Legends of Us: The Legend of The Soul Guardian by Lorie Rea; Brilliant Protagonist and World Building Outshine Sometimes Convoluted Plot
Bookworm Reviews
This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.
Spoilers: One thing that can't be denied is that Lori Rea worked hard on her Science Fiction Fantasy novel, Legends of Us: The Legend of The Soul Guardian. The initial idea and her lead protagonist, Amber Rose, have been on her mind for years. She fine tuned her book and based many characters on people that she knew. She created the familial relationship, the political structure, and the language of the fictitious world of Vilroh. I know all of this because the book has occasional “Break Room” chapters inserted throughout the book that describes her writing process.
Some may find the “Break Room” chapters as congratulatory or distracting but for Science Fiction and Fantasy authors who have an epic imaginary world that they want to share with others, they are a valuable educational experience. Rea gives her personal experience and offers her novel as the final document of her journey. And it is quite a document indeed.
While far from perfect, Legends of Us certainly benefits from its author's attention to detail in building the world and characters, particularly in its lead protagonist.
Amber Rose’s parents were killed in a fire and she was separated from her friends and family, particularly her sister, Victoria. She is raised in exile and is trained to become an adept warrior. She reunites with some friends and they strive to keep her real identity a secret. She lives under the assumed name of Juliet. But forging a different identity is easier said than done when Amber encounters jealous colleagues, concerned relatives, feuding enemies, and twisted secrets that could alter the new relationships that she is trying to build.
Rea’s details are well constructed. She put a lot of thought into the world of Vilroh including the history, social structures, and other information. Families are large and multigenerational. Some families have long standing feuds. Adults are referred to as “Master” and “Lady.” There is a military presence that resorts to extreme violent tendencies to meet their goals. The details make us understand the thought that went into creating this book.
One of the early chapters is a prime example of Rea’s creativity. Amber is still an infant but her extended family including her sister, cousins, aunt, and uncle speak in an original language which looks like a composite of words from various other languages, slang terms, and pidgin dialect. For example “Du sollest haben sayertan” means “You should have awoken me.”
It's a clever contribution to Rea’s fertile imagination but gods is it ever hard to follow when several characters have long conversations consisting solely of this dialect. Thankfully there's a helpful glossary at the beginning of this book.
Besides world building Rea excels in writing richly developed characters. Nowhere is this more evident than with the lead, Amber. She is a complex and often contradictory character that goes through many changes.
We see her originally as a sheltered flighty young girl from an upper class environment. She has her usual teen hang ups and urges but mostly she is immensely proud of her older sister, Victoria's academic successes. It seems like she was destined to follow her sister's path.
The next time we see Amber, after her kidnapping and parent's death, she is a hardened commando who can efficiently do away with someone before treating her own wounds. She is not the sweet innocent girl that we met before. Instead, she is a sardonic tough badass who captivates those that she meets and inspires gossip and speculation.
Amber is a cypher to those around her especially as she assumes the "Juliet" alias. Despite her hardened professionalism born through years of imprisonment, abuse, and survival instincts, Amber demonstrates the difficulties of living under an assumed name. It can be difficult to remember to answer to that name, especially when she is around people who knew her as Amber.
She also has to create various deceptions to uphold her new identity and avoid or fight against nefarious people that she doesn't want to recognize her. At times she questions who Amber really is.
Amber isn't the only one questioning her identity. Other characters offer their opinions on this woman. Some see her as a fragile innocent who needs protecting. Others see her as a master manipulator. Others see a deeply wounded broken bird hurt by the world's mistreatment. Others see her as an avatar of death and destruction. Many of her cousins see the girl that she used to be and maintain their friendship and loyalty to her.
The secret is that Amber is all of these and more. She is a layered personality that alters between loving and fury, vulnerable and strong, cunning and empathetic, traumatized and defiant, a good friend and a feared enemy. She can't be placed into one category and moves through all of them.
Amber is the best aspect of the book that can be lost in its complexities. Legends of Us is not an easy read. In fact, this reader had to reread it twice and the opening one more time to make sure that she got it. It's worth it because of the detail but it's also too easy to become lost in the plot and multiple characters surrounding it.
These are large families where characters are related either by blood, marriage, or are involved through romance or friendship. There are character guides spread throughout the book and a family tree at the beginning that focuses on each character and that helps. But there are a lot of names and long names with plenty of middle and family names at that. Even with the character guide, it's all too easy to get tangled up by the relatives and hard to keep track of who is related to whom.
There are plot points that are confusing. There is a love triangle that is never resolved. One character seems to be in love with Amber and her missing sister. Amber at one point has an eerie telepathic conversation with a rival that could lead to friendship and understanding but the rival later continues to warn her boyfriend and friends about Amber's questionable intentions.
Perhaps it could use some trimming and certainty or maybe the Reader just needs to read it again. Despite the convoluted plot, the book excels because of Amber and the world in which she lives.
Legends of Us’ title comes from a line where Amber says that people create their own legends by their stories and experiences. In truth, Amber is her own legend and Rea's as well.
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