Song of Shadow is the first book in the Ballad of Emerald and Iron by Natalya Capello.
Finished on: 21.12.2023

Plot:
According to her family, Lorelei is a bit of a troublemaker. And definitely mad. She did get into trouble with her magic, leading to her being sent to a monastery where she hopes she can redeem herself in the eyes of her family. Instead adventures even finds her among the nuns. When the Apostle of Fire calls, Lorelei has little choice but to answer. Her quest leads her to an ancient country full of magic where she uncovers forbidden truths.

Song of Shadow has a lot going on and doesn’t always manage to be clear with the many ideas it gives us. It’s not a bad book, but it didn’t really win me over either.

It took me a while to orient myself in the world Capello has set up here. She obviously has many ideas and has built up quite some lore, but it took me a while to catch up with her. The information management could have been smoothed over a little more.

The characters were nice enough, although there, too, I didn’t feel like things grew at a natural pace with and between them. It might have felt differently with just a few changes to the pacing and to how certain things are introduced.

That being said, I have definitely read worse books. In fact, Song of Shadow might fall a little too much into the void of not being bad, but not being good either – a void that is destined for being quickly forgotten. It certainly didn’t motivate me to check out the rest of the series, I’m afraid, even though there is no real ending here that would give the story closure.

Summarizing: okay, but nothing much to write about, quite literally.