Monday, October 28, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Song of the Abyss by Makiia Lucier




Song of the Abyss is a YA fantasy novel that is the stand-alone sequel to Makiia Lucier's earlier Isle of Blood and Stone (Review Here).  I enjoyed the world of that first book quite a bit - featuring an Island Kingdom with a culture towards exploring, and a trio of protagonists who weren't warriors like the typical fantasy protagonists, but explorers at heart, looking into a mystery.  That said, while the setup was very good, the book kind of dropped the ball with its abrupt ending and had some character beats I found annoying, which kept me from truly loving it as much as I'd hoped.  Song of the Abyss is, as I mentioned before, stand-alone and takes place years after the first book, featuring a character who was merely a young girl and has now grown into a young woman as its heroine.

And I liked Song of the Abyss quite a lot honestly, with the book improving significantly on its predecessor.  Again, the book features a protagonist who is an explorer/surveyor more than anything, working to solve a mystery in a way that would not involve violence.  And again, the book features a solid romance between its two most prominent characters, who have a lot of chemistry between them.  But the ending is a lot more satisfying this time around, and while the book isn't perfect - I actually wanted a little more from the romance - it's very easy to recommend for its strong world, strong heroine, and satisfying plot that moves at a nice brisk pace.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
17 year old Reyna is an explorer and surveyor of the country of St. John del Mar, hoping to one day be known as a Master Explorer of the country - despite those who would say a girl has no place as an Explorer.  But when a return home from a prosperous map-making expedition is stopped by mysterious raiders, using some strange song to incapacitate the sailors on her ship, Reyna is forced to make a daring escape to the Island Country of Lunes, where she seeks passage back to her home. But her escape, with her valuable maps hidden in her possession, puts her into contact with Levi, the prince of Lunes, whose interest in her she just can't seem to shake...if she even wants to.

Yet when those same raiders seem to make off with Reyna's mentor and colleague, Reyna finds herself on a dangerous journey alongside Levy once again:  a journey to a country long forgotten by the world, and from which the raiders may have acome.  Together Reyna and Levi must find a way to work together - and Reyna must figure out what she wants Levi to be to her - if they're to save their lost comrades.  But the raiders' country is a dangerous one indeed, with deadly customs strange and foreign, and the raiders' powers may rely upon a magic that could incapacitate them just as well...or worse, if they're not careful.
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As I mentioned above the jump, Song of the Abyss is the second book that takes place in a world featuring a set of Island Countries which, among other things, value exploration and surveying quite highly, since the knowledge that can be gained from mapping new lands is a clear way to gain advantages and prosperity.  Like the prior book in the series, our protagonist is one such explorer/surveyor: in this case Reyna, who is 17 (after being 9 in the last book) and on the verge of becoming a Master Explorer....if her superiors, who have sexist attitudes towards women in the profession, will let her.

And that's clearly the only thing stopping Reyna, whose bright mind was clearly demonstrated last book at the tender age of nine, and whose capabilities have grown exponentially as she's matured.  She's incredibly resourceful and quick thinking, able to do what's needed to get out of dangerous situations...or to try and resolve other ones, and she's very easy to empathize with in this book, as she deals with not only the sexism of the old ways, but also grieving for friends and family, a dark history (see Last Book but not just that), and a guy in Levi whose interest in her she's not quite sure what to do with.  And her wonder at discovering new things - especially things and places no one has ever seen before - is pretty great to read.

There are two other major characters involved with this book, in Levi and Reyna's friend Blaise.  Blaise fights sexism of a different type than Reyna, in that Blaise does have a school that she can go to for full-on medical training (to the extent she needs it, since her uncle has trained her well in general surgical procedures already) but she has to deal with a mother who refuses to consider Blaise's wishes in going into the profession.  To add to that is Blaise's own pride which prevents her from taking money from friends to get into the school, which is pretty easy to empathize with, even if its hard for a higher social status person like Reyna to understand.  All this works to create another resourceful character to accompany Reyna, whose medical skills naturally come in great help along the way.  And then of course there's Levi, the intrepid captain, who wants nothing more than to be a captain of his ship in the service of his nation, and not to deal necessarily with the royal politics involved with his princedom.  Which is not to say he doesn't possess great loyalties to his family, which drives him throughout the plot....as well as his interest in Reyna.

It's a big improvement over the first book in how Levi treats Reyna by the way.  A big problem I had with the first book was that protagonist Elias repeatedly tried to baby his co-protagonist and love interest Mercedes, as if she couldn't handle herself (when she absolutely could).  In this book however, Levi is quite clearly aware of how capable Reyna is from the moment he realizes who she really is, and never underestimates her, with his plans often relying upon Reyna to make crucial decisions on her own.  Sure he has some conflicts with her due to a little bit of jealousy, but jealousy is kind of natural in his position and his and Reyna's relationship through the book is done rather well, which is good given how core it is to the plot.  My only complaint oddly is that the book basically doesn't take the relationship far enough, but well, I guess this is more on the younger edge of YA, so that explains much of it.

I suppose this is where I should also talk a bit about the plot, but its fairly ordinary honestly outside of the above - the book doesn't hide what the magical influence the bad guys wield is likely to come from, so it's not a surprise, and part of the solution to that is as classic a trope as you can imagine, but it's done well.  And while the ending is maybe a bit abrupt, it's executed far better than in the last book, in which the main antagonist was dealt with off-screen - here, it does make sense how things are resolved, even if it isn't quite the major clash you might imagine.

So yeah, Song of the Abyss is pretty good YA Fantasy, and I'd definitely recommend it.
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