Queen of Song and Souls

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Synopsis

Fey king and Tairen Soul Rainier vel'En Daris and his Truemate, Elysetta are determined to save the Fading Lands, the very realm from which they've now been banished for using forbidden magic to save the Tairen. The war with the evil Elden mages is already causing untold destruction to the borderlands of Celieria, the human realm in which Elysetta was raised, so when Rain discovers that the Elden forges are producing weapons at an alarming rate, he knows that they'll need help to defeat their enemies. He and Ellie travel to Celieria City where despite covertly placed Elden mages still trying to influence the royal court, they manage to secure the assistance of King Dorian. From there, they go to Elvia to try to persuade the Elves to join the fight as well. They also hope to gain insights from Elven leader, Lord Galad, who is a powerful seer, as to why Ellie hasn't yet been able to complete the truemate bond, without which Rain will certainly go mad. While they don't receive the answers or the help they seek, Rain and Ellie do learn more about her parents and discover new and untapped powers within her. But all too soon, they must make a rapid journey back to the front lines where trouble is brewing.

Review

Queen of Song and Souls is the fourth book in C. L. Wilson's Tairen Soul series that continues the journey of Fey king and Tairen Soul Rainier vel'En Daris and his Truemate, Elysetta. At the end of the previous book, King of Sword and Sky, the war with Eld had just begun and readers were left pretty much in the heat of battle. This book picks up exactly where that one left off with Rain fighting against their enemies, while Elysetta puts her newfound powers to use, healing the wounded. After a brief sojourn in the mountains to regain their strength, Rain, in his Tairen form, sees the forges of Eld running at full capacity as he flies overhead. With this new knowledge he knows that he must plead with their allies to step up and help or the war will be lost. First, he and Ellie travel to Celiera City to meet with King Dorian, the leader of the humans. The Elden Mages are still trying to secretly influence the king, along with his queen and the nobles, but Rain succeeds in convincing Dorian of the need for his help on the front lines. While there, they also discover that the lustful weave Ellie accidentally placed on the city a few months earlier, before she had control of her powers, has had further unintended consequences. From there, Rain and Ellie head for Elvia to try to persuade the Elves to join their coalition against Eld, while hoping that Lord Galad, the leader of the Elves and a powerful seer, might also be able to shed some light on why Ellie hasn't been able to complete the truemate bond yet. While they don't necessarily get the answers they came seeking, they do learn much about Ellie's heritage before making a hasty journey back to the front lines, where trouble awaits.

Four books in and I still love Rain and Ellie. They're wonderful characters who are perfect for one another, which makes it hard to see them struggling with the truemate bond. I think this book probably had the least amount of new character development for this couple. Because the truemate bond hasn't been completed, the bond madness is beginning to affect Rain. This worries Ellie, because she is the one who hasn't been able to fully accept herself to make it happen, and she fears she might not ever be able to, which would be a disaster for Rain. She also continues to have nightmares fueled by her connection to the High Mage of Eld, which make her afraid of what she might become. We learn that Ellie's powers go beyond anything anyone has seen before when they visit Celieria City and discover what is causing many of the women there to suffer from a sickness. When Rain and Ellie visit Elvia, they finally learn of Ellie's heritage, which readers already knew about but she and Rain didn't. During that time, she also exhibits further incredible powers when she connects with her imprisoned father, Shan, through a magical Elven mirror. Rain continues to try his best to protect Ellie from further Mage Marks, which would tip her power toward the dark side, as well as keep her safe from other dangers. No matter what they're doing, Rain and Ellie make a wonderful couple that I love reading about.

Overall, I still very much liked Queen of Song and Souls, but it became the first book in the series to receive a slight ding in the rating from me. I found this book to be the slowest paced of all the books so far. With the way things were left at the end of the previous book, I thought this one was going to have a lot of action and place Rain and Ellie in the thick of the war, but that wasn't really the case. Once the battle that carries over from the last book quiets down a little, they essentially go on a road trip, seeking help for their cause and answers to perplexing questions. From there, the action is only sporadic at best until the end when there's some excitement. In the first three books, there were a lot of surprising revelations about our main characters, but here that's minimal, mainly because most of the things Rain and Ellie learn are things readers already knew. It's just the characters who are being enlightened for the first time. It was nice to see them finally get a few answers, but they're also left with a lot of questions. I think some of the best character development was seen in a few of the supporting characters, many of whom intrigue me greatly. Unfortunately, though, we see a very tragic outcome for a few of those characters at the very end of this book, which made for a downer of a finale. That and the slowness of this installment of the story is what knocked off the half star. I thought about downgrading a full star, but I still absolutely love inhabiting this world that is so imaginative and populated with interesting characters that make me want to know more about them. Despite the sad ending, I'm still very eager to see what happens next. I can't wait to see how Rain and Ellie's story wraps up and how they hopefully finally defeat the High Mage of Eld.

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C. L. Wilson