On Starships and Dragonwings

Song in the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner is a bardic high fantasy about a young woman believing in legends and finding much more than she ever hoped possible, including adventure, demons, dragons and love of an unexpected variety

This was a Guest Post over at Once Upon A Time and I’m reposting just in case you missed it :)

When I was at the library a few months ago I saw a pamphlet celebrating Dragon Week and squeed with delight. OMG all I LOVE dragons :D. So I decided to look for one of the titles that I hadn’t read (not very many, ha) that looked interesting: Song in the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner. And so began an adventure of bardic proportions!

Goodreads
Title: Song in the Silence
Author: Elizabeth Kerner
Pages: 416
Genre-ish: High Fantasy through and through
Rating: ★★★★☆ - Interesting story, slow pace
Setting: Song in the Silence is set in a fantasy world where large but dumb reptiles are called dragons, but legends tell of an island full of riches beyond imagining, and more importantly, intelligent and beautiful True Dragons.
Premise: Lanen is a young woman who has just lost her uncle (who raised her from a babe) and has found herself comfortably provided for by his horse business. She finally has the opportunity to follow her dreams and find out if the True Dragons really exist, though of course the journey to get there involves crossing a sea which no ship has made it across in about a hundred years….

Strengths:

• Very interesting and unexpected spin on the romance element
• Strong and beautifully imperfect female lead (Lanen is rather plain and taller than many men, awesome!)
• Seeing as this is listed as #1 of a series, the lore foundation that is laid is really promising and I will definitely find the second book to continue the larger plot that was started
• An authentic bardic style telling, with archaic phrasing and a slower pace, very classic fantasy style

Weaknesses:

• That last strength (which I was honestly impressed by) also becomes a weakness if you aren’t in the mood for a slow pace, since this book definitely relaxes more than compels
• The main plot of the book wasn’t clear for a chunk of the beginning, which leaves the reader feeling a bit lost, but hang in there!
• The same authentic bardic feel includes phrasing and some vocabulary that is a little difficult to understand if you are reading fast. I found myself going back over sentences here and there, but it was worth it :)

Summary:
I really enjoyed the story and absolutely LOVED the characters of Song in the Silence and really look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Kerner, but this book is definitely more of a project book than something to take on a trip. It will likely take you a little bit of time but it really is worth it to push through the slower parts. Kerner’s style reminded me heavily of Tolkien’s at various points, though with less large descriptive chunks ;-).