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cheekylaydee's review against another edition
4.0
jackiehorne's review against another edition
2.0
ARC from Netgalley
The cover of this book is far more appealing than the story inside it, alas. Weak world-building, non-existent character construction, and plodding prose combined with the cheesiest elements of romance make for a less than rewarding read.
Biracial Jasminda has lived in Elsira, the land of her mother, all her life. Across the "Mantle," a magical border, is the land of her father, Lagrimari, a country ruled by the "True Father," who steals "Earthsong" magic from his citizens in order to maintain his power. In the past, the "Mantle" has been breached several times leading to war between the two countries.
At the start of the story, Jasminda lives alone, her mother long-dead, her father and twin brothers two years missing. She stumbles upon a wounded stranger on the path from town to her homestead, a man she heals with her limited stores of Earthsong. The stranger, a military man named Jack, is being pursued, though, and the two escape, hoping to shore up the Mantle border and protect Elsira via a magical stone that Jack has been given. But their quest goes woefully astray, weakening rather than strengthening the Mantle. They later encounter a group of refugees from Lagrimari, and Jasminda is given a different magical stone, one that reveals in a slow series of visions another way to save Elsira: by reviving the dormant "Queen Who Sleeps," whom prophecy says will one day awaken and defeat the True Father.
Secret identities, insta-lust romance, evil other women, and plot twists one can see coming from miles away ensue.
bergelicious818's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Trigger Warning for the book itself: Racism, Discrimination, allusions to rape/sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, war, graphic sex scenes (think ACOMAF)
Leslye Penelope (L. Penelope) has her YA debut with Song of Blood and Stone, the first book in the Earthsinger Chronicles. Marketed as an historical fiction book with aspects of Romeo and Julliet, Lord of the Rings and world building reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson, I had no idea what to expect from this book. I knew that the cover was absolutely beautiful, but beyond that, my expectations were a bit confusing. Luckily for me, this book was actually pretty good!
The story follows Jasminda, a half Lagrimari, half Elsiran Earthsinger living life in Elsira. The Lagrimari people are dark skinned (for all intents and purposes, they're black) and posses Earthsong, which is this worlds form of magic. It's an incredibly pure form of magic stemming directly from the earth itself, it can build mountains, make fields fertile for farming, change the weather, and, most importantly, cannot be used directly to kill. The Lagrimari are ruled by the True Father, a dictator who steals the Earthsong of his people and uses it to bolster his power. As a result, Lagrimari people have been fleeing from Lagrimar and the True Father to become refugees in Elsira. Elsiran people are silent, meaning they have no Earthsong, and are light of skin, hair and eyes.
This is where everything gets really good. L. Penelope, being a black women, was able to masterfully interject the everyday reality of black people and refugees into this fantasy book. The Elsirans have a tendency to be racist and xenophobic, blaming all of their countries problems on the rising population of Lagrimari refugees, who are kept in refugee camps and villages away from the regular Elsiran towns. The refugees are seen as savages, as animals and are treated as such. They are constantly mistreated and discriminated against by the military and the townsfolk they live near. The Elsiran's even have a racial slur for the Lagrimari, grol witches. So the world building aspect of this book gets full marks from me!
As a mixed woman of a similar racial decent at Jasminda (black and white), I found L. Penelope's portrayal of "mixedness" to be spot on. Jasminda often states in the story that she belongs nowhere. She is too dark, to Lagrimari, for the Elsiran's to consider her one of their own, and she has never lived in Lagrimar, so she is in turn, too white, too Elsiran to fit in with the Lagrimari people. That is the constant daily struggle of those with mixed racial heritage, especially those with African American and Caucasian parentage like myself. As a result, I found myself really relating with Jasminda's character. She felt incredibly real and raw, and I absolutely loved it. The other thing I really loved was how her magic fit into the story. She (thank god) was not the most powerful Earthsinger ever in existence ever. I hate that trope, so it was really nice to see that the heroine of the story was considered weak when it came to magic. She had nowhere near the amount of Earthsong that many of the other side characters had, and it caused her to go about things in a way that would've been different if she had been more powerful.
As for the romances in the story, I did like that there was interracial and same-sex relationships featured and/or mentioned in the story, and also appreciated the fact that she attached real stigmas of both types of relationships into her story as well. Again, it made the story feel more relevant and current. The main romance, between Jasminda and Jack, was unbelievably predictable and unfortunately was very much instalove. In my opinion, it definitely took something away from the book for me, because I hate instant love, but, it didn't ruin the story for me like it usually does. I think that was because it is marketed as having a Romeo and Juliet type romance, and who has more instalove and instainfactuation than those two? Going in having that expectation lessened the blow for me, but it was still unfortunate. I did appreciate a few things about it though. Jack is an Elsiran, and he didn't even blink twice at the fact that Jasminda was Lagrimari. He knew he loved her, regardless of skin color, heritage or Earthsong, he loved her and that was all that mattered, even in the face of discrimination, and I thought that was beautiful. Also, the fact that, even though Jasminda was suddenly like super in to Jack, she didn't lose herself entirely in him. Her every waking thought was not of Jack (though towards the end, it began to get to that point).
The plot was again, fairly predictable in many spots, though I was happy to find that there were some parts that thew me for a loop and caught me off my guard. The writing was very easy to understand and follow, not a ton of loopy, flowy prose or fluffy metaphors, which I actually enjoyed because I been noticing that a lot of authors these days are getting lost in those and overusing them. When L. Penelope did decide to throw something like that in there, you noticed, and it marked it as important.
All in all, this book was really great! I don't really see how it's a historical fiction...it feels like straight fantasy to me but I digress. I thought the world building was SPECTACULAR! The representation was amazing and I thought that the way L. Penelope wove in modern issues made the book feel more current and relevant. The romance wasn't my favorite, but it had some really great aspects that I appreciated. I though the writing style was nice and easy to follow, but the plot could be predictable at times. I'm interested to see what the next book will bring.
bkclub4one's review against another edition
3.0
A fantasy book with a dash of romance and a modern twist. The story is told in alternating POVs of the main characters Jasminda and Jack. We meet Jasminda at the beginning of the book. The poor girl is up-to her neck in problems and this is made worse by the fact that she is orphaned and alone. Things take a dramatic turn when she meets an injured spy and she is thrust into a different life where she holds the fate of her people in her hands.
This book had my attention because of the writing. It was different from what I am used to. Normally I separate fantasy from anything in the modern world, so it was weird to read about telephones and have words like Intel, airplanes and fourwheel drive vehicles in here.
My favorite parts of this book were the collected folk tales at the beginning of each chapter.Talk of humor and wisdom, who knew they would make such a good combination. Another positive was that it was nice to finally see a non Caucasian female mc in a fantasy book. The model on the cover looks a lot like Jasminda in case you were wondering.
There is also some romance for the romance lovers. It is a sweet kind of romance where they fall for each other and nobody says a thing about the attraction.
My main problem with this book started somewhere in the middle. The book dragged on and on. I honestly did not even see the point to some of the chapters. Then there was the ending, after all that build up?
Anticlimactic is the word people.
penelope_w's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
whatsmacksaid's review against another edition
wisecraic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
arcticwonk's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75