Fantasy Audiobook Review: The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier

 

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier (Warrior Bards #1)

bought on audio

Synopsis from Goodreads

A young woman is both a bard--and a warrior--in this thrilling historical fantasy from the author of the Sevenwaters novels.

Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and a rare talent on the harp. But Liobhan's burning ambition is to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. She and her brother train there to compete for places, and find themselves joining a mission while still candidates. Their unusual blend of skills makes them ideal for this particular job, which requires going undercover as traveling minstrels. For Swan Island trains both warriors and spies.

Their mission: to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has gone mysteriously missing. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted and the people could revolt. Faced with plotting courtiers and tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realizes an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobhan must make a bold decision and is faced with a heartbreaking choice. . . .

8.5/10

* * *

Yes!!! This was about my favourite healer and blacksmith's daughter and an adoptive son. And I had no idea about the connection until I started listening to The Harp of Kings.

What a gorgeous story, like everything else I've listened to from Marillier so far. I feel like her books really benefit from the audio format.

She knows how to weave magic into her stories where even names hold some power over you. 

You can split The Harp of Kings into two main plots. First is the investigation into the disappeared harp, and the second is coming back home into the fae world. I loved both, they were filled with so much love and kindness. I think this is Marillier's greatest skill: to intersperse her fairy tales with bright flashes of light, small kindnesses her heroines/heroes show to strangers like in fairy tales of old, what these acts lead to and the dark forces opposing them.

Overall, a great listen which filled me with warmth, much recommended!