Outstanding story!  I really enjoyed the world the author built and found myself so involved in the book that I couldn't put it down.  The characters are complex and had so much depth that it was easy to become engrossed in the story.  I have enjoyed other books by this author, but found this to be the best thus far.  I would definitely recommend reading it.  I hope there's more to come. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled to the half=way point of Song of Blood & Stone ultimately reaching the conclusion that this one is not for me. While I appreciate the diversity of characters and world that the author was creating I struggled to stay interested in the story and the characters. The instant romantic connection between Jasminda and Jack wasn't my favourite, but I was expecting their relationship to have more meat or depth by the half-way point. This one was not for me.

This is exactly the book that I needed at this moment in time. The world L. Penelope creates is interesting, gripping and so real. I really enjoyed the magic in this story and found myself falling in love with the main characters right away. There are so many things I felt while reading this from excitement to anxiousness to sheer frustration at the close mindedness of the societies.  The romance made my heart full and I didn't want the story to end. I think fans of fantasy, magic and romance would enjoy this book. Full review will go live on my blog 30 days from the release date. Check it out on http:/www.readandwander.com in April.

The cover is beautiful, the story sounded beautiful, and I was so excited to start this book.


The writing is superb. Penelope writes like an absolute pro, and there's no way you'd think this was a debut. The writing is simply excellent; lyrical and gorgeously poetic. 
The dialogue is also beautiful. It flows seamlessly, and the characters' voices come through clearly. It's realistic and it's entertaining.

The world building is fascinating. It's actually kinda reminiscent, at least in my mind, of the US Civil War as it was in the South. That's the vibe you get: soldiers prowling around farms, dusky, rural lifestyles, and the archiac upheavel that invaders bring. It's uniquely atmospheric.

The story starts so well. For about the first 20% of the book I was absolutely in love and my rating was heading towards 5 stars. Every aspect was on top form. I was utterly gripped, chilled, entertained, and in love with the characters.
But then something happened. I can't even pin-poiint what it was. But something changed, Jack and Jasminda have to flee the farmhouse after a horrifying attack, and the story plummets downhill. The magic system, which I still don't fully understand, overtakes the plot and suddenly I was completely lost and bewildered. I could barely follow the plot; everything becomes so confusing and the magical elements so utterly over-the-top. Scenes blur into each other, random stuff happens, and the setting from the first 20% is forgotten as the characters enter a whole new territory and kingdom. Like, what happened to my Civil War?! To my Southern farmhouse?! I don't want the characters to be in a new land and things to get royal; it loses the story's essence - what I think made the story so compelling and original. It gets too predictable and uninspired. BRING BACK MY FARMHOUSE.

But it's not just the new setting that ruins things. Jack's new role (which I can't specify cos spoilers) is way too tropey and lazily written. Jasminda also loses some of her fascinating story purpose, and becomes more of a prop for Jack's story instead of going in her own direction. UGH! Why??!!! Everything was so good and then all this had to happen. It makes me sad.
Then there's the ending, and I think it's so disappointing and anticlimactic. The book lost me for good, then.

The characters are sweet. Again, I loved them most in the first 20%, but they are vivid, human, and layered for the rest of the book. They just don't have much to work with in terms of plot and setting, then.
Jasminda is my favourite character. She's hurt, struggling, and fiercely independent. I love how capable and mature she is. And admittedly, I think I would've liked her more if she and Jack weren't a couple. Which brings me to...
Jack and Jasminda's relationship starts off strong (first 20%, you guessed it). Their feelings for each other are extremely tender and genuine, and I love how external forces lead them to ally against the soldiers. But then the book's downfall happens, and their relationship becomes passionately romantic and explicit. I don't like that - I think they're better as friends, not lovers, and I miss the natural chemistry they had at the start of the book. I think the romance spoils them.



Song of Blood & Stone starts off strong with the perfect setting and conflict. But it soon loses itself to a bewildering magic system, tropey conflict, and a disappointing arc for Jasminda. It's beautifully written with well-drawn characters, but it doesn't hold together.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story, as I didn’t know what to expect going into it. It has such an imaginative narrative, and the immersion of the world-building begins right off the bat. While it takes a moment to acquaint yourself with the ways of the world, once you take it in, the story becomes all the more rich and enchanting. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

I adored Song of Blood & Stone. The way the world is revealed is excellent, the protagonists engaging and the narrative well-structured. There are no points at which the reader is given too much expository information to make them lose interest, and while this means that not everything is explained, that what the reader is told is through the experiences of characters who find these elements natural makes it easy to accept the mechanics of abilities such as Song without feeling that details are being withheld. The characters read as people who are as flawed and vulnerable as anyone else and not all-powerful and all-knowing, which made for a refreshing read and quick investment in their stories. Highly recommended. I very much look forward to more.

I devoured this book. It gave me Winner's Curse, ACOMAF, and Tamora Pierce vibes. It's kinda like Ghibli's Howl Moving Castle with a MATURE RATING sticker attached to it; because this book is not young adult (that's why I said ACOMAF).
This book is really diverse with it's characters, Jasminda being a POC of and the country of Lagrimar. Hope everyone enjoys this book as much as I did!

I enjoyed this book, it was an interesting look at race relations and prejudice while also adding the whimsy of earth magic. Getting into the story was a bit difficult as I felt just sort of thrown in, unsure of what time or where I was in the story. There were telephones but it didn't seem there were cars or very advanced technology. Once I got over the initial shock things were fairly smooth sailing.

I appreciated the world building experience. I did notice about half way through, you put more information on the visions than at the present time. There were brief descriptions, but building connection between the main and the subcharacters after 50% in fell a little flat. 

I did find a little endearing how both main characters were strong in their own right, but we're extreme self-conscious at a deep level. Both rule by the fear about not being enough. 

This was a great start I hope to read more about them finding themselves and growing as individuals

Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope is one of those books I have enjoyed reading although I did find some parts predictable. Jasminda and Jack make a different, refreshing love interest. I love that there is some give and take instead of the man always dominating or rescuing the female. I'd definitely recommend this book to those that enjoy magic and fantasy with unique characters. 
My only quarrel with the book is that I wish there was a map at the beginning so I could follow where we are supposed to be, but I'm a detail-oriented person so it could just be me.

I loved and adored the beginning and the end of this story and there were some bright spots in between, but to me the bulk of the middle was full of over used, worn out Fantasy elements. I won't say cliche, but they were very close. It felt like I was re-reading a half dozen other Fantasy titles at the same time. If it had not been a review book I most likely would have jumped over 60% of the story and just read the last couple of chapters to see what happened to the MC. It is issue realated and did have a few messages which were easily applied to modern day, real world conditions, and I did like that a lot.

SONG OF BLOOD & STONE by L. Penelope is the first book in the YA fantasy romance series, the Earthsinger Chronicles. This is a story of two outcasts, from opposing nations on the brink of war, who find love but duty threatens to tear them apart. Woven into the story is a lush mythology of magic based on song, the treachery of prejudiced societies in conflict and the strength one finds in owning your own destiny. Mature scenes make this an upper teen read.

The fact that this is a fantasy romance with magic based on song and music immediately grabbed my attention. The cover is gorgeous and I loved its representation of a diverse heroine.  

The setting is more difficult to describe as it feels like a mix of genres and time periods. Airships and four-wheeled vehicles mix in with an alternate-dystopian terrain where magic is real but feared. At times it was confusing and I never really got a good grasp for it. I would have liked more world-building details to fill in the gaps.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is the vivid mythology created in SONG OF BLOOD & STONE. This is revealed and parsed out throughout the story, along with chapter headings based on folktales that I found fascinating. A world of Singers and Silents. Magics and no-magics. It is beautifully done; I only wished more of it could have been revealed sooner without any spoils for the overall plot. 

The story itself feels much like two plots converging and the book two halves of it. The basis for Elsira and Lagamiri's separation and conflict, along with the concept of the Earthsong magic, are combined with the current growing tensions between these two nations and the ominous rumor of the True Father's (the villain) rising and The Queen Who Sleeps return. Add to this political intrigue and social commentary and you have quite a mix. 

The protagonist Jasminda has a warrior's heart. She is kind and strong, with a sharp mind for details. Because of the color of her skin and her affinity for magic, she suffers abuse and prejudice at every turn, yet, she remains compassionate but is not afraid to fight when needed. 

Jack is a perfect balance to Jasminda's character, maybe too perfect. The romance is strong and fast between the two and I wished there was more buildup. Heroic, Jack is easy to like with few flaws. I needed more grit from him but I did love the way he was fiercely devoted to Jasminda, torn between duty and love.

In the End
Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope ended being a compelling read with lush mythology, touches of magic, intrigue, and a passionate romance. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to those readers looking for a lighter fantasy.

More like 3.5 stars.

This was a fun book. I will be honest, the description and cover were what drew me in. The cover is gorgeous-and it has a non-white character on it! How often do we get that in YA/NA fiction? Not as often as we should, considering the demographics of the world. This book was great about the representation; we've got a non-white heroine, Jasminda, who develops an inter-racial relationship with Jack (Something we also don't see enough of), and there is also some gay representation.

Her Earthsong magic was kind of cool, and even its name is cool. Earthsong.

It did take me a while to immerse myself in the story. I think a huge reason for that was Jack. He's a good love interest (no triangles here, thankfully), but some of his lines were just too cheesy. I'm only a fan of the cheese when it's done right. However, it in no way made this a bad book. I can totally understand why this book is getting re-released. I never read the original release of it, and I do wonder if Penelope changed anything between the two.

I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley. This in no way influenced my review or opinion.

Song of Blood and Stone was an amazing epic fantasy, with a twist of romance. Full of action and adventure.  The characters were wonderful, and easy to fall in love with!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Scheduled to post 2/20/18.

If you're like me and got really confused for a second because you have a copy of the book already, but it has nothing to do with St Martin's and you're trying to figure out what's going on. This was previously self-published under the author's own house, Heartspell, in 2015. I had to dig into her blog to find the information about St Martin's acquiring it. So I'm reviewing the St Martin's version, not the original. Based on Penelope's blog there are differences between the two.

With that being said, I wanted to like SONG OF BLOOD & STONE more than I actually did. It was very bleak for a good portion of it, with Jasminda always feeling a sense of foreboding, being in a seemingly futile situation, sensing bad magic, her adversity because of her magic. It was always one thing after another and it became cumbersome to read.

I also had a hard time following the story. Scene transition felt very jerky to me. Not sure if that was me half-paying attention the more I read into the book because one can only read so much bleak before they start skimming through it, or if it was actually written in a way that was less than fluid.

I didn't have any issue with the characters. I thought Jasminda was strong and resilient despite everything that was thrown at her. Jack was an honorable love interest. Not sure how else to put that. He was actually a good person. None of this pissing around with a jerky love interest that the protagonist falls for. And they hit snags in their relationship that (surprise) seem like are insurmountable, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

The book does wrap up nicely and sets itself up well for the next book in the series. I actually thought Penelope's best writing were the little folklore bits at the start of each chapter. I'd love to see what she can do with that kind of writing. It's not like I disliked the rest of the book. It just wasn't resonating with me. The world was actually pretty good and you're able to get enough backstory between what's going on in the present story timeline and the flashbacks/visions that are scattered throughout. And it's all told in a way that fits seamlessly in with the story itself.

I just think, ultimately, it was too bleak for me. The ending turned that around, but it was too little too late. There's just so much adversity and darkness and bad things hovering around every corner that it pushed me away. I can usually take darkness in a story but this was dense and I wasn't that enamored with the book that it was easy for me to cruise through it. I'm glad it exists, though. It rounds out the Young Adult/New Adult span nicely, offering a healthy relationship with a well-developed fantasy world that isn't too enamored with itself (like a lot of the high fantasy type stuff in the adult realm). Plus it provides a woman of color as the heroine and protagonist which the genre (and book world) sorely need). It just ultimately was not for me.

3

Although it is quite well written, and the story is well paced and tight. The premise and plot is nothing to rave about. Jasminda is a mystery herself you know, orphaned and only has the memory of her parents and brother to go on. The end of the book has some cliffhanger bits, which I do not care for. It probably tries to tell you that there's another book coming, but I am not sure what story that one would bring.

ARC Copy...decent world on the social issues going on within the world, the magical systems of song and each chapter starting with a blurb of a folktale which akin to actual trickster/moral folktales.

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: This was one of the most beautiful written books I have read in a while. 

Check out author's other books? Yes
Recommend this book? Yes

Notes and Opinions:  This book had a lot of good things like the characters and the world buliding but then it also had a few bad things like missing characters. (Where we hear about them but dont see them) I really wished we could have met her brothers as well as a few other people that were talked about but not seen. 

This book was beautiful written and the world building was some of the best that I have read. The forfront of this title is love. This book is a romance and the magic although it is here it is not the main aspect of this story. And to tell you the truth I really enjoyed that.  

The characters that we did get to see were wonderful and I just couldn't put this one down. The cover is fantastic and the story is as well. Jasminda (love the name btw) was just beautiful and a wonderful character to read about. 

Go Into This One Knowing: Fantasy, Romance

Lots of intrigue, action, and adventure. A little romance, and oh so sweet of a plot building nicely. This book keeps you engaged until you finish it. It has fae undertones with the Earthsong powers. I give it 5 stars.

The overall concept of this extremely well written novel was what hooked me. I really loved the characters, plot but some of the details left me wanting. It was a great book that I would recommend but it's probably a once read for me.