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azagee's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Rocinate for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Singer's Crown is a book that reminds me of every 80s fantasy paperback I've ever read, in all the best ways. Set in a world where magic is real but not common, it strikes chords of both low and high fantasy tropes, and could have easily been derivative-- In fact, that was a major worry of mine, as I began the journey. Too many things seemed too familiar, especially our headstrong, dog-loving princess. However, as the story crept on, I realized that the characters I thought I had seen before were completely new to me. Isaak has a real talent for using her characters to tear emotion out of the reader's chest, and there were several characters I started out hating only to fall desperately in love with. The plot, while having been done before, was handled with a level of detail I've never seen a standalone be handled with. There were no loose ends, no plotholes-- Everything was thought out and well-executed
However, there were a few things that kept this from being a book I will recommend in the future. Firstly, there is an obsession with romance here that I genuinely feel detracts from the plot. Everyone is in love, even when it does the character a disservice, and while the romance plots have potential, with so many of them eating screen time, almost none of them are resolved in a satisfying way. Secondly, I feel like the first half of the novel could stand to be shorter. While I understand the narrative needed to set up Kat's motivations, sometimes telling actually is better than showing, especially with a book already this long.
Overall, I enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys old paperback fantasies like I do, but beware of the romance plots. They're everywhere.
The Singer's Crown is a book that reminds me of every 80s fantasy paperback I've ever read, in all the best ways. Set in a world where magic is real but not common, it strikes chords of both low and high fantasy tropes, and could have easily been derivative-- In fact, that was a major worry of mine, as I began the journey. Too many things seemed too familiar, especially our headstrong, dog-loving princess. However, as the story crept on, I realized that the characters I thought I had seen before were completely new to me. Isaak has a real talent for using her characters to tear emotion out of the reader's chest, and there were several characters I started out hating only to fall desperately in love with. The plot, while having been done before, was handled with a level of detail I've never seen a standalone be handled with. There were no loose ends, no plotholes-- Everything was thought out and well-executed
However, there were a few things that kept this from being a book I will recommend in the future. Firstly, there is an obsession with romance here that I genuinely feel detracts from the plot. Everyone is in love, even when it does the character a disservice, and while the romance plots have potential, with so many of them eating screen time, almost none of them are resolved in a satisfying way. Secondly, I feel like the first half of the novel could stand to be shorter. While I understand the narrative needed to set up Kat's motivations, sometimes telling actually is better than showing, especially with a book already this long.
Overall, I enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys old paperback fantasies like I do, but beware of the romance plots. They're everywhere.
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