Song of the Risen God

The Coven #3

by R.A. Salvatore

Song of the Risen God is the climatic conclusion to the thrilling Coven Trilogy from New York Times bestselling author, R. A. Salvatore.

War has come to Fireach Speur.

The once forgotten Xoconai empire has declared war upon the humans west of the mountains, and their first target are the people of Loch Beag. Lead by the peerless general, Tzatzini, all that stands in the way of the God Emperor's grasp of power is Aoelyn, Talmadge, and their few remaining allies.

But not all hope is lost. Far away from Fireach Speuer, an ancient tomb is uncovered by Brother Thaddeus of the Abellican Church. Within it is the power to stop the onslaught of coming empire and, possibly, reshape the very world itself.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Forgotten Realms, Epic Fantasy

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2020

About the author

As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...

Reviews

[Holly Hearts Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal rating: 4.5

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten down with a good, old-fashioned epic clash of opposing forces in a fantasy tome, which made the concluding volume of Salvatore’s The Coven trilogy a delight. But, this isn’t a good-versus-evil throwdown; this is, as befits the Salvatorean oeuvre post-Mortalis and The Orc King, a nuanced struggle between two cultures neither wholly good nor bad…well, except for the fact that a demon god is driving one of them to make war on the other. So there’s that.

I enjoyed the first two volumes of this series well enough, but I really liked the third—it was good to get back into the wider world of Corona, hang out with some monks (even if a lot of them are bigots, or at least marginally reformed bigots who retain bigot tendencies), and bring together a disparate group of heroes who could learn from Aeolyn. And, the little turn at the end nicely sets up a new path of stories to explore should Bob so choose.

(Fret not that the world shares a name with a burgeoning pandemic; the only ill feelings I experienced while reading this book came from the ingestion of pretzel roll hot dogs from Dave & Buster’s, but I regret nothing.)

[Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m finally paying for not reading all the backlist Corona titles. As a result, Song of the Risen God was my least favorite of the trilogy by a landslide.

There wasn’t anything technically wrong with the book, but it didn’t work for me on a few accounts. The beauty of this series so far has been in the slow-burn, intimate development of two or three main characters. The pacing is part of the brilliance because it draws you in and makes you feel every pain and victory with a carefully-constructed poignancy. It was the most in-depth I’ve ever read from Salvatore and speaks to his evolution as a writer. Songs of a Risen God felt like a regression. The plot broadened, which is ideal for the final book in the series, but so did the number of POVs. It bounced around so much, we didn’t get a chance to reimmurse into any of the characters, and as a result, it felt very superficial. I did not care for the inclusion of the enemy’s POVs. It felt too much like an old Drizzt novel (just call them “orcs” and it’s the same formula) and it took away any suspense that comes from the reader not knowing how the enemy thinks and operates. To compound that, the enemy came off almost child-like in their development despite the fact that they were still committing horrendous atrocities.

Another issue I had was the inclusion of so many characters and places from past Corona novels. As a fresh reader, none of these characters had any substance or meaning for me. I think the nostalgia-factor was supposed to make up for their almost casual inclusion of the story, but I found them somewhat unnecessary (although I probably would’ve delighted in seeing some familiar faces had I been current with all the works). But for my personal experience, it resulted in page after endless page of the characters explaining to each other why they’re relevant and rehashing old novels. Then you add the current characters explaining to the old ones countless times about what they’ve been doing over the last two books, and I wanted to slam my head into a wall. It was tedious. And by the time everything culminated to the final chapters and some really cool shit happened, I was so worn out that it didn’t affect me the way it should have.

Overall, what a disappointment. But the good news is that my reading experience and expectations are probably different than most of those inclined to pick up this series, so maybe the masses will have more luck with it. I stand by my recommendations of the first two books, which are textbook in character depth, pacing, and overall writing quality. I just wish it had ended with a bang!

Recommendation: long-time Corona fans wont want to miss this finale, but series-skippers like me might struggle with how different it is from the first two books.

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com

Other books you might like:

[Aram Brazilian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not giving spoilers but I am giving witness.

Is this Salvatore's best work? Can anyone know? It probably doesn't matter. But yes, it is... If you want my advice, do what I did - read The DemonWars Saga first. Take that once-in-a-lifetime adventure. I never wanted it to end. And as it turns out, it didn't. This Coven series picks it right back up. I can hardly believe it. If you have the time, treat this as a one-two punch. Be the hero, and flush it all out at once. If that's not gonna happen, then just read The Coven - it stands on its own.

Book 1 (Child of a Mad God) was a bit slower than the others. But I would say this - taking the extra time in book 1, getting to know the people and the places, only heightened my experience when I started losing my shit in book 2 (Reckoning of Fallen Gods) and book 3 (Song of the Risen God). Once I hit the middle of book 3, I could barely contain myself - heartstrings tugged, bumps goosed, eyes watered - Netflix never stood a chance.

If you're into worldbuilding, magic systems, and character development - if you want it all - then just take it.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third and final installment in R.A. Salvatore's Coven trilogy. The Xoconai empire, led by Tzatzini, have declared war on the humans that are west of the mountains. Only a few people stand in the way including Aoelyn and Talmadge. Far away, an ancient tomb is uncovered that may help them win the war.

I thought the last book of the this trilogy was very good and enjoyed the action.

Will have to read the other books in the series to get the full story.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[AnnMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first two books of this trilogy. The ending was a bit of a let down. I enjoyed the sections with Aoelyn but the rest was a bit dull.

[Alyson Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book: Song of the Risen God

Author: R.A. Salvatore

Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars



This is for sure the weakest book in the series. I was really expecting a lot more from this finale than what I got. I thought the overall pacing was slow and it just felt like there were pages upon pages in which nothing happened.



We are still getting a good bit of character development, which normally I am okay with. However, I did feel like all of this character development in the final book really hindered the overall plot. Don’t get me wrong, I do really love these characters and do love getting to spend time with them. I just really don’t like it when all of this development slows down the plot. We are in the middle of a war. We do get to see everyone’s point of view and how they were handling these very difficult and very trying situations. This is something that I really did enjoy. I like seeing how different characters react to and handle very difficult situations. I like seeing how the different stress and hardships take a toll on a group.



I will say, though, that while I did like this a lot, there were times that I found it to be rather jarring. We were changing points of view every page or every few paragraphs. There were times that it became very difficult to keep track of which character we were reading from and what their situation was. There was also a lot characters included toward the end from the author’s other novels. As someone who has not read any of his other books, I found adding all of these other characters not to be needed. There were times that it was just really overwhelming and just really didn’t fit what we needed to cover.



The bones of a good plot were there. We had so much going into this final volume. The first two books were super strong and gave us the perfect set up for what should have been a very strong finale. I felt that we lost a lot of what the first books had given us. The plot was very slow. The battles just existed for the sake of giving us battles. I felt like the stakes were never as high as what they should have been. Everything just felt like we were going through the motions without having that depth that I have come to expect from this series. This is supposed to be the climax of the series, but it really did not feel like this. We have been building for this moment, but that big moment ended up falling short.



I guess that had this not been the last book of the series, I may have enjoyed it a little bit more. I just found that since this was the last book, it was lacking a good bit. It just needed something to put this book over the edge and give us the finale that I know I was looking for.

[Ayre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'm growing out of this type of Fantasy I loved so much in the 90s. I will say R.A. Salvatore does a great job of writing women as actual people and addressing misogyny. One day I hope he can extend those beliefs towards disabled persons. Being disabled doesn't mean the character has no "dignity", thats ableist. Using magic to "cure" a disabled person enabling her to walk is also ableist. You can be disabled and be a whole complete person in no need to be "fixed".

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderfully written series, but the ending left a lot to be desired. A great plot that kept me turning pages until the last few chapters. It was such a let down.

[Blaise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent wrap up to the series, but I had my issues with it.

[Anat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here’s what I loved about the first two books of the Coven: the prose, the magic, the characters, the world being contained and the story relatively small.
All of this is gone from this installment.
The characters stopped developing and melted all into one “selfless hero” perfect character.
The villains had no real motives other than being evil.
The magic was just a bunch of throwing lightbulbs around.
The charming prose of the first book turned into a more simplistic style.
And worse of all, the story tried so hard to be epic and world encompassing, war everywhere, that it was just BORING. The plot simply swallowed up everything.

It reminded me of the first Demon Wars book, which has the exact same faults (and no, I didn’t continue to read the rest of them).

I probably wouldn’t have written such a bad review if I didn’t love the first two books so much. It’s just that it really doesn’t do justice to the characters and the world.

The audiobook narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds, as always, was wonderful.

[Lisa Camara · Rating 5 out of 5]

R.A. Salvatore has been one of my favorite authors since I read Demon Wars series YEARS ago. This series does not disappoint. Set in the same world as Demon Wars, this series has captured my imagination. How this author world builds amazes me.

This is the last installment in this series- It does not disappoint. It's filled with all the imagery and action I've come to expect from Salvatore. He remains one of my favorite authors.

5/5 Stars for Corona.

***I received a copy of this novel from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review***

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book struggles with being the final book of a trilogy the same way the 2nd book struggles with being a middle book.

This book has very little to do with any of the small stories from the previous books and moves to a much larger scale story (literally covers thousands of miles per the book). Salvatore introduces a lot of new characters/places in this book, a lot of new events, and a lot of new revelations about the world the book is set in. However, he doesn't do any of them justice in my opinion.

Everything in the 2nd half of the book felt rushed and some plot devices literally do appear out of nowhere to get characters to the resolution Salvatore wanted in spite of their 'in-progress' character arcs.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book three of a trilogy and though I was not aware of this before requesting the book, I read it anyway. My review, therefore, may be much different that someone who has read all three books.

What I liked from the first were the gems that had magical properties. A Diamond brings Light of all ranges from dim to very bright. It can also absorb light thus bringing shadows or darkness. A ruby brings fire, citrine seals or unseals stone, serpentine protects one from fire or flames. A cats-eye worn somewhere on the head or face brings clear vision. Graphite and moonstone working together brings thunder storm accompanied by rain and lightning and also gave the wielder the ability to call forth lightning bolts. A bloodstone give one muscular strength, a wedstone allowed one to freely leave their body and float around, able to move easily without effort. It is also a stone of healing. Later it is shown that a wedstone is not a type of crystal but a group of crystals each able to heal. Hematite is one such stone.

There are two factions distrustful of each other. These two, are a group of Usgar which includes a woman able to wield the gemstone magic and a group of refugees from several villages who are somehow connected. As stated they are distrustful of each other but all are perused by the Sidhe who are killing anyone they come across. For expedience sake these two groups band together staying just ahead of the invading Sidhe.

The invading Sidhe are truly of the darkness. They capture many sacrificing them to their god/king and their leader and capture the essence and souls of the sacrificial victims forcing the souls into a huge crystal. This crystal transfers it’s power to the god/king who appears invincible, able to see through darkness and able to read minds. They are set on conquering the lands of the two peoples but there are other hidden agendas as well.

This is a story of struggle, determination, and angst, as these two groups struggle to keep from being overtaken by the invaders. They encounter bands of Sidhe wherever they go, leaving dead bodies on both sides. They find evidence of disrespect of the dead by the invaders as the darkness spreads.

At some point they encounter Abellican Monks who also can use gem stones to bring their magic forth. These monks join with those fleeing capture hoping to, in unity, overcome the invaders, to force them back to where they came from.

Will the Sidhe who have a vast army overcome these brave ones? Will the magic in the gem stones prevail aiding these refugees? I will not say, so to know, you too will have to read this book.

I thank the author, NetGalley and Macmillan Tor/Forge for allowing me to read this book before its publishing date.

[Reading Painbow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wraps up a trilogy which is basically a mediocre fanfic of the original Demon Wars Saga. The story beats are so similar to the first that the author was practically self plagiarizing. The writing is repetitive and the page count is padded by about 100 pages that could be removed without altering the story.

There is a moment where the Kings stronghold is absolutely crushed by the unstoppable enemy force. When I say crushed I mean crushed utterly. The King decides he has to flee and leave behind many of his subjects. The King does a lot of hand wringing about how he hates leaving behind his precious subjects.

After all that hand wringing you know what this mutherfucker does? He takes his remaining men and goes to a town that is much less defendable than the fortress which was just crushed and decides for no apparent reason that instead of trying to get his subjects out of there it is a better idea to make a stand against the unstoppable host getting boatloads of his precious subjects slaughtered in the process. The King is utterly crushed once again. The whole episode was dumb as fuck.

The main heroes are all cardboard cutouts and one dimensional "I don't want to take a life"goody goods boring and basic.

I have no words for how anti-climatic the final battle was.



The ending teases that there are more books to come, but there is no way I will be reading any further. This book basically ruined the entire world for me with the flat characters, over reliance on plot armor and an abundance of ex machina moments thrown in for good measure.

Truly a self indulgent, bloated mess of a book/trilogy that would have likely been much better with a brutal editor.

I gave this two stars instead of one solely due to my fondness for the first part of the original Demon Wars Saga. I read that series a very long time ago and after reading this shite I fear I can never reread the original saga for fear that it's not as good as I've made it out to be in my mind.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited, truly excited for this book.

The first two were incredible; so rich in the storytelling, world building, character development, the action scenes were fantastic, the dialog was engaging, all of it -- all the boxes were checked. The moment my library showcased that they were going to have a copy of Song of the Risen God, I eagerly slapped down a hold and waited in excitement for the conclusion of this trilogy.

Oh boy. For the first portion of this novel, it was a bit of a struggle to get through. I found myself putting it down frequently to either reflect on what was happening or to simply find something else to do. Over time, I decided it was best to return the physical copy to the library and pick up the audiobook in order to get through the rest of it. The reasoning here, and perhaps I am going to sound like an absolute dumb-dumb, but some of the words were as though they had been created by slamming words and letters into a blender and slapping that baby on high. I felt as though I had no idea what I was reading, so thankfully I was more engaged in the novel once it was being read to me with the proper pronunciation. Not a deal breaker for the novel, but still something that delayed me in reading it.

The ending, oh boy, the ending.

I was holding my breath, listening intently, the tension rising and rising...and then just gave a sad little sigh. It's a big drop, a big let down and very anticlimactic for all of the rising tension that was being created. It is almost as though, despite it being stated that this is the final book in the series, that something else is in the works.

Would I recommend the Coven series? Yes, I would.

[Shari Marshall]

Overall, I would say that The Coven Series has a captivating storyline with intriguing characters. This series was my first experience reading R.A. Salvatore and I enjoyed it. I look forward to reading other series written by R.A. Salvatore.

As for “Song of the Risen God” which is Book 3 in The Coven Series, magic and power are still prevalent in the storyline. The themes of hope, choice and consequence continue on as well.

I found there to be a lot of moving parts in “Song of the Risen God.” There are lots of things happening in a lot of different places involving a lot of different characters, but all those things are working to come to a final place in the story. “…Perhaps all of this is tied together, a moment of divine fate to warn us of the approaching danger and of how we might defeat it.” For me, the last 100 pages were my favourite. Everything in the story had been building and was starting to come to resolution and I was eager to see what that might be. I have no complaints about how things came together and in a lot of ways it had the feeling of coming full circle.

It was a curious ending…

My review of book one: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of book two: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Anne Szlachcic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the final book in the Coven saga and whilst it can be read as a standalone reading the previous books would be a benefit .

The Usgars dominate not just the mountain region but also the lakes and surrounding villages - their brutal attacks and kidnappings shape the lives of all he live there
However not all Usgars are so brutal , the female protagonist Aoleyn is the heart and soul of this series .- it's not just her compassion but her expertise with the gem magics that paves the way to success.
With dangerous discoveries made by warrior monks , Brother Thaddius and Sister Elysant , whilst exploring the Southern Wilderlands settting a cascading series of cataclysmic events into motion - it leads to an ultimate showdown between mortals and gods

This is book and series with a difference - originality ! with great worldbuilding and characters you become invested in .
The blend of mythologies , fantasy elements , magical gemstones, dragons, shape-shifting, elves, and knights
make for an enthralling read - the Author at his best .

I was given an arc of this book by NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I have overused the word “outstanding”. Therefore, the following will not contain this word: Once again, R. A. Salvatore has shown fans and new readers alike the power of his skillset as a story teller and unlimited imagination. Salvatore returns us to the world of The Coven with book number 3: “Song of the Risen God”, an intriguing, edgy and engaging story. Dark Fantasy in it’s purest form! Although my favorite character springing from the creativity of R. A. Salvatore is Drizzt Do'Urden (oh and I nearly left off his reclusive sidekick - but don’t call him that to his face - Guenhwyvar), I think I have been won over to Salvatore’s current heroine, Aoelyn. You will be as well, check out the entire series.

[Edward Silverman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book of the coven and mostly covers an epic struggle against the Xoconai. I liked the earlier books in the series better. I am not sure why this one felt flat to me, it had action and characters I cared about. Perhaps the scale and progress of the battle was too large and fast, which took away from character interactions I enjoyed. Perhaps this one relied more on callbacks to earlier series and I read those too long ago. Still fans of the genre and Salvatore will want to read this. I’ve enjoyed the recent Drizzt work more than these though it was the reverse in the earlier series. Still pretty good. Don’t try and only read this book though. Recommend you start with the earliest book set in this world.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some good parts and more action than the first book but the simplistic view that the ending took, assuming these people just moved in and would now be part of the world was almost childlike in its innocence. Also, I know it’s not RA Salvatore’s style often but conquerors usually pillage and rape along with the killing. The animosity would have taken generations to subside but the war leader took leadership and all of the sudden everyone just follows her and is content to live side by side with the humans that they thought of as lesser? I feel like this could’ve been stretched into 5 books and the ending fleshed out with a more reasonable conclusion.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: Well you don't NEED to read the author's previous books set in this world (though it helps) you certainly need to read the previous 2 Coven books.

Like the rest of this trilogy it feels overwritten, plot lines pop up and are dropped (Talmadge the series other protagonist just sails off never to be heard from again 3/4 of the way through) and then just ends, almost as if the author himself just said "screw it".

That's not to say these books aren't worth your time, if you're into Fantasy they should do just fine. If you're new to Fantasy they'll do just fine. If you've read a bunch of Fantasy, there might not be enough new or done well enough here to interest you.

[Dawid Siemkowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the story continues

With every new book Salvatore is becoming more and more master in painting in more details diverse world, with unexpected turns of event, with improved ways of describing characters feelings, implementing strategic movement covered with mysteries and ending up with blowing mind finale that no one would never expected. Creating legends and heroes who ascends to new levels. I’m writing this view as experienced reader of Salvatore books (all of Legend of Drizzt and Cleric Quintet)

[Urša Sevšek · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started with this book in the series and it is indeed a very good book in terms of storytelling. However, I very much struggled to finish it, since everything from chapter one is about killing and useless fleeing. In my personal taste the book thoughout lacked optimism, or simply said, it is not enjoyable for me to read about so much fighting and dying. I presume that the style is similar in other books from the same author, so I "probably" will not pick up his other books.

[Elijah Allensworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy the world that Salvatore has created, and I hope that he, or others, continue to expand it. But the characters are just a bit too neat. They're too understanding and forward-thinking, always making the right calls. I guess I'd like to see them mess up more so I could identify with them more. Overall, though, this is a solid fantasy read.

[Daniel Koen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the conclusion of the series. Book #1 was pretty amazing. Book #2 was pretty good. Book #3 was okay. There were parts I certainly enjoyed but several that I did not. I like the ideas and the potential book #3 brings for future books. I have spent the last thirty minutes or so trying to find an explanation of the ending.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent ending to an excellent series.
The characters and the world building are as amazing as usual and I found it an engrossing and entertaining read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

RA Salvator is a go-to author for me when I’m in need of quality world-reworking fantasy. This title brings an interesting blend of spirituality, adventure, and imagination. Highly recommended for those who love this genre (or just want to do some exploring).

[Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was totally absorbed in the story. But it's a bit short for a book that expensive in hardcover. Perhaps it's a good place to break and start the next book. But it seems I no sooner started it than finished.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read with wonderful storytelling. I love the way the characters evolved during this series. I'm hoping the ending is hinting at more books to come as this was originally noted as being only a trilogy.