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A review by its_tara
Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper
4.0
Review:
For me, this book was average. It was typical epic fantasy, which I normally love, the magic system was fairly unique, which I enjoyed. However, the story was a little too slowly paced for me, and I really only felt like I connected with what was going on at the very end.
The idea of the magic system in this is that those who are gifted can hear music – the songs of the earth – and can control them and use their power at will. These songs originate from other worlds, separated from the human world by a veil. I liked the idea behind this – I’ve read about a lot of different magic systems, and the idea intrigued me. This was one of the things about the book I enjoyed.
However, I was scared the book was going to focus too much on religion. The church in this holds witch trials over anyone displaying the gift, and only a forgotten order miles away actually teaches magic. Unfortunately for Gair, the main character, he was brought up by the church, and when he begins to use his gifts, he’s quickly tried and exiled.
Luckily he finds a friend in seemingly worldly traveler Alderan, and gets taken to train his gifts, and learn their extent. Unfortunately, this aspect of the book was predictable for me, as was the fact that all with Gair was not as it seemed.
I liked the love interest in the book – especially because Aysha isn’t typical of “leading ladies”. The love was endearing, but not overplayed, and I appreciated that.
Overall, there were good aspects of this book, but certain things, such as the pacing, let it down for me. There were also some things that were mentioned a lot that actually didn’t seem that important to the end of the story, however, this is probably due to the fact that this is the first in the series, and the details will be important later. I think this is definitely one for people who really do enjoy their fantasy – and whilst it’s a good read, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some others I’ve read.
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
My Enjoyment: 3.5/5
For me, this book was average. It was typical epic fantasy, which I normally love, the magic system was fairly unique, which I enjoyed. However, the story was a little too slowly paced for me, and I really only felt like I connected with what was going on at the very end.
The idea of the magic system in this is that those who are gifted can hear music – the songs of the earth – and can control them and use their power at will. These songs originate from other worlds, separated from the human world by a veil. I liked the idea behind this – I’ve read about a lot of different magic systems, and the idea intrigued me. This was one of the things about the book I enjoyed.
However, I was scared the book was going to focus too much on religion. The church in this holds witch trials over anyone displaying the gift, and only a forgotten order miles away actually teaches magic. Unfortunately for Gair, the main character, he was brought up by the church, and when he begins to use his gifts, he’s quickly tried and exiled.
Luckily he finds a friend in seemingly worldly traveler Alderan, and gets taken to train his gifts, and learn their extent. Unfortunately, this aspect of the book was predictable for me, as was the fact that all with Gair was not as it seemed.
I liked the love interest in the book – especially because Aysha isn’t typical of “leading ladies”. The love was endearing, but not overplayed, and I appreciated that.
Overall, there were good aspects of this book, but certain things, such as the pacing, let it down for me. There were also some things that were mentioned a lot that actually didn’t seem that important to the end of the story, however, this is probably due to the fact that this is the first in the series, and the details will be important later. I think this is definitely one for people who really do enjoy their fantasy – and whilst it’s a good read, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some others I’ve read.
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
My Enjoyment: 3.5/5