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A review by hlcullum
Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser
3.0
Song of the Current is a YA fantasy that follows “Caro”, a young girl with loving parents who desperately wants the god in the river to talk to her. When she is forced to transport cargo, she is sent on an adventure that changes the course of her fate forever.
So…well, this book STARTS amazingly. You can tell the author knows her stuff when it comes to sailing. She’s not going to hold your hand, here. There’s also a level of quality in the first few chapters that…well, quite honestly, fades away as the story progresses. But I’ll definitely get there. First, I wanted to say that I had to point out the loving parents earlier because it’s so rare to have a main character with both parents – and they’re both doing the best they know how to raise their little girl. So that was refreshing. But okay! On to what I liked!
What I liked:
֎ The lore and the dialogue. Caro’s river-folk world felt very real and fleshed out. The God in the River speaking in small things was pretty cool, and seeing the characters interpret their god’s “words” and whatnot while Caro could not was interesting to see.
֎ The first chapter was exciting. We started right in the action.
֎ Loved how the ships have personalities.
֎ Oddly enough, this is the first book I’ve ever read where the only pirates in the book are the bad guys, so that was cool.
֎ Markos’ sass in the beginning.
֎ The nightmares.
What I didn’t like:
֎ The lore. Okay, so I liked it and I didn’t like it. Beyond the riverfolk, the world didn’t really feel that fleshed out. Also, small things and the river god were mentioned way too frequently.
֎ We’ve got a character that shows up towards the end of the novel out of nowhere, and I feel like he’s not properly introduced. He ends up being a really cool character and I kind of wish we’d read HIS story instead, but that was pretty jarring.
֎ The villains were hardly fleshed out! I wanted pirate hijinks! These fearless goons could have been muppets and it wouldn’t have changed a thing! I couldn’t picture a single one of them.
֎ Caro could be really intelligent sometimes, but at the same time refused to put the simplest things together. In fact, there’s one moment where she JUST admitted the truth to herself, but in the next paragraph tells Markos that it’s impossible. UGH!
֎ The romance. I’m usually a SUCKER for romance, but to me Markos and Caro didn’t work well together. I would’ve liked it more if they went from bitter to friends more than this almost insta-love (insta-lust, more like it) that we end up seeing here.
My complaints really began in Chapter 8. Suddenly details just kind of seemed to be missing, taking me out of the book. Things just started becoming easier and easier for Caro. There was always a convenient answer. The lust between Markos and Caro came out of NOWHERE to me and felt really misplaced.
Overall, I think this could’ve gone through another draft or two. One where Caro lost her hypocrisy or at least was called out for it; where the villains were better fleshed out so that they felt as distinctive as the main characters; and where the conflicts had tougher solutions. Even still, I will probably pick up the sequel to read.
So…well, this book STARTS amazingly. You can tell the author knows her stuff when it comes to sailing. She’s not going to hold your hand, here. There’s also a level of quality in the first few chapters that…well, quite honestly, fades away as the story progresses. But I’ll definitely get there. First, I wanted to say that I had to point out the loving parents earlier because it’s so rare to have a main character with both parents – and they’re both doing the best they know how to raise their little girl. So that was refreshing. But okay! On to what I liked!
What I liked:
֎ The lore and the dialogue. Caro’s river-folk world felt very real and fleshed out. The God in the River speaking in small things was pretty cool, and seeing the characters interpret their god’s “words” and whatnot while Caro could not was interesting to see.
֎ The first chapter was exciting. We started right in the action.
֎ Loved how the ships have personalities.
֎ Oddly enough, this is the first book I’ve ever read where the only pirates in the book are the bad guys, so that was cool.
֎ Markos’ sass in the beginning.
֎ The nightmares.
What I didn’t like:
֎ The lore. Okay, so I liked it and I didn’t like it. Beyond the riverfolk, the world didn’t really feel that fleshed out. Also, small things and the river god were mentioned way too frequently.
֎ We’ve got a character that shows up towards the end of the novel out of nowhere, and I feel like he’s not properly introduced. He ends up being a really cool character and I kind of wish we’d read HIS story instead, but that was pretty jarring.
֎ The villains were hardly fleshed out! I wanted pirate hijinks! These fearless goons could have been muppets and it wouldn’t have changed a thing! I couldn’t picture a single one of them.
֎ Caro could be really intelligent sometimes, but at the same time refused to put the simplest things together. In fact, there’s one moment where she JUST admitted the truth to herself, but in the next paragraph tells Markos that it’s impossible. UGH!
֎ The romance. I’m usually a SUCKER for romance, but to me Markos and Caro didn’t work well together. I would’ve liked it more if they went from bitter to friends more than this almost insta-love (insta-lust, more like it) that we end up seeing here.
My complaints really began in Chapter 8. Suddenly details just kind of seemed to be missing, taking me out of the book. Things just started becoming easier and easier for Caro. There was always a convenient answer. The lust between Markos and Caro came out of NOWHERE to me and felt really misplaced.
Overall, I think this could’ve gone through another draft or two. One where Caro lost her hypocrisy or at least was called out for it; where the villains were better fleshed out so that they felt as distinctive as the main characters; and where the conflicts had tougher solutions. Even still, I will probably pick up the sequel to read.