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A review by thecaptainsquarters
A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe
3.0
I received this young adult fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
Yet again, the cover caught me eye (shocked?). In the past I would have said covers didn't make me pick up books. But gorgeous cover art now tends to lead me to the blurb which usually determines if the book be a likely fit for me. This cover had 1) a young girl; 2) holding a sword; 3) with Japanese flair; and 4) a hint of magic to it. Cause of the mountain maybe? Her hair whipping in the wind?
The main character Sora (great name) is living on Mt. Fuji with the kami. On the day of her 17th birthday, she longs to begin training for her major duties on the mountain. Only the mountain and all the kami are taken hostage by a demon and Sora learns she is a human changeling. Can she and her companion find and train the "true hero" in time? Can Sora adjust to her new place in the world?
While I enjoyed this novel overall, I had some quibbles. Good things first. The setting in Japan was lovely with Mt. Fuji as the center point for the action. Seemed well researched overall. I liked the author's use of kami and ki particularly where it came to Sora. Sora was a good character and the parts of her coming to terms with her humanness and the loss of her powers was the best part for me. The secondary character Midori was wonderful and I wish she could have played a bigger part. Oh, and I liked the ghosts and a certain sparrow. The set-up in the plot for why these characters existed made me happy.
The less happy things started in the second half of the book where the book's premise wasn't as strong. Add in prophecy and love triangle. Neither of which I enjoyed. The prophecy seemed like an afterthought with the humanness of Sora taking focus. The love in the book was simplistic and rather irksome. I did like that characters made mistakes but the resolution of them was kinda anti-climatic. As was the ending. It just kinda stopped.
There were magical artifacts that were never really explained. Action that took place "off-page." Sora's musical talent that is talked about a lot and then never plays a part of the plot. The characters go into cities and shrines as part of the plot and not much exciting happened in any of them though the ideas around them had potential. There was some blending of technology and magic. I would have liked to see more. The actual kami girl, Chiyo was kinda bland. Maybe some chapters from her point of view of how her life changed would have been fun.
Overall I just feel the extremely interesting ideas of this novel were not developed as much as they could have been. The book was a little repetitive. But again, I enjoyed the book and I am glad I read it. I would be willing to read another book by this author.
Side note: While perusing the author's website, I saw the e-book is currently on pre-order for $0.99 and ye get some bonus content when ye buy.
So lastly . . .
Thank you Another World Press!
To see me other reviews go to https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Yet again, the cover caught me eye (shocked?). In the past I would have said covers didn't make me pick up books. But gorgeous cover art now tends to lead me to the blurb which usually determines if the book be a likely fit for me. This cover had 1) a young girl; 2) holding a sword; 3) with Japanese flair; and 4) a hint of magic to it. Cause of the mountain maybe? Her hair whipping in the wind?
The main character Sora (great name) is living on Mt. Fuji with the kami. On the day of her 17th birthday, she longs to begin training for her major duties on the mountain. Only the mountain and all the kami are taken hostage by a demon and Sora learns she is a human changeling. Can she and her companion find and train the "true hero" in time? Can Sora adjust to her new place in the world?
While I enjoyed this novel overall, I had some quibbles. Good things first. The setting in Japan was lovely with Mt. Fuji as the center point for the action. Seemed well researched overall. I liked the author's use of kami and ki particularly where it came to Sora. Sora was a good character and the parts of her coming to terms with her humanness and the loss of her powers was the best part for me. The secondary character Midori was wonderful and I wish she could have played a bigger part. Oh, and I liked the ghosts and a certain sparrow. The set-up in the plot for why these characters existed made me happy.
The less happy things started in the second half of the book where the book's premise wasn't as strong. Add in prophecy and love triangle. Neither of which I enjoyed. The prophecy seemed like an afterthought with the humanness of Sora taking focus. The love in the book was simplistic and rather irksome. I did like that characters made mistakes but the resolution of them was kinda anti-climatic. As was the ending. It just kinda stopped.
There were magical artifacts that were never really explained. Action that took place "off-page." Sora's musical talent that is talked about a lot and then never plays a part of the plot. The characters go into cities and shrines as part of the plot and not much exciting happened in any of them though the ideas around them had potential. There was some blending of technology and magic. I would have liked to see more. The actual kami girl, Chiyo was kinda bland. Maybe some chapters from her point of view of how her life changed would have been fun.
Overall I just feel the extremely interesting ideas of this novel were not developed as much as they could have been. The book was a little repetitive. But again, I enjoyed the book and I am glad I read it. I would be willing to read another book by this author.
Side note: While perusing the author's website, I saw the e-book is currently on pre-order for $0.99 and ye get some bonus content when ye buy.
So lastly . . .
Thank you Another World Press!
To see me other reviews go to https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/