{Review/Giveaway} SONGSTONE by Lena Goldfinch

Check out the rest of the blogs taking part in the SONGSTONE Blog Tour
for more interviews, reviews, and more!

Check out today's fabulous interview with Lena Goldfinch!


SONGSTONE is only $3.97 on nook, Kindle, Kobo, and Smashwords!
Likewise, Lena's earlier novel, AIRE, is also available across platforms for $3.97, and her novella 
THE LANGUAGE OF SOULS is only 99¢.
What great deals!

O P E N I N G   H O O K:

I SLAMMED THE DOOR SHUT behind me. The warm morning breeze flattened my woven grass dress against my thighs and swirled my hair away from me in a red stream. Like blood under water.

As I sucked in a soul-cleansing breath of salty air, my eyes drank in the soothing blues of the sea. The water seemed to stretch out forever before it touched the sky. How could the island spirits allow the day to be so blue, so bright and clear, when I could still hear the muted sounds of Matiko in his secret room, chanting his awful chants and practicing his evil magic?

(Page 3, US e-book edition)

I recently discovered Lena Goldfinch when perusing one of my favorite long-running blogs, The Enchanted Inkpot. I've discovered so many great fantasy authors through this site and highly recommend visiting if you never have before. I immediately knew I wanted to read SONGSTONE when it came out and rushed to grab my nook and buy the other two books Goldfinch had previously published. At the time, they were Kindle-exclusive, but now they're available across platforms at great prices...and I now proudly own them on my nook! Since finishing SONGSTONE, I'm eager to read more from Goldfinch. She creates new life into the fantasy genre, and I look forward to seeing what other worlds she's sharing with her readers.

SONGSTONE centers around Kita, a girl with no past or family. She was discovered in the forest as an infant, filthy and alone. When she was taken in by a village family and cleaned up, it was discovered that the grime had been hiding pale white skin and fuzzy red hair. Kita greatly resembled a Huwi baby, an enemy. She's never embraced, and grows up feared by others in the village. When she was eight, Matiko, the village medicine man took her in. Unbeknownst to the villagers, he practices dark, evil magic. He steals blood from Kita every day of her life, and lately, more than one drop. When a journeyman named
Pono comes to the village looking for a storyteller to bring back to his village. Kita's been keeping an important secret from Matiko: her ability to meld song into stone and record history. She's desperate to escape Matiko's clutches and leave with Pono, but doing so means risking everything. How far will Kita go to escape from Matiko's clutches and live freely?

There are so many great themes in SONGSTONE. The search for one's identity is a big one. Kita has been kept in the dark about who she is her entire life, and everything changes when her questions are finally answered. Kita grew up thinking she was worthless, and must overcome the harsh words that have broken her in order to become a stronger woman. Her road to discovery is treacherous and painful, but also releases strength she never knew she possessed. The unique types of magic used here have traces of both the familiar and the new in them. Goldfinch was inspired by the folklore of New Zealand's Māori people, and the book has a very tribal feel to it. It brings witch doctors and island life to mind, flavored with traditional lore.

In today's author interview, Goldfinch mentioned that she came up with the concept of melding song into stone with the advent of e-books and the war between digital and print media. She states that "stories are stories are stories, no matter how we receive them," and created the concept behind SONGSTONE. It adds an extra layer of history to the piece, reminiscent of the days when there was no written language, only the tradition of oral storytellers and the way history used to be passed down. I really appreciated this element and thought it added to the atmosphere of SONGSTONE, even though there could have been so much more done with the element.

One of the great things about SONGSTONE is the fact that it's a beautiful stand-alone novel, not part of any sort of series. I would love to visit the world again in the future, perhaps through companion novels in a vein similar to beloved authors Juliet Marillier and Zoë Marriott. I'm not ready to leave this world and explore all the rich texture that makes everything so interesting and unique. But at the same time, I finished reading with satisfaction over the closure of it all, which can be hard to do these days. If you're a fan of high fantasy and want something new and interesting, SONGSTONE is worth putting on your TBR list. I'm eager to see what else Goldfinch has to offer!

~*~

C O V E R   D E S I G N:

I really like the coloring and the magical tone to the girl's eye, though it's an element not really featured in the novel. Also, while Kita's skin is as pale as this girl's, her hair is red, so it's hard to see her when I look at the cover.

I do, however, love the emblem next to the title. Look closely. It's fire, but it's also a lizard. Both elements are incredibly important in SONGSTONE. 

I'm also a fan of the traditional fantasy etching in green at the bottom of the cover. I like the cover a lot, even though it's not factually perfect.

   ~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  SONGSTONE

Author: Lena Goldfinch

Release Date: July 16, 2013
Publisher: Indigo Road

SUMMARY:

Kita can meld song into stone. In a world with no written word, storytelling—the ability to meld (or magically impress) song into stone—is greatly honored. The village honors her master as their medicine man, but Kita knows he's secretly a sorcerer who practices black magic using drops of her blood. She fears he’ll use her beautiful gift for a killing spell, so she conceals it from him. Each day, his magic tightens around her neck like a rope. His spells blind the villagers, so they can’t see him for what he really is. 

Not that anyone would want to help her. She was found in the forest as a baby and would have died if a village girl hadn't brought her home. But the villagers saw Kita's unusual coloring and decided she belonged to the mysterious tribe who lives in the forests of the volcano, a people feared for their mystical powers. So they fear her too. Now seventeen, she can barely admit her deepest longing: to know who she really is and where she belongs. 

Then Pono, a young journeyman, arrives from the other side of the island. He's come to fulfill a pact between their villages: to escort a storyteller back to his village--a storyteller who'll be chosen at the great assembly. Finally, in Pono, Kita sees her one slim chance at freedom and she'll risk her life to take it. 

A dark, twisty tale of sorcery, tummy-tingling romance, and adventure, inspired by the folklore of New Zealand's Māori people.

****Giveaway*****

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