Book Review Wednesday: Song in the Silence

Song in the Silence: The Tale of Lanen Kaelar
Author: Elizabeth Kerner
Length: 384 pages
(My) Rating: PG13

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Many people haven't heard of this book, or the two that follow it. Personally, this is one of my all-time favorite books. 

Lanen Kaelar is an orphan. Her mother abandoned her when she was a baby, and the man who she thought was her father has just passed away. All of her life, she has wanted to travel and in her heart she feels drawn to meet the true-dragons, who may not be real. At the death of her father, she finally is free to follow her dreams. 

However, as she leaves her home, she learns that she isn't who she thinks she is. Her father is actual a man who, even before she was born, promised her to demons and is bent on fulfilling that promise. If that wasn't enough, she finds her way to the true dragons, and finds herself entangled in romance, fate, and destiny. 

This book is really well written. I think I first read it around 2003, and there are a few strange things that might make people uncomfortable. 

*Spoiler*, (Lanen falls in love with a dragon, though it is resolved really well.) 

The book is fast-paced and exciting. Humans are the real villains in this story, and as many enemies as Lanen finds, she also finds a number of allies, human and otherwise. 

The characters are interesting, and the mythology is fun. I really like that the deities in the book (the Lady and the Wind) are very proactive in the protagonists' lives. They are directing events, and it is very obvious that things are happening for a reason. 

I love Lanen. She is a fun protagonist. She is described as not particularly beautiful, but full of life. She is not a Mary Sue, and I like that about her. She is not a good swordswoman, though she is tall and strong. I think she reminded me a bit of myself.

I also really like the dragons. They are not perfect, but she portrays them really well as an older, longer-lived race. It is fun to hear the conversations between the humans and the dragons. 

I would recommend this book to everyone. There are a couple things that bother me, but the intimate scenes are very vague and non-specific. So, though it bothered me on a moral level that a couple in the story were intimate before marriage, there were no visuals to go with the fact, so I found it still readable. 

Other than that, and some swearing, I have no qualms about this book or series. It constantly surprised me, and was not your run-of-the-mill fantasy about dragons. I'm still holding out hope that the author will publish more of these. They are delightful!

Parental Guide

I would rate this book PG-13 on my scale. There is swearing, but it is at a PG-13 level (no f-words or worse). There is violence, but usually it is not very descriptive. Much of the violence occurs to dragons or demons. 

As far as sexual content goes, there is a scene where a man tries to seduce a woman using amulets. The woman resists and nothing really happens, which is great because later you find out they're related. That was a little disturbing, but more because the man is a complete dirtbag. There is also, as I mentioned early, some intimacy between characters, but there is no description of the events, which I really appreciate. These two characters are also married shortly thereafter.