“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵.”

𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬. 𝘜𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬.

“𝘕𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘞𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘈𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.” 

“𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦?”

“𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴” 

“𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘚𝘺𝘭. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦.”

“𝘞𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦?”

“𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴.” 

“𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺.” 

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶… 𝘚𝘺𝘭, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐’𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦.” 

“𝘈 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮? 𝘕𝘢𝘦, 𝘚𝘺𝘭. 𝘠𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳.”

✨ Tropes ✨ 

OH MY GOD! This book was AMAZING! 

You follow an Elven bard called Sylvaine on her journey to try gain notoriety in the world after being looked down upon for so long due to being an elf. She gets picked up by a group of adventurers, Neith, Cadoc, Aeran and Jaromir, to slay a dragon and take its hoard. But the journey to that end has obstacles in its path and OH MY GOD, the story was amazing and I felt like I was witnessing a D&D campaign. 

Sylvaine is a wonderful character with a really sad backstory and I adore her so so much, especially when she over shares and goes on rants. I love her. I love the growing bond between her and Jaromir, ESPECIALLY the tension between them both, oh my god, and even the obstacles that came between them and just both of them together made my heart bleed I swear it, through the good and the bad. Neith, Cadoc and Aeran were also so well written and I adore all three of them, with their own stories for how they met eachother and the lore they share. That the ending really just felt bittersweet honestly and I was sad that it really was an end. This has definitely got to be up in one of my favourites, I devoured this book and I feel a little bit hollow now that I’ve finished it.  

It has certainly spurred me on to play a bard in baldurs gate 3 now 😌🖤