The Song

Fun. This is one of the easy courtings - as in, all the conflicts (well, almost all) are external. Evanor sees and is attracted to Mariel in The Master, and she sees and is attracted to him; in this book, she and her son come to Nightfall as was planned in the previous book. There's a slight delay in the courting while Mariel figures out how to heal Ev's voice, but not much of one - in fact, the (mutual) seduction starts almost immediately. Ev's bout of running on pure instinct is rather neat, especially since we see it only from his point of view. But from then, and especially once the healing is over, it's a matter of time only, not a question whether Ev and Mariel will be together (and technically, by the end of the book they're not show more married. Yet). Mikor provides a small barrier at one point, but his father foreSaw that and dealt with it (Milon's involvement is quite interesting, actually). There is major external conflict near the end - the Council of Katan finally begins to take action, but Nightfall deals with them quite elegantly. Overall, a fun book - the romance is mild but powerful, the sex is, as usual, somewhat explicit and quite erotic, and the overall story arc of the series is significantly advanced. Nice!
Another reread:
Not a favorite - not sure why. Well, lots of things. If there hadn't been a huge heap of extra conflicts and confusions, Evanor and Mariel's courtship might have been too dull. As it is, the author had to add a brief period of mindlessness to get things moving. And then we get to see the politics and bureaucracy of Katan and how that's going to affect Nightfall - more clutter and confusion to distract from an otherwise too-simple courtship. The arc of the series does get majorly advanced - the king of Katan triggers a formal declaration of independence and steps in that direction. But... Yeah, ok, there are some important things happening, but the story doesn't quite work for me. Also way too many sex scenes, in great detail - seduction (in both directions) as well as actual sex. Once it's established that they're involved that way, the sex is more by reference, but it takes a long time to get to that. Mikor is an idiot - a very appropriate for a nine-year-old idiot, but still. Ok as part of the series but not a favorite. show less

Enjoyed this book more than the last. The action with the Katani councillors gave a bit more interest to the story line and gave me the incentive to reserve the next book from the library. (I don't find the books consistently enjoyable enough to buy them - not 'keepers'.)

For me so far, this is the weakest book in the series so far. While certainly readable, it just didn’t grab me the way the first three did. I think part of the reason was Evanor and Mariel were already half in love when the story began, so there wasn’t the initial spark between them. In addition, they were both pretty Beta characters. Mariel is a healer and Evanor the gentlest of the eight brothers I think, thus another reason for the lack of sparkage. In fact, they became lovers before I really was aware of it. Don’t know how I missed it. Because there wasn’t much conflict between the two of them, most of the conflict came externally when the Council of Katan found out something fishy was going on with the exiled brothers. This show more part was interesting and again, I enjoyed the way each of the brothers had their own roles to play when they were confronted. The author also has a great way of blending in so many characters with each of them having an integral part of the story.

Something else that bothered me though, was the huge amount of time devoted to creating their own version of cell phones. It felt like filler and to be honest, filler that kind of went above my head.

Still, since I’m reading the whole series, I’m glad I read this one. It moves the story along and we get to see more of the most intriguing brother so far, Rydan. But alas, the grade isn’t quite as high for The Song. But I have The Cat ready to read and just because this one didn’t work quite so well as the others, I’m still looking forward to the next installment very much. show less

Ev gets his voice back with the help of Mariel. She's a healer that uses song so of course they are perfectly matched. Evanor also gets to know her son Mikor and both are willing to become part of a family together. The interesting part was the Katani royalty and councilors who force their way onto the island and force Kelly's hand in ringing the bell and declaring them a sovereign nation. Now they just need to have a god or goddess show up to make it all legal. They have a year and a day to do that in. Up next is The Cat and my library doesn't have a copy of it. I may have to buy a used copy from a bookstore to continue the series.

Eight brothers, born in four sets of twins, two years apart to the day—they fulfill the Curse of Eight Prophecy. To avoid tempting their destiny, the brothers are exiled to Nightfall Island , where women are forbidden. This presents a challenge for the brother whose magic has been destroyed…
Evanor, fourth-born of the Sons of Destiny, lost his voice—and with it, his powers—in the violent battle that freed his family from their greatest enemy. Thankfully, with the safe return of his twin, Evanor now knows precisely who can bring his songs back to life.

She is the enchanting widow Mariel, a Healer brought to Nightfall to help the brothers in their hour of need. For Mariel and her young son, that means leaving their beloved show more homeland for the unfamiliar island of Nightfall and its still-forbidden shores…and with it, risking the passion she stirs in her intriguing patient’s heart.
But a new danger looms when the Council of Katan learn there might be women on the Isle… show less

from official Jean Johnson website:
Evanor, fourth-born of the Sons of Destiny, lost his voice—and with it, his powers—in the violent battle that freed his family from their greatest enemy. Thankfully, with the safe return of his twin, Evanor now knows precisely who can bring his songs back to life. She is the enchanting widow Mariel, a Healer brought to Nightfall to help the brothers in their hour of need. For Mariel and her young son, that means leaving their beloved homeland for the unfamiliar island of Nightfall and its still-forbidden shores…and with it, risking the passion she stirs in her intriguing patient’s heart. But a new danger looms when the Council of Katan learn there might be women on the Isle…