A Strange Hymn

By: Laura Thalassa

Narrated by: Susannah Jones

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Siren and soulmate to the King of Night, Callypso Lillis survived the clutches of Karnon, the mad king, and his twisted prison. But the nightmare isn't over. Callie wears the physical reminders of her time as a captive, and mounting evidence suggests the Thief of Souls is still out there.

When a fae celebration thrusts Callie and her mate, Desmond Flynn, into the Kingdom of Flora, they take their investigation with them. But under the bright lights and striking blooms of the realm, they find there are more immediate issues to deal with. No place is more uniquely savage than the great fae halls, and no amount of bargains can save Callie from royal intrigues.

Fairies play dangerous games. Some want love, some want vengeance, some want flesh, and some want things too unspeakable to utter. One thing is for sure: no one is who they appear to be. Not even Des, who only grows more enigmatic with every passing secret.

But the Kingdom of Flora has its own secrets, from bleeding trees to branded slaves and missing guards. Something is stirring in the land of all that grows, and if Callie isn't careful, it will claim everything and everyone she loves - and her along with it.

©2017 Laura Thalassa (P)2017 Laura Thalassa

Not enough story line, too much X rated content

I loved the first Bargainer novel, but this one just lost me. Whereas the first book had lots of sexual tension, this one had multiple graphic sexual encounters. The sex scenes are totally unnecessary and detracted from the story line. Several parts of the story are repeated (with nearly the same verbiage), as if the reader is not going to remember them, despite it being such a short book. I did enjoy the descriptions of the different Fae lands, though. Overall, I am very disappointed.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Too much Fluff with Too many similarities

I find the story line of these series utterly fasinating. However, the majority of the book is Callie describing how Desmond is so hot. I'm very serious when I tell you that over half of the book is her fawning over him and sex.

A fourth of the book is Callie being "Wow-ed" by everything Desmond does. There is actually a scene where he is simply talking to some guys in a bar and Callie is amazed, wow-ed, and awed by how he sits in the chair or how he laughs with his buddies. I wanted to throw up it was so corny.

So let's talk about the fourth of the book that was actually about moving the story forward. Don't get too excited, it didn't move far. The author reveals the obvious with the cliffhanger from book 1. But other than that nothing really gets resolved and the story itself doesn't start until the last two chapters.

The story with the fairies is very very similar to a Court of Midst and Fury. Callie falls for the King of Night like Farrah. The King of Night is really a good guy with alittle bad side. The Night Court is better than people think. The crazy Fae queen makes Callie prove herself. The other Fae hate she is human. Callie has wings and wants to learn to fly like Farrah... these are just the basic similarities... but you get the picture.

I wish the author spent more time on the Thief of Souls story line and less time of the high school girl crush talk.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Copy Cat. I feel cheated.

I am a huge fan of the ACOTAR series and I feel like this series is a huge copy cat of something great! I love Cally and Des! Why couldn’t they have their adventures instead of being Rhysand and Feyre is an alternative parallel world?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Just as good as the first book.

I love these characters, love the story, the twists, the world building. Everything.
The narrator is fantastic. Can't wait for the next one.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Story that kinda headed nowhere

The first book had me intrigued enough to buy the 2nd but the story failed to draw me in as the first book did. Seemed pointless and made me lose interest fast. The narrator did a great job. I think she was the only reason I enjoyed the first book so much.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Highly predictable but still entertaining

Enjoyable for what it is, but way predictable plot. Almost makes the characters seem dense and unintelligent. Still good for some light reading if you don't take the plot seriously.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not happy with the narrator

Not as good as the first, but still worth the read/listen. My main complaint is the narrator, Susannah Jones. Her tone gets very high pitched and extremely bothersome, taking much away from the enjoyment of the audiobook.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

it keeps getting better

while at certain points the st story seemed to drag, and it's of my opinion that if you're going to write a sex scene make it a good one or it just feels like a waste of page, the story overall was captivating and once you really started to get into the mystery of the disappearances (and the author focuses on that mainly towards the end), it got even better. Definitely excited about the next book!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

State the Obvious, Repeat it 57 Times

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Trim the junk until it's about 3 chapters, and then continue with the actual story to a satisfying conclusion.

What character would you cut from A Strange Hymn?

Malachai. He didn't get developed at all and was just kind of there.

Any additional comments?

In the beginning of the book, Cally and Des go on vacation. The book plods along for 12 chapters with no real direction, conflict, or content.

Repetitive, melodramatic, predictable, cliche: all of these words describe almost every part of this book. "Get away from me or I'll rip your head off" Des said angrily. He looked mad. He seemed like he didn't like the man. Cally wondered if he was going to get angry. Could he possibly dislike this man? He took a menacing step towards the man, glaring, his pecs glistening with sweat. He looked mad. He also looked sexy. He looked sexy and mad. Cally thought he looked sexy when he was mad. Des looked her in the eye and said "Cally, I am mad at this man." Cally gasped, so shocked that she fell backwards and landed on her butt. She couldn't breathe, she was so shocked. How could Des be angry with this man? Could this have something to do with them screaming at each other for the past 20 minutes? Cally admired his glistening angry pecs. He was so sexy when mad. He glared at everyone angrily.

Go on like this for another 3 pages, and you will have the gist of this book. Things that should take a few words to convey get sledgehammered into your brain after several pages of repetition, just in case you missed the oh-so-subtle hints. People are also regularly shocked by information they should already know. Why do we see the climax from Cally's perspective, and then see it again from Des's perspective? There is no substantive difference between the two. We don't hear anything from Des that we haven't heard a dozen times before. It was just bad.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Loved!

Loved this series! Laughed my butt off at how Cal's personality/thinking pricess worked. Fell in love with Des. Can't wait for the next book and more buty kicking!

Only for fans

This book feels very slight and the story only hits a few plot points. If you're a fan of the series, this may be okay with you, but it doesn't really hold up as a stand alone novel. The reader is the same as the first novel and does a good job.

A great book

Can’t wait for the next instalment ! This book ticks all the boxes !
Enter and enjoy!