The Memory of Souls is the third epic fantasy book in the series Chorus of Dragons by author Jenn Lyons.
Your head will literally feel like it’s been spinning in a washing machine with all the chaos of characters and stories within stories. It is best read with no disturbance or distraction as concentration is a must.
You will need to read the first two books to have knowledge of what is happening and where the story all began. The Memory of Souls picks up from The Name of All Things with the main characters escaping the battle they were in. Kihrin, Teraeth, Janel, Thurvishar and God Vol Karoth are past characters that narrate the novel. By reading the previous books you will have an understanding of them as individuals and their personalities.

The story focuses on reincarnation and past lives, the characters are not one person nor have they had one life. They reincarnate into different genders; races, males turning into females and the gifted ones that can alter their gender and appearance over time or those that can become anyone when they want to. When Atrine was destroyed Kirhin, Teraeth, Janel and Thurvishar were appointed by the Eight Immortals, to convince the Manol Vané to give up their immortality and destroy Vol Karoth. There is a lot of family politics, sacrifices as well as a love triangle between Khirin, Janel and Teraeths.
As any great fantasy, the book is filled with dragons, immortals, characters battling for power, complex relationships involving polyamory, demons, magic and the world being saved. Jenn Lyons will keep you guessing and captivated until the end with a massive cliff-hanger with a grand battle and lives lost that will have you heartbroken and anxiously waiting for the fourth book in the series, The House of Always.
If you love fantasy fiction I highly recommend you buy the series.
Thank you Beauty & Lace and Pan Macmillan AU for the opportunity to read and review.
ISBN: 9781509879595
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members have been reading The Memory of Souls. You can read their reviews in the comments section below, or add your own!

My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.
The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons, and published by PanMacmillan, is the third book in The Chorus of Dragons series. A series which at its simplest is the story of long lost royal Kihrin whose fate is tied to the future of his world. But this is far from a simple tale! Think political intrigue, prophecies, ancient rituals, hidden agendas, social upheaval, wars, dragons, demons, magical objects, witch hunters and rogue gods and you start to get an idea!!
The series is epic fantasy on a very grand scale. It includes extremely complex world building. In fact, the author covers every aspect of her Chorus of Dragon’s world – from the political, social, religious, ethical, cultural and mythical to the historical, resulting in a world incredibly rich with detail!
Kihrin, Janel, Teraeth and Thurvishar are key characters in The Memory of Souls and not only do they come together to save … or perhaps destroy the world, they are also emotionally entangled. It is all very interconnected.
Major characters and even lesser ones are well fleshed out and have interesting backgrounds and complicated genealogy. This can get confusing, because, while each character is well portrayed, there are a LOT of them and many have similar sounding names. Plus there is body/gender swapping as well as reincarnation! (The Glossary at the end of the book is handy when you become too bamboozled)…
Given the elaborate detail the author goes into for each and every aspect of the story, and to do this series justice, it is probably best that you start at Book 1 and follow the series through. I read The Memory of Souls, the third book in the series, as a stand alone. And while it was interesting, there are nevertheless gaps in my understanding of how significant certain elements are, exactly what has transpired, and who did what, in this truly elaborate and EPIC saga!!
It takes a bit to wrap your head around this one folks. It’s well developed characters and snipey banter are very amusing.
I have to say it is the most detailed and thorough book I’ve read in a while. You definitely need to read the from the ruins of kings to fully grasp the whole story. Very well written. Thankyou for the opportunity to read this Beauty and Lace and Pan Macmillan.
The Memory of Souls is the third epic fantasy in Jenn Lyons’ Chorus of Dragons series.
Kihrin, Janel, Teraeth and Thurvishar are the main characters in The Memory of Souls and are all emotionally interconnected.
The story focuses on how the wards that trap the King of Demons are starting to weakon. One of the main characters Kihrin seems to have connection to the king of demons, Vol Karoth, which growing steadily in strength.
Relos Var’s plans have been revealed and the demons are free to roam and ruin the empire, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecis which is the end of the world seem closer than ever.
To buy time for humanity, Kihrin needs to convince the king of the to perform an ancient ritual which will strip the entire race of their immortality, but it’s a ritual which certain people will do anything to prevent.
A great fascinating intricate read for those who love fantasy. I’d suggest reading the first 2 books in the series to get full story.
Thanks beauty and lace for the opportunity to read another great book
Thank-you Beauty & Lace for giving me the chance to read & review ‘The Memory of Souls’ a fantasy book by Jenn Lyons, the third book in the series of Chorus of Dragons. This is an epic read and certainly worth the effort of finding the quiet time to become totally absorbed in the characters who have also lived other lives (male and / or female) which influences their actions in either to help repair the world or to play a part in its destruction.
The main characters Kihrin, Janel, Teraeth and Thurvishar help to guide the storyline, whilst other characters flesh out the background and give more substance to what is occurring, some from the past lives explain even further. Just when you think you have figured out a character there is another twist in the storyline.
This book is part of an epic fantasy read, having the glossary at the end about each character really helped, especially when someone new pops up from so long ago that the details are foggy. A great read that needs to be savoured as well as enjoyed. Thank-you ‘Beauty & Lace Bookclub’ and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read ‘The Memory of Souls’ by Jenn Lyons.
I suggest that anyone wishing to read this book read the other two books in the Series first. I have not read them and feel that may have been my downfall as I struggled to work out who was who and how they were connected. This was made all the more difficult by the fact that many of the characters have memories of their past lives and so all those connections are also entwined with the now and that makes it even more difficult and more of a head spin. Ive often read books that are part of a series without having read the first books. Ive always found that they are great stand alone reads but with this one I wouldnt suggest it. I struggled and found that I had to take a break but then when I came back to the book I was even more confused.
Sadly this one just wasnt for me.
OMG! I loved this book. Whilst I didnt actually read the first two books when I first read this one, I found I was able to quickly catch up and get the gist of what had happened. In saying this, I have since read both books and absolutely recommend reading them in order to fully experience the depth of characters and build those solid connections of who, what and why.
So, one of the things I loved most about this book was the depth of the character development and how their past influenced their actions and decisions. The sci fi story line does not disappoint, it truely is an epic story which deserves the time (and sometimes effort) to really read. It is not a light summer read so if you want to do it justice, you need to ensure that you can really focus on it.
This book weaves the magic of dragons, rituals, demons, artifacts, politics and religion with a cast of characters that has you gripped from the start to the end. Dont put this book down!