This week I am back with my first book review of the year. A really good friend of mine gifted me this book for Christmas and let me tell you, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
Song Of The Forever Rains by E.J Mellow is one of three books about the Mousai. The Mousai is a trio of revered and feared sorceresses. Each book is standalone so you don't need to read the whole series, but spoiler: after this book, you will definitely want to.
In this book, we follow the youngest sister in the trio: Larkyra Bassette. Her power is her voice, she has the ability to slay monsters, enchant minds and more with her beautiful singing. The books take place in the world of Aadilor. A world that once belonged to the lost gods. The lost gods blessed beings with magic but not everyone in the world has powers. The Bassette family is an old family of Jabari blessed with incredible powers, powers that no one outside of the magical kind knows about. The three women have spent their lives training their powers.
We first meet Larkyra in her Lierenfast, this is a task where the month before her birthday she has to struggle and survive in the Midnight Market without the use of her powers. Once she's achieved this she celebrates her Eumar Journe. After each sister turns eighteen they're sent on an adventure, a standalone task they must complete. We follow her story of penetrating Lachlan to see where there is a poisonous drug leak and detect the riches the city holds.
Her journey includes lots of snooping, a fake marriage and unexpected love. Larkyra carries a heavy heart, through the book we learn that as she took her first breath her mother took her last. She carries this heartache with her as she feels as though her entire family resents her for this. This subplot broke my heart, I cried a lot as we see Larykra grow as a person and learn how valued she is by her family. There is a part in the book where she enters The Fade, a place souls and spirits go to die, and she reunites with the soul of her mother. She learns the truth of her death and she finally can move on with her life knowing her mother and her whole family love her.
I absolutely love the magic element of this book. The Mousai especially, no one beyond or inside The Thief Kingdom (a highly magical place in Aadilor), know who the Mousai are. They're beautifully masked as they perform for the kingdom, a performance that captures the minds and consciousness of its listener and viewer. The trio are a magical force not to be reckoned with. The three team up to save Lachlan's people from poverty pushed onto them by Lord Hayzar, a sour old man who is bringing ruin to Lachlan. We join them on the adventure of exploration, survival, and magical action.
When I started the book, I did not expect there to be a fabulous subplot of romance. A steamy romance if that. We see Larkyra fall in love with Lord Hayzar's stepson Darius. They share similar vulnerabilities and end up saving each other. It's beautiful but what I liked more, is the love element wasn't overpowering. The book was very much about the magic, adventure and unity of the sisters. The romance between the pages was a nice addition.
The next book in the Mousai series is Dance of the Burning Sea which follows Niya Bassette, the middle woman of the trio. Mellow describes the second Mousai book as an enemy to lovers' pirate odyssey. I'll definitely be adding this to my TBR!
As always, thank you for reading this week's blog post! See you next week with a poem or two :)
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