Review of Darksoul

[Neshboy Aburi]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Darksoul" by L. Brooks.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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A single soul was created in the infinite darkness that permeated our Universe moments before our Creator conjured light. Harnessing its power from darkness, this soul was the most powerful soul ever created. For eons, the soul moved from one chosen host to another until it was eventually bound into an ancient artifact for millennia.

Orion and Sam are wealthy friends and club owners. A criminal cartel led by Michael Tyranny wants their clubs by all means possible. When the friends resist selling overtures, Michael employs goons to murder them and acquire the clubs forcibly. In the ensuing chaos, Sam is killed, while Orion is left only a breath away from death. Jeremiah, an old archeologist who was the keeper of the ancient artifact bearing the dark soul, makes Orion a deal—accept the soul and live or refuse and die. Orion chooses life.

Fame-seeking archeologists unearth an ancient pharaoh buried beneath the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The awakened pharaoh only feasted on human souls and was dethroned by a previous host of the dark soul. Driven by revenge and insatiable hunger—he believes only the dark soul can sate his hunger—he flies to America in search of his nemesis, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. As the three powerful forces stalk and hunt each other, there is bound to be a lot of collateral damage. Who will emerge the victor? Since Orion seems to be the only one with any semblance of empathy, will he be able to protect loved ones from his newfound enemies with total disregard for human life?

Darksoul by L. Brooks is an entertaining urban fantasy novel with a black gangster-like main character who is a reformed criminal. Orion speaks gangster slang, and unlike the common stereotype attached to affluent gangsters, he is very humble and likable. He has a soft spot for a news reporter named Cassandra, although the dark soul's insatiable sexual appetite leads him astray a few times. The author also allows Orion to make common mistakes like other ordinary humans, thus making him more relatable and realistic. I liked Orion's demeanor a lot.

The story was also entertaining, engaging, and full of action. Virtually every chapter had adrenaline-raising happenstances that constantly kept me on edge. The author also used many vocabularies previously unknown to me. I encountered words such as caterwaul, betwixt, buxom, bodacious, and confabulation, to name just a few. Readers should be prepared for a crash course in English vocabulary. I also liked how Brooks gave his characters fitting names. For example, Graveyard, Assassin, Fatal, and Deathblow were Michael's goons, the pharaoh was Soulchaser, and Michael was Tyranny.

On the negative side, the author used many dialogue tags and subtexts between the character's dialogues. They seemed more prominent than the contents of the dialogues themselves. The effect of this was that the plot and prose of the narrative sounded flat, thus arousing a feeling of over-described emotions and contexts of the scenes. Though the author edited the book professionally, I encountered a few errors, though they were not prominent enough to affect its readability.

In conclusion, I opine that this book's positive aspects outweigh the small dialogue issue mentioned above. The book's excellent story, including its relatable, almost human-like superhero main character, compels me to award the book 4 out of 4 stars. The book is also full of gory scenes, explicit sexual content, and a language only suitable for adults. Specifically, fans of mythical and supernatural fantasy novels will enjoy this book.

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Darksoul
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[PeterRabitt20]

This dark soul seems to also have so much life experience if he/she's been around for some time. I like the antagonistic personality of the protagonist. Thanks for the review!

[Humera955]

This fantasy novel sounds quite different.
thanks for this amazing reveiw.

[Hana_Fabro]

I think the friendship between Orion and Sam smells luxury; they might probably living their luxurious lives to the best. Thanks for your wonderful review.

[Hyacinth Bella]

I think that this book is horrifyingly awesome in its own way that would make me turn the pages as fast as I could. Thank you for the review!

[Oyedeji Funmilayo]

I have read the book and it is interesting to note how things turned out to be.i appreciate the author's writing style and character development. I enjoyed reading through your review too, congratulations!!!