The Anvil of Souls

The Forgemaster Cycle, Book 2

By: Joshua C. Cook

Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore

Gods are hard to beat, even dead ones.

Victory!

Hard-fought, and a close thing, but victory all the same. But why did William feel so horrible about it all?

He had Amder back to the world. He, William Reis, was made the new forgemaster of Amder by the God himself. Valnijz’s return ended, and even the near-immortal High Priest Zalkiniv is gone. The Valni were almost totally decimated, assuring safe passage for years to come.

But the cost was high. Scores of innocent Reachers dead to the Valni. And Duncan Reis, William's last family, was dead. Duncan was the one who stopped the blood god, trading his own life for that feat. Given a new task by the God Amder, William and his friends embark to set things in order, joined by Captain Vin Tolin, an old soldier and now de facto protector of the newly minted Forgemaster William.

Soon, Will discovers that not all is as he believed, and Duncan may yet still live. Dropping everything, William sets out to save his cousin one last time. Things are not always as they appear, however. For, secrets abound in this group of friends. One secret will hurt the heart, one will terrify them, and one could undo everything they have worked and sacrificed for.

From the dark depths of the world of Alos, to the last refuge of true magic, William and his allies will scour the world for the truth. It just may not be the truth they want to find.

The last act of the Gods' fall is still to come, and the hidden past will remake everything.

©2020 Joshua C. Cook (P)2023 Joshua C. Cook

The Forgemaster Continues

Once again Joshua C Cook has written a creative and clever epic fantasy that has taken his characters down dark and dangerous paths. Joshua's world building skills and introduction of new and varied creatures are by themselves worth reading his tale. His likeable and relatable characters are icing on the cake. I recommend this book for those who like this genre. Eric Bryan Moore's narration skills are accomplished and add another layer of enjoyment to the story. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

The gods are keeping secrets from each other!

The Anvil of Souls by Joshua C. Cook is a continuation of the amazing story of Will and Duncan. We learn more about the gods of this world in The Anvil of Souls. The gods are keeping secrets from each other! Big secrets! I can’t wait for the third book!

Synopsis:
Will has just resurrected the god Amder. His cousin and best friend, Duncan, had to sacrifice his own life to prevent the rise of the blood god Valnijz. Will is utterly devastated at the loss of Duncan. He pulls himself together just enough to set out on a new quest for Amder.

When Will finds out that Duncan may still be alive, he abandons the quest to mount a rescue. Both gods, Amder and Valnijz, have plans to get their way at the end, but no one is counting on Myriam’s surprise!

Story Review:
Blood of the Fallen God is the first book in this series and the first book ever written by Joshua C. Cook. He hit a grand-slam home run with that book. I loved it in every way! As a follow-up to such a remarkable first book, The Anvil of Souls is good but doesn’t quite live up to the complexity and intrigue of the first book.

I would like to have seen more subplots, decision-making, consequences, and action outside the main plot lines. Imagine if The Anvil of Souls’ ending marked the end of the second act and then continued with twists and turns in the third act. Oh, the possibilities!

I will definitely read book three in the series. I cannot wait to see how the story continues!

Narration Review:
The narration is incredible. Eric Bryan Moore does an amazing job with the voices and action in the book. His supernatural voices will make your spine tingle!

Source:
I received a free copy of The Anvil of Souls at my request in exchange for an honest review.

The Cycle Continues

The Anvil of Souls is the second book in The Forgemaster Cycle and follows Blood of a Fallen God: Can One Man Resurrect a Dead God? As a sequel review, there could be spoilers from the first book. If you haven't read the first book, stop reading this and go get it – it's excellent, and I highly recommend it.

Given that I loved the first book, I'm sorry to say that the second book of the cycle is as good as the first book. It's not bad, but overall it falls short of the first. Is it worth reading? Sure, it is. Despite its flaws, it is a continuation of the first book and does a great job of exploring the world of the Forgemaster and detailing the unique history and lore. I haven't read the third book yet, but this one seems like it's a segue into a final volume. And I do plan on continuing to the third book.

At the start of the story, there was a setup for what I thought was a great plot: William was set to return to Ture, clean the corruption from the church of Amder, and take his position as Forgemaster. I was excited to return to the mix of city-based intrigue and action of the first book, so I was pretty disappointed when William suddenly changed his mind and traveled in the opposite direction. Once it gets going, the plot doesn't have a good focus from chapter to chapter, and most of the book is just a chronicle of the journey. There were a few trials, tribulations, and mysteries that are expected of such a narrative, but no real substance for a big chunk of the book. It does have a significant, exciting build-up at the very end, but I wish the trip there had a bit more to keep me interested in where the plot was going. This may be no issue if you are a fan of the style, but for me, it was only just enough to keep my attention.

But the central protagonists were the real disappointment in the book. The story focuses on the travels of William, Myriam, and Regin. I liked all three characters in the first book, but after the events in the first book, they seemed to have become dense, obtuse, and oblivious. Are you familiar with the cliche horror scene where you want to scream something like "DON'T GO DOWN INTO THE DARK, SCARY BASEMENT!"? I wanted to do the same thing to those three because they were constantly acting irrational or overreacting. And William, who is the mortal representative of a god that he resurrected, is an impotent hero, continually questioning and doubting himself to the point you want to slap him, hoping that he'll snap out of his funk.

Despite any misgivings I have about the plot or characters, the narration is excellent. Moore's performance was one of the reasons my interest stayed high enough to enjoy the book. The voices were distinct, the dialog was interesting, and the tone was well matched to the scenes' pacing and writing style.

Special thanks to Eric Bryan Moore, who provided me with a copy of this book at my request.

Yup no question now. I am definitely hooked!

Yup no question now. I am definitely hooked on this series and can't wait for book #3, 4, 5 ,6 .........

The story had it all, multiple gods, a love story, death, sacrifice and plenty of weird creatures which is right up my ally.

The narration seemed much better then the first book and I am really starting to like Eric Bryan Moore's narration style so will need to look for more of his work.

Sooooo Joshua is book 3 ready yet???? ;)

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2nd Book in Series

Though this book continues the story started in book #1, I personally did not think it was as good. The various Gods are mostly mean, arrogant beings and as the book goes on I find I dislike where this Story is heading. Narrator did a good job with this story and characters.

Awesome

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, especially made even better by the narrator. His voice was clear and easy to listen to. You feel the magic that’s going on. Will finds things are not what they seem.

better

this one picked up from the first and it does get better with each book. Looking forward to the next book.

Dark Epic Fantasy - highly recommended

The Anvil of Souls. Dark Epic Fantasy - highly recommended
I couldn't put aside this second book of the Forgemaster Cycle. I am so invested in this world and the characters. William and Myriam both grow in strength and mature. The story picks up from the conclusion of Blood of a Fallen God. The path taken by the newly anointed Forgemaster, William Reis, and his friends is fraught with danger. So many revelations and betrayals. Followers of the Blood God, Valnijz, persist in their faith and the gruesome blood sacrifices continue. Amder, God of Craft and Creation, is unable to give William specific advice as he quests to save Duncan's soul. The body count reminds me of Game of Thrones.

Totally immersive experience as an audio book. The narrator, Eric Bryan Moore is a great voice actor and adds that extra special level of enjoyment. One thing about audio, you cannot skim past the gruesome bits, so you are totally immersed in the fear and gore. Really dark and not for the faint hearted. The writing is clean and atmospheric. Small details add to the sense of immediacy.

Another well-written story from a very good author

The Anvil of Souls (The Forgemaster Cycle Book 2), my second oh-so-enjoyable read from author Joshua C. Cook. Well-written epic fantasy with captivating & intriguing characters picking up seamlessly from where the first book left off. 323-pages. Sometimes a book is just enjoyable, wait no spoilers here, buy the book, read & review the book. I was given an Audible copy of this book & am voluntarily reviewing it. Eric Bryan Moore's adds to an excellent book's enjoyment. I'll be reading more from this author and look forward to the third book in the series. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

Protagonist handled poorly

I don't think this book is as good as the first one. The author is trying to develop a side character, but does so at the expense of the main one. I know that this is a personal preference, but only a fraction of the book is told from Will's perspective. That isn't bad per say, but personally I don't like jumping around between 5 different characters perspectives all the time. Especially when some of those different characters are right next to each other and doing more or less the same things. At times it feels like Will is less of a character and more of a plot device. He is just a reason for other characters to do things. BEWERE, THE REST OF THE REVEIW CONTAINS VERY VAUGE AND MILD SPOILERS. Without spoiling the plot too much, Will is an L magnet. I don't think that he managed to susceed at literally anything he tried throughout the entire book, excluding times he was doing someone else's idea, and even then it was iffy. In many ways, Will effectively let's everything he did right in the previous book be undone or made irrelevant. But this isn't as noticable as you might think because Will, as a character, doesn't really do much. As I said, he's mainly just there as a plot device. Overall the book isn't terrible, but there aren't any feel good moments of triumph in it. It is just a long list of half failures that I guess could have been slightly worse without the intervention of the protagonist's aquatances.