They feel very real and the tragedy that unfolds around them are discussed in the story and are part of the characters. Non-players of Soulsborne tend to think we gamers are masochists when we constantly play, rage, and love playing these challenging games.

Despite his teacher’s warnings, Kian decided to lean into that realm and now invites others to also explore these vibrant (and perhaps worrying) reflections of his own psyche.There were chapter that had me gasping, some that almost made me cry and some that had me put the book down and just walk away for a bit. Through the online content we publish, we share our opinions and thoughts on the various problems that the world is facing right now. But, it never felt like we got a firm grasp on their powers, and how they came to have them, what was it that made them different from the other magic users?

Neither the author nor the book hide away from that fact, which is one of the reasons that I think Eleventh Cycle achieves what it sets out to be.

So part of the story deals with these emotions and how certain characters come to a place where they hit the requirements for being one of these champions, and it’s good that they are not always obvious choices, so in this there’s still the capacity for surprise. My Patrons: Alfred, Andrew, Andrew W, Annabeth, Barbara, Brad, Casey, Diana, Dylan, Edward, Elias, Ellen, Gary, Hamad, Helen, Jesse, Jimmy Nutts, Joie, Kristina, Luis, Lufi, Melinda, Meryl, Michael, Miracle, Neeraja, Nicholas, Radiah, Romeo, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah, Scott, Shawn, Wendy, Wick, Xero, Yuri, Zoe. It also deals with very heavy themes like realistic representation of disability, has descriptive sexual content, self-harm, mental illness, rape and suicidal ideation. The world-building and lore is spun from an imagination that seems boundless and infinite; detailed, meticulous and all-encompassing, in a word, epic. Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!

I also felt that Ardalan did a fantastic job with the internal conflict Chroma had about being a true, free Akar and how he had been raised. There was a part in the foreword that notes these events, but says that it was for a purpose, but for me, those particular elements didn’t serve a purpose – as I explained when talking about Nora. With the exception of the Seed, the POVs were in first person, and yet it felt as though there was a veil or a vagueness to the characters, which meant that aside from the odd moment there was a disconnect. I think most of that stems from events later in the book, that were some of the elements that really didn’t work for me.It is almost like some kind of emotional power-leveling as every character gets knocked down and yet finds another way to pull themselves up, all the stronger for it. Countless stories could be created through being inspired by the video game franchise, but it is far from being an easy task to do right. I also feel the need to caution people that there are a substantial amount of potentially triggering scenes. Overall, after writing this review and spending days contemplating this book, I still don’t have a clear answer to whether I would recommend this one, on a personal level – possibly not – we were not well matched, despite the fact I adore grimdark, loved the worldbuilding and can see the potential in these pages. Here we got to see a bit more reflection, not necessarily as personal as you might want when connecting with character, but this was a blank slate learning who they were and what their place in their world, and Ardalan really captured that.