If you have ever watched The Labyrinth with David Bowie, then the story of the Goblin King should be familiar to you. I know that the Goblin King originated long before David Bowie but many people don't follow fairy tales, or mythology, or religions kind of like I do. Therefore, I was super excited to read this book, and afterwards somewhat disappointed.
Wintersong is about a girl named Elizabeth, or Liesl, who has spent her whole life helping her mother manage an inn while her father drank and musically trained her younger brother. Liesl, however, carries music in her heart, and her younger brother actually plays her compositions. Liesl's father refuses to train Liesl, and so Liesl condemns herself to hearing her music played by her brother who will also receive all the credit. When Liesl's younger sister Kathe falls into a trap set by the Goblin King, Liesl travels to rescue her. But the Goblin King will not give her up per the "old laws" and insists on an exchange. "A life for a life."Liesl agrees and marries the Goblin King. Now that she is in the Underground, Liesl finds it difficult to dislike the Goblin King when he was her inspiration so long ago. Through that inspiration, Liesl and the Goblin King must understand what true sacrifice is before Liesl fades into nothingness.
The very first thing I connected to was Liesl's feelings of loneliness and being overlooked. There is not a single person in her village who make her a priority as she is not considered a beauty. Even her one time friend and crush, Hans, has become betrothed to her younger, more beautiful sister Kathe. Her brother, very reluctantly, takes her composition and plays them, thus getting the credit for those compositions. Liesl, however, through all this seems to have accepted her role as caregiver, and accepts that she will never be beautiful. Even at the beginning with the Goblin King, it was not her beauty that he was attracted to, it was her music.
The novel, however, is a very slow read and a reader definitely has to be looking at a "deeper" style of reading. This is not a typical YA novel where everything is laid out. This novel will make readers think about their chosen partners and why they picked them. The romance of Liesl and the Goblin King was not a traditional romance by any means, but it was also very confusing. In moments it seemed as if Liesl hated him, and then in others it seemed she never wanted him to leave her side. It felt more like the author was forcing the readers to like the couple or to want more for them, and instead it come off very dry and empty. The ending was where the real passion was felt.
I also believe what did not help the situation mentioned above were all the musical discussions. I knew that there will be mentions of music by the blurb. I just didn't realize that the technical words and in depth discussion would be about 75% of the novel. Even at the beginning, during Sepperl's audtion, Liesl was mentioning how one piece was not a good audition piece for Sepperl, but I truly did not understand why. Sepperl's name was also an issue with me as sometimes he was Sepperl and other time he was Josef. What's the kid's name?
Overall it wasn't my favorite and maybe if I knew more about music I would have enjoyed it more. However, with that said I must rate this novel 3 out of 5 stars. I will be reading Shadowsong in the hopes that the sequel will be more open, but don't anticipate it being anytime soon.
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