Last Song Before Night

TL;DR: A light, secondary world fantasy with just a touch of magic, no elves, but a great romance plot that manages to surprise more than once.

In the white city of Tamyrllin the magical Enchantments of the seers have been lost for hundreds of years. The poets, bards and seers are only a shadow of their former power and glory. Unsurprisingly, a threat appears that makes it imperative that someone please return the magic to the land.

I started out not enjoying this book. The beginning seemed too clichéd and not very innovative. So fine, the magicians are poets this time around. But in reminding me of Kvothe and [b: The Name of The Wind|186074|The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)|Patrick Rothfuss|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg|2502879] this served only to show how 'standard' the rest of the world seemed to be. What I did enjoy was the nice theme of having to get their songs "approved" by the king. All in all however, everything was quite boring until I got to know the characters better. That is until they started develop out of their shallow starting selves, and the action begins ...

And that's what made this a 4 book as opposed to a 3 book. The plot, the setting, and the magic left me cold. The whole concept of poets as magicians turns out far less innovative as it seems in theory. (Probably because it is never explained) But the characters are what makes this worth reading. Their development, and interactions is what drives this book. Their strengths, weaknesses and relationships is what kept me up late at night.

Interestingly, the magic or what it does is never quite described except for a few select occurrences. Which is fine by me, because while it is not a whole system (Sanderson style - see [b: The Final Empire|68428|The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437254833s/68428.jpg|66322]), it is also not abused to the point of breaking the story (see my complaints about [b: Uprooted|22544764|Uprooted|Naomi Novik|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420795060s/22544764.jpg|41876730]). Also songs as magic ... is that a trend? Uprooted also has this type of magic. Strange co-incidence?

Slight spoiler concerning the type of ending:
This is not a happy happy ending. Yes someone gets to be happy, but not everyone. Very bitter-sweet and therefore very good! Be warned.

Now for the big spoilers. Only read this if you read the book.

I loved the star-crossed lovers theme and the unexpected turns love took with the protagonists - especially Rianna but everyone else to a lesser extent as well. Nobody ended up how I pictured them in the beginning.

Just before the end I saw Darien's sacrifice coming and it really worked for me. It's sad, but fitting, and he never even got to kiss either girl. I particularly enjoyed Marlen's development from rogue, to evil minion, and at last to reformed penitent. Rayen is a particular nasty type and I didn't see his second turn-about coming at all, well about at the same moment as Rianna did. It surprised the heck out of me and completed Rianna's downfall - beautifully? If one can call evil beautiful, but I found it very well done.

Only Valanir the seer left me cold. But then he wasn't part of the romance plot.


Read this if you are looking for a light fantasy romance with interesting characters. The romance part is what makes this good even though it is not tagged romance by most people.

Whisky recommendation: The book started out tasting of a very light young 10yo Aberlour, and ended on a note of 15yo Cardhu I'd say ;)