Aidan is the king’s cousin, but as he begins his narrative he has just been released after seventeen years brutal imprisonment; imprisoned at the age of twenty one for reasons not quite clear to him, but presumably with the king’s knowledge.

Aidan is a remarkable man. In his youth he was renowned as a singer of unsurpassable talents, able to move the hardest of hearts; as such he travelled throughout the lands performing to all from kings to beggars. But now, having been silenced he is released from his home fro most of his manhood, the dungeon. But his is not free; there are still those who pursue him, some to keep him silenced, others who seek to use his voice for other reasons.

Aidan takes us along his epic journey, and gradually unravels the part the dragons play in his life and troubles. He encounters the Elhim, the at best ignored and at worst despised race who have neither male nor female, and Lara, the daughter of a warrior dragon rider who aspires to be as her father. While Ms Berg seems to like her main characters marred on the outside, which the once handsome Aidan after his torturous imprisonment most definitely is, on the inside he has only a good and pure heart, a mild and good mannered man wishing vengeance on none.

Although Aidan narrates most of the tale, occasionally one or another of the characters takes over if only briefly; a device which keeps us on edge for we can never be sure of anyone’s survival. From the very first pages it is certainly a gripping tale such is Carol Berg’s writing skill; something we are accustomed to with her other three volume epic, the Rai-kirah saga. Song of the Beast weaves an intricate, unpredictable, imaginative and enthralling story, producing a book which once started is hard to put down. ( )

This is Carol Berg's only standalone novel to date, and it remains one of my favorite books--as do really all of Berg's books. Her love of a mystery is always apparent in her stories as an underlying theme, challenging you to discover and piece together clues along the way at the same time her characters are attempting to do the same. Told mainly from her (initially) bewildered main characters point of view--a man who has been utterly broken, his gift of music literally crushed, his faith in everything and everyone brutally destroyed through torture--Berg's excellent characterizations and storytelling draw you along with Aidan on his quest to find out how to live again. Song of the Beast is an excellent book to begin your enjoyment of Carol Berg's writing if you don't want to invest the time in one of her series. ( )

The core story line is not unusual at first take: The lead character, a reluctant hero, emerges after years of unjust imprisonment to complete the work that landed him in prison in the first place: Freeing the dragons. These dragons, however, are not cute or friendly; they are alien, awsome and dangerous. The story is told from a number of points of view, representing two races and three peoples. Underlying themes include truth versus lies, trust versus distrust, unforseen consequences of decisions made and how strength can lie in acceptance. The writing is good enough not to annoy me but pulled me along into the story. The author maintained a good tension throughout to the somewhat unexpected conclusion. Quality fun. ( )

Fairly run of the mill dragon based fantasy, well executed, but nothing special.

Aiden MacAlisatir, cousin of the King, is born a gifted musician - a once in several generations especially talented player and singer. As the King commands and leads the Twelve clans of the Ridermark and their bound dragons on wars of conquest, Aiden tours the countryside singing to soldiers and townsfolk alike. Even the Ridermark enjoy his songs, and as he is one of the very few who can hear the beauty in their titanic bellows he spends much time near their camps. The King however forbids his presenance near them - no reason given, as King's seldom have to. Aiden finds huis curiosity gets the better of him, gets caught and awakes in a Riddermark's jail, and it his here that the story opens, 17 years later with his release.

Written in an unusually active first person Aiden is not convinced that his release was fully approved of by the Ridermark and so he hides and trys to come to terms with his injuries and the loss of the raport he once had with 'god' in his music. The strange race of the Eilem assist.

I quite liked the direct style of the prose, though it took a little getting used to. The plot flows along at speed, and the abrupt changes to another voice are clearly makred by section headings which is very useful. We are spared many of the standard fantasy cliches although damaged musician is one of them. The dragons are resplendant powerful terrifying and all that one would hope a dragon should be. However there isn't tha much else in this book, it's a story, well told about human feelings but there isn't any deeper or wider subcommentary that marks a classic. The plot is entertaining suitably involved without being contrived or convolute, but agian missing that vital gripping spark of the true masters. The characters are likable, fortunetly not too perfect, aware of their faults, and blind to the sensiblities of others - very human in other words, but again jus don't quite have that edge that makes one want to read more about them.

Dragon lovers - read this the dragons are really good. For everyone else it's worth reading if you come across it, but |I wouldn't go to extreme lengths to track it down. I'm unlikely to re-read it often, but I'll keep it for the times when I need some comforting fantasy. ( )

Although I found it a little hard to get into the characters of this story, I did enjoy it. I loved the different kind of role that dragons played in this story, and I was very curious about the reasons behind Aidan's imprisonment; it was that mystery that drew me on to the end of the story. ( )