{"id":7794,"date":"2016-05-03T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T16:17:49","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T20:17:49","slug":"a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/","title":{"rendered":"A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<table align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Songkeeper.jpg?resize=258%2C400\" width=\"258\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Songkeeper-Chronicles-Book-2-ebook\/dp\/B01BS5ERZY\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1460745509&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=songkeeper+gillian+bronte+adams\">Buy from Amazon!<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\">War ravages Leira and the Song has fallen silent&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\">Freed from the hold of a slave ship, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, and Ky, a street-wise thief, emerge to a world at war. Hordes of dark soldiers march across Leira, shadowed by whispers of plague and massacres, prompting Ky to return to his besieged home city in hopes of leading his fellow runners to safety.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\">Desperate to end the fighting, Birdie embarks on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Takhran\u2019s fortress. Legend speaks of a mythical spring buried within and the Songkeeper who will one day unleash it to achieve victory. Everyone believes Birdie is the one, but the elusive nature of the Song and rumors of other gifted individuals lead her to doubt her role. Unleashing the spring could defeat the Takhran once and for all, but can she truly be the Songkeeper when the Song no longer answers her call?&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">Series:<\/b><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">&nbsp;The Songkeeper Chronicles (Book 2)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; line-height: 20px;\"><b>Genre:<\/b>&nbsp;YA Fantasy<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">Publisher:<\/b><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">&nbsp;Enclave Publishing (April 15, 2016)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">Page Count:<\/b><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">&nbsp;320 pages<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">I had the privilege to be on the launch team for this book, so I got an advanced reader copy! Life got in the way of getting this review up on time, but it&#8217;s up now and that&#8217;s what counts.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The Plot:<\/span> The plot is far darker than the first one with more action and magic&#8211;and the added obstacle of disease. The Khelari have grown much stronger making an even bigger threat for Amos, Birdie, and Ky. The evil army is hitting places close to home. There are some good twists and lots of battles. The plot definitely focuses a bit more on the character development than the first one did. <i>Orphan&#8217;s Song<\/i> had more plot. This one had more of well, both, really.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The Characters:<\/span> Birdie has definitely grown up a lot. The poor dear goes through so much, and she&#8217;s definitely struggling in this book since the Song has been silent for her. I really love how her character develops in this story.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Ky definitely has a lot of growing in this story. His sacrificial nature and his leadership potential blossoms in this story. He is kind and brave and I love his sling.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Amos stays pretty much the same Scottish peddler we know, except he begins to accept Birdie for who she is. Birdie is the Songkeeper despite how he feels about it. There are some funny exchanges between him and the &#8220;catbird.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">In addition to characters in the first book like Cade, Gundhrold, Rhudashka, and the dwarves we get a whole bunch of new ones such as the Saari warriors Sym and Inali, and Migdon the sweet talking, sly dwarf. I really like the fact that Saari warriors ride lions. It&#8217;s so cool! The two little underground kids Meli and Syd are adorable.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">I like that in this book the enemy doesn&#8217;t seem so faceless. The post book it was Carhartan but we didn&#8217;t have as much interaction as we did finally at the end of <i>Songkeeper<\/i>. I hope the next book has even more. It&#8217;s sometimes cool to have the distant overlord, but I like it when the main character gets more up close and personal.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The Setting:<\/span> I like the settings in this book much more in the first one. There is a pirate ship, a desert, and a really scary prison called Seren Vroi. The characters even mentioned that salt flats are somewhere in this story worlds. Salt flats fascinate me so I really hope they show up in the next book! We also get to know a lot more about the history of the world, about the Great Singer, the Song Spring, Songlings, dark magic with bloodstones also known as talavs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Epic Things: <\/span>I really liked that Gillian included more obscure magical beasts such as chimera and a cool twist on a hippogriff. More on that below. I liked the powers of the Song and I hope to see more of them in the third book since in this book one of the big points is that it&#8217;s strangely disappeared. I like that she can hear the songs of others even when they&#8217;re doing.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">The Theme: <\/span>The characters, especially Birdie and Amos, struggle with control, and faith. Birdie has mysteriously lost the Song. She begins to doubt herself as the songkeepeer, and tries her hardest to get it back. Rhudashka the evil pirate even tries to make her use it for his amusement. Amos has always struggled with faith and you see him more visibly wrestle with it in this story. Birdie hates feeling like she can&#8217;t control her life andn ot even the song. She hates feeling helpless and dependent. But as the story learns it&#8217;s that life is often out of our control. One of the villain&#8217;s temptations to her is that he can give her control, no more guessing and seeking faith. This rang to me personally considering I like control. I like having a plan with my life. It&#8217;s hard to accept that I can&#8217;t keep bad things from happening no matter how many precautions I take.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Content Cautions: <\/span>There isn&#8217;t any swearing or sexual content to note. There is a lot of magic and as I&#8217;ve mentioned a far darker brand than the first book, but it&#8217;s used by evil characters not good. The most notable caution is the violence. There is quite a bit of stabbing, throats cut, people dying of starvation, even people that should be dead being preserved by magic. It was nothing that made me cringe, but it was a little graphic.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">&nbsp;white fev<\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">er medieval bio<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">weapon,traitorous Paddy and Cade,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">chimera, cool, creepy&nbsp;<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">nast<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">y the pit, hippo<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">griff, neat spin on Raven hippogriff,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">&nbsp;<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">contagonist Cade, sad but h<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">opefully<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">&nbsp;ending, faith through a time of quiet,&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">What We Can Take Away For Our Writing:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<b style=\"font-weight: bold;\">1.) New Technology Made Old &#8211;<\/b> One thing I thought was really cool, but really diabolical about Songkeeper was the use of a primitive bioweapon. The Khelari actually use dead diseased bodies to try to wipe out a city. This alludes to modern biological warfare. Gillian takes a modern concept but converts it so it can be be used with her storyworld&#8217;s technology. Brilliant!<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<b style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How this can be applied to writing:<\/b> Have you ever thought of using new technology and converting it to be used with older technology? I did something like this when one of my characters in Red Hood invented a heart monitor using 1850s technology. This is another great instance where asking, &#8220;What if?&#8221; can be effective.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<b style=\"font-weight: bold;\">2.) Obscure Mythical Beasts and Twists on mythical Beasts &#8211; <\/b>Gillian has some pretty cool mythical creatures in this book especially the chimera and the creative twist on a hypogriff. Instead of making it half horse half eagle, she made it half horse half raven, which turned out to be really and creepy.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<b style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How this can be applied to writing: <\/b>I love dragons and elves and dwarves as much as the next person, but I also love obscure mythical beasts that don&#8217;t get any love. <a href=\"https:\/\/rawlse.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/02\/legends-and-legendary-creatures-the-a-z-list\/\">E. Rawls over at her blog<\/a> made a great list of some obscure beasts even I didn&#8217;t know about. And I&#8217;ve researched a lot, let me tell you. I got bored at my aunt&#8217;s house and researched cryptids for three hours. There are so many cool ones to be explored. I&#8217;m using zburators, feydragons, enfields, and shedu in my stories.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><b>3.) Contagonists &#8211; <\/b>Cade isn&#8217;t necessarily a bad guy, but he does stand in Ky&#8217;s way during this book. He often stops Ky&#8217;s progress, but ultimately he doesn&#8217;t wish Ky severe harm in any way. He has his own ideals which clash with Ky, making him a contagonist. This makes a great obstacle for Ky especially since he&#8217;s admired Cade for years.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<b style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;\">How this can be applied to writing:<\/b><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"> Sometimes even the good guys don&#8217;t get along in your stories, sometimes this escalates to the position of contagonist. Unlike an antagonist, a contagonist isn&#8217;t the bad guy, but someone who hinder&#8217;s the protagonist&#8217;s goals nonetheless. These can add some interesting dynamics to your story and added depth to your character relationships. I think I may have to write a post devoted to these. Hmmm ..<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/>Conclusion:<\/span> <i>Songkeeper<\/i> is a great sequel to <i>Orphan&#8217;s Song<\/i>. I like it better than the first and it ends bittersweet. I&#8217;m looking forward to the next book!<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/4-star-rating-5.gif\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;\">About the Author:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Gillian.jpg?resize=200%2C200\" style=\"border: none; position: relative;\" width=\"200\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white; font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: justify;\"><b>Gillian Bronte Adams&nbsp;<\/b>was born with a pen in her hand, a sword at her side, and a saddle beneath her feet. As a speculative fiction writer from the great state of Texas, she delights in combining epic adventure and fantasy with themes that point to the greatest story of all\u2014or, as she refers to it, writing to the echoes of eternity. During the day, she works as the Equine Director at a Christian youth camp, while at night, she kicks off her boots and spurs and transforms into a novelist. You can find out more at her on&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com\/\" style=\"color: #2a2af1; text-decoration: none;\">her blog<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gillianbronteadams\" style=\"color: #2a2af1; text-decoration: none;\">Facebook<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theSongkeeper\" style=\"color: #2a2af1; text-decoration: none;\">Twitter<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/8547032.Gillian_Bronte_Adams\" style=\"color: #2a2af1; text-decoration: none;\">Goodreads<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\">Don&#8217;t forget to check out <a href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/2016\/04\/a-book-review-of-orphans-song-by.html\">the first book of the series<\/a>!<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white; line-height: 20px;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">If you liked this post, come back every other Tuesday for book reviews; Friday for tags, character interviews, and link-ups; Saturdays for writing advice and life updates; and Sundays for the Writerly Bundle which includes a new soundtrack piece, vocabulary word, and tea review!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: 15px;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buy from Amazon! War ravages Leira and the Song has fallen silent&nbsp; Freed from the hold of a slave ship, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, and Ky, a street-wise thief, emerge to a world at war. Hordes of dark soldiers march across Leira, shadowed by whispers of plague and massacres, prompting Ky to return to his &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-7794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-reviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams - Wanderer&#039;s Pen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams - Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Buy from Amazon! War ravages Leira and the Song has fallen silent&nbsp; Freed from the hold of a slave ship, Birdie, the young Songkeeper, and Ky, a street-wise thief, emerge to a world at war. Hordes of dark soldiers march across Leira, shadowed by whispers of plague and massacres, prompting Ky to return to his &hellip; A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams Read More &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wanderer&#039;s Pen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-03T22:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-12T20:17:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Songkeeper.jpg?fit=259%2C400&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria Grace Howell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Victoria Grace Howell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#\/schema\/person\/7a44162284e065d06efefff684584955\"},\"headline\":\"A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T22:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-12T20:17:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\"},\"wordCount\":1635,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Songkeeper.jpg?fit=259%2C400&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Book Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/a-book-review-of-songkeeper-by-gillian\/\",\"name\":\"A Book Review of the Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams - 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