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The GriffinSong Trilogy #2
GriffinSinger
The dying seer’s words spell doom for Irenya. If she stays in Dar Orien to save their way of life, she might never see her infant son again.
Hopelessly lost in the desert of Midrash, Irenya faces the legendary griffin and, without fanfare, a new seer is silently declared. An act of revenge delivers Irenya the knowledge she needs, but her return to Melbourne is tragically far from anything she had imagined.
An alien in her own world, she must decide her fate and that of her son Mikey. Out of time and place, Irenya braves new challenges and meets a fleetwalker, who teaches her something of his art. But civil unrest turns to outright conflict. Dar Orien is on a knife edge, and Irenya gives herself permission for a dangerous undertaking.
Hopelessly lost in the desert of Midrash, Irenya faces the legendary griffin and, without fanfare, a new seer is silently declared. An act of revenge delivers Irenya the knowledge she needs, but her return to Melbourne is tragically far from anything she had imagined.
An alien in her own world, she must decide her fate and that of her son Mikey. Out of time and place, Irenya braves new challenges and meets a fleetwalker, who teaches her something of his art. But civil unrest turns to outright conflict. Dar Orien is on a knife edge, and Irenya gives herself permission for a dangerous undertaking.
280 pages, Paperback
Published February 18, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 14, 2022
Another interesting volume in this cool fantasy series! We get to meet scary and neat new creatures and powers here, and the stakes are consistently high.
The middle of this is the best part. It's tense and scary and hard to predict in really good ways. Without spoiling too much, even while there are simmering problems in Dar Orien, Irenya has a chance to return to Melbourne. And the way that everything plays out I think feels natural and realistic. It wasn’t super crazy dramatic a moment when she took her chance -- it makes sense that she's built it up to be this huge goal... and, actually, it's not as triumphant and bombastic as she thought it could be. It's haunting!!
My favorite detail about Irenya as a character that I found to be really satisfying and interesting: I actually love that once she’s in a new place, she starts pretty much immediately longing to be with the people from her previous place. This is a subtle and really cool way to “connect the two worlds" and keeps the overall plot exciting. It makes me WANT her to fix the problems in both worlds, and so it keeps me rooting for her!!
The ending is satisfying too. Elaaron is probably my favorite character, I love his personality and love how he is mature, understanding, and also funny once in a while.
As I got to the middle of the book, it occurred to me that this is a really effective “second book”. We’re building on existing powers and introducing new ways those powers can potentially work, and that’s really effective when looking at this as an entire series. It’s hard to do a second book well. Really well done there!
I think a few tweaks would have made this overall even more immersive: in the beginning, I felt like there was kind of a lot of dialogue, and very important revelations were given to us just from overhearing conversations and such. Just hearing a lot of dialogue made it a little bit hard to imagine what the characters we were overhearing were talking about, and it felt a little disconnected. I wish some of that information and suspense was built through something other than kind of a lot of dialogue. Fortunately, though, this only seems to affect the beginning, as especially the middle is action-packed and full of practicing awesome powers and such.
Additionally, while I think the actual chance to go to Melbourne made sense in that it wasn't "super triumphant," I think some of the reactions and reunions with certain characters afterwards were a bit under-played. The time skip is a big deal, but IMO it wasn't treated with enough urgency, and I found myself a little disconnected from how both Irenya and some of the characters she contacted talked about it.
Overall, this was really engaging and did a good job balancing unpredictable twists while everything still felt built-up-to. Cool stuff!!
(Content warning: mental illness, some body horror, depictions of violence)
The middle of this is the best part. It's tense and scary and hard to predict in really good ways. Without spoiling too much, even while there are simmering problems in Dar Orien, Irenya has a chance to return to Melbourne. And the way that everything plays out I think feels natural and realistic. It wasn’t super crazy dramatic a moment when she took her chance -- it makes sense that she's built it up to be this huge goal... and, actually, it's not as triumphant and bombastic as she thought it could be. It's haunting!!
My favorite detail about Irenya as a character that I found to be really satisfying and interesting: I actually love that once she’s in a new place, she starts pretty much immediately longing to be with the people from her previous place. This is a subtle and really cool way to “connect the two worlds" and keeps the overall plot exciting. It makes me WANT her to fix the problems in both worlds, and so it keeps me rooting for her!!
The ending is satisfying too. Elaaron is probably my favorite character, I love his personality and love how he is mature, understanding, and also funny once in a while.
As I got to the middle of the book, it occurred to me that this is a really effective “second book”. We’re building on existing powers and introducing new ways those powers can potentially work, and that’s really effective when looking at this as an entire series. It’s hard to do a second book well. Really well done there!
I think a few tweaks would have made this overall even more immersive: in the beginning, I felt like there was kind of a lot of dialogue, and very important revelations were given to us just from overhearing conversations and such. Just hearing a lot of dialogue made it a little bit hard to imagine what the characters we were overhearing were talking about, and it felt a little disconnected. I wish some of that information and suspense was built through something other than kind of a lot of dialogue. Fortunately, though, this only seems to affect the beginning, as especially the middle is action-packed and full of practicing awesome powers and such.
Additionally, while I think the actual chance to go to Melbourne made sense in that it wasn't "super triumphant," I think some of the reactions and reunions with certain characters afterwards were a bit under-played. The time skip is a big deal, but IMO it wasn't treated with enough urgency, and I found myself a little disconnected from how both Irenya and some of the characters she contacted talked about it.
Overall, this was really engaging and did a good job balancing unpredictable twists while everything still felt built-up-to. Cool stuff!!
(Content warning: mental illness, some body horror, depictions of violence)
May 15, 2021
This is the second book in a trilogy and while I really enjoyed the book and how it opened up the world of Dar Orien I felt like the plot could have advanced a bit more instead of saving all of the consequences for book 3. Especially after the epic ending that book 1 had. That being said, this book was incredible and I cannot wait to see how it all ends in the final book of the trilogy.
The characters were, just like the first book, incredibly well written and I love how they all have so many layers of complexity and depth to them. Irenya is an amazing protagonist and I love seeing her inner thoughts about the world that she has found herself in and as she gets involved in all the politics of Dar Orien. In this book, she developed more and she seems to have found herself and be more sure of herself in this book, which obviously correlates to her being more firmly established in the world of Dar Orien. Leachim and Aeryl and Elaaron were just as brilliant as the first book and I love seeing them and their influence on Irenya and the world around them. Again, these characters have such depth to them and I look forward to seeing how they develop in the final book of the series.
The plot was well-paced and kept me engaged but I felt like it was more focused on setting up the next book for most of the story. However, we did get an exciting development when Irenya managed to go back to her world and find out what was going on there. That part of the book was incredibly interesting as she had to deal with so much and then it went on to explain several of the unanswered questions from the first book which I liked. And of course, it set up the next book wondrously with a great cliffhanger, however not as dramatic as the one from the first book. This book has me very excited for whatever is going to come next because I know that it is going to be incredibly dramatic and I have ways I want certain sub-plots to win.
The writing was wonderful. It held my interest the entire way through and I am very excited for the next book. The world and intrigue are created wonderfully by J. Victoria Michael and I cannot wait to see what happens next!
I was kindly sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The characters were, just like the first book, incredibly well written and I love how they all have so many layers of complexity and depth to them. Irenya is an amazing protagonist and I love seeing her inner thoughts about the world that she has found herself in and as she gets involved in all the politics of Dar Orien. In this book, she developed more and she seems to have found herself and be more sure of herself in this book, which obviously correlates to her being more firmly established in the world of Dar Orien. Leachim and Aeryl and Elaaron were just as brilliant as the first book and I love seeing them and their influence on Irenya and the world around them. Again, these characters have such depth to them and I look forward to seeing how they develop in the final book of the series.
The plot was well-paced and kept me engaged but I felt like it was more focused on setting up the next book for most of the story. However, we did get an exciting development when Irenya managed to go back to her world and find out what was going on there. That part of the book was incredibly interesting as she had to deal with so much and then it went on to explain several of the unanswered questions from the first book which I liked. And of course, it set up the next book wondrously with a great cliffhanger, however not as dramatic as the one from the first book. This book has me very excited for whatever is going to come next because I know that it is going to be incredibly dramatic and I have ways I want certain sub-plots to win.
The writing was wonderful. It held my interest the entire way through and I am very excited for the next book. The world and intrigue are created wonderfully by J. Victoria Michael and I cannot wait to see what happens next!
I was kindly sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 8, 2024
Thank you so much to Oddysey Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review!
I am: Befuddled (affectionately).
It does not always happen that a second book strikes me as much as the first one but here the author took it personal and destroyed me. I enjoyed everything about this book, from the pacing to the change of scenery.
Grifinsinger pick up right after Songbird finishes and I must mention, that it keeps the enjoyable pacing, the spice and humanity from it's predecessor, and will let you get immersed in the smells and sensations the characters are experiencing, along their hardships and problems and relieves. I love that. Irenya's growth here is the most remarkable in my opinion and I stand by it given the circumstances, the further development of her interpersonal relationships is so enjoyable because there are so many and all come from such different backgrounds!. The differences in the setting from Ilkyrie to Midrash and the Sildahni deserts felt so personal, like it was me who suffered the heat and dehydration. My head exploded at some points even, I was preparing myself for a cliffhanger but not for that last twist!
I'll suffer waiting for the sequel, it can't come out soon enough!
Meia's Greetings!
I am: Befuddled (affectionately).
It does not always happen that a second book strikes me as much as the first one but here the author took it personal and destroyed me. I enjoyed everything about this book, from the pacing to the change of scenery.
Grifinsinger pick up right after Songbird finishes and I must mention, that it keeps the enjoyable pacing, the spice and humanity from it's predecessor, and will let you get immersed in the smells and sensations the characters are experiencing, along their hardships and problems and relieves. I love that. Irenya's growth here is the most remarkable in my opinion and I stand by it given the circumstances, the further development of her interpersonal relationships is so enjoyable because there are so many and all come from such different backgrounds!. The differences in the setting from Ilkyrie to Midrash and the Sildahni deserts felt so personal, like it was me who suffered the heat and dehydration. My head exploded at some points even, I was preparing myself for a cliffhanger but not for that last twist!
I'll suffer waiting for the sequel, it can't come out soon enough!
Meia's Greetings!
March 2, 2022
Thank you Odyssey Books for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Now this is a good book! GriffinSinger by J. Victoria Michael picks up right where the first book left off. Irenya O'Neil is on her way to meet the seer so that she can finally find a way to leave Dar Orien and return to her home world and more importantly to her infant son. Much happens as she continues on her journey and even more occurs once she leaves the seer.
I really enjoyed GriffinSinger. Even more so than the first book, which is usually not how I feel about sequels. In Songbird, the first book of the GriffinSong trilogy, I found myself getting annoyed with Irenya a few times. However, in this second book you can really see that Irenya has grown and gained strength from all the challenges she's faced since finding herself in Dar Orien. As you follow along on her journey, that growth and strength really comes through. I actually would have liked to have gotten a deeper dive into Elaaron’s perspective as I'm not sure how he feels about Irenya. Though, I did the enjoy the scenes from his point of view.
The plot of GriffinSinger is complex but flows beautifully. It wasn't until I had almost concluded the book and was reflecting back on the story that I realized that all the different settings and different worlds I was remembering happened in this one book. It all went from one scene to the next seamlessly. I'm excited to see how the story continues and see the development of all the characters. GriffinSinger was a really enjoyable read and I can't wait to see how the series concludes in the next book!
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Now this is a good book! GriffinSinger by J. Victoria Michael picks up right where the first book left off. Irenya O'Neil is on her way to meet the seer so that she can finally find a way to leave Dar Orien and return to her home world and more importantly to her infant son. Much happens as she continues on her journey and even more occurs once she leaves the seer.
I really enjoyed GriffinSinger. Even more so than the first book, which is usually not how I feel about sequels. In Songbird, the first book of the GriffinSong trilogy, I found myself getting annoyed with Irenya a few times. However, in this second book you can really see that Irenya has grown and gained strength from all the challenges she's faced since finding herself in Dar Orien. As you follow along on her journey, that growth and strength really comes through. I actually would have liked to have gotten a deeper dive into Elaaron’s perspective as I'm not sure how he feels about Irenya. Though, I did the enjoy the scenes from his point of view.
The plot of GriffinSinger is complex but flows beautifully. It wasn't until I had almost concluded the book and was reflecting back on the story that I realized that all the different settings and different worlds I was remembering happened in this one book. It all went from one scene to the next seamlessly. I'm excited to see how the story continues and see the development of all the characters. GriffinSinger was a really enjoyable read and I can't wait to see how the series concludes in the next book!
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
October 9, 2022
GriffinSinger is the second book in the GriffinSong trilogy. I really enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. There were many times that I did not want to put it down, I wanted to keep reading.
Irenya faces many more challenges and obstacles in this installment. Once she returns to Melbourne to only find that so much time has passed and nothing is what she thought it would be. She makes a choice to return to Dar Orien but not alone. I don't want to give away any spoilers so you will need to read the book to find out who she takes with here to Dar Orien.
The plot is so good in this one though. I enjoyed the first book but I really enjoyed this second one so much more. The characters were just as we left them in Songbird. I love most of the characters and their relationship with Irenya. We are introduced to some new characters who I enjoyed getting to know, especially the new MageGate. While new friendships are made there are also war plans being put into motion to help prevent an attack.
I was surprised by so many things throughout the story. But the ending really shocked me, I had to re-read it because I was so surprised. We are left with some wild cliffhangers and lots of unanswered questions. I can't wait to read the last installment to find out what will happen! I received this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
Irenya faces many more challenges and obstacles in this installment. Once she returns to Melbourne to only find that so much time has passed and nothing is what she thought it would be. She makes a choice to return to Dar Orien but not alone. I don't want to give away any spoilers so you will need to read the book to find out who she takes with here to Dar Orien.
The plot is so good in this one though. I enjoyed the first book but I really enjoyed this second one so much more. The characters were just as we left them in Songbird. I love most of the characters and their relationship with Irenya. We are introduced to some new characters who I enjoyed getting to know, especially the new MageGate. While new friendships are made there are also war plans being put into motion to help prevent an attack.
I was surprised by so many things throughout the story. But the ending really shocked me, I had to re-read it because I was so surprised. We are left with some wild cliffhangers and lots of unanswered questions. I can't wait to read the last installment to find out what will happen! I received this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
November 23, 2022
I really enjoyed this book, its not often I like a sequel more than the first in the series, but this was certainly one of those times!
The concept is thoroughly enjoyable and if there were any holes in the theory, I didn't notice as I was swept up in the tale. I love the suspended tension between the characters and the internal grapples with sense of identity and place in the world/s.
I was impressed with the cliff hanger ending and hungry for the upcoming third installment.
The treatment of Mike's character is very darn well done. Its not easy to write characters who grapple with reality and emotional instability and make them creatures not to be pitted, but to be accepted without judgement. The language of his speech is galactic for sure! For me, its him that makes this book something distinctive, dare I even say, original.
I would have liked to have seen a character listing in the front as sometimes I became confused with many names that had lost relevant placement for me in the hords of courtly figures, it would have been nice to flip to the front to remind myself instead of having to either lose the momentum of the moment and search for information or feel as if I was missing something by carrying on regardless of my confusion. But that didn't at all ruin my experience of the rich and medievelesque fantasy world I felt immersed in.
For those who love character tension, very real feeling main characters who are easy to relate to as real world women, seeing mental health explored in genuine ways, the idea of gifts that take real life skill work, stories of empowerment and fantasy worlds that grapple with governance, this book is certainly one you want to read!
There is a rich journey to undertake and I can't wait to see where our heroine develops herself into becoming next!
The concept is thoroughly enjoyable and if there were any holes in the theory, I didn't notice as I was swept up in the tale. I love the suspended tension between the characters and the internal grapples with sense of identity and place in the world/s.
I was impressed with the cliff hanger ending and hungry for the upcoming third installment.
The treatment of Mike's character is very darn well done. Its not easy to write characters who grapple with reality and emotional instability and make them creatures not to be pitted, but to be accepted without judgement. The language of his speech is galactic for sure! For me, its him that makes this book something distinctive, dare I even say, original.
I would have liked to have seen a character listing in the front as sometimes I became confused with many names that had lost relevant placement for me in the hords of courtly figures, it would have been nice to flip to the front to remind myself instead of having to either lose the momentum of the moment and search for information or feel as if I was missing something by carrying on regardless of my confusion. But that didn't at all ruin my experience of the rich and medievelesque fantasy world I felt immersed in.
For those who love character tension, very real feeling main characters who are easy to relate to as real world women, seeing mental health explored in genuine ways, the idea of gifts that take real life skill work, stories of empowerment and fantasy worlds that grapple with governance, this book is certainly one you want to read!
There is a rich journey to undertake and I can't wait to see where our heroine develops herself into becoming next!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews