#malediction trilogy

[shirewalker]

  “Given the choice between one lifetime spent with you or a thousand without,    I will always choose you.”

                              ― Danielle L. Jensen, Stolen Songbird

[merflk]

BOOKS (RE-)READ IN 2019: ↳ Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen  ★★★

“To be bound is a burden, but it is the actions we freely take that cause us the most pain.”

[themusic-bookconnection]

Headcanon - Cécile de Troyes (Malediction Trilogy)

Cécile is described as having a beautiful soprano, the voice of an angel, really, then who’s voice would be more appropriate than one who had an angel of music. Sierra Boggess is by far my favorite Christine Daaé; I love how her voice carries the emotions of what she is singing and it is so stunningly beautiful it takes my breath away when I listen to her sing. Dye her hair red, put her in a glass garden, give it a few minutes and Tristan de Montigny will soon be enraptured, following the sound of her voice to listen to an angel sing.

Sierra Boggess - Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again & Phantom of the Opera

[lost-in-2d]

Epilogue of The Broken Ones

[amaread]

Warrior Witch - Danielle L. Jensen

Content note: torture, magical compulsion, fae,

A somewhat bittersweet epic end to the trilogy. This really caught my attention and I am glad I read this twist on fairies in their Sidhe/Unsidhe or Summer/Winter courts.

As with the others, quite a bit of violence and torture and people being manipulated against their wills through magical vows and compulsions. Sex itself tends to not be seen, but tame erotic sensual foreplay exists between consenting partners.

[amaread]

Hidden Huntress - Danielle L. Jensen

Content note: torture, infanticide, fae,

As before, fairly descriptive torture. In this one there is actual having of sex, but non-descriptive of the act itself, just sensual description of foreplay leading up to it.

This was intense to read, especially the cliff of an end, unimaginable forces about to descend.

Quite a twist in identity that I half-suspected although not in the form it occurred in.

The recounting of The Fall felt like to should have been longer (in terms of the gravitas of an event that has caused 500 years of imprisonment and 500 years of murders) but was appreciated all the same.

[amaread]

Stolen Songbird - Danielle L. Jensen

Content note: kidnapping, fairies, torture, mental illness,

Cécile is a young human woman about to celebrate leaving for the city from her rural town, when she is kidnapped by a man she barely knows and taken under mountain to a strange mysterious city. And not a human city, but the city of Trollus, of trolls. There, she is to be bonded to the King's heir, Prince Tristan, on the basis of a prophecy that together they might undo a curse that has been upon the Trolls for 500 years.

A lot of animosity, which makes sense, given that she has had all she hoped and dreamed for snatched away from her. At the same time, Cécile finds compassion for the trolls, especially the half-blood who are treated largely as slaves, risking their lives to make quotas to avoid being sent to their deaths in the labyrinth. Some truly nasty personalities, a continuation of The Broken Ones, and I think reading it first was a good move to help me understand what was going on in this one better.

Definitely looking forward to the next one, as this seems to be an interesting take on Winter and Summer courts, plus I want to know who the Witch who cursed the Trolls is.

[amaread]

The Broken Ones - Danielle L. Jensen

Content note: attempt at murder to hide a pregnancy, miscarriage,

Beginning was a bit disorienting, felt like I had missed a previous book, but this is the prequel to the rest of the series.. An interesting world, of Trollus, trolls who live underground, their cavern kingdom kept safe by the magic of their king keeping it from collapsing.

But all is not well. There is a curse upon them, placed by a witch some years in the past. It causes some trolls to be Afflicted, either visually in some way (which I have not yet really grasped despite being nearly halfway through the book) or to be near-deadly allergic to iron and steel, unable to heal themselves when wounded by either.

As well, there is are two underclasses: the half-blood (those who had mated with a human at some point in their ancestry) and the magically weak.

Tristan, the king’s heir, and Marc, his cousin, lead a secret rebellion to overthrow the king, to make the lives of half-bloods better, to stop fatal punishment like being sent into a labyrinth full of giant troll- eating slugs for not meeting employer quotas or for having grown old or infirm or just unwanted as servants.

Anaïs and Pénélope are the daughters of a Duke who opposes the King - and are friends of Tristan and Marc, with Anaïs secretly contracted to marry Tristan until Pénélope’s status as Afflicted causes the King to break the betrothal. The Duke sets his daughters through a magically binding oath to spy on Tristan and Marc, to bring him proof of their involvement in the rebellion.

Sex is nondescript, much more description of their feelings towards one another, but the actual act itself is not really shown, just getting dressed afterwards or sneaking back to their houses. On the basis of sex content, appropriate for mostly anyone; however, on the basis of violence and torture, older teens rather than preteens.

Overall, an interesting and slightly depressing look into this magical world.