Lianne
Written on Feb 6, 2016
I honestly wasn’t sure what to think about the story at first, I thought the opening chapter was a curious start to the novel, introducing the main characters involved in the story in snippets, raising a lot of questions both about the characters and the world they live in (where magic is gone). The build-up to the main story and conflict is a slow one, taking about the first part for the situation to present itself, and then another part before the characters get going, allowing the characters not only develop and flesh out but also the world in which they live in. It’s mysterious and intriguing and wondrous (the magic system, that loss of magic that seems to be felt at the corner of your eyes, the music that the poets sing) but also dark and deadly underneath some of the shinier facade (some of the characters and their unspeakable crimes–more on that in a bit). It sort of popped up whilst reading this book but reading this story reminded me very much of Patricia A. McKillip’s books (see author tag) with the lyrical and mysterious nature of the magic gone from this world and the journey that is before these characters. While I mentioned that the story has a slow start, once it picks up I really couldn’t put this book down.
The characters that populate this novel were really interesting in their own way. Lin was a fascinating character; she’s a brilliant woman who could be a poet (unfortunately the Academy and the society only accepts male poets) but she has a horrible, horrible family and she’s on the run to stay out of her brother’s clutches (omg Rayden is a piece of work, easily one of the vilest characters I’ve come across in recent memory in literature). She’s a strong character in forging forward despite of the terror that she suffered under her family, despite of how hooded her character can be when interacting with others. Darien also seemed interesting, a bit of a rake and swaggering in the assurance of his abilities as a poet but that is put to the test as the story unfolds. Marlen was a fascinating character and one you can never quite be sure about; one minute he’s an absolute a-hole, and the next you’re feeling sorry for him, he’s a prisoner in his father’s tyranny and of the present Court Poet’s machinations and maybe to some extent Marilla’s draw. He’s a curious character that has some very dark depths and moments, and in a way quite the wildcard. I admit I never warmed to Rianna as much as the others; most of these characters draw from stereotypical roles in a fantasy novel, and while I felt for Rianna being trapped by everyone and every convention (not to mention things turning for the worst after what happens to her father), I did feel that much of the time she was moping over Ned and Darien.
Much as I enjoyed reading this novel, I did wish it was just a bit longer. The book sits at a little over 400 pages but I felt like the final act of the novel seemed just a tad bit rushed, relationships made leaps and bounds, which was a little sudden given how slow the build up of the story and the characters were. I also thought some of the characterisations could’ve been more in-depth, especially amongst the secondary/antagonist roles.
Despite of all of this, I really enjoyed reading Last Song Before Night. The magic is intriguing as is the role of poets and singers in this world, the threat menacing and always lurking somewhere in the backdrop (didn’t really talk about it here but the blood divination was pretty creepy stuff), the characters fascinating and thrown into twisted and challenging obstacles. And it’s great as a standalone–need more of these kinds of fantasy novels out there! So ypu, overall I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it :)