A Song in the Storm immediately caught my attention with its intriguing premise of a fae king’s soiree, a thief posing as a bard, and a prince with a forgotten kingdom. The idea of an impossible heist and ancient magic connected to long-forgotten gods sounded like the perfect setup for an immersive fantasy adventure. The book cover was beautifully illustrated, and I was excited to dive in.

However, after a few chapters, I found myself getting lost in the number of different races and places introduced, and my attention began to wander. While the world-building is rich and complex, it became a bit overwhelming for me, and I decided not to continue. That said, readers who love high fantasy with intricate lore, morally complex characters, and ancient magic will likely enjoy this book—it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

This book was a DNF (Did Not Finish), and this review is being provided voluntarily.

4/5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed A Song in the Storm. Even though the first half of the book was a bit confusing, having multiple POVs and the action having taken place in such a complex world, the story was written beautifully. The descriptions were magical and I could see the work that was put into this book.

I was amazed with how incredibly intertwined the characters were, each having shared past memories with at least one other person in their group. It made their connection all the more beautiful. I am really curious to see what adventure they end up embarking on in the next book!

Even so, I would have appreciated a glossary at the beginning of the book, with all the types of races and places described, but it all started making sense the more I got into the story.

The ending was interesting, leaving me to wonder what is going to happen next in the series.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this book's uniqueness. It was without a doubt a breath of fresh air :)

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this really good book. However, I didn't really connect to this book and the characters of this book. It was a really good premise of a new fantasy series but i don't think this book was for me.

Overall this was an enjoyable read. It has numerous points of view, which can feel a little difficult to follow to start: trying to recall who is travelling with who and why but as the story lines converge this gets easier. The lands created within this world are distinct and fascinating. The plot was well crafted and intriguing, although a little slow paced at times.

It would benefit from maps, I'd have liked to have them to draw reference to throughout the journey of the characters, to see how these lands fit together and make sense of the journeys the characters were taking.

A Song in the Storm by Riley Knight is such a good story. I loved every single second of this amazing book. Such a cool story. I totally recommend everyone to read this book.

DNF at 50%.

"A Song in the Storm" has many interesting ideas and a professional writing style which I enjoyed. There is obvious effort put into the world-building and definite originality, The prologue has an exciting hook and chapter 2 introduced an interesting duo. However, halfway through the book I feel that it lacks any clear direction, and despite having a strong start, the slow pace makes for a difficult read.

I appreciate the diverse cast of characters, but it seems like more effort has been put into building Arsene's personality than any of the others. Their relationships to each-other are surface level and while I know a bit of their backgrounds, I don't know much about who they are as people, making them unrelatable and hard to care for. Who are the characters fighting, and what are they fighting for? What drives each of them? Several hundred pages in and I'm still not sure.

Without giving too much away, major concepts such as evoking seem to be a bit contradictory or confusing as someone who is just being introduced to this world. The different tribes and their histories or relationships to each other could also use a more thorough explanation.

The unique world this author has created reminds me of the Witcher and Baldur's Gate, with less action. This book may be ideal for someone who enjoys a slower pace. I really wanted to love it, but for the reasons above I wasn't able to finish it.

My review will be available on Goodreads on March 10th, 2025.