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A review by millennial_dandy
Song of the Wanderer by Bruce Coville
3.0
A lovely sequel to Into the Land of the Unicorns.
The poem at its heart, 'The Song of the Wanderer' is beautiful and poignant and perfect for anyone who would define themselves as a wanderer.
The story picks up exactly where the first book left off and while it does a lot to push the overarching narrative forward, Song of the Wanderer is definitely more invested in building up gaps in the lore left over from Into the Land of the Unicorns, and it does so beautifully. The only problem is that it does this job so well, it made me wish that Grandmother Morris (Ivy) was the main character of the series rather than Clara, who in this installment comes across yet again as very much an Alice in Wonderland archetype, to the detriment of my personal enjoyment. Though she does have her moments of heroism, these instances of what should have been character development are often undermined by how little they actually change her and seem to exist to build her up as a hero only when the plot calls for it.
The other problem I had with this installment was the sheer number of characters. Immersive fantasy is no stranger to ensemble casts, but the bulk of characters here did nothing but water them all down to the point that I would often forget who a given unicorn was and how they fit into the story.
That all being said, Song of the Wanderer really shined when focusing on its titular character and her mythos as well as the mythos of Beloved and the Hunters and I sincerely hope that future 'chronicles' will put the focus here as well and/or actually allow Clara to develop into someone more interesting than she proved herself to be here.
The poem at its heart, 'The Song of the Wanderer' is beautiful and poignant and perfect for anyone who would define themselves as a wanderer.
The story picks up exactly where the first book left off and while it does a lot to push the overarching narrative forward, Song of the Wanderer is definitely more invested in building up gaps in the lore left over from Into the Land of the Unicorns, and it does so beautifully. The only problem is that it does this job so well, it made me wish that Grandmother Morris (Ivy) was the main character of the series rather than Clara, who in this installment comes across yet again as very much an Alice in Wonderland archetype, to the detriment of my personal enjoyment. Though she does have her moments of heroism, these instances of what should have been character development are often undermined by how little they actually change her and seem to exist to build her up as a hero only when the plot calls for it.
The other problem I had with this installment was the sheer number of characters. Immersive fantasy is no stranger to ensemble casts, but the bulk of characters here did nothing but water them all down to the point that I would often forget who a given unicorn was and how they fit into the story.
That all being said, Song of the Wanderer really shined when focusing on its titular character and her mythos as well as the mythos of Beloved and the Hunters and I sincerely hope that future 'chronicles' will put the focus here as well and/or actually allow Clara to develop into someone more interesting than she proved herself to be here.