I've tried several times to get into this book, but alas its lost its power over me! Nothing like the first book!

I probably shouldn't have even requested this honestly. I had to force myself through most of the first one; I don't k now why I thought the second would be better. It had the same pacing and character issues that I had with the first. Lesson learned.

Dark and lyrical, Shadowsong, brings to a conclusion the story of Liesl and her Goblin King. This second book in the Wintersong duology picks up a few months after the conclusion of Wintersong. Although I selected 3-stars, I would actually give this a 3.5-star rating if given the option. This is a tough book to describe and I definitely don't feel it is for everyone. For me, it works; I love S. Jae-Jones writing style. She has a way of weaving together an eerie tale where you struggle to piece together reality and unreality.

Our MC, Liesl, is not really a likable character but somehow I still found myself caring about her. I wanted to shake her out of her funk multiple times but I know, with depression and other mental health issues, it is not that easy. She really struggles in this one, more so than the first, with her decisions, her past, her family relations. She is moody and brooding and honestly, kind of a dark cloud over the whole story, but in a way that contributes to the overall story line, in my opinion. I would say trigger warning for suicidal thoughts and ideation.

I love the atmosphere of this book. In Wintersong, we were pretty sedentary in our action; you were either at the Inn owned by Liesl's family, or in the Underground. Here, our characters travel from home to find their brother Josef, who resides in Vienna. The city life is quite a change for Liesl and being far from the Goblin Grove certainly doesn't enhance her mood any. After a swift turn of events at a masked ball, Liesl and Josef, are swept away to Snovin Hall. Their relationship has been under extreme duress and they do begin to form a reconnection of a sort whilst at Snovin.

I loved Snovin Hall - the gothic vibes were a plenty and some of the scenes written while our characters were there gave me chills. Joseph playing in the mirrored ballroom...it still gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it! However, this aspect of the story did get a little confusing in places. There is a fine line between being intriguing and being confusing and this one swayed into the confusion zone more than once. That being said, the overall feel of the book was dark and creepy enough for me to enjoy and keep me invested. The last 15 or 20 pages were excellent - I enjoyed the ending and felt that S. Jae-Jones wrapped up a complicated story quite fluidly.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this book for review. It is greatly appreciated!

The writing is incredible, howewer the plot really lacked depth. Nothing important happened in the first 80% and everything got resolved in the very end.

This was a bit of a confusing read. As much as I enjoyed Wintersong, I had a hard time getting into its sequel. The plot was a little disappointing, it was nothing like what I expected or wanted. The pacing was once again slow (shoutout to consistency in the duology in this field), but this time it didn't really work for me. And for some reason, I found the characters a little annoying.
Maybe I read this book in a completely wrong time, so I'll give it a shot some time in the future. But this is where I stand for now.

This book was unbearably slow. It wasn't anything like the first one and it took me two months to even get half way through it because I had absolutely no interest in the presented storyline or what was going on at all. I didn't find Josef's character shift believable in this one at all.

The other characters seemed like they were entirely out of character for the way they had been presented in the first book. I also could not get behind the hunt and I was very confused about how all of that worked and why it was happening. The count and countess were odd and didn't seem to fit into this storyline. Our MC spent more time lamenting over the Goblin King than anything else but it seemed whiny to me. It didn't seem like someone mourning for their lost love.

I skipped from 53% to the end and I was completely lost. The big reveal on what it truly takes to be a Goblin King was unsatisfying to say the least. I read it over three or four times but I still can not tell you what it takes to be a Goblin King or why Wolfgang was let go from being the Goblin King.

This was the biggest disappointment I've had in a very long time. Wintersong was one of my favorite books ever and this one just fell so flat.

Started off a little slow, but honestly, I felt that this was the conclusion that this duology needed. There was so much emotion between the characters in Shadowsong, and yet tension too. This book is more about Liesl and Josef, which was nice to see, but more than anything, I felt like so much was explained in this book. On the down side though, I missed the Goblin King and wanted more of him. But alas, there can only be so much madness in the book, and Liesl and Josef have that covered.

I adored this book! I love reading books centred around superstition and folk tales, and Shadowsong was everything i had been waiting for. Uniquely set in germany this was a brilliantly dark romantic tale full of twists and suspense. I deeply felt for the characters and i needed to know where the journey would end.

I was in two minds when I saw that Wintersong had a sequel and whether to read it. I'm glad I did in the end, cause it gave me a sense of completion that the original book just didn't.

That said, the reason for that is that it is my belief that there is only one good book between these two novels. Shadowsong was even more repetitive in its themes and direct lines than the original book in the series, and needed a good hard edit. It explores Liesl's life after she leaves the Goblin Kingdom, renouncing her title as Goblin Queen.

We see some good hard consequences to that action, but there's really all in the last 10% of the novel. Up till that point, there's a lot about Liesl trying and failing to connect with Josef, her brother who is also a changeling.

In the introduction to the book, the author talks about this being a story about madness, an analog to bipolar, which is largely what got me over the line of the decision to read this book. It's a subject that interests me. I just really didn't like the way it was done.

The strongest aspects of this second part to the Wintersong story are the writing and the unusual focus on what might come after a typical fairy tale ending. Jae-Jones writes the music into this story, as well, but after the events of the first novel, Liesl's inner life takes center stage. Who is her family to her, and how might her relationship with her changeling brother evolve? There are plenty of legends and folk tales drifting in the background, giving a history of how her austere man became the Goblin King. I'm not sure that I followed the storylines of the elf-touched and the faithful, never mind the hunt. But an interesting read for those who loved the first book.

I really enjoyed this series. The only thing I wish is this book had been broken up into 2 books. It felt like to much going on and wasn’t all the way fleshed out as they were trying to keep the word count down but also get it all major plot points and tie up lose ends.

This gorgeous book is full of such beauty, from its writing to the emotions that it brings to surface. I loved and hated the ever-present theme of madness in it, because I myself have suffered from depression and anxiety, and doubting reality and your sanity is a constant thing in a mentally ill person's mind... so I was at times upset at the constant use of the word "mad" for the mentally ill, and at the same time I understood it perfectly (especially in the context of the book) and wasn't upset at all. I believe it was more the feeling of madness that they feel, and that was quite fine. I have asked myself if I am mad many times, too...

The atmosphere is dark, lyrical and wild, lots of times using contradicting words to describe a feeling, and it felt perfectly understandable how the same thing could evoke such contradictory feelings... I have to say I was so entranced by this book that I even dreamed of the white-and-black ball one time. It was just to easy to lose yourself in this world.

I also love that this book has such an authentic German feeling to it, and was surprised to see the author wasn't half-German or so. It gives the story a more Grimm brothers feel to it.

I was less impressed with this book that I was the first one. It suffers from sophomore-syndrome. But it was a good book nonetheless. I honestly felt like the first book could have wrapped everything up if it wanted to. This is almost like a very long epilogue or a spin-off tv series.

I liked this book better than the first one. Obviously I liked Book 1 well enough, or I wouldn't have jumped right into this one, but Book 1 focused on the music a lot. In depth, very detailed accounts of Liesl composing and playing. And while the language was beautiful, it's not my area.

Overall the pacing for both books was slow. As for the overall vibe of the series, it felt more adult literary than YA. I think I would have liked the first book more if had been for the adult market. I would have liked more of the physical relationship on the page, but, shrugs, maybe that's just me.

Book 2 focuses more on Liesl's relationship with her brother, which I was okay with. Sure, I wanted more Liesl and the Goblin King, but we got a new location and a mystery, and pieces falling into place. I loved the way the ending came together. The last third of this book was perfection. Completely perfect. Breathtaking.

I loved the darkness of this story and the rich settings and the gorgeous language. I can't wait to see what S. Jae-Jones writes next. (I hope it's smutty) I'm definitely a fan.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley*
First: Can we appreciate how gorgeous the cover is?
Second: How can the author make a book sound? I had the sense that the book was keeping time with some music I couldn't hear.
Third: The first book was awesome, so there was no way it was going to be better. However, I think the author got a good one out of it.
Finally: Yeah, it's a good end to this duology, as it kept on with the lyrical tendency and had an interesting enough plot.

I wanted to like this book because I loved wintersong but I could not even finish the book. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the book was slow and hard to read.

I can see why this book would be as polarising as it has been. This is not a continuation of Wintersong but it's counterpoint. The two weave together like a piece of music but they very definitely have their own directions and ultimately are separate entities even connected as they are by story. I am utter trash for Erlkonig inspired stories (it really irritates me that people keep calling this a Labyrinth retelling because they're clearly ignorant of the source material the inspired my favourite film of all time too...) That said, this is not the sequel to Wintersong I wanted, but maybe it was the sequel I needed. As S. Jae-Jones mentions in her foreword, this book represents the low, depressive episode of bipolar disorder, where as Wintersong represented the more manic, frenetic upswing of the mental illness. It's a really intelligent and poignant portrait taken that way. And Liesl is a wonderful character as interpreter in this world, as unloveable as she sometimes is. Jae-Jones writes the most exquisite prose. In Wintersong it was dreamlike and beautiful as well as eerie, here it's mostly dark, twisting and unsettling, though still beautiful. I'll admit I really wanted a continuation of the romance with the Erlkonig however perhaps the deep meditation on the MC becoming herself and her loving though troubled relationship with her brother, as well as her determination to further her own career against the odds - perhaps that is even more important than a finale to the romance? In short I loved these books, even when they didn't give me what I wanted.

Although I enjoyed Wintersong, I have really struggled to read this sequel and have actually given up on it now.

The second book in the Wintersong Book series. While this can be read as a stand-alone novel, you would understand more about the characters and overall story if you read the first book before this one. A remarkable read that I could not put down and did not want to end.

Title: Shadowsong
Author: S. Jae Jones
Series: Wintersong #2
Genre: Young Adult Fairy Tale Retelling
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Pub Date: February 6, 2018
Pages: 384
My Copy: Courtesy of NetGalley and Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Book Summary:

Six months after the end of Wintersong, Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother’s and her own musical careers. Although she is determined to look forward and not behind, life in the world above is not as easy as Liesl had hoped. Her younger brother Josef is cold, distant, and withdrawn, while Liesl can’t forget the austere young man she left beneath the earth, and the music he inspired in her. 

When troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King—who he was, who he is, and who he will be. What will it take to break the old laws once and for all? What is the true meaning of sacrifice when the fate of the world—or the ones Liesl loves—is in her hands?

Book Review:

This was an interesting follow up to Wintersong. I found that things have changed for Liesl and everyone in her family since coming back from the underground now that the Goblin King is no more. Her life is never the same after this, there are new challenges for her to face.

We learn that weird and strange things are happening all over the place. I like that we get to see what is happening with Josef as well. There was a little bit with Josef in the book, but we really had no idea what was happening in his life or those of the other siblings. There are consequences for what Liesl, has done. She hasn’t even realized what the consequences are until things happen to other people and animals. Even Josef has problems of his own.

Strange deaths are happening both at Liesl’s home and in Vienna where Josef is studying. These deaths are starting to pile up and take their toll on both of them. Plus things are once again getting bad for their family financially since there are some bad things happening. Their grandmother is doing insane things to try to protect their family. This causes some serious financial strain on the family due to things coming for Liesl at home and Josef in Vienna.

I like that there are things coming left and right at both Liesl and Josef. We also get a lot of scenes with Josef as well. Like that Josef gets a lot of exposure in this book. People are dying in Vienna as well. So they both have to deal with their roles and positions in a lot of different ways than if they were living in the same place. Plus things are getting dangerous in other ways we learn. Then we get to see some of Josef’s life in Vienna and it’s far more different than we were led to believe. Plus Josef asking for help is something that was a surprise.

Like how the two of them interacted when rescued by their benefactors who make their lives easier in some ways, but reveal some hard truths about things that no one could expect or see coming. We get to learn that Liesl and Josef are special. That Liesl can seal the realms between the underground and the plane where they live. So of course the relationship has changed with Josef. Everybody has something at stake, mainly their lives, but so much more. Josef learns that Liesl did a lot more than he originally thought. I thought that their anger was written very realistic between the two of them.

This book had a lot of turns and twists in it. I really found myself kind of wondering what was going to happen. The ending was something that i never expected. It was something that was a good ending for this story. Thought it was going to end another way. I really did enjoy the way that Liesl made the decision to do what she did.

Overall a good conclusion to this book.

Rating:
4 Hearts