June 2018 Book Club: Song of the Beast

Song of the Beast by Carol Berg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Small amount of strong language


Brutal imprisonment has broken Aidan McAllister. Once the most famous musician of his generation, celebrated as a man beloved of the gods, his voice is now silent, his hands ruined, his music that offered beauty and hope to war-torn Elyria destroyed. Even the god who nurtured his talent since boyhood has abandoned him. But no one ever told him his crime. To discover the truth, he must risk his hard-bought freedom to unlock the mind of his god and the heart of his enemy.

This was our book club pick for June and the first book I've read by author Carol Berg. It's a stand-alone and we're always looking for stand-alone fantasy to read for book club, so that was one thing that drew us to it. This book pulled me in instantly. Carol Berg has a writing style that is beautiful yet easy to read, and that's just how I like a book to be.

The main character, Aidan went through so much in prison and I just loved him right from the beginning. I could feel his hurt so much, and I loved the beautiful person that he was and how his attitude was not bitter, despite all those things that happened to him. One of the best things about this book was that it featured a bard. We don't often get a main character who is like Aidan. And while I like the rough, manly men who can wield swords and all that are often featured in fantasy, I could relate to Aidan and I loved his kind and gentle nature, and his love of music and song.

"I scorned him for huddling by the fire, and he offered to share his tea. I reviled him for his cowardice at the kai’s lair, and he made me soup. I ridiculed his noble ancestry, and he laughed at himself and cleaned my hearth. I drove him unmercifully in his schooling, and he devoured it as if I’d gifted him with jewels."

"But I found steel beneath his soft-spoken manner. I could not break him. Despite his struggles with the tasks I set him, he lived with everything of gentleness and grace."

The other characters were also very compelling to read about. Lara took a little while to grow on me, but her story was interesting and I ended up liking her quite a bit, despite her stubbornness and her fear of sharing her heart. She had a protective nature that made her appealing. The Elhim are obviously based on Elves and I liked a couple of them quite a bit, but their scheming ways made we wary of trusting them at times.

The ending left we wanting a little more. There was one thing that I really wanted to happen that didn't and I think most people will probably feel the same way I do about it, but other than that, this was an excellent read and I highly recommend it if you love high fantasy and dragons. Even if you don't love dragons I still recommend this book. The dragons are mostly just talked about and don't really come into play until the end and Aidan's story is worth reading. The story was so compelling and it had just the right amount of romance for me. I'm going to have to read more of Carol Berg's books now.

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, An almost sex scene


Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias's devotion–even at the cost of his humanity.

An Ember in the Ashes is one of my favorite YA fantasy series and I was counting down the days until I could read this book. Mostly I found this one very enjoyable, maybe not quite as much as the first two books in the series, but this was still good. It did feel like a middle of a series book, but that wasn't really a bad thing. And it did feel like the book got a bit slower in part two, but there were a lot of things that happened in this book, especially once I got into part three.

Although I enjoyed this I do have to say that this book left me a little melancholy because of the situations the characters I love are left in. Also, the romantic chemistry between two different couples in the book was off the charts but the romance itself was heartbreaking and frustrating. And I really want so badly for everything to be made right for Elias. I think his story line may have been part of why I did not quite enjoy this book as much as the previous ones. It was an important part of the book, but it didn't go the way I wanted it to go at all. Because of the way things are left at the end, I really wish I could go out and immediately buy the next book and read it, but unfortunately it won't be published until some time next year.

Dark Sky by Mike Brooks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera, Sci-fi
Content: Strong Language

 
When Ichabod Drift and the Keiko crew sign on for a new smuggling job to a mining planet, they don’t realize what they are up against. The miners, badly treated for years by the corporation, are staging a rebellion. Split into two groups, one with the authorities and one with the rebels, Drift and his crew support their respective sides in the conflict. But when they are cut off from each other due to a communication blackout, both halves of the crew don’t realize that they have begun fighting themselves…

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did the first book in the series. I feel like there is just a little something missing here to make this series really good. It reminds me a lot of the Tales of the Ketty Jay series, but just pales in comparison. The characters are mildly interesting but lack some depth. I wasn't crazy about Drift in the beginning but he has grown on me as I've read these and I like the rest of the crew as well, I just don't feel like I know them as well as I would like to. Apirana and Jenna are probably my favorites, and I enjoyed the evolution of their relationship, but also was annoyed that every time Apirana was mentioned in the book the author felt the need to mention his size. This wasn't the only character this repeatedly occurred with, but it was the most obvious. I feel like this is rather lazy story telling. Instead of developing the characters more and giving us more information about them we just get the same repeated information over and over.

The plots are also mildly interesting in this series but lack something as well. I really didn't feel like the ending was satisfactory because I wanted to know what the information was that they were hired to obtain in the first place and we never find out what it was or why the person that hired them wanted it. Maybe we will find out in the next book.

I know I'm sounding very critical of this book, and although I'm mildly disappointed in it, I do want to point out that I did still enjoy it. I enjoyed it just enough that I will read the next book in the series, but I doubt I will read beyond that if the author publishes more.

Swamp Sniper by Jana Deleon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Comedy
Content: Strong Language


In the two weeks CIA assassin Fortune Redding has been hiding in Sinful, Louisiana, she’s been harassed, poisoned, and shot at…and that was the easy part. But now, she’s about to face her biggest challenge since setting foot in the tiny bayou town.

This is the third book in the Miss Fortune series, set in Louisiana. I have no idea why I'm still reading these. They are mediocre at best and not nearly as funny as they could be. I felt like the comedic relief in this one was all done in the previous book. There are only so many times the same scenario is going to work. There was one mildly funny scene that involved the bathroom at the police department, but other than that it didn't really make me laugh at all. And really, how many people can get murdered in one tiny town in just two weeks? It's very far-fetched, but it is light reading that isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. At this point though, I'm really not sure if I'm going to continue on with this series.