Song of the Dead (Reign of the Fallen Book 2)

This book started off so good. Adventuring on a ship, visiting distant lands. I thought there might be some new drama starting... but all the drama is back home in Grenwyr City. The action scenes are always great. I liked the deadlands scenes.I almost felt like Odessa was whinier than before? Not as badass in this book until the very end. The romance between Odessa and Meredy was a little annoying and a little too important in the book. It felt like the main focus, and the actual problems in the book were secondary.The new characters were great. DRAGON! I loved getting to know them. DRAGON! I loved seeing new mage abilities. DRAGON! Lysander was still awesome. And y'all, there's a DRAGON. Nipper is fantastic. Everyone should have one.The deaths were sad, and a couple of them left me a bit teary eyed. It was a good conclusion to the duology overall, though. Loose ends tied up, purpose given, and everyone goes on their merry way

SONG OF THE DEAD is a beautiful tale of love and loss, friendship, and what it is to be alive. Sarah Glenn Marsh is a master storyteller, and Song of the Dead is a perfect ending to the magical story that began in REIGN OF THE FALLEN. Odessa really comes into her own in Song - she's strong and confident, while still being vulnerable. It is impossible not to root for her! With wonderful characters, lush, descriptive writing, and a fresh and unique fantasy world, this duology is not to be missed!

Perfect condition. Excited to read it

Great series! Love the book!

This was the perfect sequel to the first book and I had a hard time putting it down. I loved all the new character additions and plot was fast paced and always exciting to read. <3

Nice good service

Disclaimer: I received this book from Razorbill and Rockstar Book Tours. Thanks! All opinions are my own.Rating: 4/5Publication Date: January 22, 2019Genre: YA FantasyRecommended Age: 15+ (violence, death, disease, slight gore, addiction)Publisher: RazorbillPages: 416Amazon LinkSynopsis: The Dead must stay buried.Karthia is nothing like it used to be. The kingdom’s borders are open for the first time in nearly three hundred years, and raising the dead has been outlawed. Odessa is determined to explore the world beyond Karthia’s waters, hoping to heal a heart broken in more ways than she can count. But with Meredy joining the ocean voyage, vanquishing her sorrow will be a difficult task.Despite the daily reminder of the history they share, Odessa and Meredy are fascinated when their journey takes them to a land where the Dead rule the night and dragons roam the streets. Odessa can’t help being mesmerized by the new magic–and by the girl at her side. But just as she and Meredy are beginning to explore the new world, a terrifying development in Karthia summons them home at once.Growing political unrest on top of threats from foreign invaders means Odessa and Meredy are thrust back into the lives they tried to leave behind while specters from their past haunt their tenuous relationship. Gathering a force big enough to ward off enemies seems impossible, until one of Queen Valoria’s mages creates a weapon that could make them invincible. As danger continues to mount inside the palace, Odessa fears that without the Dead, even the greatest invention won’t be enough to save their fates.In this enthralling, heartrending sequel to Reign of the Fallen, Odessa faces the fight of her life as the boundaries between the Dead and the living are challenged in a way more gruesome than ever before.Review: For the most part I really liked this book. It was an excellent end to the series and I liked how Odessa and Meredy didn’t have that fairytale romance ending. I liked the writing and I felt that it was easy to follow along. Finally, I like how the author kept some consistences from the first book. Odessa was still dealing with her addiction and they both continually dealt with their partners deaths. While a lot of readers would say that this was prolonged, I disagree on the principal that it is realistic and needs to be written that way. It’s not realistic to think that you’ll be over a breakup or death in the matter of days. Weeks, months, and sometimes years later the sadness still lingers. I loved that the author didn’t write this any other way.However, I do think that the pacing was off and I didn’t like how slow it got in spots. I feel that the book had a lot of weird character developments and it didn’t feel natural like it did in the first book. I also feel that the characters weren’t as connected as they were in the first book. I don’t know, something just felt off about the whole thing. I also feel that Azelie and Karston weren’t given the attention they deserved as characters, and in the end I felt that Karston was given the middle finger as he wasn’t even mentioned in the end when Odessa was remembering everything that happened and such.Verdict: An good ending to a great duology.

Actual Rating: 4.5 starsThis is the second book in a duology by Sarah Glenn Marsh that I have a lot of love for. She starts with a rash bisexual, coffee-loving heroine who is a necromancer and then builds great side characters, an interesting world, and plots that deal effectively with heavy topics like grief and addiction. Oh, and it's all set in a world that is casually queer with variations on gendered relationships sprinkled throughout that feel incidental to the main story.I will be talking about why I loved Song of the Dead below, but briefly I did want to address why this is not quite a 5 star book for me: I kind of think this should have been a trilogy! The first portion of the book almost feels like a separate book, or what could have become a separate book, which makes the pacing a little bit weird.The book begins with our heroine Odessa running away on her friends ship, escaping the pressure of political upheaval in favor of traveling to new places with her love interest Meredy. I didn't expect that, but I quickly was into it. Getting to leave Karthia for the first time was very cool, I only wish we had gotten more. It turns into a very brief trip for reasons, and then an entirely different plot begins when they get back. I would have liked to see the traveling portion extended to be its own narrative, perhaps with venturing into new frontiers of the Deadlands? That would have been very cool and then the second part of this book could have been its own thing.But instead, the travel portion is truncated and we get a book that could be better paced. However, I do think the plot eventually brings about a very satisfying resolution and has some truly shocking moments. There are real stakes in this world, which I appreciate. The author isn't afraid to have character deaths, but stops short of going too far with them.Other things I want to note:- Nipper (Odessa's new dragon sidekick) will not fail to endear herself to animal-loving readers. Knowing the author has a menagerie of her own, this addition seemed appropriate and played a significant role in the plot!- In Reign of the Fallen, the plot focuses on Odessa's descent into addiction and depression, followed by her friends pulling her out of it. In Song of the Dead, we see her make the choice not to return to her addiction, even when it would be the easiest way to cope. I really loved the depiction of that as an ongoing journey toward healing.- Similarly, this book has a subplot involving another addiction of sorts that someone Odessa loves succumbs to. From the other side, we see how addiction hurts relationships, the painful necessity of intervention, and the reality that the addicted person might reject that intervention. Love is depicted as sacrificial rather than self-involved and I thought that was beautiful and important.- The main relationship of the book is f/f between Odessa and Meredy, depicted much like any other relationship with affection, arguments, miscommunication, and resolution. There a couple of sexual scenes between them that are pretty mild in terms of explicit content, but serve to develop their romantic relationship.- The political/magical plot was interesting and pretty well-executed. I just wanted more development of the other countries and some of the other students at the mage academy. Again, I think making this a trilogy would have resolved that.- It becomes clear that the discovery of atypical mages (defined by the color of their eyes) and path toward their acceptance mirrors the fight for acceptance by the LGBTQ community. It's a great subplot that for me didn't become glaringly obvious until the very end of the book. (see next bullet point!)- Quick note for those who have read the book: Queen Valoria's crown at the end was kind of fun! Certainly not subtle as a plug for queerness and acceptance of difference, but a fun little thing.I think that will do it! I think this is the go-to YA fantasy series for well-executed books that normalize queerness without focusing on that to the detriment of plot, world, character, and substance. Loved it, but I wish it had been a trilogy!

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