Songs of the Earth: The Wild Hunt Book One [Paperback]

First things fist, I would like to say that with books at least, I am a harsh reviewer. Three stars to me is still good, and I wish maybe I could give half stars.

Before I fly in the negatives, I want to say "Songs of the Earth" is a good read; not particularly amazing or original, but entertaining nonetheless. I do find myself involved in the tale, and turning pages to find out what happens. The writings style is an easy-to-read prose and Cooper doesn't get pulled down by over-describing or over-dramatising.

However, a few things mark its score lower than other fantasy novels I have read; the main thing being characterisation. I can't relate to any of the story's characters, they just don't seem feasible to me. Gair is remarkably uninteresting, the only thing that makes him stand out is the fact he is more powerful than other people, and just generally better. Then, he even has the shame to be modest and unassuming. The fact he has no apparent flaws to me, is just a massive flaw in itself. He should be psychologically scarred from being tortured. He should have some arrogance with his superior ability in almost everything he does. He shouldn't be able to socialise easily due to his reclusive upbringing. He shouldn't be able to become best-friends with a really popular guy, with a few uneffectual conversations.

These things say to me that Cooper hasn't really learnt how to build relationships between the characters themselves, and the reader and the characters. Gair is one primary narrative of three we follow. The other two I can barely even be bothered to read. The characters aren't interesting. Some novels handle relationships really well; with a mix of dialogue, association and intimacy. However, this seems to alternate between two elements: 'Love at first sight' and 'Yay let's have sex.' To be fair, I appreciate the occasional intimate scene and do feel it adds to the story, but only if integrated with the relationship properly.

Apart from that one major flaw, the only other things I would comment on is the lack of originality in the story structure (at the moment appears to be classic good vs evil; primary protagonist vs primary antagonist), and the lack of originality in the the elements of the fantastical universe. Other people have made the comparison with Rothfuss's work, and they are correct. At points this felt exactly like a watered down, less immersive "The Name of Wind."

Edit: When writing this review, I did not realise that this was a debut novel. Considering this, the novel is a spectacular effort and success on the author's part, despite the weaknesses. Kudos to her.

I've never hid the fact that I am a sci-fi reader before a fantasy reader, but every now and then a fantasy book comes along that I look at and just want to read. Songs of the Earth is just such a book, not as hefty as some other novels in the genre but the blurb makes it sound interesting, the fact that it's the first part of a planned trilogy even better. I won't lie, this one has a lot to live up to even before opening the page, the publisher declaring it as the fantasy debut of 2011. However, for me Songs of the Earth hit the spot and delivered the kind of story that makes me want to read more fantasy - a rare thing indeed!

Gair is a witch, awaiting execution at the hands of the Church. For many years he has hid the truth about his magical skills while learning about the religion and fighting methods from the scholars at the Church, and he knows full well what they do with magic users. However, at his trial the Preceptor, an old and frail man, grants him a lifeline in the form of exile rather than the death he - and everyone else - was expecting. But not everyone is willing to accept this and a witchfinder is quickly dispatched by opposing members within the Church to carry out the execution as intended. Fortunately for Gair he falls into the company of Alderan, a wise old man who hides more than he lets on, but the offer he makes Gair is irresistible: travel with him to a place where he can improve and master his talents among others like him. And his journey begins...

Songs of the Earth may be a fantasy tale with magic, strange creatures and a hidden world beyond ours, but it's the characters that drive it forward. Gair is, of course, the hero of the tale, and one that is exceptionally strong at what he can do. However, he's got the recognisable background of orphan who doesn't know his parents - a sure sign that he's destined for greatness. But Gair is an interesting character, one that has never had a home and has had to hide his magical powers from everyone around him, keeping a secret that could (and does) cause great problems for him. He's not the only character I liked either: you've got Alderan, the wise mentor; Ansel, the old and determined Preceptor of the Eadorian faith; Aysha, the crippled shape-shifter. There are many more I could go on about, but that would just ruin it for you. The bad guys are also interesting, although we don't get quite as much depth to them as we do the good guys, something that I hope is improved on in the next novel.

The world building is also a good aspect of Songs of the Earth, but not one that is deeply explored. Cooper manages to create a very real world for the story to take place, and done so without much info-dumping, but I would have liked to have found out a little bit more. There is a fine line between not enough details and too much, and while the balance isn't quite right, it's pretty close. But then again I do like a good bit of world building in my stories, so this is very much personal taste talking.

The magic is also another aspect of Songs of the Earth that I very much enjoyed, the way that a person uses song to create the magic, hearing the different tunes and managing to craft them into different things. It's not a system that is precisely laid out either, but one that you get a feel for as the story progresses and you see more of it in use. It's interesting and adds a good element to the story, another aspect that I hope to see further explored in the next two books.

Above all else Songs of the Earth is a damned fine novel. It tells the story in an interesting way, and while it may not be bringing new groundbreaking stuff to the genre, for me it's exactly the sort of book I want to read. It manages to shy away from some typical fantasy elements, but it also incorporates much of what I expect from a novel in this genre.

Debut of the year? Hard to tell at the moment, but boy is it one hell of an entertaining read!

... but for me, the book just didn't offer enough that was fresh and new to keep me interested. I think it was always going to be difficult to do a 'old man mentors young man in arcane ways' sort of story if you don't have an exciting, fresh new twist to put on it, and this just didn't to me. The genre is big and getting bigger, with old fantasy tropes being given fresh life with fresh writing styles, and SotE just needed to be a bit different or exciting or new in order to keep up with the rest. Maybe if I hadn't been reading oodles of new fantasy lately this would have been more of a standout, but as it was there was nothing here I hadn't read before and nothing new to excite me.