Song of Earth and Claws by Lena Abram
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let me start off by saying this is a wonderful book. With that being said, I wanted to like it so much more than I actually did. This book is a stand-alone romantic fantasy novel, but it does have two other books in the same universe.

Song of Earth and Claws has a good amount of the “regular” fantasy elements, such as drama, danger, magic and mystical characters (in this case Fae – as well as shapeshifters). But there are also a few elements that the author adds that I find are quite unique and interesting, the main one being the way the fae differ from one another. They all have the deeper connection as far a morals go, but they couldn’t be any more different regarding powers, personalities, and physical attributes.

There is A LOT, and I do mean A LOT of information to take in that is honestly pretty necessary to keep the story line straight. This is a chacteristic most dystopian books have, especially in the very first book introducing the world, so I don’t have a problem with the amount of info but, my issue is more so with how much of the information if very alike. There are only very small differences, but those small differences are crucial at understanding and comprehending. Another issue I have is the names are very similar as well. Which would have been fine if they were characters on the same side, or for smaller characters, if a small description (without necessarily being redundant) was included when mentioning them. I completely understand this is easier said than actually done when it comes to writing characters lol.

There are several characters that I would consider “main” characters, but as far as the romantic story line of the book, it is focused on Lannahi and Ashared. I do deeply love their connection both physical and mental. The romantic part doesn’t really have momentum though until over half way, and I feel there was a lot of missed opportunity there because the book is focused on explaining in depth the rules of the fae universe as well as Lannahi as a person. I feel like the author was torn in two directions – the romantic portion of the story vs. the universe the romance took place in. I think the book generally would have been better if there was just one direction the author focused on. Because of this, the flow of the story was a little choppy.

The beginning of the story focuses on Lannahi only and the “games”. But the “games” are not really well explained and left me a little confused on why exactly they existed besides the fact to keep the fae from just murdering each other at random. Another large aspect of this book that heavily confused me was what the ACTUAL plot was, out of the plethora of things that could be considered, none of them really made enough sense to be the MAIN one. Yes, Lannahi wanted protection from Nihhal and she couldn’t speak of what he aspired to do, as well as she did not wish to become a slave. But wouldn’t becoming a Queen solve these issues? Isn’t that the whole point of why she became Queen? Not to mention, after she becomes Queen, it barely mentions him again until almost 3/4 ways through.

The element of danger is never missing, there is always a slight worry that someone might lose their life at any given moment. Has Lannahi bit of more than she could chew? Who knew being Queen would be just as dangerous as her future looked with Nihhal. Loyalties are tested, secrets are kept.. and broken, family members cannot always be trusted, and greed is not always the motivation behind a person’s intentions.

The universe itself is easily imagined; the author does a wonderful job of explaining the world. It is a BEAUTIFUL world, and I think this is one of the best things about this book. It is just enough similar to other fae worlds that makes it easy to imagine fae living there, but so different that you might just take a step back and imagine fae, as a whole, differently than before.
 
The underlying story had SO much potential, and I feel like it did not really meet its mark for me. But regardless, it is a good story and I encourage you to pick it up and read if you love fantasy romance!

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