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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never Dissappointing!, March 26, 2008
This review is from: The Song (The Sons of Destiny, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Once again, I have dived head-first into the world of the eight Brothers of Nightfall and spent several blissful hours absorbing the magic that is Jean's storytelling.
In "The Song", readers finally experience the resolution involving Evanor (the fourth-born of the Brothers of Nightfall) and his lost voice. We also meet his Destined bride, Mariel, and her son Mikor. Both characters introduced in the third book, The Master.
One might think that a repetition of a theme, namely "brother meets Destined bride", would grow old by the fourth time, but not in these stories. New and fresh conflicts keep the stories interesting. I was at the edge of my seat, unwilling to put the book down, when the challenge in this book manifested.
Though the story is technically about Evanor, and certainly revolves around his voice dilemma and the challenge of facing not only his Destined bride, but also getting to know her son from her previous marriage. The rest of the brothers, led by the indefatigable Kelly, struggle with finding a substitute for Evanor's magic of the Voice, which allowed communication throughout the Isle, and the threat of conflict with Katan, the nation that exiled the brothers in the first place. Ingenious ideas and unflagging spunk win the day... at least for now!
"The Song", like it's predecessors, is a romantic, heartening and intriguing introduction to more of the mystical world that the Brothers of Nightfall live within. Though it brings resolution to two issues, more challenges still face the growing citizens of the small island. Introduced in "The Song" is a whole new conundrum... to whom shall the new nation turn to as a Patron Deity?
I can't recommend Jean's books enough. Readers will find themselves laughing, biting their nails, crying, and screaming for more before they even reach the final chapter of "The Song". Thankfully, we know we will get more. We've still got four brothers to go, and at least two of them pose such challenges that I eagerly await seeing how the youngest, Morganen, the Mage and Matchmaker, will resolve them!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 Stars - Evanor's Romance in Song is a Bit Flat, but Morg and Rydan Sharpen my Interest in Their Upcoming Stories., March 7, 2008
This review is from: The Song (The Sons of Destiny, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Really with the Son's of Destiny series Jean Johnson has set quite a challenge for herself. She has created a huge cast with the eight brothers and the eight mates that are appearing one by one and she has also laid out a story that builds as each brother's destiny unfolds. The Song is fourth brother Evanor's book and it is not quite as successful as it's predessesor's The Sword, The Wolf, and The Master. The previous books limited themselves to having just a couple of the non-starring brothers playing decent sized roles in the story, so there wasn't alot of time taken away from the main romance to try to flesh out all eight of them, so Saber, Wolfer and Dominor's romances were more satisfying. Also in these earler stories there wasn't as much background to rehash. Here both of those elements, the reintroducation of the brothers and their mates and the recaps of what has gone before, really bog the story down in places. Add on to that a great bit of intricate detail on the invention of a magical artifact to fill the role of a cell phone in a non-technological but magical world and there were places in the story that didn't hold my interest and I was tempted to skip over all of this filler that didn't move the story forward at all and made the first half of the book pretty slow.
When the story finally did pick up it was the background elements of the story that moved things along, so I suspect the real problem with this book was that Evanor's story was really thin. The more poignant parts of Evanor's tragic loss of his voice and his magic were already done in the previous book. After seeing him so despondent over losing his voice along with his important role as the magical focal point for communication between the brothers and after watching his frustration with becoming pushed into the background whenever the brotherly hoard convened now that he could no longer be heard, I really felt sorry for him. Johnson doesn't capitalize on this pathos in Song however, Evanor's has somehow moved past most of that torment and there is no suspense as to whether Evanor can find a healer to help restore what was lost and or as to how a potential mate will end up on Nightfall to allow hime to fulfill his destiny. Add to that the fact that while Evanor was a really nice guy, and his destined mate Mariel was probably a nice woman, Mariel either wasn't developed all that well or just wasn't that interesting a character. To top it off, the relationship between Evanor and Mariel lacked obstacles to overcome and there wasn't anything else in the place of that conflict to spice things up between them. Basicly, they were a done deal from the start.
Even with all the above griping (sorry) there are definitely parts of the story that I enjoyed. Unlike many other readers, I don't dislike Kelly. I like the way that she thinks outside the box. (But I do think that we can leave the word 'virago' out of the rest of the books, is she really as shrewish as that implies? And leave her clever contributions to the managing the threats to the new Kingdom of Nightfall and leave out the gory details of any futher inventions.) I love Morgannen and Johnson is doing a good job of setting up for his, Rydan's and Korannen's turn in the spotlight -- while Trevan's story is next, I am looking forward to these final brother's stories the most, so I hope that the series stays popular enough that Johnson's publishers will allow her to finish it.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly disappointed, July 16, 2008
This review is from: The Song (The Sons of Destiny, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
If this would have been the first book in the series written I would not have bothered to pick up another by this author. I had to go back and read my reviews on the previous books to remind myself that I did enjoy them, since I cannot fathom why at this point.
I fervently hope that someone will tell Johnson to please remove the character of Kelly from such a dominant figure in the story. Is this Kelly's story or Evanor's? I have to ask because I believe she had more pages dedicated to her overbearing, annoying ways than he did with his voice problem and romance. First off--what happened to her being Queen only during weekends and holidays? She now orders everyone around like they were no better than lapdogs. I hate the whole "we can't pick a deity because in my world we don't." Hellooooo! You are no longer in your world. Your world tried to burn you alive in bed!
The absolute worst part of the book was the cell phone debacle. Why? What was the point to dedicate 1/3 of a book on the function, purpose, and parallels of a cell phone to magic. Then another portion of the book to creating like equipment on the island. How did the cell phone contribute to the storyline? I'll tell you how, it didn't. Therefore, that entire chapter that went over in painstaking detail how to use a cell phone was a waste. Yes, somewhere out there a tree died for the use of the copied paper that created the chapter...and I mourn it's senseless death.
*Sigh* Despite my raving disappointment I did buy both The Song and The Cat at the same time. Therefore, chances are I'll read the next book. I soooo hope Kelly plays a very...very small part in it and that Johnson gets back on track with a plausible and more action packed plot. This book, in my opinion could be skipped. Suffice it to say, Evanor and Mariel hooked up with no problems at all and Kelly formally declared the island independent. Yep, that is the WHOLE story summed up in one sentence. Imagine all those dead trees! HA!
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