4 ways The Soul of Power gives The Waking Land a satisfying conclusion

Callie Bates’ The Soul of Power expands the world she built in the previous two installments and brings her trilogy to an emotional and worthwhile close.

Callie Bates’ The Waking Land trilogy has grown increasingly more complex with each installment, and The Soul of Power is no exception to this. The conclusion to Bates’ series hit shelves on June 4, and it offered fans a powerful ending to the story that began with The Waking Land and continued into The Memory of Fire. 

Bates chronicles the story of a new character with each book in her trilogy, beginning with Elanna in The Waking Land and moving onto Jahan in The Memory of Fire. In The Soul of Power, she takes on Sophy Dunbarron — Elanna’s adoptive sister who accepted the role of queen after Caeris’ rebellion against Eren.

During the second book in the series, readers mostly follow Elanna and Jahan while they attempt to infiltrate Paladis. The finale shows the political machinations taking place in Eren and Caeris alongside the events of The Memory of Fire — though the timeline eventually surpasses that of the second book, bringing the events of both of them together to wrap up the story.

And even as Bates moves toward the end of her trilogy during The Soul of Power, she still manages to expand upon the world she built during the previous two books in the series. She builds the politics and magic as much as she does Sophy’s character, and it’s truly a testament to how much an author can do in just over 400 pages.

There’s plenty to enjoy about The Soul of Power, but these four highlights of Bates’ final chapter in The Waking Land.

Sophy’s character growth

Sophy learns throughout The Soul of Power that keeping a crown is far more difficult than winning one — especially when the people you’re ruling over didn’t necessarily want you in power in the first place. Sophy makes plenty of mistakes while navigating Eren’s court, but she grows through them, making her a far more relatable protagonist for it.

Of course, Sophy’s reign is made even more difficult by the fact that she’s a woman. Add in the fact that she’s having a child out of wedlock, and you can just imagine the nobles’ desperation to get her off the throne. But Sophy proves that gender and class shouldn’t matter as a leader, not if you’re willing to do what’s best for your people.

And sure, Sophy still makes a few questionable decisions at the end of the book. (Offering her father the opportunity to live peacefully after all he’s done? Really?) Still, there’s something so compelling about Sophy’s journey in this novel, and that’s what will suck readers in.

Oh, and did I mention all the amazing female friendships this girl has?

Diving deeper into the politics

Bates’ series has always put emphasis on the political tensions between the major nations in her story; it would be difficult to write about a rebellion without doing so. The Soul of Power, however, places the politics at the head of the story — whereas the previous installments seem to emphasize the sorcery in Bates’ world first and foremost.

And with the politics taking over during The Soul of Power, Bates is able to deliver commentary about topics relevant to our own world. From classism, to the nuances of creating a new government, to sexism — it’s all explored during the final book. The parallels between fiction and nonfiction are easy to draw, but Bates never forces her own beliefs onto you. She merely presents the situations and lets readers draw their own conclusions.

Expanding the magic system.

Even though The Soul of Power shifts its focus from magic to politics, there’s still plenty of magic to be found within its pages. In fact, Bates even expands upon her magic system in the finale. With sorcery returning to Caeris and Eren after so many years, new characters begin to develop powers they hadn’t previously possessed.

Readers meet new sorcerers in this book, and they also witness the emergence of Sophy’s own powers. With so many different abilities on display, it’s hard not to keep flipping through the pages. The fact that Bates makes Sophy learn how to master her abilities makes their addition seem realistic and worthwhile.

The only negative thing one can really say about the magic is that there isn’t more of it. With so many new sorcerers, it would have been nice to delve deeper into the mechanics behind the sorcery. But hey, you can’t have everything.

Not shying away from sacrifice

In some ways, The Soul of Power feels like it has higher stakes than both The Waking Land and The Memory of Fire. While sacrifice certainly isn’t a new thing in Bates’ world, it isn’t a frequent occurence before the third book. Yes, readers see Ruadan give his life for the cause earlier in the series, as well as a number of minor characters. But Bates’ finale doesn’t hold back when it comes to killing off major players (even if it brings some of them back on occasion).

The Soul of Power showcases plenty of losses in the fight to hold onto Eren and Caeris, and those only serve to make the ending that much more worthwhile. After all, who wants to read about a group of rebels who got exactly what they wanted without giving up anything for it?