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A review by beccaannekent
The Songbird & The Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
3.0
Unfortunately, I might have gone into this with too much expectation and it hasn’t lived up to its predecessors.
I couldn’t picture the scenes being set by the author at all, which I really struggled with. I’m such a visual reader, but the description of where they were was so convoluted, my brain couldn’t recreate it. I was aware it was Dante’s Inferno-esque but walls, floors, grass, sand, air? Who the fuck knows what they were walking on, cos it definitely wasn’t me.
Alongside this, I couldn’t grasp the length of time they had been exploring the underworld? It seemed like hours one minute and then weeks the next. At one point Mische mentions she has only been learning shadow magic for months and I nearly gave myself whiplash returning to that sentence to confirm I read it correctly. I’m not sure if this was intentional, because the characters were also disoriented but it potentially should have been discussed more to give that understanding to the reader.
We definitely spent too much time exploring the underworld and not enough time flashbacking to both Mische and Asar’s past. I need CONTEXT.
The altar scene was hot af 😮💨
We didn’t get to know the MMC enough before we were with him 24/7. I couldn’t get behind the feelings developing and the relationship between him and Mische. He seems obsessed with her (and okay fair cos once I went and found character art of her, I agree because she is STUNNING), but it hit out of the blue.
A final point, the side characters were not fleshed out enough. The two travelling with Mische and Asar? I couldn’t tell you they were. I’ve forgotten, and I finished the book mere minutes ago. We know this author can do some excellent side character building, and I’m so sad that in this one we’ve missed out.
P.s. Luce is the bestest good girl forever.
I couldn’t picture the scenes being set by the author at all, which I really struggled with. I’m such a visual reader, but the description of where they were was so convoluted, my brain couldn’t recreate it. I was aware it was Dante’s Inferno-esque but walls, floors, grass, sand, air? Who the fuck knows what they were walking on, cos it definitely wasn’t me.
Alongside this, I couldn’t grasp the length of time they had been exploring the underworld? It seemed like hours one minute and then weeks the next. At one point Mische mentions she has only been learning shadow magic for months and I nearly gave myself whiplash returning to that sentence to confirm I read it correctly. I’m not sure if this was intentional, because the characters were also disoriented but it potentially should have been discussed more to give that understanding to the reader.
We definitely spent too much time exploring the underworld and not enough time flashbacking to both Mische and Asar’s past. I need CONTEXT.
The altar scene was hot af 😮💨
We didn’t get to know the MMC enough before we were with him 24/7. I couldn’t get behind the feelings developing and the relationship between him and Mische. He seems obsessed with her (and okay fair cos once I went and found character art of her, I agree because she is STUNNING), but it hit out of the blue.
A final point, the side characters were not fleshed out enough. The two travelling with Mische and Asar? I couldn’t tell you they were. I’ve forgotten, and I finished the book mere minutes ago. We know this author can do some excellent side character building, and I’m so sad that in this one we’ve missed out.
P.s. Luce is the bestest good girl forever.