Lyrical Yet Underwhelming: Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross

Series: Standalone

Release Date: June 23, 2020

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

I was drawn to Sisters of Sword and Song because of its beautiful cover and the premise of an alternate Ancient Greece filled with magic, new gods and a gripping tale of sisterhood. The book is also a standalone epic fantasy novel, which is always an ambitious undertaking for an author.

Sisters of Sword and Song follows two sisters: Halcyon, the hoplite (solider), and Evadne, the scribe. Halcyon and Evadne are set to reunite for the first time since Halcyon left home to join the army when she was a child. However, an accident at Halcyon’s camp has branded her a deserter and leaves Evadne devastated; Halcyon has been accused of murdering her commander, Lord Straton’s son and her fellow hoplite, Xander.

Knowing that everything is not as it seems, Evadne offers to serve a portion of her sister’s punishment as a servant in Lord Straton’s household. Told in alternating perspectives, Evadne hopes to piece together the truth of Xander’s death, and as Halcyon serves out the first portion of her sentence in the salt mines, she realizes the threat to her Queen is closer than she thought.

What ensues is a tale of the unbreakable bond between sisters and the pull of family.

Tale of Sisterhood

For all the magical world-building and fantastical quests in Sisters of Sword and Song, the story is principally a story about sisters and the length they will go to protect each other. The romance between Evadne and Lord Straton’s second-born son, Damon, is, therefore, secondary. That doesn’t mean the romance wasn’t sweet and cute, though!

Of the two sisters, Halcyon is definitely more my speed and preference for heroine archetypes: badass and self-assured. But I have come to appreciate, over the years, heroines that fight with the pen instead of the sword, so to speak. Evadne had a fascinating storyline, and I honestly think her biggest strength was her loyalty to her sister. What she was willing to sacrifice for her sister was incredibly moving and inspiring–not many siblings would be willing to give up so much.

I really loved the theme of family, especially how the author’s exploration of familial love demonstrated the nuances and complexities of those relationships. For instance, teenagers often feel that they have to get away from their homes and out of their comfort zones to really discover who they are. After being out in the world, many realize that their home is where they are meant to be. For a girl like Evadne, who spent her whole life dreaming of the world beyond the Grove and thinking that she was destined for so much more, I really liked how the novel came full circle with her finally being comfortable and owning her desire to be at home in the Grove. 

Nuanced Characterizations

Each relationship (Halycon and Lord Straton, Halycon and Evadne, Damon and Lord Straton, and Evadne and Damon) has their tribulations as each character has to come to terms with the fallout from Xander’s death.

I liked how the decisions that set the whole plot into motion are because of Halycon and Lord Straton’s very human reactions. Halycon is grief-stricken after she accidentally kills her partner and beloved friend–he was like a brother to her. The commander is horrified and traumatized that his decision (to choose Xander for the secret mission) resulted in his son’s death. To deal with his grief, he needs someone to blame other than himself. Therefore, Halycon and Lord Straton lash out at each other; while Halycon is the person who did the deed, Xander would not be dead if Lord Straton hadn’t insisted warriors (not mages) handle the secret mission. Halycon deserts her post in fear her commander won’t understand, and Lord Straton condemns Halycon to 15 years of punishment to pacify his grief and self-hatred.

It was incredibly unique how the author went about humanizing Lord Straton. Initially, I assumed he was the big bad of the novel and that he was lying about Halycon’s crimes. Xander’s death allowed for a three-dimensional exploration of a relationship between a protege and her mentor; it’s not always rainbows and unicorns.

Finally, I really appreciated how Evadne’s love interest, Damon had a similar relationship with his older brother as Evadne did with Halycon. While Evadne and Halycon were a bit closer, both Evadne and Damon lived with being the unremarkable child–Damon, a mage, was completely average in his abilities and, therefore, not a useful tool to his father, who needed the best warriors in his fight against the people trying to take the throne.

Best Parts of Mythology: A Magical Quest

The mythology was very intriguing. The opening page lists all the Gods and Goddesses (who are the ancestors to mages) and their magical artifacts imbued with their power. The lost magical artifacts set up the story’s premise as these objects allow non-magical people to use magic.

I thought it was clever how Evadne’s character arc followed her ancestor, God of the Wind, Kirkos’s history. While Kirkos gave up his God-status and powers to live a full life with his mortal love, Evadne’s story follows a similar sacrifice and realization that magic and power is not what’s important at the end of the day.

I liked how the bad guys weren’t made over complicated. It allowed for greater detail to be employed in the mythology and the quest aspect of Sisters of Sword and Song. I thought it was clever that by the time Halycon realized who her nemesis, Hemlock, was, the reader had already been introduced to the malicious mage. The way each character was introduced and set up allowed for the author to avoid huge pages of info-dumps, which is quite common in standalone fantasy novels (and not a good thing).

My one complaint about the quest set-up is that going on a quest is presented as having to accomplish a mission. But the real purpose of a quest within literature is that over the period of that quest, a character goes through trials and tribulations, showing their metal and learning life lessons. And I don’t think there was any life lesson really learned in Sisters of Sword and Song. The character development left Evadne and Halycon in pretty much the same place they started. I admit they did confront some of their fears, but it didn’t seem like these accomplishments were transformative.

In Conclusion

Overall the storytelling felt like it was on the precipice of more. It felt like the author was on the cusp of constructing two heroines that transformed the archetype of fantasy main characters. But, while the characters were put through quite a few trials, they seemed unchanged from where they started at the beginning of the book.

Finally, the main reason Sisters of Sword and Song was underwhelming is because I was not as invested in saving the Queen as all the other characters were. Evadne, Damon, Halycon and even Lord Straton sacrifice everything to protect the Queen and solidify her reign. Yet, those losses didn’t seem worth it to me. I’m not going to go into specifics, but I felt that Damon, especially, got the short end of the stick.

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