A Bit About the Author:

Tweeter109 is an aspiring young author who loves fantasy and historical fiction. Her favorite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen Lawhead. When not working on her fantasy retelling, she enjoys reviewing and beta-reading books. Plus, she's doing a fantastic job beta-reading my novel, Dìlseachd - A Forgotten Crown.

Title: 

I love the title, as it's definitely mysterious. However, nitpicky me thinks a more dramatic one could be even better. *mulls over things like Final Song, No More Singing, The Lost Pipes, The Forgotten Piper, Song of the Piper*

Cover: 

I love the cover, I really do, and it fits your story very well. I personally think the font could stand out a lot more--and it'd be gorgeous if it was bevel--but it's still good as it is. 

Blurb: 

It's a good blurb. It does a good job of what a blurb's supposed to do. Oh, I think there's an are missing between north and raiding. Just reading it, I'm immediately interested in reading your story. Plus, it appears to have the prose I love. Just, it feels a bit too long. Way too long. Might be just me, but I feel that it would be better to shorten some stuff and leave the reader hanging more. I don't know, just my thoughts. 

The Good: 

SO IN LOVE WITH YOUR PROSE, MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!! I live for this kind of narrative. T_T So few people write like that these days--in the style of Rosemary Sutcliff, J.R.R. Tolkien, etc. (autumn_sunfire you would love this book!) It is such a joy to read it, especially your dialogue. 

Your plot is flowing at a very nice pace and I'm easily able to follow along what's happening in your work. Most of your characters are easy to keep straight as well, and I'm usually able to keep them apart in dialogue sequences. Your grammar is usually pretty good minus a few typos that randomly pop up every now and then. 

The Bad: 

*rubs hands in glee* 

JUST KIDDING! 

The main issue for me was the introduction of faeries. (Can't remember if you spell it as faeries or fairies; my bad if I've messed that up.) The story got a whole lot more complicated and it was hard to follow and understand what was going on after that point. For one thing, keeping all the faery names straight is a bit of a pain, so maybe more descriptions or not so many of them at once might help. Also, the plot seemed to slowwwwwww down a lot in that scene when they appear which was a bit... Boring. Don't get me wrong, I love faeries, but this seemed to jolt me out of the story for a bit. And the language they speak was really hard to follow--even with the translations. It just seemed a bit rough in those sequences. 

The world-building, while really good for the most part, I think could have done with a bit more. You have beautiful descriptions of scenes and settings, but I want to see more of how your world works, their traditions and values, the different places, etc. I know your book is not finished and the answers I'm seeking might show up later, but as of now, I'm not satisfied. >:-) 

What the Reader Thought:

Not sure if I haven't stressed this enough yet, but I ab-so-lute-ly love your prose. Seriously. It's not done enough and it's rare to see people do it these days. It's probably one of my favorite things about your book. That, and the fact you have this whole thing with music. Oh, and the fact that you are writing a brilliant and beautiful high fantasy story--just the way I like it. ;) I love the whole music thing. It's just... I don't know how to describe it... It's just very magical in a very melancholy, ethereal way. Like if this was a movie, I want Howard Shore to do the music. ^.^ 

I love Shade. And Marian. I'm not sure if I'm crazy-shipping them yet, but I'm definitely shipping them. I can't wait to see more of them in future as your story progresses. 

You have amazing stuff going on, Bri, and I can't wait for more. Keep it up! 

Score: 10/10