A review by gameoftomes
Songs of Vice by Nicole Bailey

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. 

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.