Name: Sistersong
ISBN: 9781529039030

Lucy Holland

535 AD. In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, King Cador's children inherit a fragmented land abandoned by the Romans. Riva, scarred in a terrible fire, fears she will never heal. Keyne battles to be seen as the king's son, when born a daughter. And Sinne, the spoiled youngest girl, yearns for romance. All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold - a last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. But change comes on the day ash falls from the sky, bringing Myrddhin, meddler and magician, and Tristan, a warrior whose secrets will tear the siblings apart. Riva, Keyne and Sinne must take fate into their own hands, or risk being tangled in a story they could never have imagined; one of treachery, love and ultimately, murder. It's a story that will shape the destiny of Britain. Sistersong by Lucy Holland retells the folk ballad, The Two Sisters, through the eyes of one the tale forgot. It's a powerfully moving story, perfect for fans of Naomi Novik's Uprooted and Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale.

Sistersong

Laura Mei

The historical elements were the best parts of the story for me. I think, in some ways, the writing is a bit easy for advanced readers. There isn't much inferring you get to do, most elements are told in explicit (and sometimes awkward) ways. However, this is just a personal peeve of mine and I still really enjoyed the book. Just be prepared for it to be a little simplistic in the ways of language and word-play. 

Paige Leitner

lala

A retelling based on the old ballad “The Twa Sisters”, Holland successfully transports us into ancient British Isles. In the midst of Roman invasion, we get to see the story of three sisters in a kingdom led by their father, King Cador. Each sisters have their own ‘magic’ skills from their inherited from their connection to the land and their own desires. With the Roman invasion coming, the kingdom is slowly leaving their magic behind in support for Christianity to gain better diplomacy with other kingdom. But the conditions of the kingdom are stirred with the arrival of the magician, Myrdhin and an outsider, Tristan. This is a very interesting novel, and Holland imagined the setting very well. I didn’t know about the ballad before, but still enjoyed it very much. The novel uses first-person narrative in the point of view of each sister, and i think it highlights the difference in characters, and how they view the world. At the start it felt a little bit slow-paced but overall it has a very satisfying ending.

Inspired by the traditional murder ballad "The Two Sisters", set against the rich backdrop of ancient Britain, Sistersong is a dark and lyrical tale of siblings and sorcery from a spellbinding new voice. In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, there is old magic to be found in the whisper of the wind, the roots of the trees, the curl of the grass. King Cador knew this once, but now the land has turned from him, calling instead to his three children. Riva can cure others, but can't seem to heal her own deep scars. Keyne battles to be accepted for who he truly is--the king's son. And Sinne dreams of seeing the world, of finding adventure. All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold, their people's last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. However, change comes on the day ash falls from the sky. It brings with it Myrdhin, meddler and magician. And Tristan, a warrior whose secrets will tear them apart. Riva, Keyne and Sinne--three siblings entangled in a web of treachery and heartbreak, who must fight to forge their own paths. Their story will shape the destiny of Britain. "​From its opening pages, Sistersong transports you to a time period often overlooked, and spins a tale of family, loyalty, and the triumph of becoming the person you were always meant to be. I was utterly captivated from the beginning to the tragic, bittersweet end." --Genevieve Gornichec, author of The Witch's Heart "If you like poetic reimaginings of mythology, such as Madeline Miller's Circe and The Song of Achilles, you need to make sure to pick up Sistersong." --Grimdark Magazine

Lara Engle

Make no mistake, Sistersong is a strange trip. Things get weird and gruesome, but it is also magical and sweet and heart-revealing. Throughout the story, the dread grows and when it all finally shakes out, there are still surprises. This is one that got under my skin.

Riva, Keyne and Sinne are siblings, children of King Cador, in the post-Roman Britain kingdom of Dummonia. The Saxons are threatening their borders and the Queen has embraced Christianity and brought a priest into their court as a powerful advisor. His work is to cleanse the people from their Pagan gods and magic. The siblings each have their own power, given as an inheritance by blood and from the land. But the magic has been failing since the ascendance of a new religion. Magician and storyteller, Myrddin (Merlin) arrives agian after a long absence and is welcomed warmly by those who are tired of the priest's influence. When Tristan comes to court as an emissary from another king, his presence threatens their family bonds. Each sibling must make their own path and it will cost dearly.

We get the three points of view and feel the torrent of their emotions. Riva is scarred and disabled by a traumatic accident as a child. She struggles against the pity of others for being "the damaged one". Keyne is a trans man and fights to get anyone to recognize him as his true self. The rejection of his identity and the dysphoria are a prison for him. Sinne is a romantic dreamer who wants life to be an exciting adventure. This novel is based on the ballad of the Two Sisters. The time period and Merlin make it Arthurian adjacent. The prose is descriptive and expressive without being overdone at all. The family dynamics and sibling relationships are very well done. The themes and characters are interwoven very well.

Cheryl Hedlund

Riva, Keyne and Sinne are siblings, children of King Cador, in the post-Roman Britain kingdom of Dummonia. The Saxons are threatening their borders and the Queen has embraced Christianity and brought a priest into their court as a powerful advisor. His work is to cleanse the people from their Pagan gods and magic. The siblings each have their own power, given as an inheritance by blood and from the land. But the magic has been failing since the ascendance of a new religion. Magician and storyteller, Myrddin (Merlin) arrives agian after a long absence and is welcomed warmly by those who are tired of the priest's influence. When Tristan comes to court as an emissary from another king, his presence threatens their family bonds. Each sibling must make their own path and it will cost dearly.

We get the three points of view and feel the torrent of their emotions. Riva is scarred and disabled by a traumatic accident as a child. She struggles against the pity of others for being "the damaged one". Keyne is a trans man and fights to get anyone to recognize him as his true self. The rejection of his identity and the dysphoria are a prison for him. Sinne is a romantic dreamer who wants life to be an exciting adventure. This novel is based on the ballad of the Two Sisters. The time period and Merlin make it Arthurian adjacent. The prose is descriptive and expressive without being overdone at all. The family dynamics and sibling relationships are very well done. The themes and characters are interwoven very well.

Sally Salinas

Elizabeth Hagenlocher

Sistersong exceeded my expectations, and is everything I could want in a book. 

Sistersong follows the story of three siblings: Keyne, Riva, and Sinne. They are the children of King Cador, one of the last pagan kings of Briton. However, the Queen's endorsement of a certain Christian priest threatens the King's ties to his magic. 

King Cador's children feel this shift distinctly. Their traditions are threatened, their powers are dwindling, and it's hard to say that their kingdom is better off by forsaking their gods. The priest's grip on Dumnonia sets each sibling on a different path to grapple with, and understand, their own magic. 

Sistersong is told from the three perspectives of the siblings, and I think this is expertly done by Holland. For starters, each of the siblings has a distinct voice and narrative. In most multiple-POV novels I've read, this is one of the most difficult feats to pull off. And yet, Holland conveys Riva's bitterness, Sinne's electricity, and Keyne's journey of becoming in a masterful way. 

Not only this, but the varying POVs help to put the reader just a few steps ahead of the characters. Some may call this "predictability," but I love the tension that this creates between the siblings. It's a narrative tool that's difficult to pull off, but I think Holland does it well. It makes the journey to the revelation that much more bittersweet, in the end, because each sibling unknowingly carries but a piece of the puzzle. That, and a chasm grows between them.

I also loved how Holland wrote in Keyne, who is a trans man. (Note that for much of the narrative, Keyne is not out to anyone, and therefore is misgendered frequently. There is also a lot of dysphoria. However, the journey is so beautiful and worth it.) Holland has found a way to include a trans character in a historical fantasy that is hopeful and triumphant. Keyne is hands-down my favorite character, and his journey of discovery is so well done. It's nice to see a book that ultimately sidesteps (most of) the trauma of being trans and does something so meaningful with a trans character. 

Another major selling point of the novel is the allusions to Arthurian legend. I feel like much of it is up to interpretation, but I choose to believe that this is directly connected to the mythos rather than being nodded at. At the end of this review, I'll go into why I think this. 

Ultimately, this book hit everything right for me. I loved the complicated legacy of the three siblings, and their respective journeys. This is a book about being forced to grow up in a matter of months, and the different outcomes that may result. (I've seen the criticism that the book is fairly light in the first half, and dark in the second half, but I think that's a simplification. For Keyne, for example, the narrative only gets better. I also think that the abruptness of war makes the book so much richer.) This book is about jealousy, fear, kinship, war, discovery. 

Representation: Trans character, gender-fluid character, disabled (mute) character, disabled (burn victim) character. 

Trigger/Content Warnings: gender dysphoria, misgendering, transphobia, violence, gore, dismemberment.

*Big Spoilers* about my King Arthur "conspiracy theory" below:

So I think the connection to Arthurian myth is purposely ambiguous, so that people can come to their own conclusions about whether this is merely coincidental, a cameo or nod to Arthurian legend, or meant to be a retelling of the Arthurian legend itself. I'm in the latter camp. 

Anyway, what I believe is that Myrdhin IS Merlin (as it's very similar to the Welsh spelling, Myrddin), and would even suggest that Constantine is Arthur. For starters, Myrdhin is a gender-fluid wizard who is one with nature, much like the one and only Merlin. His other identity, Mori the witch, bears a resemblance to Morganna/Morgan le Fay. Their horse is named Nimue, which is the lady of the lake, who guides Constantine at certain points in the story. The silver bracelets Mori gifts to Constantine parallel excalibur, as they help Constantine forge his connection to the land and his people. 

Furthermore, Constantine forges a bond with a woman named Gwen, and possibly marries her, though this remains ambiguous. There's also a cameo of a character named Owain, who you may also know as Yvain, one of Arthur's knights. Could it be a random Owain? Sure! But based on the other nods to Arthurian legend, I doubt it. 

BASICALLY, the story is rife with cameos. They may simply be nods to lore that would have occurred around this time, or even a hint that Arthur is out there somewhere else, and this is just an interlude of the wizard Merlin/Myrdhin that we get to see. However, there's an important theme that Myrdhin shares with Constantine, and that is that there is power in the names you give yourself. That, and that a person may have many names. Constantine ends the story by sharing that there are many stories told of him, and he's often left out of his sisters' narrative. This begs the question, could he be a part of a different narrative? Perhaps one of an unconventional King who must prove himself worthy to his people through his connection to the land? A Romano-British King of unquestionable charisma and leadership potential, who has an unshakeable friendship with a powerful wizard? Who drove back the Saxons, if only for a time? A King with ties to Tintagel (which is referenced in the book by its Corninsh name, Dintagel)? 

The book ends with Myrdhin and the spectral Constantine finding Sinne again sometime in the future (once and future king, anybody???), when magic has left the land. They are described as the oldest of friends. And who would be more important to Myrdhin than Arthur himself? And to answer, "Well why wouldn't Myrdhin refer to him as Arthur, then?" Well, just as Mori both is and is not Myrdhin, Constantine and Arthur may be separate identities of the same person, but Constantine represents his truest self: the name he first chose for himself. 

So that's my long an convoluted reasoning for why this is also an origin story for a trans King Arthur.

Betrayal. Magic. Murder. A tale of three siblings and three deadly sins. In a magical ancient Britain, bards sing a story of treachery, love and death. This is that story. For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Lucy Holland's Sistersong retells the folk ballad ‘The Twa Sisters.' King Cador’s children inherit a land abandoned by the Romans, torn by warring tribes. Riva can cure others, but can’t heal her own scars. Keyne battles to be seen as the king’s son, although born a daughter. And Sinne dreams of love, longing for adventure. All three fear a life of confinement within the walls of the hold, their people’s last bastion of strength against the invading Saxons. However, change comes on the day ash falls from the sky – bringing Myrdhin, meddler and magician. The siblings discover the power that lies within them and the land. But fate also brings Tristan, a warrior whose secrets will tear them apart. Riva, Keyne and Sinne become entangled in a web of treachery and heartbreak, and must fight to forge their own paths. It’s a story that will shape the destiny of Britain. '[A] gory, gripping and magically mythic tale of love and hatred, loyalty and betrayal' – Daily Mail Sistersong is a powerfully moving story, perfect for readers who loved Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale.

Toni Turner

Libby

REBECCA FRANKUM

I really loved how Holland built up the siblings as unique characters with their own individual stories. It was also really clever how their perceptions of each other changed over the course of the novel. This is a book I would enjoy re-reading.

Jennifer

Lucy Holland's Sistersong is a beautiful mythology retelling of the Two Sisters ballad which brings the world of ancient Britain to life. Featuring three distinctive narratives from Riva, Keyne, and Sinne - Holland's memorable storytelling redeems this novel an emotionally engaging read about sisterhood and the fate of Britain at its crossroads.

My favourite part of Sistersong is certainly the characterisation, particularly the narratives of the sisters. As the premise stated, each sister has a sin of their own, but through Holland's nuanced explorations of their emotional headspace, I found their personality complex yet likeable. For example, Keyne's superb narrative about gender roles. Keyne's storytelling is particularly impressive that it fleshes out the unsung voice of the original ballad. Similarly, Riva's and Sinne's chapters also showcased their contrasting personalities. Riva's chapters showcases the complexity of falling in love and Sinne's chapters highlights her wild & vibrant nature as she has to confront the future of ancient Brtain.

One trick about good characterisation is not about having a flawless character straight from the beginning but it's about demonstrating strong character arc throughout the novel. And Holland accomplished this feat through nuanced character growth, which is driven by the plot twists in the book.

I also enjoyed Holland's writing in Sistersong. I think the proses did an effective job at painting the mood and the headspace of the characters. While this is a character-driven novel and there aren't a lot of extra details about the worldbuilding, that didn't affect the coherence of the book because I find that the worldbuilding details are strongly tied with the character arc e.g. the name of the festivals and their symbolisms. Holland's prose also made a strong case in the overall messaging about love, fate, and religion.

If there's a potential drawback, it's that took me around 50 pages to completely get used to the the multiple POV's in the novel. But overall, I find that this worked pretty well given the thematic progressions which is sectioned by the pagan festivals.

To sum it up, I really enjoyed Sistersong. This is an emotionally touching read which I'll highly recommend to anyone who loves mythology retellings, tales of sisterhood, and character-driven novels with solid character developments! 


N.B. This book contains following potentially triggering content: blood mentions, accidents, violence, and character death

Moray Lyle McIntosh

In an ancient Britain that might have been, three royal sisters are forging their paths in a kingdom at a crossroads between the old ways and the new religion. Riva, the middle child, burned in an accident knows that her chances of marriage have lessened and that the alternative is a convent to a Christianity that she sees as a threat to her people. Sinne, the youngest dreams of love and adventure and is in love with the romance and mystery of the gods. And Keyne, struggling to be seen as a son and a brother by a world that sees a woman. With the rumour of the Saxon forces on the wind and the growing influence of the Christian priest Gildas, who sees all the old ways as blasphemy they see the ancient magic of the kingdom falter.

As all three struggle against the confines of their situation the return of Mrydhin, the wandering magician brings fresh hope and fresh conflict. When a stranger from a neighbouring kingdom arrives the siblings find themselves increasingly at odds and their choices could decide the future of all Britons.

I LOVED THIS. It's a wonderful historical fantasy that draws on ancient mythological traditions while giving voice and agency to characters that wouldn't normally have any. It is an imaginary Britain at the typing point between the magical lands of ancient myth and the more mundane future that could lead to our own. The there main characters are engaging even when their weaknesses and errors are infuriating to see. Keyne in particular is brilliantly compelling with a character arc that I adored. Holland weaves an intricate web of complex relationships and consequences that make it impossible to stop reading. Holland takes the historical ballad of the Twa Sisters and breathes new, magical life into it, creating a gripping reimagining of Britain's folkloric history for a modern audience.

Judy McClure

One of the best books that I've read this year!! Loved this beautifully written, lyrical interpretation of a classic myth. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.

Nickie Mohler

This follows three sisters that are the daughters of a king. Their father has always protected his people and lands with his magic. But with the rise of Christianity, the magic is dying.
The sisters know they must return to the old ways or all will be lost. Especially with the Saxons on the horizon. 

I loved the folklore. I loved the characters, and I loved the magic.

Thank you to Net Galley for the copy.

Revna

This book is like sledging. A trek to get to the top but the thrill on the way down is worth it. Historical fiction where a trans character has more to them than just wearing another gender's clothes.

erin s

Sistersong, a reimagining of the "Twa Sisters" folktale in post-Roman Britain, is an intricate story of sisterhood, jealousy, storytelling, identity, magic, and loss. Three children of an ancient Dumnonian king struggle to assert themselves against the rising tides of Christianity and conquest. Eldest Riva, permanently scarred from a fire, cannot shake her persona of shy propriety. Middle child Keyne knows he is a man, but everyone only sees him as a girl. And youngest Sinne, with her alluring beauty and enchanting singing voice, dreams of an all-consuming love. Together, the three siblings must confront a changing world threatening to leave their community behind. I don't want to give much more away, but their three storylines become increasingly intense and intertwined. 

[4.5/5: A heartbreaking retelling of a tragic ballad with vivid characters and an evocative ancient setting. I can see fans of books like  The Witch's Heart, Circe, and Ariadne really loving this one!]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Redhook books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Narah Quinn

Sistersong by Lucy Holland caught me unawares. 
Last year I was invited (thank you PanMacmillian UK) to read any/all of a selection of books due for release this year and of all the ones on the list, I had recently seen an ad for Sistersong on IG and I am all about folklore, ballads and legends and their retellings. The fact that in this instance these are places I know and have visited and that are not too far from home made me want to read it more so I selected it and then it sat on my kindle, untouched.

Lockdown 1, 2, and now 3, have been strange things. I had imagined myself with all this incredible time to read, but I read no more or less than normal and it has been so easy to lose track of the days, for the hours to pass without you even realising, and though it took me a minute to get to it, for the last 10 days or so, as I slowly felt my way through the story, Sistersong has taken me away from all the confusion and chaos of the modern world, from its pandemic, from not being able to travel anywhere, or even go to work, and it led me to the past – to all our pasts – our history, to the magic of the land and the fragile and fractured arms of a family that could be almost any family even today.

Sistersong is a wholly heartfelt read, you will rise and fall, you will hurt and you will hope, and as you take this journey (over almost a year) with Keyne, Riva, and Sinne, you will ache at the pain and the humiliation, doubt at the honesty of men and their promises. You will rally and rage at the injustice suffered and you will wonder how something set in the time of the Saxon invasions can still feel so relevant today.

This book made me forever grateful to have been raised in a family that knew me, that allowed me to grow as I wanted, and that taught me I could do anything so long as I was a kind and decent human being first. It made me grateful that I have friends and the family I have made for myself who really know me, who respect my choices and who will listen to my views and who will debate with me rather than shut down the vitally important topics that flood the news every day in relation to race, gender, sex, and a seemingly overwhelming lack of action from anyone with the power to make true changes. But as a wise woman (who is the most wonderful of characters) once said,

“Things will not always be this way,. . . But the world won’t change unless you work to change it.”

And I felt that. It’s up to us.