Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Poison Song by Jen Williams. It's fantasy with elements of sci-fi
Jen Williams started writing about pirates and dragons as a young girl and hasn’t ever stopped. Her short stories have featured in numerous anthologies and her debut novel, The Copper Promise, was published in 2014 to huge acclaim.
Jen was nominated in the Best Newcomer category at the 2015 British Fantasy Awards and her following two novels, The Iron Ghost and The Silver Tide were both shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards Novel of the Year. Jen lives in London with her partner and their cat.
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Buy The Poison Song
About the book
Ebora was once a glorious city, defended by legendary warriors and celebrated in song. Now refugees from every corner of Sarn seek shelter within its crumbling walls, and the enemy that has poisoned their land won’t lie dormant for long.
The deep-rooted connection that Tormalin, Noon and the scholar Vintage share with their Eboran war-beasts has kept them alive so far. But with Tor distracted, and his sister Hestillion hell-bent on bringing ruthless order to the next Jure’lia attack, the people of Sarn need all the help they can get. Noon is no stranger to playing with fire and knows just where to recruit a new - and powerful - army. But even she underestimates the epic quest that is to come. It is a journey wrought with pain and sacrifice - a reckoning that will change the face of Sarn forever.
I think it's important to note that this can be read as a stand-alone novel, however I suggest reading the first two parts of this trilogy to get the full experience of the premise and the characters. The Ninth Rain and The Bitter Twins, the first and second book in the series, take you on the path that leads to the decisions made and actions taken in this third book.
Does that sound ominous? It's supposed to. The actions start with characters using war beasts to seek revenge, set things straight and press the reset button for many others in similar situations. To free the oppressed, which seems like a noble thing, but has it been thought through enough? Perhaps less spontaneity and more impulse control would have been better.
What's interesting about this trilogy is the way Williams gives her younger characters great depth, the kind of depth and emotional awareness you see in more adult characters. That means you don't just get the immature, inexperienced and often lackadaisical attitude of YA or teen characters.
These characters, especially Noon, have reached (in this book) the point of no return. In fact the beginning of this book is indicative of her thought process throughout the book. It's time to give the silenced a voice, to free the imprisoned, and it is definitely time to fight back.
It's fantasy with elements of sci-fi, in fact I would call it sci-fi fantasy. Is that a sub-genre? The alien invasion and the whole bug aspect of the story was very science fiction meets the world-building of a fantasy story.
Kudos to Williams for giving this book the ending it deserved and not being too scared of the reaction of avid fans, who are invested in certain strong characters. It was the perfect conclusion to this trilogy.
Buy The Poison Song at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Headline; pub date 16 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Headline.
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