Song of Blood and Stone is the first novel in the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope. We meet a bunch of magical kingdoms, but there are two major powers. Elsira and Lagrimar are divided by a magical barrier called The Mantle. We learn through flashbacks they used to be one. The founders received magical gifts and used them to enrich the land. Some people have magic and it gets passed down by generation. That’s until one generation causes a split and epically long war. A brother is jealous of his sister with magic. He begs her to cast a spell to give him some power, which backfires spectacularly. In the present, the war is at a pause. The two nations still spy on each other. Jasminda lives on a farm near a small Lagrimar village. They don’t like her dark skin and are suspicious that she has magic. These days magic is frowned upon. Only royal families or priests can use it. She was born here to Elsiran and Lagrimar parents, but the townsfolk don’t care. She is trying to keep up her family farm ever since her father died. Her long-lost grandpa in Elsira offers to pay off her debt on the farm. The catch is she has to give up her name and be disavowed from the family. Her life gets even more complicated when she meets an Elsiran spy hunted by a Lagrimar soldier. He has some vital information he needs to take back to Elsira. Otherwise, a devastating cycle of war may happen any day. I’m sure you can guess that these are our romantic leads. They meet under fantastic circumstances and figure out their feelings. Oh, by the way, the spy isn’t exactly who he claims to be at first. That throws Jasminda for an even bigger loop.
I’ve been intrigued by the cover but daunted by the book’s length. Guess all I needed was some book club encouragement. The Ripped Bodice picked it for the fantasy book club. I burned through it in three days somehow. A looming deadline motivates me I guess, kind of like these Cannonball Read reviews. LOL. I’m always a fan of diverse fantasy protagonists. It was so fun to see Jasminda come into her powers. The romance was ok because they had mutual respect. However, the characters were a tad melodramatic especially with war looming. The spy keeping the secret for so long wasn’t fair to Jasminda. We don’t get her love interest’s POV. Some of the decisions he makes seem odd. Thankfully, the magic war plot distracted me and kept me riveted.
I tried to read the audiobook and print versions to read faster for the meeting. Well, that backfired on me because the audiobook is the original version. I soon realized the print version is the expanded story with two entirely new character storylines weaved into it! It took me more than a few chapters to figure this out. Learn from my mistakes and stick to one to avoid confusion.