Song of the Beast [Mass Market Paperback]

Carol Berg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2003

From Carol Berg, acclaimed author of the Rai-Kirah series, comes the epic story of Aidan MacAllister, a musician beloved by the gods, whose voice and harp could transform the souls of men...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Berg's fascinating fantasy is a puzzle story, with a Celtic-flavored setting and a plot as intricate and absorbing as fine Celtic lacework. Aidan MacAllister, cousin of the king of Elyria, was an extraordinary musician. But when he turned 21, the king sentenced him to be imprisoned and silenced on a charge of treason. Now it is 17 years later, and a scarred, voiceless Aidan is released, not knowing exactly why he was sentenced in the first place. Finding the answer to that question is the plot of the book, and it involves dragons, a race of nonhumans, politics great and small, and the truth or falsity of various long-held beliefs about the gods of a well-wrought pantheon. The pantheon isn't the only aspect of the book that is well wrought. Although the complexity of the plot makes the pacing variable, the characters are memorable, and Berg's intelligence and narrative skill make this stand-alone fantasy most commendable. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Carol Berg lights up the sky. (Midwest Book Review) Her heroes come alive. (Lynn Flewelling)

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Roc (May 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459237
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459237
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Who would ever imagine that someone who majored in math so she wouldn't have to write papers would produce thirteen epic fantasy novels? I tell people that writing is "the hobby that ate my life." I grew up in Texas in a family of teachers, musicians, and railroad men, taught math for a while, but worked as a software engineer for much longer. I have degrees in mathematics from Rice University and computer science from the University of Colorado. I live, camp, hike, and bike with my husband in the Colorado Rockies. My books have won the Prism Award, the Geffen Award, and multiple Colorado Book Awards. I was truly honored and humbled in 2009, when my duology, Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone, was awarded the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. My name now sits on a list with the very authors whose works sit on my bookshelves: Tolkien, McKillip, Le Guin, Anderson, Kushner, et al. Join me on Facebook (Carol Berg) or visit me on the web at [http://www.carolberg.com] or [textcrumbs.blogspot.com].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but not great, May 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the Beast (Mass Market Paperback)

I fell in love with Carole Berg through her Rai-kirah books, even though the trilogy lost much of what I loved halfway through book 2. It was the powerful portrayal of the interesting, conflicted, incredibly brave-despite-adversity main character Seyonne that I loved, and his relationship with the charming, aggravating-yet-sympathetic Aleksander.

There's a lot of the same good stuff in Berg's latest novel---but some of the *great* stuff is missing. We have the interesting conflicted brave-despite-adversity character, this time named Aidan MacAllister. (Despite his name, the world of this story has nothing to do with Earth and Aidan isn't Irish any more than Aleksander was Russian.) On this world, humans live alongside two other sentient races: the Elhim, vaguely elflike albino creatures who have no gender and live hundreds of years; and the dragons, which are... well, dragons. =P The dragons breathe fire and once lived wild (although they were sentient), but many years before the story begins the humans of this world learned to enslave them using powerful magic "bloodstones". Since their enslavement, the dragons have become mindless and vicious, living only to wreak havoc at the command of the humans who control them. These humans, warriors of the Twelve Familes of the Ridemark, hire themselves out to various kingdoms in the region, resulting in a state of near-constant war as the kingdoms with dragon legions attempt to dominate each other, and those without.

Aidan, a musical genius who once seemed destined to become the greatest singer ever known, paid little attention to these world events during his early years. He was obsessed with his music, especially once he first heard the dragons roar and heard music and intelligence within that sound. At age 21 he seemed on the verge of a great discovery... until his cousin the king threw him into prison for seventeen years. We discover through flashbacks that, like Seyonne, Aidan is tortured for much of this time. He is released at last, scarred and broken, at the beginning of the novel---still with no clear idea of why he was imprisoned. The rest of the novel concerns his efforts to uncover this mystery, which is connected to the dragons and the Elhim in a surprising way, and which has terrible implications for the future of human society.

Berg does a better job of plot in this novel---the story is clear and to the point, and doesn't veer off into uninteresting stretches as the Rai-kirah books sometimes did. Some parts of it are predictable, but not so much that the story is transparent. She does about the same job of characterizing Aidan as she did with Seyonne---not surprising, since Aidan is essentially the same character. In fact, Aidan and Seyonne are so alike that I kept forgetting Aidan's name as I read the book. I didn't mind this, however; I liked the Rai-kirah novels, so it felt nice to see Seyonne return in a different form. But Berg falters from the Rai-kirah formula in a bad way by not including another powerful, difficult friendship in the story. Not one of the side-characters in Song of the Beast is half as interesting as Aleksander, which is a shame because the morally upright and long-suffering Aidan becomes a bit boring on his own. About halfway through the book we're given a secondary character, Lara, who becomes the generic tough-chick/ugly-duckling romance object for Aidan. Aidan falls in love with her for unclear reasons---it almost seems as though he loves her simply because she's a woman, available, and up to her neck in the same mess as him. After the pleasantly unconventional friendship between master and slave in the Rai-kirah books, this very conventional relationship seems tiresome and lackluster. I think I would have preferred no romance at all to a cliched one.

Still, the novel is generally entertaining, so I'll cautiously recommend it. It's a good book, and I probably wouldn't have been as hard on it if I hadn't read the Rai-kirah stuff first... but I did, so I expected better from this author.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not sure., August 31, 2003

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Song of the Beast (Mass Market Paperback)

I instantly liked the first book of her other series, and I did not have the same experience with this one. I was not surprised to read that this was her first book, because it had the feeling of having the same issues as the Seyonne novels being worked through-- long imprisonment, the effect of torture on the psyche, hidden talents. While interesting in places, it felt unformed in others.

This said, Berg is still a formidable writer who managed to hold my interest throughout the book. I probably would have rated it more highly if I hadn't been comparing it to her other works.

If you are new to Berg, then I would begin with Transformation. Established fans will most likely enjoy the ride.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting World...Average Execution, October 28, 2003

By 

Rusir-10 (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Beast (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first book, I've read by Carol Berg so I won't be comparing "Song of the Beast" to any of her earlier works. That having been said, here's the things I liked and didn't like about the book.

First, the world she creates with Dragons and different races was very interesting. Dragons are the ultimate tools of war in this book, but you learn that there is more to them than it initially appears (this is hinted at right from the beginning of the book). I liked that there were different races with general characteristics common to all members (like most stereotypes, they're true some but not necessarily all of the time).

Second, Ms. Berg uses different perspectives for sections of the book. Its sometimes very interesting to see a scene or character from another's perspective. The technique is definitely not overused as about 90% of the book is from Aidan's perspective (Aidan is the main character).

Third, I like that Ms. Berg gradually reveals details about the world, the plot (why was Aidan imprisoned for so many years) and the nature of Aidan's talents.

There were a few things that I didn't really like about the book.

First, and this relates to the story that I enjoy reading, Aidan is pretty weak for most of the story. If its not clear from other reviews Aidan has an amazing gift for music. When he sings and plays, he moves people to experience his songs. For no reason (as far as he knows), he's imprisoned and tortured for 17 years. The story begins when he's released from prison. For most of the book, he's weak and somewhat broken from his imprisonment. Now this is completely understandable, but I tend to like my heroes a bit more heroic. In fact, it is only when I saw Aidan through the other character's perspectives that I began to appreciate him more.

Secondly, Ms. Berg was almost a little to ambitious with the world she creates. Some of the races seem a little undeveloped. I was left feeling like I didn't really have a grasp on some of the races and political groups that were introduced.

Overall, the book was good, but not phenomenal. I would be willing to read some of Carol Berg's earlier works to see what she can do when spreading a story over 3 books. I suspect that some of my frustration with lack of development would be addressed.