Stephanie Jane reviewed Body And Soul by Khoa Ngô
Dark, but entertaining
3 stars
I found this quirky short story on Smashwords when I was searching for indie Vietnamese authors to make up the fifth for my WorldReads from Vietnam. Body And Soul actually fits well with Balthazar's Bane review of a couple of days ago because both stories prominently feature necromancers. I'm not usually much of a fantasy reader, but I did really enjoy the ideas in Body And Soul especially the philosophical questions of whether our identity is primarily determined by our body's experiences or our soul's understanding. This might only be a short story - it's just under 40 pages - but its themes resonate long after there are no more pages to turn!
On a negative note, unfortunately the book could do with serious proofreading because there are frequent typo errors to navigate as well as Khoa's idiosyncratic English. I liked her writing style overall and she has a good …
I found this quirky short story on Smashwords when I was searching for indie Vietnamese authors to make up the fifth for my WorldReads from Vietnam. Body And Soul actually fits well with Balthazar's Bane review of a couple of days ago because both stories prominently feature necromancers. I'm not usually much of a fantasy reader, but I did really enjoy the ideas in Body And Soul especially the philosophical questions of whether our identity is primarily determined by our body's experiences or our soul's understanding. This might only be a short story - it's just under 40 pages - but its themes resonate long after there are no more pages to turn!
On a negative note, unfortunately the book could do with serious proofreading because there are frequent typo errors to navigate as well as Khoa's idiosyncratic English. I liked her writing style overall and she has a good eye for atmospheric details that add depth to her scenes. The point of view changes are interesting too because they allow us to view the necromancers' 'experiment' from multiple perspectives. Overall an entertaining dark story that's well worth its minimal price tag!