Once Upon a Book: Stolen Songbird Book Review

Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy, #1)

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Eyes of blue and hair of fire
Are the keys to your desire.
Angel’s voice and will of steel
Shall force the dark witch to kneel.
Death to bind and bind to break
Sun and moon for all our sake.
Prince of night, daughter of day,
Bound as one the witch they’ll slay.
Same hour they their first breath drew,
On her last, the witch will rue.
Join the two named in this verse
And see the end of the curse "

actual rating : 3.5 stars

This book is such a surprise !
as a beginning i had no expectations at all because i picked it on random *i liked the cover *, then all my hopes watered down ,the beginning wasn't that encouraging , the first 30% of it i kept thinking : thats what you get for choosing on random , a drama queen , a high-school-american-movies type of plots , and an okay world building .
i NEVER expected things to change ! and for sure not that soon ! and not so suddenly like that , i cant even call that a character development because the " development " process requires a gradual approach , cecile just changed , she was suddenly more intelligent , more understanding and surly more grown up .
her determination and bravery later in the book did too much to gain her forgiveness for her mood swings in the beginning ( or things like choosing jewelry and admiring silk gowns only hours after being kidnapped and only for the preparation of a forced marriage ) .
the plot suddenly turned and twisted , and i have to admit that the world building was not " just okay " anymore , it started to expand , things started to clear and others to be added . it ended up creating an awesome world building which is beautifully eerie , an atmospheric fantasy world .
so TBH , the beginning of this book was flat and plain and the characters were vain , but things did get better . and the writing was so good , thats why i didn't abandon the book in its early chapters .
this book has something like an edge in it , slicing it into two , the first not too worthy but to introduce the second , while the second was a page turner , its the reason i am rating it 3.5 stars .

so Between the pages of this tale, you will find a world inhabited by trolls who have a mighty curse placed upon them. a city of silver beauty buried under an enchanted mountain , hidden in the darkness and Filled with political intrigue . there are the half-bloods , breeds of humans and trolls , they are subject of slavery and bad treatment by the full bloods , a big number of full bloods are mutilated and disfigured some of them are insane and others have deadly inherited diseases , for they refused to marry any other than their own blood for ages , but they are powerful , they have the magic that holds the mountain over the city instead of smashing it to dust .
a prophecy says that a human girl of the mentioned descriptions may break the curse , the songbird , the girl with bright blue eyes and red hair and an operatic voice to be bonded by the Elixir de la lune to the heir of Trollus throne , i think this bond thing added a beautiful peace to the story , the whole read emotions thing , many things like the queen of winter whom we still know near to nothing about and the trolls origin were additions to the world building that i liked , i didn't think that it will go that far .
and though trolls were considered evil , and a number of them in fact are , Cecile saw through it .
she believed in the good in them : "They aren’t ugly.” trying to find the right words. “More like beautiful things that have had the misfortune of being broken" .
and this was something both two characters shared , they saw beyond the surface of things
Tristan :“I think it is our nature to believe evil always has an ugly face,” he said, ignoring my question. “Beauty is supposed to be good and kind, and to discover it otherwise is like a betrayal of trust. A violation of the nature of things. "

the side characters were very well written , Marc is kind , caring , burdened by eternal sadness and has strong moral conscience. Vincent and Victoria are light hearted and comic. Anais is intelligent , pragmatic , and a little bit ruthless .. and the villains were well fleshed , Angulem cunning and evil ,while the king drastic and stone hearted
“You see, Cécile, I will break him as many times as I need to in order to make him the heir I need him to be."

Though this book has its cons , much of them concentrated in the first chapters , but i liked the end and the way the story pulled it self up ,
i am off course eager to read the next book and i wish it continues improving with the same pace , if it did , then i am anticipating a better book ..