An Actual Book Review

Today, I’m going to write a book review. If you’re familiar with this blog, you’ll be shocked to learn that the book I’m reviewing exists and that I’ve read it, which I’m pretty sure is what people who write actual book reviews do when reviewing actual books.

Full disclosure: I know the author of this book, and she gave me a copy of the Kindle edition as a gift. If you’ve read the “About” page for this blog, you know that I don’t write about my family or friends — but I’m not really violating that policy here, since I’m reviewing the book and not the author. (If you haven’t read the “About” page, don’t bother; the only interesting thing there is the pointer to my Open Letter to Anyone Who Was Directed Here by a Search Engine).

Wow. Third paragraph already, and I haven’t even told you the title. Does this review seem a little scattered to you?  That’s probably because I’m a bit sleep-deprived — I took the book to bed with me last night intending to read just a few more pages, and instead stayed up until I finished it, right before dawn.  The Unfinished Song: Initiate turned out to be a real page-turner. It’s also the first in a series of fantasy novels, and it features just about everything you’d want in that genre. The world has magic, faeries, and secret societies, all of which fit together to form an internally consistent whole. The characters are, in various combinations, heroic, misunderstood, self-destructive, well-meaning, and flawed (some of them might be evil, but I’m withholding judgment until I’ve read the rest of the series). There’s injustice, family dysfunction, and just a little redemption. There’s some fighting and a lot of dancing. There’s a bit of political intrigue, which I suspect will come more into the forefront later on in the series. There’s romance and some other stuff that I really hope isn’t what you’ll think I was referring to if you read the book and remember that I mentioned romance. And there’s a kitten! What more could you ask for?

I’m not sure whether saying that the ending is a cliffhanger would be considered a spoiler or not, so, um, I won’t say anything about the ending — but at least the next book in the series is due out next month.

The Unfinished Song: Initiate is available at Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback editions. You can also check out the author’s blog.

This is a real review of a fantasy novel, so I should probably tag it either “reality” or “fantasy” — but I can’t decide which. That’s a little disturbing; I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be able to tell those two apart.