Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Soldati General
SERIES: Soldati Hearts, Book 3
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
NARRATOR: Gary Furlong
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 3 hours and 56 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2023
BLURB:
A powerful, yet awkward, Soldati healer. A retired Orso general. A plot to kill the king. A secret that could destroy them all.
The Summer Solstice Festival has arrived in the Soldati realm, and guests from all over flood the kingdom to join the festivities. But the excitement is shadowed by rumors of an Orso plot to kill the king. Now Ezra and the Soldati council must protect Khalon’s secret—and stop a conspiracy that could destroy the Soldati and the human world they protect.
As Ezra and General Segreti explore their growing affection, a dangerous game begins, but are they the pawns or the players? Can their hearts survive the final checkmate?
REVIEW:
Back in the first book The Soldati Prince, King Khalon took extreme measures to save his mate Riley and the consequences have now come home to roost. A plot by disgruntled Orso citizens to kill Khalon has come to light so Khalon’s childhood best friend and now adviser and seer Ezra becomes the crucial piece in the strategy to protect the king. To root out the conspirators, Ezra works together with former Orso General Segreti, a man who has close ties to Khalon and the Soldati realm, but had been trapped in his role leading the Orso military for a despicable king.
Segreti and Ezra appear to be like night and day, but in actuality, they are both kind, lonely souls who just want to have a quiet peaceful life. Both yearn for love, but for different reasons they’ve ruled it out as a possibility. Their shy, tentative interactions with each other are sweet, and Cochet does a terrific job of mapping out their journey towards trusting and loving each other, and perhaps more importantly, in believing in their own worth and the possibility of a future together as mates. They really are too adorable as a couple.
As for the overarching plot, Cochet adeptly uses Ezra and Segreti to drive the mystery and eventual unraveling of the assassination plot forward. Some of the details felt hazy though – like we got the outlines of the magical powers at play, of Riley’s visions, of the threat against Khalon, but it didn’t really come together in a way that made sense on a granular level. Also, like in the second book The Foxling Soldati, there’s dark, vile content here that is upsetting (no trigger warnings, again), and I don’t think the fantasy aspect of the story makes it any less disturbing.
Gary Furlong’s Segreti voice is divine and I appreciated the thoughtful way he played out the dynamics of the scenes between Segreti and Ezra. In The Soldati General, Cochet gives us an interesting plot and Furlong helps ground it and give it shape. His storytelling ability is superb and I easily listened through the audiobook in one sitting. Recommended.
RATING: 
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