by Danielle L Jensen
“I think it is our nature to believe evil always has an ugly face,” he said, ignoring my question. “Beauty is supposed to be good and kind, and to discover it otherwise is like a betrayal of trust. A violation of the nature of things.”
Title: Stolen Songbird
Author: Danielle L Jensen
Book: book 1
Genre: YA, fantasy
Found: goodreads recommendations
Rating: 5 Voodoos
Once upon a time a Witch put a curse on the trolls of the Forsaken Mountain. She trapped them within the rock, unable to leave, left in the dark for all eternity, to stop them from enslaving and abusing mankind. Five centuries on and Trolls have become a thing of myth and legend. Cecile always thought she was destined to be a world class opera singer but one day, as she travels home, she is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain. She discovers that trolls are real and that they believe her destiny is to marry the Prince of Trollus and break the curse. But Cecile is not a girl to be pushed around so her new goal is to escape this prison. Whilst waiting for the opportune moment to make her escape she discovers that there is more to the Trolls of Trollus than she ever imagined and finds herself caught up in the political games of Trollus and a rebellion against the full-blood trolls.
I absolutely loved this book. The world-building was so detailed that you really did feel like you were stuck underground in the dark with them. I found myself blinking against the light after being absorbed within the pages for hours. I don’t think there was a single character that I felt let it down. Everyone had their role, the villian’s were hateful, the Prince brilliantly twisted, and there wasn’t a single whingey girl in sight!
The romance in Stolen Songbird was slow-building and therefore way more believable than other fantasies like this. You feel the connection between them grow and it was beautiful. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good old Beauty and the Beast retelling.
(I can’t comment on the tag line ‘For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy…’ as I haven’t read either yet but if this is anywhere near what I should expect I will definitely be reading them both very soon!)
