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snarkymotherreader's review
4.0
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
"Only sirens had weapons so cloying. We were like carnivorous plants, beautiful and enchanting the moment before we ended a life."
Lira is a soft-spoken, gentle woman desperate to escape her scheming mother. She's also a siren who grew up among humans with no knowledge of the rest of the fae world. Now her mother is forcing her to accept a heady responsibility: find a man to impregnate her, kill him, and hand over the child to her mother to raise as the heir to her power.
Heart too kind to complete her task, Lira convinces a stranger named Sai to help her escape into the next town. Sai and his crew aren't what they seem, and Lira soon finds herself deep in fae politics and intrigue.
Songs of Vice grabbed my attention from the first page and never let it go. I'm not usually a fan of multiple POVs, but the author handled it well and it work for the story rather than bog it down. Seeing through the eyes of four different characters allowed the reader to learn more about the world without the author info-dumping page upon page of exposition.
My favorite part of the book, though, was the depth of the side characters. Prince Lennox deserves his own story. He was kind and charming and you can tell there are so many things he wish he would have done differently. Margo has a wealth of potential, and I can see her joining Sai's crew who were each engaging and propelled the plot.
The one jarring part of the novel was having Lira think about Luz's character as "they" before ever meeting them. It completely took me out of my revelry and made me reread the page over and over. I couldn't tell if Luz was a particular type of fae who was always referred to as "they," if multiple characters had entered the scene, or if was a character who preferred to be referred to in that way and how Lira would have known to do so.
Even with that small issue, I would highly recommend Songs of Vice to all lovers of fantasy novels. It's a quick read with notes of romance and suspense, and I look forward to reading more books with these characters!
"Only sirens had weapons so cloying. We were like carnivorous plants, beautiful and enchanting the moment before we ended a life."
Lira is a soft-spoken, gentle woman desperate to escape her scheming mother. She's also a siren who grew up among humans with no knowledge of the rest of the fae world. Now her mother is forcing her to accept a heady responsibility: find a man to impregnate her, kill him, and hand over the child to her mother to raise as the heir to her power.
Heart too kind to complete her task, Lira convinces a stranger named Sai to help her escape into the next town. Sai and his crew aren't what they seem, and Lira soon finds herself deep in fae politics and intrigue.
Songs of Vice grabbed my attention from the first page and never let it go. I'm not usually a fan of multiple POVs, but the author handled it well and it work for the story rather than bog it down. Seeing through the eyes of four different characters allowed the reader to learn more about the world without the author info-dumping page upon page of exposition.
My favorite part of the book, though, was the depth of the side characters. Prince Lennox deserves his own story. He was kind and charming and you can tell there are so many things he wish he would have done differently. Margo has a wealth of potential, and I can see her joining Sai's crew who were each engaging and propelled the plot.
The one jarring part of the novel was having Lira think about Luz's character as "they" before ever meeting them. It completely took me out of my revelry and made me reread the page over and over. I couldn't tell if Luz was a particular type of fae who was always referred to as "they," if multiple characters had entered the scene, or if was a character who preferred to be referred to in that way and how Lira would have known to do so.
Even with that small issue, I would highly recommend Songs of Vice to all lovers of fantasy novels. It's a quick read with notes of romance and suspense, and I look forward to reading more books with these characters!
foreverbookwandering's review
I requested an e-arc of this book because I love a good heist book but unfortunately, this wasn’t a fast paced heist book. I DNFed it at 58% because the heist hadn’t even really started. This is good if you like slow paced character exploration but it wasn’t for me. I was very much indifferent about the characters but I did appreciate the sapphic relationship and non binary rep. I feel like nothing really happened and I would have just been forcing myself to continue reading it for the sake of it. This isn’t a bad book at all, just not my jam and way too slow for me.
em_s_corner's review
4.0
I had so much fun reading this book! The world was so compelling and I enjoyed reading about his group of thieves on a mission to steal a magical object back from the enemy court. If you liked Six of crows, you will probably like this one. The world is very different, I’d actually compare it to ACOTAR but the pacing is pretty similar and this novel also features the found family trope which I had so much fun with. I must admit, I found the plot a little weak at time: they got away with things really easily and I was disappointed that the heist went off so easily. For the characters, I liked all of our crew and how diverse the cast was, for example, one of the POVs is a queer woman in a relationship with another woman (I loved their couple, 1) because GAYS, 2) because they were freaking adorable) as well as a non-binary character using they/them pronouns. Another side character is also a gay man :). The plot twists at the end did have me gasping and I’m REALLY excited for the rest of the series which compensated for the betrayal I was promised and fell flat in my opinion. Honestly, I had a lot of fun reading this book, I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, quick and entertaining. This totally deserves a 4 stars.
tathyscozynook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
siriusbooklover's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
booksinreallife's review against another edition
Didn’t have an interest in picking it back up.
bpaul02's review
5.0
I was able to read the ARC and let me say I am so thankful.
This book is fantastic, it gives Six of Crows vibe.
The world building is well done and its very fast paced.
Each character brings a great element to the story.
The character I connected with the most is Lira and I loved her growth & excited to see how it continues in the next book.
This ends on a cliffhanger and a damn good one at that.
This book is fantastic, it gives Six of Crows vibe.
The world building is well done and its very fast paced.
Each character brings a great element to the story.
The character I connected with the most is Lira and I loved her growth & excited to see how it continues in the next book.
This ends on a cliffhanger and a damn good one at that.
jennaleesmith1233's review
2.0
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley for an honest review.
I liked the idea of this book but the execution felt forced and didn’t flow. Many elements of this book felt unnecessary and others didn’t have enough. We didn’t really get to know much about the characters and their relationships. I wish there was more of a backstory to build up the plot.
The beginning of this book was fast paced and off to a good start but it quickly got boring and was a struggle to pick up.
I liked the idea of this book but the execution felt forced and didn’t flow. Many elements of this book felt unnecessary and others didn’t have enough. We didn’t really get to know much about the characters and their relationships. I wish there was more of a backstory to build up the plot.
The beginning of this book was fast paced and off to a good start but it quickly got boring and was a struggle to pick up.
gameoftomes's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Songs of Vice has fascinating characters and an intriguing fantasy world, but the repetitive internal monologues slog down the pace and disconnect the reader from the narrative.
The novel starts out exposition heavy, telling not showing. It also began way too in the middle of the action for me to care about what the MC was doing, how she needed to flee from her cruel fellow sirens. That’s just my opinion though.
A lot of the internal monologues at the beginning drag down the action. The pace and the urgency would have been much better without it. A lot of readers will hate the info dumps, yet it is hard to organically pepper in details about an entirely different world, culture, and history. This book does not succeed in that, even though the world is intriguing.
Not quite instalove, but instantly a strong connection, really wanting to protect each other, way too strong a romantic connection
Narrative picks up better in chapter 7, but there is still a lot of inner dialogue that feels repetitive. Like it’s a recap, going over the same events, reactions, and feelings again and again. There is a lot of potential for a fun book with some depth and an intriguing world, but the writing takes away from that.
I think when a character worries about a lot of things and doesn’t think well of themselves it’s better to show it or use descriptive metaphors because hearing Lira go over the same worries, same self-hate, same lack of confidence, same ignorance about the world feels kind of grating, even though it makes some sense for the character. I think trimming a lot of that down will still leave the right impression in the reader’s mind without them disconnecting from Lira or thinking her whiny. Whininess is a criticism that I think way too often gets leveled at female characters, but it feels honestly accurate in this case. It’s kind of like painting a stylized portrait, where because it’s a facsimile, a simulacrum, if all of the wrinkles and lines in the face are part of the line drawing, even if it’s accurate, it gives the wrong impression on the viewer. They could end up thinking the subject is much older or has very different features because of how suggestion plays into art. So those face lines might be better served as shading not a distinct line. Even having it be flat color could still give the right impression on the viewer.
The Prasanna are Indian-coded, the women dress in saris, they eat Indian food, they call their children “beta”, they believe in the goddess Kali, they call their queen the Maharani, etc. The Naga from Indian mythology is among the magical creatures here. Prasanna is the name the Unseelie Court has for itself, which is an Indian male given name. This is a kinda odd choices for naming, but maybe there are other uses that I’m unfamiliar with. It’s kinda giving Shadow & Bone vibes, reminding me of the whole Grisha/Greg thing tbh.
The Seelie call the Prasanna the Unseelie and invent rumors about their cruelty. With the Indian inspiration for the Prasanna, I can’t help but think of colonialism / imperialism. Especially given the royal names: Prince Lennox, King Carrington. I am interested in where this could go in a sequel and what the other fairy court’s cultures would be once they are revived. I’m assuming with Luz and Alegre court that they would be Spanish or Latin America-based.
One thing the book does really well is telling the narrative through switching perspectives. It allows the reader to get attached to the whole ensemble of characters. Each voice added to the story and kept the pace and urgency of the tale going.
One thing the book does really well is telling the narrative through switching perspectives. It allows the reader to get attached to the whole ensemble of characters. Each voice added to the story and kept the pace and urgency of the tale going.
I’ll be watching for how the series develops, if the writing style improves this could be a great book series to get lost.
My review copy was provided by NetGalley prior to the release date, not sponsored.
My review copy was provided by NetGalley prior to the release date, not sponsored.