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jnishi's review
4.0
Solid read that combos fairytale vibes and fantasy vibes with excellent narrative voice. Olga is not a likeable character and she is designed that way in order to facilitate her character arch and development that is integral to the plot.
aroseshaw's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rosalyn liked the animals (even the good spiders) and the music magic.
katischr's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A super sweet coming-of-age story mixed in with magic and intrigue
stitchsaddiction's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The Song of the Swan is a middle grade retelling of Swan Lake, an old but wonderful tale.
I loved the original, and therefore, when I was given the opportunity to read this? I was curious to see if it honoured the classic as well as give a truly unique story worthy of standing alone.
The Song of the Swan does both and I loved the characters we meet, Olga who is an orphan and a thief and her friend as well as partner in crime; Pavel who end up on quite an adventure throughout a beautifully written world. Both of these forlorn little souls deserve more and their adventure is one for freedom from all that has held them down and I can guarantee a young reader will be hooked on all they get up to in the search for treasure.
The Song of the Swan by Karah Sutton is filled with magic, adventure, and the arrival of a character that I didn't like because I'm scared of them. A spider, so if your little one doesn't like them? You may want to avoid this as the illustrations are beautiful? But that spider appears often!
What I loved is that this isn't a complete retelling of Swan Lake, but it does draw on elements of the story, and it's really well done. Readers, both young and old, will enjoy this adventure and, thanks to wonderful writing, will experience the highs and lows along Olga, Pavel, and our little eight legged companion.
An ideal Christmas present for a stocking for your favourite little person.
I loved the original, and therefore, when I was given the opportunity to read this? I was curious to see if it honoured the classic as well as give a truly unique story worthy of standing alone.
The Song of the Swan does both and I loved the characters we meet, Olga who is an orphan and a thief and her friend as well as partner in crime; Pavel who end up on quite an adventure throughout a beautifully written world. Both of these forlorn little souls deserve more and their adventure is one for freedom from all that has held them down and I can guarantee a young reader will be hooked on all they get up to in the search for treasure.
The Song of the Swan by Karah Sutton is filled with magic, adventure, and the arrival of a character that I didn't like because I'm scared of them. A spider, so if your little one doesn't like them? You may want to avoid this as the illustrations are beautiful? But that spider appears often!
What I loved is that this isn't a complete retelling of Swan Lake, but it does draw on elements of the story, and it's really well done. Readers, both young and old, will enjoy this adventure and, thanks to wonderful writing, will experience the highs and lows along Olga, Pavel, and our little eight legged companion.
An ideal Christmas present for a stocking for your favourite little person.
themoonphoenix's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The Song of the Swan feels like a true fairytale, very charming. It’s inspired in the Swam Lake tale with Slavic folklore.
Olga is a spiky orphan with trust issues, her best friend Pavel is just the opposite, he wants to be a knight and helps people. They travel with a swindler, who uses their talents to his benefit. Fleeing from the police they find themselves near a cursed valley, the people who enter do not return but legend says that in the middle of valley there is Sokolov Palace and a priceless jewel, Olga wants that jewel, to improve his life and Pavel’s. They enter the forest and meet the Baron of the castle, Olga is suspicious but Pavel is enchanted by the castle, the balls, the music and a lovely lady they meet at the midnight parties. Soon Olga will realize that she is right, behind the pretty facade there are dark secrets.
I love Olga and her development, at first she is a little selfish, she wants a better life to herself, and she doesn't care much about the people trapped in the castle. On the contrary, Pavel was always cute, he is a good friend, like an older brother and he understands where Olga's selfishness comes from, compared to him, she has been alone since she was a child.
The writing style was charming, it give vibes like the fantasy in the 90s and 2000s, the setting is mysterious and enchanted, we have a curse valley and a castle where a lord lives who grants you your deepest desires (but he asks you for something in return), there is a lake with enchanted swans, talking and magical spiders, interwoven with folklore elements, It’s just lovely, plus the edition is illustrated, giving more magic to the story.
It’s a cute story, perfect for children and fairytale fans, Olga is a character you can understand and empathize with and she has good friends that you would want for yourself. About Swan Lake, I only know the ballet and the movie The Swan Princess, this is a very different story, which almost feels original and not a retelling (although of course, I have not read the original story), it’s focus more in personal growth, found family, friendship, the curse and enchanted humans/swans, feel a little secondary, because we also have balls and spiders.
Read it if you want:
- Found Family
- Fairytales Vibes
- Magical Animal Assistant
dbguide2's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The only spider in the world I might be potentially okay with touching (because it can talk) is in here and that’s Pauk. I think if I could ever trust a spider it would be him. Not that I need to trust one anyway. But still. And honestly, that’s due to Sutton’s writing! I think possibly another middle grade writer I would trust with (possibly) making me like spiders is Cornelia Funke.
I loved how lyrical the writing is. I really liked the in between chapter tales; they were really fun to read and they all fit in well with the main story. It added to the story-like feeling in a good way.
I liked Olga and Pavel a lot. I related to Olga a lot because she kept thinking she wasn’t good enough. But she also wanted a lot of things and I can relate to that as well. Plus I think the readers can relate a lot to that. Pavel was sweet and I was very glad that they had a good friendship (my heart for more good male/female friendships – without turning romantic).
Sutton did a good job with the plot and writing! It felt exactly right and there was a lot that I liked. Well-paced and I think even someone who isn’t into Middle Grade will like this book. I definitely want to check out her other middle grade book, A Wolf for a Spell. What’s great is that I didn’t even feel it was too young. Not that middle grade books can’t be good – I’m just saying I always like it when I, (an adult) enjoys a Middle Grade book.
I loved how lyrical the writing is. I really liked the in between chapter tales; they were really fun to read and they all fit in well with the main story. It added to the story-like feeling in a good way.
I liked Olga and Pavel a lot. I related to Olga a lot because she kept thinking she wasn’t good enough. But she also wanted a lot of things and I can relate to that as well. Plus I think the readers can relate a lot to that. Pavel was sweet and I was very glad that they had a good friendship (my heart for more good male/female friendships – without turning romantic).
Sutton did a good job with the plot and writing! It felt exactly right and there was a lot that I liked. Well-paced and I think even someone who isn’t into Middle Grade will like this book. I definitely want to check out her other middle grade book, A Wolf for a Spell. What’s great is that I didn’t even feel it was too young. Not that middle grade books can’t be good – I’m just saying I always like it when I, (an adult) enjoys a Middle Grade book.
Content Warnings
hckilgour's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
So I went into this one without knowing it was a Swan Lake retelling. But I picked up on that quickly, which to me means the retelling aspect was done beautifully.
The world is very Eastern European esque and was a nice change of pace from fantasy books that are more English in nature.
Olga as a character was very selfish and I loved that. It made her extremely realistic. And I loved that Pavel was like I don’t forgive you, but we need to work together and we’ll deal with that later. So many books don’t have characters that can be that level headed.
The storytelling spider aspect did pull me out of the story a lot, so it was kind of jarring. But it did allow the author to give extra information about characters that would’ve otherwise never have been able to seamlessly put into the story.
The world is very Eastern European esque and was a nice change of pace from fantasy books that are more English in nature.
Olga as a character was very selfish and I loved that. It made her extremely realistic. And I loved that Pavel was like I don’t forgive you, but we need to work together and we’ll deal with that later. So many books don’t have characters that can be that level headed.
The storytelling spider aspect did pull me out of the story a lot, so it was kind of jarring. But it did allow the author to give extra information about characters that would’ve otherwise never have been able to seamlessly put into the story.
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