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The Songs of Eirren #1
Hero's Song
Collun has always been happiest working in his garden. But his peaceful life is shattered when his sister, Nessa, mysteriously disappears. He sets off to find her and soon realizes that he has become involved in something much larger and more sinister than he had imagined. With his traveling companions--a wizard, an aspiring bard, a fairy prince, and a feisty young woman on a quest of her own--Collun must face dangers both natural and magical in order to complete his mission. “The author spins a dramatic tale, infused with Irish myth and folklore, that fantasy fans will relish.”-- Booklist
333 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 1991
37 people are currently reading
2358 people want to read
About the author
Edith Pattou
8 books851 followersEdith Pattou is the author of several fantasy novels, including East, an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. She is a graduate of the Francis W. Parker School, Scripps College (B.A., English), Claremont Graduate School (M.A., English) and UCLA (M.L.I.S.). She is married to Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. They have one child, a daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
May 22, 2025
Hero's Song (The Songs of Eirren #1) by Edith Pattou is a fine YA fantasy series opener. A little while ago, I picked up book two from a thrift shop so I'm glad I waited and borrowed book one from the library and read it first. It wasn't the most memorable, but I liked reading it at the time.
June 11, 2024
Meh. Fine but fairly forgettable.
(Note: I'm experimenting with shifting my star ratings to better align with the descriptions Goodreads itself gives them. By those standards, two stars most accurately represents my experience with this book. It was okay, and I liked parts of it, but it would be a stretch to say that I liked it, as a whole.)
(Note: I'm experimenting with shifting my star ratings to better align with the descriptions Goodreads itself gives them. By those standards, two stars most accurately represents my experience with this book. It was okay, and I liked parts of it, but it would be a stretch to say that I liked it, as a whole.)
August 5, 2009
This is not Edith Pattou's best work ever but you still need to read it in order to fully apreciate the next book, Fire Arrow, which is just flat out spectacular.
This is the story of a boy named Collun who desperately needs to get over his cowardice in order to save his kidnapped sister from who knows what? As he journy's to find her he troups up with a wizard out to help, a fenale archer with a firey disposition and a thing for revenge, an old witty friend, and a mysterious elf like fellow who doesn't feel any obligation to help people other than his own kind. As the odd team journeys through woods, labyrinths, and waist lands a plot that could destroy all of the land surfaces as well as the truths to Collun's unhappy past.
The story was almost a little too simple for me. There weren't any heart renching moments but there were scenes that I enjoy reading over and over, particularrly towards the end. I thought the end was pretty satisfing and Pattou left me wanting a whole lot more. After all when there's a mad queen out on the loose, a traitorous relative, a girl looking for the revenge of her father, and a bit of compatability between two people, you want to know how it all comes together.
Pattou did remind me of J.R.R. Tolkien in this book a little too much. The wizard was a whole like lot Gandalf. And the myterious elvish person was kind of like the elves in LOTR in that they kind of left man to destroy themselves.
The cover turned me off a little bit. After all it is kind of odd to see a gaint worm dominating everything. Never head that. Worms just happen to be a good beastly outlet.
The character developement was iffy. The characters did develope, which is more to say than books such as the Inheritance
Cycle, but they weren't too extreme. The main internal struggle is for Collun to get over his fears and become like a hero, or at least so he thinks. I believe the books mission is to show what a hero truly is and isn't, hence the title.
I liked the book, and it would be a book that I would probably buy if I could. Unfortunatly, I read Fire Arrow before I read this so I knew how it ended but it still didn't keep me from enjoying the story. I found after I read this I had to read Fire Arrow agian. A lot more made sence that way. Read this book to get to the real treat, the sequel.
This is the story of a boy named Collun who desperately needs to get over his cowardice in order to save his kidnapped sister from who knows what? As he journy's to find her he troups up with a wizard out to help, a fenale archer with a firey disposition and a thing for revenge, an old witty friend, and a mysterious elf like fellow who doesn't feel any obligation to help people other than his own kind. As the odd team journeys through woods, labyrinths, and waist lands a plot that could destroy all of the land surfaces as well as the truths to Collun's unhappy past.
The story was almost a little too simple for me. There weren't any heart renching moments but there were scenes that I enjoy reading over and over, particularrly towards the end. I thought the end was pretty satisfing and Pattou left me wanting a whole lot more. After all when there's a mad queen out on the loose, a traitorous relative, a girl looking for the revenge of her father, and a bit of compatability between two people, you want to know how it all comes together.
Pattou did remind me of J.R.R. Tolkien in this book a little too much. The wizard was a whole like lot Gandalf. And the myterious elvish person was kind of like the elves in LOTR in that they kind of left man to destroy themselves.
The cover turned me off a little bit. After all it is kind of odd to see a gaint worm dominating everything. Never head that. Worms just happen to be a good beastly outlet.
The character developement was iffy. The characters did develope, which is more to say than books such as the Inheritance
Cycle, but they weren't too extreme. The main internal struggle is for Collun to get over his fears and become like a hero, or at least so he thinks. I believe the books mission is to show what a hero truly is and isn't, hence the title.
I liked the book, and it would be a book that I would probably buy if I could. Unfortunatly, I read Fire Arrow before I read this so I knew how it ended but it still didn't keep me from enjoying the story. I found after I read this I had to read Fire Arrow agian. A lot more made sence that way. Read this book to get to the real treat, the sequel.
November 3, 2018
I picked up this book and the sequel a long time ago because I absolutely loved East. This was definitely disappointing in comparison. (I'm still going to read the sequel because I hear it's better, but let's just say things improved between 1991 and 2003).
This book is definitely aimed at kids, and there's really not much there for adults. It reads like an outline that was filled in hastily and then never edited. Even kids probably wouldn't like it unless they've never read a quest story before (anyone over the age of 3 could tell that the dialogue in this book is ridiculous). It's also too much like a game. It's got a very formulaic RPG kind of progression: protagonist leaves to look for the missing person; party members join one by one; there's a convenient macguffin; there's a GNPC who appears every once in a while to save the characters from a difficult encounter (and/or drop some exposition) and then disappears again; encounters happen one by one; and then there's a boss fight at the end.
The writing itself is just full of rookie mistakes. These things constantly pull you out of the story and make you wonder what the editors were on and where you can get some.
-Introducing too many new words that aren't even relevant (just because it's a fantasy setting doesn't mean we need a new word for every other noun, especially when it's a word you only use once and then define it and it's never used again.) I like fantasy names and languages but this was just too heavy-handed. It didn't feel like immersion into the world, it felt like the author was barging in and saying "LOOK AT THIS FANTASY WORLD. SEE HOW FANTASY IT IS? IT'S SO FANTASY THERE ARE EXTRA WORDS EVERYWHERE."
-Random lapses into pseudo-omniscient POV when it was supposed to be limited to the main character's perspective. "Collun could tell that Brie was angry about [thing]", "Collun sensed that Talisen [was thinking something very specific]", etc. Sometimes this happened even after the character in question said something or used body language or gestures that would have told the reader what they were thinking anyway. Why does the main character have mind-reading powers all of a sudden? It's not that hard to delete a sentence when you realize it doesn't make sense with the POV of the book, especially when it's just telling something that you've already shown!
-The dialogue had a lot of problems. Characters would talk in sentences that sounded written instead of spoken, and include definitions of words like the kind you see in a textbook ("the [new word]-- or [definition]-- is over there"; "it's a [noun], a [definition]", that kind of thing. People just don't talk like that.) Characters would also talk in paragraphs of narration. Just because it's first person and in quotation marks doesn't make it dialogue. When you're telling someone what happened to you in the recent past, who you've been fighting, etc., you don't use long, structured sentences and include adverbs. That's not dialogue.
-The characters weren't believable. Silien was supposed to be chaotic, unpredictable, only looking out for himself, and not sharing priorities with the humans... but he was written just like anyone else, and only Brie's suspicions and some of his own dialogue said "this character is chaotic neutral and unpredictable!" but I still didn't believe it because he wasn't written that way at all. He was written with the same personality as everyone else. Collun never developed a consistent personality. At the end (and at the very beginning), the cowardly farmer kid suddenly started acting like a typical young, rash, wannabe "hero" who refuses to get help from his friends for absolutely no reason. It was supposed to add drama but it was just confusing.
There was an awkwardly forced love triangle which got magically resolved because Collun's competitor for The One And Only Girl In The Main Plot gets injured and starts hating everyone for some reason.
Also (spoilers ahead): finding out that your dad isn't your real dad doesn't mean you can't still be friends with him! This guy lost 3 people at once (a good friend and two people he'd known since they were babies) and you're not even going to visit him because "oh, we're not blood relatives? Then I don't care about him anymore" with a side of "he's no fun to be around because he's depressed". What? You don't have to be father and son but you can still be FRIENDS, especially since he suddenly lost 3 people he's been LIVING WITH FOR YEARS and he was ALREADY DEPRESSED before they left/died! (And what about Nessa? Nessa was better friends with Goban than Collun was, and even she doesn't want to visit him! He was clearly written just to be pitied, and then the characters and plot just throw him away because he's not part of the formula after the first couple chapters.)
I'm not going to go through everything, but a lot of events in the plot stick out as just... off. The labyrinth could have been a neat dungeon crawl full of suspense, encounters, traps, riddles, and other fun stuff, but instead they get untied easily by the party faol (some kind of mammal with sharp teeth) who was stuck in the dungeon with them but not tied up for some reason. No suspense there. Then they go into the labyrinth, remember one clue, make a wild guess and then extrapolate wildly with no logic to it, and then their one and only guess turns out to be right. The riddle isn't something the readers can follow along with because it's just wild guessing about which pictures on the walls point to the way out (and the readers aren't even told that there are different types of leaves on the walls, or given any way to guess the answer, because it wasn't a riddle you could figure out, it was just a guess). They don't get lost, they don't misinterpret the clues, they don't encounter any creatures or trapdoors or booby traps or anything. They just get out. Then any time they get into trouble, someone swoops in to save them before they even have the chance to try it themselves. There's no suspense, no growth, and no chance for the reader to feel anything for the characters or to follow along while they figure out what to do. When he's learning to ride the Ellyl horse, he makes a big deal of mounting by himself for the first time AFTER he's already been on the horse with no other humanoids around. New information is introduced via infodumps at the last minute right when the characters need it, when it should have been introduced earlier so that the readers could actually engage with the plot.
Look, there's nothing wrong with writing a formulaic quest story for kids (or adults) if you do it well. I'm just not sure how this book got through the editing process and remained so completely unedited.
Side note: I really wish we'd spent more time with Talisen. His plotline was actually interesting, and it had a lot of potential. A young bard who can't make his own songs yet searching for stories, spending some time with the Ellyl, learning their songs and how their magic works, only to find that he can't remember them when he goes back aboveground but he can write his own songs now and then finally writing a song about the quest? That story has so much emotional potential but we didn't see any of it. He was just the overenthusiastic sidekick. There were no emotions anywhere in this book, even when it was attempted, and for Talisen there wasn't even an attempt. I found myself having to imagine my own tone for most of the book (trying to imagine it as a movie with a dramatic soundtrack and constantly editing the dialogue in my head, all things that the author is supposed to do for you when converting the story from an outline/draft to a book), but it was most disappointing with Talisen. This is called the Hero's Song / the Songs of Eirren; this should have been way more important than it was. We should have gotten to hear some of the words to his song at the end, or at least descriptions of what it sounded like, what it talked about, and how it made the other characters feel.
This book is definitely aimed at kids, and there's really not much there for adults. It reads like an outline that was filled in hastily and then never edited. Even kids probably wouldn't like it unless they've never read a quest story before (anyone over the age of 3 could tell that the dialogue in this book is ridiculous). It's also too much like a game. It's got a very formulaic RPG kind of progression: protagonist leaves to look for the missing person; party members join one by one; there's a convenient macguffin; there's a GNPC who appears every once in a while to save the characters from a difficult encounter (and/or drop some exposition) and then disappears again; encounters happen one by one; and then there's a boss fight at the end.
The writing itself is just full of rookie mistakes. These things constantly pull you out of the story and make you wonder what the editors were on and where you can get some.
-Introducing too many new words that aren't even relevant (just because it's a fantasy setting doesn't mean we need a new word for every other noun, especially when it's a word you only use once and then define it and it's never used again.) I like fantasy names and languages but this was just too heavy-handed. It didn't feel like immersion into the world, it felt like the author was barging in and saying "LOOK AT THIS FANTASY WORLD. SEE HOW FANTASY IT IS? IT'S SO FANTASY THERE ARE EXTRA WORDS EVERYWHERE."
-Random lapses into pseudo-omniscient POV when it was supposed to be limited to the main character's perspective. "Collun could tell that Brie was angry about [thing]", "Collun sensed that Talisen [was thinking something very specific]", etc. Sometimes this happened even after the character in question said something or used body language or gestures that would have told the reader what they were thinking anyway. Why does the main character have mind-reading powers all of a sudden? It's not that hard to delete a sentence when you realize it doesn't make sense with the POV of the book, especially when it's just telling something that you've already shown!
-The dialogue had a lot of problems. Characters would talk in sentences that sounded written instead of spoken, and include definitions of words like the kind you see in a textbook ("the [new word]-- or [definition]-- is over there"; "it's a [noun], a [definition]", that kind of thing. People just don't talk like that.) Characters would also talk in paragraphs of narration. Just because it's first person and in quotation marks doesn't make it dialogue. When you're telling someone what happened to you in the recent past, who you've been fighting, etc., you don't use long, structured sentences and include adverbs. That's not dialogue.
-The characters weren't believable. Silien was supposed to be chaotic, unpredictable, only looking out for himself, and not sharing priorities with the humans... but he was written just like anyone else, and only Brie's suspicions and some of his own dialogue said "this character is chaotic neutral and unpredictable!" but I still didn't believe it because he wasn't written that way at all. He was written with the same personality as everyone else. Collun never developed a consistent personality. At the end (and at the very beginning), the cowardly farmer kid suddenly started acting like a typical young, rash, wannabe "hero" who refuses to get help from his friends for absolutely no reason. It was supposed to add drama but it was just confusing.
There was an awkwardly forced love triangle which got magically resolved because Collun's competitor for The One And Only Girl In The Main Plot gets injured and starts hating everyone for some reason.
Also (spoilers ahead): finding out that your dad isn't your real dad doesn't mean you can't still be friends with him! This guy lost 3 people at once (a good friend and two people he'd known since they were babies) and you're not even going to visit him because "oh, we're not blood relatives? Then I don't care about him anymore" with a side of "he's no fun to be around because he's depressed". What? You don't have to be father and son but you can still be FRIENDS, especially since he suddenly lost 3 people he's been LIVING WITH FOR YEARS and he was ALREADY DEPRESSED before they left/died! (And what about Nessa? Nessa was better friends with Goban than Collun was, and even she doesn't want to visit him! He was clearly written just to be pitied, and then the characters and plot just throw him away because he's not part of the formula after the first couple chapters.)
I'm not going to go through everything, but a lot of events in the plot stick out as just... off. The labyrinth could have been a neat dungeon crawl full of suspense, encounters, traps, riddles, and other fun stuff, but instead they get untied easily by the party faol (some kind of mammal with sharp teeth) who was stuck in the dungeon with them but not tied up for some reason. No suspense there. Then they go into the labyrinth, remember one clue, make a wild guess and then extrapolate wildly with no logic to it, and then their one and only guess turns out to be right. The riddle isn't something the readers can follow along with because it's just wild guessing about which pictures on the walls point to the way out (and the readers aren't even told that there are different types of leaves on the walls, or given any way to guess the answer, because it wasn't a riddle you could figure out, it was just a guess). They don't get lost, they don't misinterpret the clues, they don't encounter any creatures or trapdoors or booby traps or anything. They just get out. Then any time they get into trouble, someone swoops in to save them before they even have the chance to try it themselves. There's no suspense, no growth, and no chance for the reader to feel anything for the characters or to follow along while they figure out what to do. When he's learning to ride the Ellyl horse, he makes a big deal of mounting by himself for the first time AFTER he's already been on the horse with no other humanoids around. New information is introduced via infodumps at the last minute right when the characters need it, when it should have been introduced earlier so that the readers could actually engage with the plot.
Look, there's nothing wrong with writing a formulaic quest story for kids (or adults) if you do it well. I'm just not sure how this book got through the editing process and remained so completely unedited.
Side note: I really wish we'd spent more time with Talisen. His plotline was actually interesting, and it had a lot of potential. A young bard who can't make his own songs yet searching for stories, spending some time with the Ellyl, learning their songs and how their magic works, only to find that he can't remember them when he goes back aboveground but he can write his own songs now and then finally writing a song about the quest? That story has so much emotional potential but we didn't see any of it. He was just the overenthusiastic sidekick. There were no emotions anywhere in this book, even when it was attempted, and for Talisen there wasn't even an attempt. I found myself having to imagine my own tone for most of the book (trying to imagine it as a movie with a dramatic soundtrack and constantly editing the dialogue in my head, all things that the author is supposed to do for you when converting the story from an outline/draft to a book), but it was most disappointing with Talisen. This is called the Hero's Song / the Songs of Eirren; this should have been way more important than it was. We should have gotten to hear some of the words to his song at the end, or at least descriptions of what it sounded like, what it talked about, and how it made the other characters feel.
August 25, 2020
Since the East duology was so good, I thought I should try something else by Edith Pattou, and Hero's Song seemed promising. For me it didn't live up to the admittedly very high bar set by East, but it's still a good high fantasy adventure.
The world of Hero's Song reminded me of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain, partly because of the many Welsh-derived names, and a couple of plot elements, . I'm guessing Edith Pattou was also partly inspired by the Mabinogion, but she changed things up enough that it still felt pretty original.
Where Hero's Song fell short for me was in its density of content compared to its page count. There is a lot of exposition, background conflict, and action competing for your attention and it probably would have benefitted from being split into two books so that readers could take a breather once in a while and get to know the characters more. I liked Collun and his friends, but Brie and Silien needed more fleshing out. The conclusion is overly long and again throws too much information out at once. However, the prose is done well and I liked the twists involving the hero Cuillean. I didn't love this story, but I'd like to try the sequel sometime to see what happens with Brie when she gets more of the spotlight.
The world of Hero's Song reminded me of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain, partly because of the many Welsh-derived names, and a couple of plot elements, . I'm guessing Edith Pattou was also partly inspired by the Mabinogion, but she changed things up enough that it still felt pretty original.
Where Hero's Song fell short for me was in its density of content compared to its page count. There is a lot of exposition, background conflict, and action competing for your attention and it probably would have benefitted from being split into two books so that readers could take a breather once in a while and get to know the characters more. I liked Collun and his friends, but Brie and Silien needed more fleshing out. The conclusion is overly long and again throws too much information out at once. However, the prose is done well and I liked the twists involving the hero Cuillean. I didn't love this story, but I'd like to try the sequel sometime to see what happens with Brie when she gets more of the spotlight.
December 2, 2025
Read as part of my ongoing shelf audit. Verdict: I would have loved this if I'd read it as a preteen, but without nostalgia it's not a keeper. I am going to read the sequel, though.
This is a charmingly 90s fantasy novel with a pretty classic quest and party composition, in a fantasy setting inspired by Irish mythology (though with plants that are native to North America, which was a recurring point of frustration for me). It's a fine and solid adventure, but I didn't feel it was much beyond that. Still, a fast and enjoyable book that I can see being great for younger readers.
This is a charmingly 90s fantasy novel with a pretty classic quest and party composition, in a fantasy setting inspired by Irish mythology (though with plants that are native to North America, which was a recurring point of frustration for me). It's a fine and solid adventure, but I didn't feel it was much beyond that. Still, a fast and enjoyable book that I can see being great for younger readers.
July 24, 2020
Revisiting a staple from my childhood. It's pretty good, but the final confrontation is super rushed, and the book meanders quite a bit before it gets there. Nothing too in-depth, but this is aimed at middle grade readers. I remember liking the sequel better, we'll see how that holds up.
April 2, 2018
3.5.....this was a good adventure story. Im curious to see where it goes from here.
March 16, 2013
Edith Pattou was written wonderful books from East to Hero's Song. I kind of expected this book to become an book that I would have liked to read over and over. Despite the fact it was a little run on exspecially with the main character. I thought this book would be like East where there would be diferent characters thoughts in each chapter or so.
June 27, 2022
Found this first edition at the library for $1, quick read over a couple of days. Slight spoiler at the end here. I'll mention it before.
It begins simply enough, a boy Collen is working on his farm. But even from the beginning there are some issues in the pacing, dialogue and tone that become rapidly apparent. However, this book is interesting because it alternates from middle school level writing to some fairly serious badass fantasy prose. I think the author was confused about what she was trying to do here, but it is her first novel.
A wizard shows up to drop some exposition, and before you know it we have a D&D style quest on our hands with party members rapidly increasing. The sexual tension between Brea and Collen gets strange, I think they should have at least kissed. Sometimes it seems geared towards children, at other times it references torture and characters committing mass suicide in desperation, I thought to myself many times if it was a childrens or young adult novel. It slides between both.
The novel is worst when it falls into clichéd dialogue, and long winded explanations of the characters emotions. The novel is at its best when it drops into extended exposition of the lore, with the wizard just rambling like a madman dropping unknown word after unknown word. At those times it sounds like a dangerously enthusiastic D&D nerd who drank too much monster energy, describing his latest game, in all the best ways.
The ending seemed like a huge cop out, spoilers here. So he just stabs the dune like final boss in the eye, for a instakill. Then burns just magically heal because of some special herbs or something. Meanwhile a huge battle was taking place where the queen of ghosts had the upper hand but they decided to just all leave, because the worms was dead so screw it, everyone turned back. Even though apparently thousands upon thousands died. Also no one back at the city seems to care that thousands of their best men died on the field of battle. Its all celebrations and fanfare, feasting for days. No mention of funerals or memorials for the THOUSANDS of young soldiers left dead and traumatized. The young prince is literally disfigured with PTSD but everyone is just like "egh, ignore him he's fine". The other prince watched his whole platoon slaughtered by demons on a bloody field of battle, but is "smiling broudly" and cracking jokes. I ended the book wondering who was really the bad guys here? The book could have gained 5 stars easy if it turned it all around, and the good queen was secretly evil.
Also the queen of ghosts was mentioned a lot but she barely gets shown. She seems like a really strong g woman and a bad bitch, one of the only characters who seems to be set in their mission and independent, but we never really here from her and she is just "evil". Also we don't even know why she is called the queen of ghosts. Its not like she has power over the dead. So many unanswered questions.
But it was well worth the $1, I liked the old wizard rambling until the book entered into self parody. I feel like Edith held herself back, she could have filled another 200 pages just ad-libbing background lore through the interface of the wizard. And I would have loved it. I felt like the wizard and the queen of ghosts were the only two characters that showed any type of serious, believable, powerful, adult emotion. They deserved much more page time. The other characters emotions resonated like a 13 year olds MySpace page from 2006.
It is actually sad. With a little work, editing, and serious self reflection this could have been a well written and powerful fantasy edition. What we get is a vague, half-hearted, rushed, LOTR fan fiction that unintentionally skims the margin of self parody. However, I commend the author for her effort and time to her craft. There was room for growth here that I can only imagine took place.
It begins simply enough, a boy Collen is working on his farm. But even from the beginning there are some issues in the pacing, dialogue and tone that become rapidly apparent. However, this book is interesting because it alternates from middle school level writing to some fairly serious badass fantasy prose. I think the author was confused about what she was trying to do here, but it is her first novel.
A wizard shows up to drop some exposition, and before you know it we have a D&D style quest on our hands with party members rapidly increasing. The sexual tension between Brea and Collen gets strange, I think they should have at least kissed. Sometimes it seems geared towards children, at other times it references torture and characters committing mass suicide in desperation, I thought to myself many times if it was a childrens or young adult novel. It slides between both.
The novel is worst when it falls into clichéd dialogue, and long winded explanations of the characters emotions. The novel is at its best when it drops into extended exposition of the lore, with the wizard just rambling like a madman dropping unknown word after unknown word. At those times it sounds like a dangerously enthusiastic D&D nerd who drank too much monster energy, describing his latest game, in all the best ways.
The ending seemed like a huge cop out, spoilers here. So he just stabs the dune like final boss in the eye, for a instakill. Then burns just magically heal because of some special herbs or something. Meanwhile a huge battle was taking place where the queen of ghosts had the upper hand but they decided to just all leave, because the worms was dead so screw it, everyone turned back. Even though apparently thousands upon thousands died. Also no one back at the city seems to care that thousands of their best men died on the field of battle. Its all celebrations and fanfare, feasting for days. No mention of funerals or memorials for the THOUSANDS of young soldiers left dead and traumatized. The young prince is literally disfigured with PTSD but everyone is just like "egh, ignore him he's fine". The other prince watched his whole platoon slaughtered by demons on a bloody field of battle, but is "smiling broudly" and cracking jokes. I ended the book wondering who was really the bad guys here? The book could have gained 5 stars easy if it turned it all around, and the good queen was secretly evil.
Also the queen of ghosts was mentioned a lot but she barely gets shown. She seems like a really strong g woman and a bad bitch, one of the only characters who seems to be set in their mission and independent, but we never really here from her and she is just "evil". Also we don't even know why she is called the queen of ghosts. Its not like she has power over the dead. So many unanswered questions.
But it was well worth the $1, I liked the old wizard rambling until the book entered into self parody. I feel like Edith held herself back, she could have filled another 200 pages just ad-libbing background lore through the interface of the wizard. And I would have loved it. I felt like the wizard and the queen of ghosts were the only two characters that showed any type of serious, believable, powerful, adult emotion. They deserved much more page time. The other characters emotions resonated like a 13 year olds MySpace page from 2006.
It is actually sad. With a little work, editing, and serious self reflection this could have been a well written and powerful fantasy edition. What we get is a vague, half-hearted, rushed, LOTR fan fiction that unintentionally skims the margin of self parody. However, I commend the author for her effort and time to her craft. There was room for growth here that I can only imagine took place.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2016
Hero's Song by Edith Pattou is a Fantasy novel about a boy named Collun and his sister. Collun sister who's name is Nessa, decides to visit her Aunt in a place called Temair. While there, Nessa is kidnapped and Collun decides that it is his duty to go find her. Before he leaves, he gets some interesting advice from his mother, Emer, and heeds it with caution and suspicion of what is really going on. As Collun journeys to find his missing sister, he comes by some strange things and figures out what his mothers advice truly means. I liked this book for multiple reasons, one is that is was very action packed and had very interesting characters. It also had a lot of suspense and surprise. I really liked how it was written, it almost felt like it was old English, but I really enjoyed that about this book. Although, I personally felt that it was very slow and did not really catch my attention. It seemed to me that it stayed on one topic a little bit over the time limit. It never really got straight to the point and had maybe even to much detail. I thought that reading this was definitely worth my time and opened my eyes to a different type of fantasy. If there was a theme, it would have to benheed others advice even if you don't know why because they do wether you like it or not.
March 10, 2019
Read this entire review here: HERO’S SONG – A FANTASY ADVENTURE OF FRIENDSHIP, MAGIC, AND REDEMPTION
Review by Clarissa Hadge
Overall Rating = 5; Romance Rating = 3
There are brief romantic notes between Collun and Brie, but there is a romantic and folktale-like quality to the novel. This is certainly an adventure story, and a definite page-turner, especially in the second half of the book! Hero’s Song was one of my favorites as teen, and is just as appealing as an adult!
ADAPTATION RECOMMENDATION
With Celtic influences, Hero’s Song would look great on the silver screen. Its fantasy landscape has a similar aesthetic to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series, and with much of the story taking place on the road, audiences could get a wonderful, literal and figurative hero’s journey.
Read this entire review and others (especially if you love old-fashioned chivalrous romance) at: THE SILVER PETTICOAT REVIEW
Review by Clarissa Hadge
Overall Rating = 5; Romance Rating = 3
There are brief romantic notes between Collun and Brie, but there is a romantic and folktale-like quality to the novel. This is certainly an adventure story, and a definite page-turner, especially in the second half of the book! Hero’s Song was one of my favorites as teen, and is just as appealing as an adult!
ADAPTATION RECOMMENDATION
With Celtic influences, Hero’s Song would look great on the silver screen. Its fantasy landscape has a similar aesthetic to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series, and with much of the story taking place on the road, audiences could get a wonderful, literal and figurative hero’s journey.
Read this entire review and others (especially if you love old-fashioned chivalrous romance) at: THE SILVER PETTICOAT REVIEW
April 9, 2022
I enjoy good stories even if they are a little predictable. Basically it was a fun D&D tale with surprise heritages, bards, elves, warriors, evil creatures, magic weapons, and even a tavern. Some reviews have been critical of its similarities to Lord of the Rings, but this is Edith Pattou’s first novel and, like painting, I think it makes sense to start out by imitating other artists. At first I just read it to have a better understanding of the sequel Fire Arrow (which I read more than a decade ago and wanted to re-read), and after reading the reviews for Hero’s Song here, I thought I’d just have to trudge my way through it, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Collun’s story. Would recommend. I plan on reading this book with my children someday to help them learn to love reading.
November 8, 2022
Collun's sister has mysteriously disappeared while visiting her aunt. When all hope is gone, Collun decides that he should go look for her. He is joined by a bard, an archer, a magical being and a wizard.
It turns out an evil queen thinks his family has part of a magical stone that will help her take over the world.
This is your basic journey story with very basic scenes such as slaying the monster and saving the maiden. Nothing really stood out as unique nor absolutely horrid.
The problem I had was pacing which was very slooooooooow. Also, the characters didn't deem to enter or exit the story naturally. Several characters seemed only to be included because fantasy stories need that kind of character.
It turns out an evil queen thinks his family has part of a magical stone that will help her take over the world.
This is your basic journey story with very basic scenes such as slaying the monster and saving the maiden. Nothing really stood out as unique nor absolutely horrid.
The problem I had was pacing which was very slooooooooow. Also, the characters didn't deem to enter or exit the story naturally. Several characters seemed only to be included because fantasy stories need that kind of character.
January 7, 2019
This was genuinely a young adult adventure with a gentle, reserved and thoughtful hero that relied on his friends and companions on his journey/quest. There were no incidents of restless adolescent angst or duplicity that messed up the companionship and no dark family dynamics. So refreshing! I think for these reasons alone it's worth reading, even aside from the quest and interesting world building. The story reminded me at times of other more traditional quest stories - like the Wizard of Earthsea (but a lot less tedious!). I have read another book by the same author (East), which I loved and which compared to Hero's Song, is more fast paced.
July 19, 2020
My least favorite thus far of Edith Pattou’s books, Hero’s Song feels like YA fiction in a way I don’t love. The plotting is a bit too convenient, there are too many instances of new people showing up out of nowhere to save the protagonist from an impossible situation, and many of the settings, situations, plot points, and even characters seem strikingly derivative of other works (specifically Tolkien and Lewis). There was not much I felt was new or fresh or particularly captivating about this version of a classic quest story. A few mysteries kept me guessing and turning pages, but overall I found it somewhat forgettable. Unfortunate, since East is one of my favorite recent discoveries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2018
That was absolutely gorgeous. There's a passage in this that made me weep and weep and weep. When all seems lost, Brie asks Collun, a gardener at heart, to describe to her the garden of his dreams. His words are so simple, so deeply moving and beautiful it hit me then that they aren't enough tales that talk of rewards. This passage, to me, was about what's to be gained by fighting. And in the end, the answer is heartbreakingly simple - beauty, love and peace. I loved this so very much and can't wait to read the second book.
July 8, 2018
Good book with an interesting story. The added "new" language makes it very cool and engaging as you are transported along with the characters on their far reaching quest. It incorporates reimagined history and storytelling in a nice human twist as one becomes very close to the characters and sees how they deal with what confronts them, in an interesting fantasy tale.
December 18, 2019
I loved the writing style of the author, I felt in a way like I was the character, I knew as much as he did and felt as he did. I also liked that he wasn't the classic brace hero, but that he had to earn his courage by doing things that terrified him! Somewhat relatable and inspiring. And the characters are all super lovable.
June 29, 2020
Found it in my neighborhood library and really enjoyed the read. Well developed historical novel with varied character and plot that held my attention and wanted me to get back. Vivid language and imagery.
April 29, 2021
Just what I needed. A classic quest! I really, really enjoyed this book, even a bit more than 'East'. I thought the writing was solid ad well-paced and enjoyed the character development. I cant wait to read 'Fire Arrow' next!
January 19, 2023
Good story
I enjoyed the story but the writing lacked color. Events were mostly reported, not described and experienced, characters were likeable but thin. I understand the next book won an award so I hope to see some of these issues improved.
I enjoyed the story but the writing lacked color. Events were mostly reported, not described and experienced, characters were likeable but thin. I understand the next book won an award so I hope to see some of these issues improved.
August 13, 2021
I didn't enjoy this as much as when I was younger - probably says more about me than the book. Felt rushed. I would have enjoyed more time developing the characters, their relationships, and growth.
December 10, 2021
I enjoyed the herbal remedies and that a hero can be a sensitive but still have courage and BE a hero.
July 6, 2022
I loved this series SO MUCH and it breaks my heart she never finished it!
February 15, 2024
A well written story of adventure, friendship, andchallenge. Definitely a classic adventure setting of gathering a group to defeat a villain. A bit slow in the beginning at times, but a fun read.
April 10, 2024
I had forgotten about this book until it popped up as a recommendation. I love reading less while in high school and college! A beautiful story of a hero.
June 22, 2015
Well, I started "Hero's Song" after long last, since I read the second one first a few year's ago and enjoyed it. So now that I remember little about the sequel, I picked up the first to begin anew.
Yikes. "Hero's Song" is painfully typical stuff. Collun is a young boy (of course) living on a secluded farm (naturally) who doesn't enjoy fighting but would prefer to stay at home, tending his garden and being rather nondescript. But there are secrets in his family that are pretty obvious to the reader, and when his sister disappears while visiting the castle, our reluctant hero sets out to find her. And then he teams up with his happy-go-lucky would-be-bard friend, Talesin (please, PLEASE don't let this be the legendary Talesin the bard...), the mysterious girl archer Breo-Saight "Brie", and Silien, the aloof Ellyn (read "elf") who is enchanted by the human world- so an extremely typical line-up of the hero's band.
And it wouldn't be that bad if they didn't act so typical. Talesin loves to sing, is always making jokes (and in odd places too... like when they are literally fighting for their lives, which would make more sense if he wasn't an inexperienced young boy), Silien acts like a Lord of the Rings elf most of the time, and Brie is an excellent archer and refuses to speak about her mysterious past. Or anyone else's mysterious past... The author also seems inclined to tell us what's going on rather than showing us, whether during a fight, dealing with the characters' emotions, or explaining how the world's magic works.
However, the book does improve a bit after the 1/3 mark. The story takes a more interesting turn (a betrayal and an underground labyrinth are involved) and the plot improves and starts to develop its own character. This is where I stopped feeling like this was a complete waste of time. The story has a very nice Celtic/Irish/Welsh legend feel to it, and it was after this mark that it began to leave the typical-ness behind and just live its own character. This really improved the story, although the writing didn't change too much, and I began to enjoy it much more. It ran through all the way to the end as well, and I felt that the ending was very satisfactory. I wish the author had started as well as she'd finished!
But all in all, it seems a pretty typical book, and although it does have a nice flavor, there are books that I feel do it better. Maybe it's saving grace is that once you're about halfway through the book, I got the feeling that this was a recreation of an already existing myth, like an interpretation, it felt that faithful to Irish/Celtic mythology (salmons for wisdom, etc.) So if you're already book in hand and thinking about reading it, it won't do you any harm, but push through to that labyrinth part and it will improve. For anyone else, it's an okay story but there are better books out there- the Chronicles of Prydain come to mind right away, maybe the Troll Mill series as well.
Yikes. "Hero's Song" is painfully typical stuff. Collun is a young boy (of course) living on a secluded farm (naturally) who doesn't enjoy fighting but would prefer to stay at home, tending his garden and being rather nondescript. But there are secrets in his family that are pretty obvious to the reader, and when his sister disappears while visiting the castle, our reluctant hero sets out to find her. And then he teams up with his happy-go-lucky would-be-bard friend, Talesin (please, PLEASE don't let this be the legendary Talesin the bard...), the mysterious girl archer Breo-Saight "Brie", and Silien, the aloof Ellyn (read "elf") who is enchanted by the human world- so an extremely typical line-up of the hero's band.
And it wouldn't be that bad if they didn't act so typical. Talesin loves to sing, is always making jokes (and in odd places too... like when they are literally fighting for their lives, which would make more sense if he wasn't an inexperienced young boy), Silien acts like a Lord of the Rings elf most of the time, and Brie is an excellent archer and refuses to speak about her mysterious past. Or anyone else's mysterious past... The author also seems inclined to tell us what's going on rather than showing us, whether during a fight, dealing with the characters' emotions, or explaining how the world's magic works.
However, the book does improve a bit after the 1/3 mark. The story takes a more interesting turn (a betrayal and an underground labyrinth are involved) and the plot improves and starts to develop its own character. This is where I stopped feeling like this was a complete waste of time. The story has a very nice Celtic/Irish/Welsh legend feel to it, and it was after this mark that it began to leave the typical-ness behind and just live its own character. This really improved the story, although the writing didn't change too much, and I began to enjoy it much more. It ran through all the way to the end as well, and I felt that the ending was very satisfactory. I wish the author had started as well as she'd finished!
But all in all, it seems a pretty typical book, and although it does have a nice flavor, there are books that I feel do it better. Maybe it's saving grace is that once you're about halfway through the book, I got the feeling that this was a recreation of an already existing myth, like an interpretation, it felt that faithful to Irish/Celtic mythology (salmons for wisdom, etc.) So if you're already book in hand and thinking about reading it, it won't do you any harm, but push through to that labyrinth part and it will improve. For anyone else, it's an okay story but there are better books out there- the Chronicles of Prydain come to mind right away, maybe the Troll Mill series as well.
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