![]() Likable, however, doesn't necessarily translate to deep. Myer's characters, for the most part, are all quite likable. ![]() The city of Tamryllin is vividly realized, especially in nighttime street scenes where the lights and sounds of a festival seem to come alive in your mind. #The last song rating series#Once the action shifts from the pageantry of Tamryllin to a series of boilerplate epic fantasy rural towns and rough taverns, the story is simply ticking off boxes. (This isn't exactly a massive spoiler.) Gerrard pulls out all stops to hinder Lin and Darien, but really, the story gets to them before he does. If Valanir Ocune is Obi-Wan, it will come as no surprise to you that Gerrard is Vader, himself the very blood magician responsible for the resurgance of the plague. But Darien's own partner, Marlen, has thrown him under the bus in order to curry favor with Gerrard. Lin is joined in her quest by fellow musician Darien Aldemoor, a dashing and wildly popular Academy student who had every expectation of winning the contest (and hopefully the hand of the merchant's daughter, Rianna). Thus, the Obi-Wan/Luke (or Gandalf/Frodo, if you prefer) mentor relationship between Ocune and Lin is established. Meeting her earlier that evening, Ocune revealed to Lin that the Red Plague is returning, and that in his own travels, visions revealed to him that Lin will have a crucial role to play in discovering the Path and stopping the spread of evil. Ocune scandalizes the gathering by performing a seditious song defying the crown's control over musicians and poets and urging them to seek "the Path" that will restore the lost enchantments. Unlike his bitter rival Gerrard, Ocune has avoided the public eye, preferring to disappear on lengthy travels abroad. To everyone's surprise, the party is crashed by Valanir Ocune, one of the most famed poets in all the land. The story begins as Lin and her performing partner prepare to enter a song contest to be held at the home of a wealthy merchant, to be judged by the King and the Court Poet, Nickon Gerrard. Ages past, music was a powerful form of spellcasting, but after blood magic corrupted the practice and spread a fearsome plague, the Red Death, music was stripped of its magical essence and poets were required to have all their songs approved by the king's closest advisor, the Court Poet. Here, despite strict Academic rules limiting the vocations of music and poetry to men, Lin pursues her musical ambitions. ![]() Our heroine is Kimbralin - or just Lin - Amaristoth, daughter of an aristocratic household, who has fled her family's abuses and come to the marbled and pillared city of Tamryllin. But what emerges is just another tropey quest novel, with stock heroes and villains, and a curious lack of conviction supporting its feminist subtext. Ilana Myer lures you into her extravagantly mounted epic with the promise of a tale of a rebellion inspired by poetry and led by musicians. Tweets by Song Before Night comes so close to being a brilliant debut it nearly brings me to tears. Book cover artwork is copyrighted by its respective artist and/or publisher. All reviews and site design © by Thomas M. ![]()
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