The Soul’s Echo by Jill Creech Bauer is a collection of 13 short stories Stories about memories, living, and what it means to have a soul. Like the collection’s title, the stories seem to be echos of each other, with similar or repeated themes. Overall, the concepts and ideas of the stories are above average to excellent; however, the execution is lacking.
Some of the stories are very simple and easy to read. Others are more complicated with many characters and shifting points of view. In short fiction, this makes it very hard for the reader to follow the story. Combined with the fact that some of the sequential stories in the collection seemed to be variations on a theme, it was sometimes confusing. There are two in particular, “The forgetting garden” and “Physocepahla Memoriae” which I found to be difficult when placed together in this way.
The author also uses the name Rainbow in many places; within a single story to a purposeful, well-executed effect. However, when it pops up in another story later, it’s unclear if the reader is supposed to draw a connection to the earlier uses or not.
Of all 13 stories, I enjoyed “the blue healers”, “shangri-la”, and “the soul’s echo” the most.
I received a free copy of The Soul’s Echo from Book Sirens in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.