Song of Blood & Stone
Series: Earthsinger Chronicles #1
by L. Penelope
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Format: ARC, 523 pages
Published On: July 16th 2019
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads • Amazon
First Sentence: In the beginning, there was silence.
Song of Blood & Stone caught my attention with a beautiful cover. The heroine looked fierce, the war imminent. I requested a review copy from NetGalley immediately.
What Did I Like?
- Compelling story, like the beginning of a good fairy tale: two kingdoms, eternally at war, separated by a magical barrier, the Mantle. When the Mantle starts to collapse it’s up to a young farm girl Ella and young soldier Jack to save the day.
- Likable characters. A farm girl, a soldier, a hairdresser, … At first glance an ordinary people similar to you and me.
- Covers some serious topics like fear of progress and racism. Through the story, L. Penelope made these topics easier to understand for young adults. If you start lecturing your kids how they should not have a negative attitude toward someone just because they are different, they will probably just hear ‘Blah blah blah’. Now, you can give them Song of Blood & Stone instead.
It must be hard living in a land with so much sameness that any deviation at all stands out.
What I Didn’t Like?
- Obvious plot twists and revelations. I thought that there was no way it would be so simple, but unfortunately, it was.
- Love story took over the second part of the book. When everything was getting more intense, I was annoyed that the main topic was the main characters’ feelings instead of the battle happening around them.
- The worldbuilding was muddled. Like in fairy tales, if you started to poke it, it would start to fall apart. Why all people from Elsira fear change and modern technology so much?
My Rating:
Song of Blood & Stone had a lot of potential. While there could have been more world-building and less romance, I like the themes covered in Earthsinger Chronicles series, so I will give it a chance and read a sequel.