Hello and welcome to our April Book Avengers post! Today we are featuring Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen. This is book one of Jersen’s Malediction trilogy. What did we think? Keep reading to find out what we thought and what we selected to pick from for May!
For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the mountain. When Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she realises that the trolls are relying on her to break the curse.
Cécile has only one thing on her mind: escape. But the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time…
But the more time she spends with the trolls, the more she understands their plight. There is a rebellion brewing. And she just might be the one the trolls were looking for…
Kristina’s Thoughts:
I liked a troll book. I’m very surprised that it was exactly like everyone said. “I thought so too but once you start you will see.” There was a lot of political issues as opposed to romance which changed the dynamic of the story quite a bit for me. Now, I will say that I see two things that will happen in this series and to me they seem both extremely obvious and one was 99% confirmed at one point. I will not state what they are right now to not spoil anything for anyone in case it isn’t as obvious (SARAH, LOL) but I will hold to my word and tell you if I was wrong or right.
Now while I liked the book I didn’t love it. I had a few issues on how certain situations played out as well as the not knowing exactly how long the time of the novel covered, etc. Also, as I mentioned above the story focused a lot on curses and political stances so for the romance to show up when it did, it didn’t seem genuine to me. I definitely will read book two at some point if it isn’t selected for our next month’s pick but based on the blurb the book will be mainly above ground. I think to keep the reader on their toes maybe we could have had book one balanced between the two?
Did it live up to the hype?
Kristina’s Rating: 3/5
Sarah’s Thoughts:
I honestly didn’t know what expect going in to “Stolen Songird”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book featuring trolls and I wasn’t sure I was going to love it as much as so many of my book buddies had. But then I started reading and I knew pretty quickly that it was 100% my thing. Whenever a book manages to combine fascinating world-building, high stakes drama AND a swoony love story…I am all in. All the boxes were checked off for me pretty quickly and I settled in for the ride.
This book took all my ideas of what trolls are and totally flipped it around. In “Stolen Songibrd” trolls are a vast race of beings that are just as varied and different as the human race. They just happened to be trapped underground thanks to a vengeful witch’s curse. It’s a dark world, both literally and figuratively, and a really unique setting. It was refreshing to read a book that took place somewhere so different from anything I’ve read before. The whole time I was reading I never forgot we were underground and it made for a very atmospheric and moody reading experience.
Tristan and Cecile were both so complex in their motivations and it made for some interesting tension and drama between them. Not gonna lie, Tristan could be a bit of jerk, but you begin to see that he has very real reasons for being cranky and difficult a lot of the time. It was great to see Cecile stand up to that and claim her own place in a world that was so unfamiliar to her. She brought a much-needed sensitivity and compassion to the story and I admired her bravery as well as her ability to make the best of a horrible situation.
I will say that the fact that Cecile was kidnapped and forced to marry the troll prince, did give me pause and I never really got past that. It was always in the back of my head that she was forced into this situation without her consent, and that kept me from completely getting on board the ‘ship. But. on the other hand I do love the trope of a misunderstood hero who has a hidden soft side…so the romance did work for me in a lot of ways.
The end of the book is where everything starts really coming together and you begin to get an idea of what’s at stake. I definitely saw the end of the book coming but I still can’t wait to see how it all plays out in the next two books.
I first heard about “Stolen Songird” from Melissa at Live Love Read and was immediately intrigued…but skeptical! How could a book about a young woman being kidnapped and forced to marry a TROLL be anything but ridiculous?! After the initial recommendation from Melissa, it seemed like the book started popping up everywhere and people were RAVING about it. I finally decided that I needed to read it to find out for myself and made the suggestion to Kristina that we add it to our Book Avengers vote for April. Of course, it ended up winning! I am SO glad it did because it obviously lived up to the hype for me and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books to find out how it all ends.
Sarah’s Rating: 4/5
Want to be a part of picking our next book? Below are our three May picks that we’ve narrowed down from our current TBR list. For your vote to count head on over to our twitter hashtag #bookavengers and vote using our twitter poll. (It will be pinned this month to my twitter: @gone_pecan) Feel free to retweet and help promote your pick! Voting closes April 24th and we will be announcing our next pick via twitter that day.
May picks:
Alanna of Trebond is no ordinary girl: her dream is to become a knight. So she disguises herself as a boy and begins training at the palace of King Roald. Alanna quickly finds out that the road to knighthood is not an easy one, but her skills and stubbornness help her become friends with Prince Jonathan and his followers. At the same time, Alanna makes an enemy of the prince’s uncle, the overly charming Duke Roger.
Here begins Alanna’s first adventure, one that will lead not only to fulfillment of her dreams but to a magical destiny that will make her a legend.
Beneath the mountain, the king’s reign of tyranny is absolute; the one troll with the capacity to challenge him is imprisoned for treason. Cécile has escaped the darkness of Trollus, but she learns all too quickly that she is not beyond the reach of the king’s power. Or his manipulation.
Recovered from her injuries, she now lives with her mother in Trianon and graces the opera stage every night. But by day she searches for the witch who has eluded the trolls for five hundred years. Whether she succeeds or fails, the costs to those she cares about will be high.
To find Anushka, she must delve into magic that is both dark and deadly. But the witch is a clever creature. And Cécile might not just be the hunter. She might also be the hunted…
Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
We hope you guys enjoyed our post and vote to pick our next back list books! Please remember voting will end April 24th (via our twitter poll) and we will announce our May pick then. As always, if it is new to you as well please join us in reading, we’d love to chat with others while we are reading. See you soon!
Gone Pecan 
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