Blurb:

Living on the premier Ring, Maximus, a brilliant engineer, hungers for more than the monotony of daily existence mandated to him by those that control the Ring. The relentless pursuit of Infinite Existence is a collective purpose assigned to all, but for Maximus, it's a hollow dream that leaves his soul yearning for its own legacy.

Determined to escape his repetitive life, Maximus seeks out a destiny that will offer his life significance. When shocking revelations about the Ring’s underbelly intertwine with the hidden truths of his own lineage, he’s propelled into action.

Fueled by a spirit passed down to him by his indomitable father, he devotes his unshakable resolve to reshape the Ring. Maximus embarks on a mission to challenge the unassailable leadership of the Rings. He’s ready to wager everything, even his own life, on liberating all those that have lived below him from the ruthless grip of their oppressors.

In this high-stakes struggle for freedom and justice, Maximus must confront not only the forces of tyranny but also the threat of losing everyone that has built him up to the man he is now. With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, he stands poised to start a revolution that will ignite every soul that’s been lost up to this point.

Review:

There is a lot to reflect on in the moments after finishing Lost Souls by Ryan Skeffington. For a start, it’s a powerful debut, the kind that gets you thinking, gets you feeling, and paints a portrait of a vast new world to be explored. 

I’m not ashamed to say, however, that what got me right from the start is that Lost Souls is structured chapter-by-chapter alongside one of my favourite albums of all time: Deep Blue by Aussie metalcore powerhouse Parkway Drive. If you know me, you know I like my metal/hardcore/pop-punk, so Lost Souls was sold immediately to me on that premise alone.

Let me start with a personal anecdote before we dive into the story, back to the day of June 25th, 2010. I stood, lined up from about 8:00am outside a JB HI-FI store (the Australian equivalent of Best-Buy). I was about to pick up my signed copy of Deep Blue, and I had my tickets secured for the upcoming Parkway tour. I was also studying in my second last year of high-school, and my main subjects were as you might expect for a nerd like me: Advanced English, two different Extension English subjects, and Music. As a teenager, music and writing intersected for me constantly. I remember in particular that I handed in a particularly conceptual piece of long-form writing based off of Homesick by A Day to Remember, if that gives you anything to go by. 

The thing about Deep Blue, however, was that it managed to do everything well. The sonic wall that pummelled you with songs like Unrest, Pressures or Karma; the juicy, melodic guitars, and the impressively deep lyricism in every song. Deep Blue had to be considered as a whole piece to me. To this day, my experience of that album hasn’t changed. 

So when I opened up Lost Souls for the first time, I’d already heard Ryan talk about bands like Parkway in some of his interviews–but to see Deep Blue be used so reflectively as a structure for the story had me hooked. The original album explores a lot of themes, but conceptually tells the story of a man who journeys to the bottom of the ocean to find the Truth. I say Truth with a capital ‘T’ because that’s what it is; in a world of lies, it becomes our greatest purpose to discover the beauty that is contained in our lives, in our homes, in us. 

Lost Souls couldn’t be set anywhere further from the ocean. In fact, the story opens on an asteroid, where humans are mining a new-world metal known as xantium, which becomes the crux at the heart of the story. There’s a lot going on here: a new settlement for humanity called the Nucleus, a super-serum, and scoops of politicking and classism, amongst more. This is where the story shines: each chapter is spiritually inspired by each track on Deep Blue, and thus Lost Souls is intrinsically connected to its themes, both central and supporting. 

I found myself highly engaged, particularly in the first eighty pages or so, as I discovered the world, the nature of the government, and the dichotomy of classes. Our lead character, Maximus, is part of an upper tier of society known as Wraiths, while secondary POV Kana, is a Dredge or low-life. There are also Sceptres, merciless officers of the law, and Celestials, who we are yet to learn more about, likely in the sequels to come. The way these characters slowly came together in their own colliding arcs and kept the story constantly engaging is something I have to give Ryan Skeffington props for, especially as Lost Souls is his debut novel.

One of the driving motifs of the story, however, is the Truth, and that leads me back to Deep Blue again. Both Maximus’ and Kana’s stories intersect over the desperate search for the truth. The climax, of course, comes when the story echoes the sentiment of track 10 on Deep Blue, Home is for the Heartless: Mother Mercy, take my hand … Father Time, return what’s mine. The tonal shift in the story is not so strong that the integrity of it is compromised, but it’s definitely there, and it only makes the undertones of Lost Souls more powerful. Maximus discovers a lot of the capital ‘T’ Truth here, and this propels the story towards a fast and utterly enthralling ending that is built off the back of discoveries. 

The book itself is a delight to read, and can only be enhanced by listening along to Deep Blue, especially if you have a propensity towards heavy metal. There is a lot of potential to be explored here; Ryan shows off the brute force of his emotive writing, as well as his natural talents in the sciences. Worldbuilding is vast and deeply interesting, and there are some provocative philosophical and ethical questions littered throughout. While dialogue can sometimes be a bit clunky, and there are some formatting issues in the physical copy of the book, these things are minute in the overall reading experience and definitely did not hinder my enjoyment of the story at all. I do think there are areas to flesh out some of the expository writing more–the author is incredibly concise, which is actually a testament to his skill as a writer, but can occasionally come across as jarring. 

Overall, Lost Souls is a deeply considered, action-packed sci-fi filled with hard science, physics, and ethics. It is supported phenomenally by Deep Blue, the ‘patronus’ of the story, if you will. This should not be overlooked as a debut work, and absolutely must go on your TBR. Ryan Skeffington is one to watch, and I hope you’ll give this story a try.