Queen of Song and Souls

Queen of Song and Souls is the fourth book in C. L. Wilson’s Tairen Soul series that continues the journey of Fey king and Tairen Soul Rainier vel'En Daris and his Truemate, Elysetta. At the end of the previous book, King of Sword and Sky, the war with Eld had just begun and readers were left pretty much in the heat of battle. This book picks up exactly where that one left off with Rain fighting against their enemies, while Elysetta puts her newfound powers to use, healing the wounded. After a brief sojourn in the mountains to regain their strength, Rain, in his Tairen form, sees the forges of Eld running at full capacity as he flies overhead. With this new knowledge he knows that he must plead with their allies to step up and help or show more the war will be lost. First, he and Ellie travel to Celiera City to meet with King Dorian, the leader of the humans. The Elden Mages are still trying to secretly influence the king, along with his queen and the nobles, but Rain succeeds in convincing Dorian of the need for his help on the front lines. While there, they also discover that the lustful weave Ellie accidentally placed on the city a few months earlier, before she had control of her powers, has had further unintended consequences. From there, Rain and Ellie head for Elvia to try to persuade the Elves to join their coalition against Eld, while hoping that Lord Galad, the leader of the Elves and a powerful seer, might also be able to shed some light on why Ellie hasn’t been able to complete the truemate bond yet. While they don’t necessarily get the answers they came seeking, they do learn much about Ellie’s heritage before making a hasty journey back to the front lines, where trouble awaits.

Four books in and I still love Rain and Ellie. They’re wonderful characters who are perfect for one another, which makes it hard to see them struggling with the truemate bond. I think this book probably had the least amount of new character development for this couple. Because the truemate bond hasn’t been completed, the bond madness is beginning to affect Rain. This worries Ellie, because she is the one who hasn’t been able to fully accept herself to make it happen, and she fears she might not ever be able to, which would be a disaster for Rain. She also continues to have nightmares fueled by her connection to the High Mage of Eld, which make her afraid of what she might become. We learn that Ellie’s powers go beyond anything anyone has seen before when they visit Celieria City and discover what is causing many of the women there to suffer from a sickness. When Rain and Ellie visit Elvia, they finally learn of Ellie’s heritage, which readers already knew about but she and Rain didn’t. During that time, she also exhibits further incredible powers when she connects with her imprisoned father, Shan, through a magical Elven mirror. Rain continues to try his best to protect Ellie from further Mage Marks, which would tip her power toward the dark side, as well as keep her safe from other dangers. No matter what they’re doing, Rain and Ellie make a wonderful couple that I love reading about.

Overall, I still very much liked Queen of Song and Souls, but it became the first book in the series to receive a slight ding in the rating from me. I found this book to be the slowest paced of all the books so far. With the way things were left at the end of the previous book, I thought this one was going to have a lot of action and place Rain and Ellie in the thick of the war, but that wasn’t really the case. Once the battle that carries over from the last book quiets down a little, they essentially go on a road trip, seeking help for their cause and answers to perplexing questions. From there, the action is only sporadic at best until the end when there’s some excitement. In the first three books, there were a lot of surprising revelations about our main characters, but here that’s minimal, mainly because most of the things Rain and Ellie learn are things readers already knew. It’s just the characters who are being enlightened for the first time. It was nice to see them finally get a few answers, but they’re also left with a lot of questions. I think some of the best character development was seen in a few of the supporting characters, many of whom intrigue me greatly. Unfortunately, though, we see a very tragic outcome for a few of those characters at the very end of this book, which made for a downer of a finale. That and the slowness of this installment of the story is what knocked off the half star. I thought about downgrading a full star, but I still absolutely love inhabiting this world that is so imaginative and populated with interesting characters that make me want to know more about them. Despite the sad ending, I’m still very eager to see what happens next. I can’t wait to see how Rain and Ellie’s story wraps up and how they hopefully finally defeat the High Mage of Eld. show less

Queen of Song and Souls is the exciting fourth book in the Tairen Souls series by C.L. Wilson. In my opinion, due to complex world created by C.L. Wilson, this series needs to be read in order starting with Lord of the Fading Lands, thus experiencing this series to it's fullest.

C.L. Wilson elegantly throws us back in the world of Fey in the prologue where the King of Sword and Sky ended. From there we follow Ellysetta and Rain as they travel across the lands trying to create alliances with the Celierians, Elves and Danae, to help fight the war against the evil Mages of Eld. They have come to realize that Vadim Maur and the Mages have been preparing for this war far longer than they suspected. They know the only way they can win this war show more is to combine the Fey forces with all of the other races against the dark magic of the Eld. But these alliances are tenuous at best, due to the intrigues of politics between the different races. Unfortunately, during this dark time of war, they can’t afford any weaknesses or doubts.

As Ellysetta and Rain travel, self discoveries are made about themselves, questions are answered and new mysteries are revealed. Ellysetta is also plagued by horrible nightmares and the anxiety of baring four mage marks made by evil High Mage Vadim Maur. And Rain tries to hide from Ellysetta that the bonding madness has started and that it is advancing fast because of the fighting on the bloody battlefields. In addition to the tremendous worry of the war, they are both distress from the inability to complete their truemate bond; completing the bond will keep Rain from descending into madness and save Ellysetta and her powers from being controlled by the evil Vadim Maur.

Queen of Song and Souls contains all the elements that makes a perfect and terrific read for me: a complex and creative fantasy world, edged with darkness; a romantically, poignant love story; edge of your seat suspense; and truly evil and vile bad guys. C.L. Wilson combines all of these elements elegantly with her beautiful prose. I honestly don’t have one complaint about this book. Not one. As this series has progressed, each book just keeps getting better than the last.

I experienced such a wide range of emotions reading this book that by the time I was finished with it, I was emotional exhausted, in a good way. While I was reading my emotions ranged from being anxious, angry, happy, a deep sadness, surprised, thoughtful, and worried. In the end, I was left with a strong sense of forbidding. I’m happy to say we get some long awaited answers but new questions take the place of the old ones. All in all, Queen of Song and Souls is going down as my favorite read for this year, hands down.

Queen of Song and Souls is not to be missed, it sets the stage for the next and final book in this series. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the conclusion to Ellysetta and Rain’s story in Tairen Soul this coming year. show less

In book 4 of the Tairen Soul series, the world has become a much darker place. By the end of this book, though I very much want a happy ending, I'm not sure I'm going to see it. The forces of evil have aligned so completely that I don't know how the author will resolve this. Rain and Ellie are facing insurmountable odds now that fighting has finally started.
The battle scenes are well-written, immersing the reader. There are horrific scenes of torture and worse, though I'm happy to say the author was judicious in how graphic she made them, opting for more relating the results rather than details as it happens. Rain and Ellie have still not completed their true bond. Allies are not coming to the rescue and supposed friends turn traitor. show more
I'm anxious and I can't wait to see how this ends but I also want to read more slowly, not wanting to leave this wonderful world. Just one book to go... show less

The war with the Eld is unavoidable, rain and Ellysetta must gather all the allies they can. She still carries hurt marks and tries to do as much good as she can while she can. The vision the oracle sent her haunts her every move. Rain is losing his grip on sanity, the bond is not completing and war brings the madness closer. They visit with the Elf King for a eye opening and disturbing premonition. Horrible truths are revealed, many lives will be lost. One pair of lovers has the ultimate ugliness thrust at them.
This was a very dark and pivotal book in the series. I found it sometimes hard to read, still a beautiful weaved tale, it dealt realistically with the darkness that had to be exposed. I loved the Elk kingdom, fantastic.

I want more. I need to know how this ends.

C.L. Wilson thought of a nice story, and then thought that it would be great if it happened in a fantastic world, full of magic, like a fairy-tale.
And then she started to tell her story, and she wanted to show us a little more of the world she created, and so the story that was supposed to last for 3 books swelled up to 4, and then 5 as more detail got added.

In the first book it seamed as if she was telling the story an near the end she rushed the events, so she could end the book in the place it was supposed to.
In this book I felt she strayed a bit. I understand the appeal to show this beautiful world she imagined, but if the main characters are the Fey, why so many scenes of plotting in the show more Celierian court. Some of them are obviously important, but some just seam as reusing a beloved character.

I liked the book, I'm in love with the world (and some of the characters) but I want more, and I want an end (and I no longer care if they live or die, I just want to know how it ends).

C.L. Wilson if you are reading this: End the story of Ellie and Rain and them chose some other story to tell. Tell us about the Mage Wars, with Sariel and Rains love stories, tells us the story of the tairen, but end this one first... show less

This book was very different than the previous three books in this series. This book was a lot of traveling and the characters discovering new things and setting up for the final battle. This book started in motion many things I think will have major impact on the last book. Also, this book had almost zero naughty bits, which is off for a romance, but I think because there was so much to do and learn it didn't matter that much. Also, sex is probably the last thing you think when you are in a war.

I am still head over heels in love with these characters and am so happy I finally got to this book (the ones I haven't read) finally. I did not enjoy this book as much as the first three, the whole first 3/4ths of the book felt like it dragged show more for me, I found myself skimming quite often. The drama picks up in the last quarter and I found myself in the familiar dramatic reading position (rocking back and forth with the book as close to my face as I can get it).

The ending is major, I even teared up a little bit. I have come so far with these characters it hurts me when they get hurt. I can't wait to dive into the last story so I can truly find out what happens. I also recommend reading this series in order, they all start almost exactly on each others heels and have very little fill in. show less

This is the 4th of 5 books in the Tairen Soul series. It's taken me awhile to read this one, but it's not because the book isn't good. The action is pretty much nonstop, and the story continues nicely from the first 3 books. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, so I'm starting on the last book right away. If you like high fantasy, this is a good series to try.