TL;DR at the very bottom.

This book seemed like it would be a perfect fit, and was recommened in a facebook group some months ago (I think possibly by the author?) and I made myself finish it so I could review it fairly, so I want to start out with all the things that were great because there is plenty to praise.

This book really was a recipe for perfection, the exact thing I'd been looking for-rich history, reincarnation, the fantasy, violence and fights, soulmates searching for eachother.
The diversity of the characters and the time periods were particularly lovely, the worldbuilding was thorough but never tiresome, just enough for you to see the character and how their life is, where they come from. I feel like I genuinely learnt some history with this book because I spent so much time checking word meanings, the added accuracy of the worldbuilding just making it that much better.

They asked and answered questions about the problems with soulmates wonderfully: What if you find eachother and one is too old, and one too young? How long it takes for them to find eachother when battling ginormous distances? Or a language barrier? Economic differences? Mental trauma? Examples next:
< spoiler > Like having the nordic warrior battle and claim any slave she likes as her prize to rescue her soulmate. The fact that the Mongolian had travelled a great distance through war before searching for the pull on his heart. The maid that was much older than her soulmate so spent years hidden besides her, caring from the background < /spoiler >.

And then the problem for me with this book

I hated the antagonist. I found them to be really, really flat, with no reason for their cruelty other than this boring obsession with "power", even though the people the antagonists hunt do not want that. The lack of background on the antagonists part made the end of each iteration of soulmates feel dull, even though the rest of the content itself (the soulmates, side characters, worldbuilding etc.) were all good.

Spoiler

I honest to god don't get what this guys problem is, or why he's so obsessed with two soulmates who just want to hang out together and live their lives in peace. They find eachother, he kills them, goes on the same monologue about how their lives will end in pain. Soulmates are reborn, find eachother, antagonist kills them again, goes on his little monologue, again. Sometimes the soulmates just die, but eventually theyre reborn, and they discover eachother, and the antagonist comes back-And so on and so forth

Around half-way through I decided instead of putting it down I'd see where it goes, because I was *sure* the plot must wrap up somewhere. There would be a moment where everything clicks and it suddenly becomes super interesting, and I'd finish the rest of it in one obsessive sitting because I couldn't put it down.
However, this never came.

Due to this general flatness caused by the antagonist, the things in the book that should make your hair stand on end with nervous anticipation, also fell flat and became boring, like epic final fights for characters, or the worry that the bad guy could come back, or the feeling you've walked into a trap. But it didn't, there was a predictability that just made everything so meh.
It was hard to finish this, I had to genuinely task myself with sticking to it to find out what happens.

Also, if I had a shot every time " x's depression and anxiety" came up, I think I'd die of alcohol poisoning.

Spoiler

I get it, they're insecure, a lot of the point is they have miserable lives, but the repetetive phrasing got tiring quickly, especially when we spend so much time with those two characters.

Everything felt similarly grey for me with this read, and I was determined to finish it in hopes I'd suddenly have that "click". I'm not sure what to think about the ending. It wrapped up in the same way it started; as one long note. No peaks or troughs. I really, really wanted to love this book but it fell so short.

TL;DR Recipe for perfection, but dangerouslty undercooked.