FORMAT/INFO: The Last Soul Among Wolves was published on August 19th, 2025. It is 384 pages long and available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback format.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: It seemed like such a simple request: tag along with a friend to a will reading and offer support. It didn't take a moment for investigator Kembral Thorne to agree. But it doesn't take long for the situation to become much more complicated. For one, many of the other heirs of this strange will are old childhood friends of Kem's. For another, the will is actually cursed. Over the next few days, it will kill off one heir after another until only one remains. Last person standing gets the ultimate prize: a wish. Kem and her rival-turned-lover Rika will have to plunge into the other Echo realities that lay in parallel to their Prime reality to find a way to unravel the curse before it can kill all of Kem's friends.

The Last Soul Among Wolves is full of adventure, if a bit thin on character work. Like the previous installment, we are treated to a standalone mystery. Kem needs to not only break the curse on the will, but also figure out who is trying to help the curse by taking out the competition so they can inherit the wish. Unfortunately, I felt that the mystery element of the story lost out to the bigger storyline of adventuring through the echoes themselves. The new characters-turned-suspects felt a bit wooden, especially compared to previous works of the authors.

The real focus of the story is a power struggle happening in the Echoes and how that ties to Kem and Rika. The story is at its best when the two are dealing with the Empyreans, the powerful beings that rule the Echoes. There's daring heists from mysterious castles and tense negotiations. Empyreans have certain rules and tropes they have to follow to align to their core self, or they start to lose power. Figuring out how to use those rules to their advantage is the highlight of the story.

But navigating the Echoes also started to strangely feel a little rote. Characters go too many levels down, then have to make it to the exit while being chased by deadly creatures multiple times; towards the end of the story, it felt a bit like "here we go again."

If you like mysterious relics and curses, weird realities, and daring adventures, The Last Soul Among Wolves is here for you. While the mystery portion felt a bit underserved, I still had a fun time running along the rooftops of the Echoes, racing against the clock to find a solution before all hope is lost.

FORMAT/INFO: This Brutal Moon will be published on December 2nd, 2025 by Orbit books. It is 512 pages long and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: War has broken out across the Kindom. After a violent power grab, rebellions have cropped up all across the Treble to resist the new dictatorship, but they’re too disparate to be effective for long. They need a figurehead, and a reluctant Cleric Chono is the only one who can rally both the First Families and the rebellion faction leaders to a common cause. Meanwhile the security of the secret Jevani safe haven has been breached, and an ultimatum has been issued: Return to slave labor on the mines of the moon or be eradicated. The Jevani will likely be wiped out in one desperate last stand unless hacker Jun Ironway can pull off one last gambit.

This Brutal Moon delivers a tense finale that avoids putting too neat a bow on the problems of the galaxy. Perhaps the worst thing that can be said about the book is that it doesn’t reach the twisty heights of its predecessors, but that’s understandable for the final book in the series. It’s hard to introduce new surprises when you’re trying to wind a story down. The result is a much more straightforward clash to decide the fate of the Kindom, with a few complications along the way.

Instead, the focus is on the politics of trying to find common ground between the rich elite, the rebellious common people, and the demonized Jevani. They all need to put a stop to the new dictatorship that has arisen, but who will be holding the power when the dust settles? Can the First Families be convinced to give up some of their control? Can the rebels be convinced that completely wiping away the old political structures will cause more chaos than it will fix? And can the entire galaxy be trusted not to turn on the Jevani the first time it would make their lives easier? There’s very little trust between any of the groups, and no one wants to compromise, which causes obvious frustration amongst those trying to address a threat that is bigger than their differences.

This is also a bit of a slower book compared to others, due to the introspective nature of many of the scenes. With a final stand on the horizon, multiple characters are contending with the legacy of their actions. Did they make a difference in the world? And if they did, was it for the better or the worse?

But when they do get to that last stand, there's plenty of tension to be found. The Jevani face overwhelming odds, and even if they pull off a victory, the losses will be devastating. All they can hope for is to slow down their attacks long enough so that at least some survive. Throughout the finale, we get quick snippets as war rages literally across the galaxy. To me, it meant some of the scenes packed a powerful punch in their brevity, while others left me wishing I'd gotten to see more of the events playing out.

In short, This Brutal Moon may be racing towards an end, but it's also acknowledging that there are plenty of questions that have no perfect answers. As one character points out, there is no way to guarantee a system free of corruption. There will always be bad actors and prejudices to contend with. All we can do is try to move things forward for the better and hope it sticks.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Hornor Jacobs' first novel, Southern Gods, was published by Night Shade Books and shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. His second novel, This Dark Earth, was published in J2012 by Simon & Schuster. His young adult series, The Incarcerado Trilogy comprised of The Twelve-Fingered Boy, The Shibboleth, and The Conformity, was described by Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing as "amazing" and received a starred Booklist review. His Fisk & Shoe fantasy series composed of The Incorruptibles, Foreign Devils, and Infernal Machines has thrice been shortlisted for the David Gemmell Award and was described by Patrick Rothfuss like this: "One part ancient Rome, two parts wild west, one part Faust. A pinch of Tolkien, of Lovecraft, of Dante. This is strange alchemy, a recipe I’ve never seen before. I wish more books were as fresh and brave as this."

His fiction has appeared in Playboy Magazine, Cemetery Dance, Apex Magazine and his essays have been featured on CBS Weekly and Huffington Post. Jacobs resides in the American South and spends his free time when not working on his next book thinking about his next book.Visit him at www.johnhornorjacobs.com.

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (October 7, 2025) Length: 304 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, hc

FORMAT/INFO: Brigands and Breadknives was published November 11th, 2025. It is 336 pages long and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.