Early Critical Response to Waking in Sheol

Early Critical Response to Waking in Sheol

• I’m excited to share the early critical response to Waking in Sheol, which arrived today through a professional review on Reedsy Discovery • Professional Review — Reedsy Discovery

Rating: ★★★★ — “Loved it!” Reviewed by: Mary Hymel

When Jack wakes up in a strange land, his search for answers leads to reunion, a quest to find a lost artifact, and fulfilling a prophecy. Synopsis

Waking in Sheol is the founding text of Social Fantasy, a genre where myth and communal history intertwine. In the aftermath of a fractured covenant, survivors awaken in a world shaped by kinship, memory, and the haunting pull of Sheol.

This is not epic fantasy in the traditional sense—it is a mythic exploration of how communities endure, fracture, and reforge themselves. Readers will encounter agrarian realism alongside aurora‑lit symbolism, a compass rose guiding fractured hearts, and voices that echo with both lineage and loss.

For reviewers seeking originality, Waking in Sheol offers a genre‑defining experiment in communal storytelling—an invitation to witness not just a tale, but the founding of a covenantal genre.

Full Review

Jack Marshall has experienced loss—brothers‑in‑arms in war, and the loss of his wife upon his return. His life experiences yet another upheaval on a hunting trip, when he regains consciousness as a stranger in a strange land. The world of Eldriko is suspicious of those called Offlanders—strangers who arrive from nowhere. Jack meets Kendra, a young herbalist, who offers to help him find the answers he needs. He is reunited with Scott, a lost soldier under his command, and finds the first answer to his many questions: how did he get here?

Waking in Sheol sets the stage for a hero’s journey, for questions—both answered and unanswered—and a search for knowledge. M. Alden Phillips has created a unique world and lore, while still hitting the familiar beats of a vague prophecy, a building of a fellowship (called “The Union”), and a competing party in search of a lost artifact. While the tropes are familiar, Phillips’s telling has his own unique voice.

The story sets the stage for more chapters of the journey, establishing its cast before ending with most questions answered, but an unfinished journey. It is an enjoyable beginning of what looks to be a promising series.

There were times when the voice of the modern Earth world from which Jack comes seeps into the characters of the new world. It does occur later in the story and could be the adapting of language between Offlanders and the natives of Eldriko. There are touches of romance, which were predictable, but are not forced in for the sake of having a romantic story along the way. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which were at times tricky, but overall, the flow of story did not suffer.

This is an enjoyable read for anyone who likes Outlander, Lord of the Rings, and the like.

Reviewer Bio

Mary Hymel Former Army brat. One‑time retail worker. Current office worker. Constant reader. Lifetime writer.She once covered a minor league hockey team for an online hockey journal and is currently five years into her first novel, with notebooks, hard drives, and a brain full of unfinished or untold stories.