and Fantasy.
I started trying to write in high school. That didn't go well, and I mostly lost the spark for a long time, only rarely finishing writing a story, as most of my inspiration instead went into tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. In the process I developed a possibly unhealthy obsession with elves and succubi. If I ever write a story without either, it's probably Science Fiction...and there are even odds that someone will body-mod themselves to look like an elf. Trying to be honest here.
My writing tends to focus on the relationships between characters, though it may not seem like it at times. The stories in the background are just that, a backdrop for the development of the characters and situation. I try to fully think them through, but it's not always the case.
Anyway, not much more to be said. I'm an oddball, and I know it. I'm also somewhat stunned at the success my work has attained thus far, and am trying not to panic over it.
I started trying to write in high school. That didn't go well, and I mostly lost the spark for a long time, only rarely finishing writing a story, as most of my inspiration instead went into tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. In the process I developed a possibly unhealthy obsession with elves and succubi. If I ever write a story without either, it's probably Science Fiction...and there are even odds that someone will body-mod themselves to look like an elf. Trying to be honest here.
My writing tends to focus on the relationships between characters, though it may not seem like it at times. The stories in the background are just that, a backdrop for the development of the characters and situation. I try to fully think them through, but it's not always the case.
Anyway, not much more to be said. I'm an oddball, and I know it. I'm also somewhat stunned at the success my work has attained thus far, and am trying not to panic over it.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 16, 2022
This is the conclusion of a fantasy adventure series and I definitely recommend reading Dusk Gate first as this one picks up where that leaves off.
So you know what you're getting with this one, and that's actually a pretty good predictor. It's more travel/adventures, this time in the fey world of Nocturne, at least to start. Medrano's imagination and worldbuilding hold together very well and without losing sight of interesting characters. Plus, I really like Jasmine and Xandra grows on one.
Where this earns the fifth star is with the conclusion. It was every kind of perfect, on every level I care about. And yes, that includes a satisfying romantic conclusion, complete with epilogue. This surprised me in the best possible way.
A note about chaste: There's sex, but it isn't on-page. And I don't even recall any titillating bits, though there was some teasing and affection and a kiss or two. So I consider it pretty chaste when all's told.
So you know what you're getting with this one, and that's actually a pretty good predictor. It's more travel/adventures, this time in the fey world of Nocturne, at least to start. Medrano's imagination and worldbuilding hold together very well and without losing sight of interesting characters. Plus, I really like Jasmine and Xandra grows on one.
Where this earns the fifth star is with the conclusion. It was every kind of perfect, on every level I care about. And yes, that includes a satisfying romantic conclusion, complete with epilogue. This surprised me in the best possible way.
A note about chaste: There's sex, but it isn't on-page. And I don't even recall any titillating bits, though there was some teasing and affection and a kiss or two. So I consider it pretty chaste when all's told.
May 14, 2022
It was a year and a half since the last book, but for some reason it felt like ten years. I really struggled to pickup on the characters and the story, it didn’t help that I really didn’t enjoy the first quarter of the book. I don’t know why, but the author seemed to have left the ‘life’ out of this story.
Unfortunately when it did start to improve it began to feel more like a litrpg novel with the group just encountering one obstacle after another. It did get better and I found I quite enjoyed the last third of the book.
Unfortunately when it did start to improve it began to feel more like a litrpg novel with the group just encountering one obstacle after another. It did get better and I found I quite enjoyed the last third of the book.
December 29, 2022
As good as always
Benjamin Medrano is one of my favorite authors.
I want to say it is because he is one of the best authors I've ever found, but I think part of it is actually that his ideas and story writing click with what I like in a way that most authors don't. Don't get me wrong, he's a really good writer. There are a lot of authors that also write types of stories that I should love, but I can't stay immersed in the story because of writing inconsistencies, bad characters, unrealistic characters, stupid choices just to push the plot, obvious plot holes, or just plain bad writing. I'm honestly not sure what it is about some books, but sometimes despite everything telling me I should be enjoying a book, I just can't get into the story. I have never had that problem with Benjamin's books and I have read every single one he has written so far as of December 2022. That includes five or six series.
Anyways, about his books. They are all fantasy stories of some type, (the superhero one feels a lot different but is still probably technically fantasy). When it comes to fantasy genre, There is dark fantasy, and high fantasy, other fantasy genres I don't know the name of, and some fantasy that is so sloppy; I'm not even sure it should get a fancy name. The dark fantasy can get a bit too heavy after a while, the high fantasy sometimes bores me if the story takes too long. Some fantasy seems to use magic as a way to fix everything when the author runs out of ideas. Or the author can't keep the magic rules straight and The power levels don't make sense. I do love when there is a solid magic system that is well explained and has interesting ideas, but it doesn't need to be there to make fantasy interesting. Benjamin seems to have a good Feel for what magic can do and how powerful certain characters are and what works in their reality or not. There are too many other authors that will describe some fancy magic thing and leave me wondering why does that work? But all of Benjamin's stories leave me with a clear sense of how much power certain items and spells have even without explaining it much.
Next, the characters. The characters are also well written. Rarely hot-headed teenagers making stupid romance drama. There are too many romance fantasy aimed at teenagers. Or at least it feels like it.
I will admit that a lot of Benjamin's main characters have similar characteristics to each other, but they still feel like distinctive different people. They would probably get along well together. The main character is almost always a very powerful woman. Both magically, combat wise, and personality-wise. They may be emotionally broken and have a lot of problems to work through, but they're never the type to sit back and let others fix their problems. Sometimes with powerful female characters, there is an obvious agenda to make sure men are pathetic, Benjamin does a good job at making the story about how amazing the main character is because she's an amazing person, not that she's unrealistically better than everybody else. There's nothing wrong with the men in the stories either, in fact women are often the villains anyways.
I guess Benjamin does seem to have a bias against writing many important male characters, but I'm fine with that. It doesn't feel obvious in the stories much. This does mean that every romance is lesbian. I usually don't like romance, but Benjamin's romances feel kind of natural and casual somehow. There isn't any useless drama or love triangles. They just make sense somehow. Some people probably won't like how simple the romantic descriptions are sometimes. Benjamin doesn't get super in-depth with describing the romance part, but I like that because I don't want to get into a bunch of romantic drama anyways.
Benjamin Medrano is one of my favorite authors.
I want to say it is because he is one of the best authors I've ever found, but I think part of it is actually that his ideas and story writing click with what I like in a way that most authors don't. Don't get me wrong, he's a really good writer. There are a lot of authors that also write types of stories that I should love, but I can't stay immersed in the story because of writing inconsistencies, bad characters, unrealistic characters, stupid choices just to push the plot, obvious plot holes, or just plain bad writing. I'm honestly not sure what it is about some books, but sometimes despite everything telling me I should be enjoying a book, I just can't get into the story. I have never had that problem with Benjamin's books and I have read every single one he has written so far as of December 2022. That includes five or six series.
Anyways, about his books. They are all fantasy stories of some type, (the superhero one feels a lot different but is still probably technically fantasy). When it comes to fantasy genre, There is dark fantasy, and high fantasy, other fantasy genres I don't know the name of, and some fantasy that is so sloppy; I'm not even sure it should get a fancy name. The dark fantasy can get a bit too heavy after a while, the high fantasy sometimes bores me if the story takes too long. Some fantasy seems to use magic as a way to fix everything when the author runs out of ideas. Or the author can't keep the magic rules straight and The power levels don't make sense. I do love when there is a solid magic system that is well explained and has interesting ideas, but it doesn't need to be there to make fantasy interesting. Benjamin seems to have a good Feel for what magic can do and how powerful certain characters are and what works in their reality or not. There are too many other authors that will describe some fancy magic thing and leave me wondering why does that work? But all of Benjamin's stories leave me with a clear sense of how much power certain items and spells have even without explaining it much.
Next, the characters. The characters are also well written. Rarely hot-headed teenagers making stupid romance drama. There are too many romance fantasy aimed at teenagers. Or at least it feels like it.
I will admit that a lot of Benjamin's main characters have similar characteristics to each other, but they still feel like distinctive different people. They would probably get along well together. The main character is almost always a very powerful woman. Both magically, combat wise, and personality-wise. They may be emotionally broken and have a lot of problems to work through, but they're never the type to sit back and let others fix their problems. Sometimes with powerful female characters, there is an obvious agenda to make sure men are pathetic, Benjamin does a good job at making the story about how amazing the main character is because she's an amazing person, not that she's unrealistically better than everybody else. There's nothing wrong with the men in the stories either, in fact women are often the villains anyways.
I guess Benjamin does seem to have a bias against writing many important male characters, but I'm fine with that. It doesn't feel obvious in the stories much. This does mean that every romance is lesbian. I usually don't like romance, but Benjamin's romances feel kind of natural and casual somehow. There isn't any useless drama or love triangles. They just make sense somehow. Some people probably won't like how simple the romantic descriptions are sometimes. Benjamin doesn't get super in-depth with describing the romance part, but I like that because I don't want to get into a bunch of romantic drama anyways.
July 22, 2023
Awesome series ending!!
Talk about going out with a bang— couldn't ask for an any more incredible, magical, intense, exciting & satisfying conclusion to this entertaining awesome action adventure series!!
Talk about going out with a bang— couldn't ask for an any more incredible, magical, intense, exciting & satisfying conclusion to this entertaining awesome action adventure series!!
May 10, 2022
Well worth the read
An excellent finale to the story of Xandra, Jasmine and co. Plenty of explosions and snark - well worth your time to read (but read the first volume)
An excellent finale to the story of Xandra, Jasmine and co. Plenty of explosions and snark - well worth your time to read (but read the first volume)
May 11, 2022
DNF. I managed to get to 50% before giving up.
June 6, 2022
annoyingly repetitive without heart
Read this if you want nothing but sexually awkward and cringe filled scenes. There’s no storytelling or character development. Just crap.
Read this if you want nothing but sexually awkward and cringe filled scenes. There’s no storytelling or character development. Just crap.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews