To purchase Crown of Souls, click on the picture or the link.
Crown of Souls is Book 2 in the Tox Files series. Like Conspiracy of Silence, Book 1, and The Warrior’s Seal–the novella which preceded them–Crown of Souls is part action, part romance, part supernatural fiction.
Tox Russell is a special forces dude now operating way black. He’s very conflicted about a lot of things: his team, his romance, his past, his future. At the same time, he’s very dedicated to his team, his missions, his country, and his love. These apparent conflicts make Tox a very real and very interesting character, although, I must admit, the frequent mention of his dark past gets irritating. Hearing the “if they knew what I’ve done, they wouldn’t love/respect/follow me” refrain repeated gets old fast.
This time Tox and his team are tasked with finding and bringing in or down a former teammate of Tox’s, Alec King. Alec has apparently gone rogue and must be stopped. Crown of Souls also examines the ever deepening relationship of Tox and Haven Linwood. We wonder throughout the book if they’ll ever rid themselves of their insecurities and the past. Haven is an analysist assigned to the team, Tox’s childhood friend now grown up, and the sister of the woman Tox accidentally killed on a mission.
While Tox and Haven are trying to figure out their relationship, they’re also on a mission to find Alec King and to destroy the artifact that’s driving him crazy. Interwoven between the scenes of their search is the story of Thefarie, a Knight Templar who searched for the artifact in the 1100s. There is an element of the supernatural in the character of Ti Tzzaddik, who appears at the most opportune times seemingly out of nowhere.
My description may sound crazy, but I’ve grown fond of the characters in this series. The book is long, 470 pages, but I read the novel pretty much straight through. Ronie has another great series going–Crown of Souls won’t be the last book with this crew. Four stars.
Ronie Kendig is an award-winning, prolific author who writes military-themed novels. She’s written over a dozen books containing the stories special forces heroes, military working dogs, and now the Tox Files. She and her husband, Brian, are in the process of moving to New York. We can anticipate many more exciting books-especially as Ronie moves more to the supernatural.
Bethany Books gave me a copy of Crown of Souls, but I was in no way obligated to write a review.