Wintersong

Written by S. Jae-Jones

Published by Titan Books, February 7th, 2017

My star rating: 5 STARS……. all the stars!!!

THE SYNOPSIS:

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world. Find it on Goodreads

 

MY REVIEW:

Have you ever read a book that captivated you from the start, slowly turned you into a reading obsessed monster, and made you fall so head over heels in love with it that by the end of the book you’re a sobbing mess? Well, here it is folks! This book……… gah!!! This book! I’ve waited quite a few days after finishing it and I still can’t form a full and cohesive thought. But I’m going to try… so here it goes.

As the synopsis spells out, we meet Liesl who doesn’t live too bad of a life. She is the daughter of an inn keeper and has a younger brother and sister. Her parents were world renowned musicians who focused all their attention on her younger brother, child music prodigy, in order to grow his skills and make him famous (where they themselves fell short). Her younger sister is known for her beauty and is betrothed to a good man. But between her brother and his music, and her sister with her beauty and upcoming wedding, Liesl is non existent. She is there to assist the family whenever needed, but she is never front and centre, even though she herself has proven to be very musically talented. She is a girl, plain and quiet, and is left and discarded. Suddenly her sister is taken and she needs to travel down in the underground to find her. Not only is facing the Goblin King scary, but facing her true passions and the reality of who she is (vs who everyone wants her to be) is even scarier.

Within the first 50 pages I was absolutely hooked! I didn’t know much about the family but I was already so attached to them all, understood their personalities and their roles in the family. Each characters personalities easily leapt from the page and we knew enough about them to know if we loved them, hated them, or sympathized with them.

The writing was proving to be so effortlessly beautiful, and wove me through the family dynamic, their home, and then the underground. The writing was so clear and vividly descriptive so it’s easy to lose yourself in the surroundings. The setting in the underground wasn’t all that elaborate, but the author still found a way to make this interesting. Combined with ornate furnishings and the odd and grotesque additives that came along with goblin life, this was such a twisted and complex little place! What would seem to some as a palace filled with rich foods was a place decorated in agony and filled with poisoned and rotting foods. The world building was phenomenal!

The characters were also interesting (I’ll go a little more into the character building and arcs in just a minute). By that I mean that there were so many different types of characters! There were humans, the goblins, the goblin king, changelings, lorelei’s, and more. This world contained so many creatures and they all had their own way of life. Each ‘species’ acted differently, had different abilities, and, most of all, different laws. The way all of these lived and worked together was so well done and was never confusing.

Before reading this book, reviews made me nervous. I heard a few people saying that quite a few overdone tropes were present and resembled something they read before. I can somewhat agree with this statement. Yes, there were a few tropes that I’ve seen many times over (sister gets stolen, ‘evil’ king isn’t so evil, unstable home life, not having privilege because you’re a girl, etc) but, for me anyways, there were so many layers to these tropes that I didn’t mind that they were there. Everything felt so fresh and exciting, adding depth and emotion to something that would have otherwise felt familiar. Each trope was given a new spin and adapted to uniquely fit this story and its setting.

But what got me was the ability and ease that the author captured my emotions. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I was so into while reading. The only way to explain it is it was like falling into a rabbit hole without even knowing you were falling. Liesl (later called by her full name Elisabeth) must find herself in order to save her sister and stay alive. But this wasn’t a typical journey. She was imprisoned yet at the same time she was give absolute freedom to make her own choices and decisions. The emotions that the author allowed me to feel as a reader was fully engulfing. I was so captured by emotion that I lost all sense of time and I felt everything both in my heart and physically. There were so many themes present that I absolutely adore in books and all of it felt new and refreshing. There was the idea of time and space, and how it’s not always linear. Music played a big part in a lot of the characters lives and was used in a way that it was an extension of themselves and their emotions. I’m not a musical person but it was presented in a way that made me wish I was. There was also strong themes of sacrifice, understanding, and acceptance. Those three things are, yet again, present in a lot of books, but the way that it was written brought it to a whole new level. Along with that there was love – both in a familial and romantic way. All of the people in Liesl’s life played a part in who she became. Even if all characters weren’t a big part of every chapter, the book came together and never forgot a single person. They were always present in some way, shape, or form. I can’t express how much I absolutely LOVED this book!!!!

I requested the ARC of the sequel before even reading the first book and I’ve never been so glad to have the continuation in my hands to read immediately. I honestly don’t think I could have handled it if I had to wait to continue this story!! This is absolutely going to make it on my top 10 list for the year – I just know it!

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think of it?

Until next time, happy reading!