About

Bastion is the first book in the The Immortal Great Souls series written by Phil Tucker.

Bastion book cover

Blurb

Scorio will rise from the ashes to conquer the ten layers of hell.

Reborn without memories, Scorio learns that he is a Great Soul, a legendary defender of the ancient city of Bastion. That within the hallowed halls of the Academy and under the stern eyes of the underworld’s greatest instructors he will enjoy enormous privilege, rediscover unique and wondrous powers, and one day return to the millennium-old battle against their infernal foes.

Until he is betrayed. Singled out and sentenced to die for crimes he can't remember, Scorio is hurled to his doom—and forgotten.

But from even the dimmest spark an inferno may one day rage.

Clawing his way back from oblivion, Scorio vows to return to the Academy at any cost. To emerge from the ruins and within those golden walls defeat his elite classmates in a quest to ascend the ranks and change the course of history. For only then will he learn about his forgotten past, and why his enemies have rightly feared him since the day he was reborn.

Review

I enjoyed reading the Euphoria Online series by Phil Tucker. So, I decided to jump at the chance of an ARC copy of a new epic progression fantasy series when I saw this tweet from the author.

Turned out to be a great decision. I found it a compelling read and finished this massive tome in just 3.5 days.

Despite the sprawling epic setting, the main focus is Scorio's journey. Right from the first chapter when Scorio is reborn (along with many others), he faces a series of challenges and setbacks. Along the way he gets help from other characters, learns about the world, political structure and his own magical abilities. All of these flowed well with the fast paced plot, with Scorio's strong determination shining bright. Some of his gambits were incredible, but the author handled it well with the consequences. The tone was dark and serious, with a handful of lighter moments providing breathing space.

I hope the future books will give us more POV chapters compared to the few interludes in this one. There are plenty of interesting characters and reading such a big book majorly from a single POV gets a bit tedious.

Overall, I had plenty of fun reading Bastion and would highly recommend to those who enjoy epic and/or progression fantasy.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Nix's review on goodreads:

this book pulled me out of a readers block! It has excellent character development on top of a storyline that leaves you itching to return to Bastion to find out what is happening to your new friends. Excitement and action from the get go, with enough intrigue, twists and turns to keep you turning pages well into the night. A really fun read.

From Bryan's review on goodreads:

It is nice to have a book that is not the same rinse and repeat stories that pop up in this genre. The dynamic between the characters was phenomenal. Their integrity was refreshing...especially in a time when few people espouse integrity and caring for one another.

From John Bierce, author of the Mage Errant series:

Bastion is a relentless, high-stakes adventure through a psychedelic decaying city in the borderlands of an alien hell, every step unveiling new mysteries for the reader. Visceral magical brawls, otherworldly monsters, hauntingly strange locales, and, above all, a price demanded for power that's only dwarfed by the price for failing to seize that power. Progression Fantasy fans aren't going to want to miss this.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2021 bingo categories:

  • Published in 2021
  • Cat Squasher: 500+ Pages (HM)
  • Self-Published