Book Talk | Wintersong

Title: Wintersong
Author: S. Jae-Jones
Page Count: 436
Genre: Fantasy, Adult
Goodreads Rating: 3.61
My Rating: 5.0
Book Cover Rating: 5.0
Bad Book Review: Just believe in fairytales enough and they'll come true.
Review Type: Spoiler free



Synopsis
All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.



The story
I really love this book alright. I even have a really hard time writing a review for this, because I don't even really know WHY I love this so much. I've read it twice now and felt like the second time it was even better.
Wintersong was so magical. I think that's a big reason why I love this so much. Something very special happened to me while reading this. I feel like I was inside the story, surrounded my magic. I could feel every singe thing that happened. To me that is exactly what makes a good book. I was so involved in this world that I could do nothing else but to read and read and read.
The book is split into two main parts. The beginning is full of excitement and games and the second part is deep and emotional and thorough.
Something else that really fascinated me were the Goblins. If you ask me what I imagine when I picture a 'goblin', I picture this troll-like creature who is ugly and lived underground. Not in this book. In Wintersong Goblins are more like Fae or Elves (and you all know how much I love those).
Wintersong is very slow paced, but I feel like for this book that doesn't matter at all. The story comes so natural and everything feels like it is explained when it needs to be explained and everything feels right. It's probably the only 500+ page book that I finished within two days. Especially for the second part of the book I feel like not much actually happened, but for some reason I am perfectly fine with that. Like I explained earlier, it felt right. The second part didn't need thrilling excitement. It was about the love between the Goblin King and Liesl and all of the struggles and pain that come with that.
This book is exactly what you would think of when you hear the word 'fairytale'. Something beautiful and exciting with a deep love story that hits you in ways you never expected it to and stays with you for a very long time.

“There is music in your soul. A wild and untamed sort
of music that speaks to me. It defies all the rules and laws you humans set upon it. It grows from inside you, and I have a wish to set that music free.”

The writing style
This book had a slow start, but was never boring. The opposite, actually. I couln't stop reading. The main reason for that is the writing style. This book is written deep and beautifully. S. Jae-Jones has a way of explaining this so well and in such a special way that all the world hit you right in your soul. But I feel like this entire book hit me right in my soul.
On S. Jae-Jones her website she explains that she's not much of a poet, on the contrary, she doesn't see herself as a poet at all, which to me is very funny. The entirety of Wintersong is almost like reading one big poem that pulls you in and doesn't let you go.

Music
Let's talk about yet another reason why I really love this book: the involvement of music. I play both the piano and violin and those exact instruments play a really important part in this book. Liesl is a composer and plays both the piano, which is most comfortable to her, as well as the violin. Her brother Josef is a master on the violin and so is like the Goblin king. Jones explains what it's like to play an instrument and to feel music as though she has been playing herself for years. It made me so happy to read a book which explains what it's like to play an instrument so well and I think that if you play an instrument, you will really love this.

So yeah, this was my poor review for one of the best novels I ever read. This review is a mess, but that's kinda also how my feelings for this book are. I really recommend you just read it. And if you do, let me know how you felt!