Last Song Before Night

[sawyl]

Over Easter I finally found time to catch up with a few things on my to-read list starting with Ilana C. Myer's epic fantasy Last Song Before Night. Set in a world where magic was banished hundreds of years earlier, it follows a group of poets and seers — the holders of what remains of the magical tradition — as the try to restore the world.

The story opens on the eve a song contest. Held every 12 years, the contest winners get a silver branch and a chance to become the next Court Poet. The favourites are Darien and Marlen, with Lin and her musical parter Leander some way behind — partly because women aren't allowed to train at the academy. Events are turned on their heads when Valanir Occune, arch-rival of Nickon Gerrard, the current Court Poet, is arrested and almost immediately escapes again.

During a festival to mark the start of the competition, Valanir and Lin go about in disguise singing songs of sedition. Hearing one of these songs, Darien decides to skip the competition and go in search of the True Path which promises to return magic to the world. Marlen opts to stay and throws his lot in with the sinister Court Poet. Lin, who has all sorts of strange dreams marking her as the Chosen One, joins forces with Darien and they travel the world in search of the Path.

Meanwhile Darien's girlfriend Rianna Gelvin, previously protected by her father's wealth, finds herself alone and friendless when her father's digging into Nickon Gerrard's activities — Master Gelvin suspects the Court Poet of murdering his wife twenty years ago — leads to his arrest. Fleeing to a remote inn where she is compelled to work in the kitchens, Rianna seems to have found a saviour when Lin's estranged brother Rayen appears. But is Rayen really the reformed character he claims to be, or is he still the abusive monster we know him to be from Lin's memories?

While much of the book follows the established forms of epic fantasy — Chosen Ones, quests, undying love that isn't, dark pasts, evil brothers, and naifs putting their trust in the wrong people — Myer's characters are engagingly drawn and the setting works well. The more minor characters — Rianna's former fiancé Ned and Marilla, Marlen's mistress — aren't neglected and get decent development along with plot threads that feed into the main quest in significant ways.

The book suffers a little from the usual problems of epic fantasy novels, jumping over distances, relying on unexpectedly convenient meetings with people, and having a wise mentor figure who knows more than he tells and who is absent at key moments. But this is a minor gripe in what is otherwise a solid, entertaining read that has definitely left me interested in seeing what Ilana Myer does next.