Stolen Songbird
Author:  Danielle Jensen
Published: April 1, 2014
Genre: YA High Fantasy w. Romance
Themes: love, duty, sacrifice, deception, political intrigue, magical curse
Rating: 5 stars (or, I totally love it!)
Why’d I read it?: it?:
I saw this on amazon and I loved the whole concept of it so I had to read it.

Jensen, Danielle L. Stolen Songbird. , 2014. Print. ISBN-13: 9781908844965.
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook. Paperback $9.18. Kindle #6.29.

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Synopsis: (from amazon)
For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

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My Thoughts:
I adored this book, and quickly read the sequel Hidden Huntress as well. This book has it all, a unique and well-developed cast of characters, romantic tension, political intrique, and high-stakes fantasy elements. And a centuries old witches curse as well! Gotta love it. And oh I so did.

The first thing that attracted me was that the main mythological figures are Trolls! It’s a great change of pace from the more typical vampire/werewolf/fae creatures we’ve been seeing a lot of. Don’t get me wrong, I adore all of those as well, but when I saw the chance to read about a new type of creature I was intrigued. Plus amazon.com and goodreads.com are full of fantastic reviews for the book, so I gave it a try. So. Glad. I. did.

You teens (and myself) are so flipping lucky to live in the time you do, because you have so many excellent fantasy books at your disposal! I didn’t have these kind of excellent options as a YA. In fact, this weekend I re-read a couple books from a series that was one of my favorites when I was a YA (Daughters of the Moon by Lynne Ewing) and was so disappointed! I cannot believe how much lower quality some of the books were when I was a YA compared to what’s out there now! Lucky Lucky!

First thing I loved about this book? Duel perspectives. If you’ve read my blog at all by now you know I love me some dual perspectives in my books. I like reading from the perspective of multiple characters. I just don’t feel we get the same kind of character development when we only read from one characters perspective. In this one we get to read from both Cecile and Prince Tristan, which I adore. It also means we get to “see” both of them struggling with their growing admiration and attraction to each other. Which I love!

Second thing I loved about the book? Its full of political machinations and intrigue in the Troll Kingdom. One of the main reasons I read fantasy is for the political maneuverings, I love getting to see how these fantasy courts work as everyone lies and backstabs each other for more power. You never quite know who is telling the truth, and the suspense just drives me (happily) mad! Stolen Songbird has that.

Additionaly the pacing was excellent, the characters are diverse and very well developed, the world-building is sound and well done. Everything combined to create a really gripping and wonderful story that had me scrabbling to read the next book in the series. I adored Cecile and Tristan as well as their friends and even enemies!

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Liked it? Loved it? Gotta have more of it?
The next book in the series is A Hidden Huntress

You might also like:

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (young adult)
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik (new adult)
• Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan (adult)

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About the Author:

You can find Danielle Jensen online on:

• her website
• on twitter @dljensen