Wintersong, by S. Jae-Jones | Book Review #249

Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.

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I first heard of Wintersong a few months ago. What drew me in most was the cover. It’s absolutely gorgeous. So not only is the cover incredibly pretty but the synopsis is pretty intriguing as well.

“What’s the use of running, if we are on the wrong road?”

The overall story is similar to many of the YA books out there, Wintersong is actually unique unto itself. Wintersong first starts out with a family scene, and from there we really get an inkling of who the characters are, what their roles are, and how they act. Once we’re settled into Elisabeth’s day-to-day life, we’re given little snippets of the Goblin King. And, from there, the story moves on, and then the book seems to actually begin.

“What is eternal life but a prolonged death.”

There’s a lot of imagination that went into everything; and let me tell you: the descriptions are amazing. Everything seems to have this magical-whimsy touch and feel to it, while still being incredibly down to earth and realistic. It had been a while for me since I was able to enjoy an authors’ description of something. Jae-Jones describes the scenery, the objects, the plot of the story very, very well. I was incredibly impressed.

Elisabeth is such an under-rated member of her family. They do truly take her for granted. She’s pushed aside the very thing that was most important to her. I’m so happy that by the end of the book, we saw Elizabeth grow so much. There were so many trials that Elisabeth went through to get where she was by the end of Wintersong.

Wintersong is such a heartwarming book, but my heart is broken from that ending! I underestimated Wintersong. I’m so glad that I read it.

“Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.”

I ended up giving Wintersong, 4 of 5 stars on Goodreads.

Have you read Wintersong?
What did you like best about it, or is there anything you didn’t like?

Happy Reading!
Adele