What I liked: Sword fighting lessons, captivating cover design, intriguing fae-ish characters transforming into swans, and a refreshing focus on a female protagonist being groomed for queenship rather than marriage.

What I didn't like: Writing style, lack of conflict, meandering plot.

The current marketing is highly misleading. The publisher is marketing to fans of Holly Black, Robin McKinley, and Sarah J Maas, which led me to anticipate a YA to adult type book with character exploration, a fae world, and a heavy dose of romantasy. In all honesty, identifying a specific audience for this book proves challenging. Perhaps it might appeal to those who appreciate intricate day-to-day details and are less concerned with a compelling story conflict.

The prose itself is clumsy, and we immediately dive into the slow and incoherent plot. A chapter buffer with a little more tone-setting would be appropriate. The narrative itself was boring and stumbling. It lacked any coherent plot arc and didn't make significant progress until approximately two-thirds into the book. Events and descriptions of places have no point and are never resolved; tons of copy editing needs to be done there. It feels like a collection of vignettes that all lack a conclusion, which, in some ways, is how a fairy tale book should work, but those conclusions should be found. Character arcs lack any substance because half of them are resolved within a chapter.

While I recognize this is an unreleased book, the lack of resolution on some arcs is concerning. I feel that I was not the intended audience for this, suggesting a pivot in marketing might be needed.

2.5 stars
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did…I felt that there wasn’t enough detail or world building. Everything seemed to move too fast for my liking. Because of this, I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters. Also, I felt that the plot of this book was very underwhelming. It didn’t have me on my toes.

However, I really enjoyed the slow burn romance between Kiar and Tuan.

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own.

I requested this book because in all honestly I really liked the cover. I tend to generally judge a book by the cover first... and this one was really exceptional. However, I started reading this book this morning and realized the plot just fell flat. The characters are one dimensional and there's no intrigue. The story itself felt really boring and alot of times felt monotonous. My second critique is that there were alot of instances of bad editing. I do apologize to the author for the bad rating as my preference in writing style is not a third person point of view.
The book held promise- good idea However poor execution.

Thank you to the author & publisher via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A YA fantasy that has shapeshifting magic, medieval settings, and a super pretty cover.

The story starts off a bit slow, with a large majority of the book in a calming and relaxed pace. It developed both the mc and her allies. However, I felt all the characters didn’t feel unique, and some I wondered what point they were providing to the story. Perhaps a bit more showing and not telling regarding emotions & actions could help bring them to life more.

Some of the words repeated quite often, and there were still some very apparent grammatical mistakes that made the read a bit hard to get through. It also worsened the pacing which felt off.

The story also felt a bit jumbled and honestly a mess. There were some discrepancies, others made no sense, and the direction was just all over the place.

Overall, the premise was something I really wanted to enjoy, but the execution just wasn’t quite right.

2/5 stars

What I liked: FMC who is being raised to be queen, sword fighting lessons included, beautiful cover, magical fae folk who can turn into swans.

What I didn't like: just about everything else.

So I want to start off with the caveat that I think the marketing on this book is misleading, which I feel like certainly plays a role in my view of this book. It is pitched as being perfect for fans of Holly Black, Robin McKinley and Sarah J Maas. To me, that promised like amazing faerie folktale inspired world, romantic tension, and well written characters. This book gave me none of those things.

Overall, this book was just boring. I basically spent the whole book waiting for anything significant to happen, and when it finally did, it didn't really make much sense in its own story. Minor spoiler, but we don't even get to anything that remotely hints at why this book is titled The Swan Harp until around page 200 (of a 300 page book), which is way too. While I think part of the goal was to give the book that sort of fairy tale feel, but instead it just gives a lot of unnecessary background and zero story tension. Very few of the things that happen or are described seem to lead anywhere by the end. It almost feels like the author didn't have a real plan for how she wanted the story to go, and instead just pulled random scenes or ideas from stories she liked. The arcs for the individual characters either felt very forced (especially towards the end) and it takes until like the last third of the book for any sort of real villain or conflict to occur. And for all the time we spend learning about the day to day activities of the characters, there is very little real world building. There is no details on the general geography of the world, how kingdoms interact, how magic really fits into this world etc.

I'm honestly not sure who I would recommend this to, perhaps someone who wants a story with all those day-to-day details and doesn't care as much about story conflict?

Thanks to NetGalley for a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Swan Harp" by Elizabeth Creith is a YA fantasy book filled with fantasy and intrigue, offering you a glimpse into a world where human and swan folk cultures collide. This book reminded me of Tamora Pierce’s writing as well as the Six Swan story.

The book introduces you to Princess Kiar who grapples with the weight of her kingdom's future as she navigates the complexities of her dual heritage. Creith's worldbuilding is very strong at the beginning of the book with the rich and detailed setting, exploring the customs and traditions of both human and swan folk societies. The dynamics between the characters, particularly Kiar and her sisters, are well-developed as well, adding depth to the narrative and drawing readers into the story. I was definitely very invested in the beginning of this book as I fell in love with learning more about the swan people.

However, despite its promising start, the plot of "The Swan Harp" became a bit confusing with many different plot points going on that didn’t seem that incredibly important and were wrapped up very quickly. Some of these points made the story seem more like an episodic kind of narrative rather than a story with an overarching plot. Due to this, there wasn’t a clear sense of direction and they story fails to establish a central conflict to drive the plot forward. While the setting was very beautifully described, the writing style also had some repetitive use of certain phrases and descriptors, which created a sense of disjointedness in the storytelling.

Despite these issues, I still enjoyed the world that Creitch created. The overall idea of this story was very imaginative, and I loved the fantasy aspect. Maybe with some more work on the plot of the book and developing the characters more in the sequel, this will be able to appeal to a wider audience. I would give this book 3.5 stars out of 5 (rounded down to 3) at this current period in time.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing was very well done and the plot was well thought out. I would recommend this book!

I’m the type that goes in blind and judges a book by its cover. The cover was gorgeous. And this book to me was amazing! I just loved it.

This was a bunch of fun
Great world building and Kiar was a protagonist that I liked a lot.
The romance was a bit on the slow burn side. The magic system was cool and hooked me.
I recommend this if you like shapeshifter and romantasies in mediaeval settings.

The story begins with exciting announcements about the characters, catching the reader’s curiosity. It is set in a magical world with medieval and pagan elements, featuring magic, swan princesses, betrayals, and coming of age themes. The protagonist, Kiar, stands out as a young, mature character who prioritizes her kingdom. I found some inconsistencies in the book’s timeline and character accents that confused me. Despite these issues, as Kiar and her sisters grow and develop unique abilities, I eagerly anticipated a more engaging pace. Eventually, the story picked up, and I couldn’t put the book down. The introduction of two side characters, M&F, added bravery and depth to the plot. I hoped for further development of Tuan and Willow’s individuality in future installments. The inclusion of the “swan perspective” added a fun and refreshing quirk to the story. In terms of romance, I had fun guessing the love interests for Kiar, wondering if it would be a “found family” scenario or “enemies to lovers.” However, the tone of the story progressively became darker, exploring themes of jealousy, death, and grief. Overall, I received an advance review copy and voluntarily provide this review

This book was so much fun! I haven't read anything quite like it in a while. The world building was interesting and it was easy to fall in love (and sympathize) with the characters. I can't wait to see where this series goes! I loved the magic system, it was so unique!

I am not going to lie I requested this book because I was drawn to the cover. And thankfully the cover did manage to live up to its hype because the book was just as good. I loved the world building and how it remained consistent throughout. It was superb. The romance is a little slow-burn but sooo good.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In case you’re wondering: YES - the beauty of this story lives up to its pretty cover!

Young Kiar is the feisty middle daughter of the King of Valenia; but she’s also the daughter of the Princess of the Swanfolk. As Kiar learns to navigate womanhood and its complexities - friendships, relationships, family - she must also integrate two precious and significant pieces of her world: the humans and the Swanfolk. Not only that, but Kiar is destined to become Queen of Valenia, which brings about challenges of its own.

This was such a treat to read. I felt immersed in the culture, the simple complexities of the Swanfolk, the uniquely captivating intricacies of Kiar’s challenges. Kiar is a fierce and lovable protagonist who is easy to root for. Getting to grow with Kiar was such a joy.

The culture of the Swanfolk is both well-formulated and unique; it was clearly meticulous world-building on the author’s part, and throughout each day’s breaks from reading I found myself longing to revisit the peaceful world that exists on these pages.

My sole complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed; the first 3/4 of the book was so calming, making the hurriedness of the final portion a bit jarring. But perhaps, this is an echo, a parallel to the harshness of growing up: it happens very slowly, and then all at once. Because this book is, at its core, an exploration of growing up; becoming one’s own person in the midst of the forces that pull and push you one way or another. It’s a fabulous coming-of-age novel in which our protagonist must explore questions such as:
Who am I?
Who can I trust?
What is important to me?
How do I fight for what I love?
What happens when two things I love are at war with each other?

I’ll leave it to you to discover the beauty of these answers along with Kiar. If you are looking for a coming-of-age fantasy with Spinning Silver vibes, this is for you!

The book cover is stunning, and the Idea behind this book was original. However, I found the book really hard to get into. I also found it difficult to connect with the characters. I wish I had more details about the world they are in. The story line felt really rushed (almost robotic), and I didn’t have the emotional connection I wanted between characters. The family dynamic was beautifully done, and I became invested with them, but the rest of the story was sadly not for me.

A very enjoyable YA novel. The world building and writing starts off strong and while it doesn't get stronger it stays consistent. I love the swanfolk so far and I'm invested in reading about how the different countries treat them.

I absolutely love the main character though and I feel like Kiar has a lot of room to grow. The fact that she's making such difficult decisions is a good read for anyone. I do wish that some of the other characters had a little bit more to them. Especially the other swanfolk that spend so much time with Kiar. We've barely got a glimpse of them other than one is joyful and a little bit bratty and the other is stoic. And the third we've got no real information on at all as he was quickly shafted to the side.

I know that this is going to be a trilogy so I say give a little bit of grace room for the low characterization for side characters at the moment because who knows what would be in the following two. All in all a definite recommendation for my library's YA section and to my friends who also enjoy YA.

I think my biggest issue with this book was it's lack of expression. There was not much diversity on the personality of characters, and it was a lot of tell, not show in both emotion and action.

When I first heard about this book, I found it interesting. The story takes place in the medieval world of Valenia, where humans and swanfolk live in harmony. However, they are always at odds with their northern neighbours. The story is told from Kiar's perspective. She is the middle daughter and heir to the king and queen. Once Kiar is chosen as the heir, her father starts training her to defend and rule the kingdom. Meanwhile, her sisters Adana and Orla, who can turn into swans, learn about the swanfolk from their mother. Kiar feels left out, especially when some of the swanfolk agree to live with them, and she becomes friends with Willow and Tiar. The King of Noermark tries to get one of the girls to marry one of his sons to take over the land, which he is also raiding constantly.

I liked this book. I enjoyed it a lot. The story was slow-paced with a lot of build-up. When the great reveal occurred, it was not what I expected, and it was brilliant because you are really waiting for something different to happen. I am going to rate it with 4 out of 5 stars because some parts felt very slow. You're waiting for something to happen, and you feel like it's almost there, but you keep waiting and waiting. That didn't work for me at all. However, Kiar is a strong main character, she understands and accepts her duties incredibly well. The story includes a romance, but it's a slow-burning one, and it's not the main focus. Willow's character annoyed me because she lacked common sense, but it's probably justified because her culture is different.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. It's a refreshing read with different expectations from the all-powerful main character, and the world is just delightful. This book is coming out in April 2024, so keep an eye out for it.

So, I didn’t like this book. I tried hard to, but in the end I really didn’t. The start was good; it was interesting and intrigued me. And I also feel like it was well written. The cover is what really pulled me in from the start.

I didn’t like this book because I felt there were a lot of errors and mistakes that could have been edited and fixed.
The characters at every plain, they don’t really have different personalities- almost as if they were all based on the same person.
I also feel it was dragged on, there were a lot of irrelevant things in the book.

In all honesty I didn’t really see the point in this book.

I want to truly apologize to the author for the harsh review because I know they put love and work into this book, I just feel it needed some more attention before it should have been published.

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately, it fell pretty short. The writing style just didn't work for me. It was flat and boring, like being taught a mythological lesson but out of a history textbook. It should be interesting, it has all the right elements to be a brilliant story, but when you're talked at by a dry professor instead, it sucks the life out. The characters were one dimensional, the pacing was slow, and a real plot didn't start until well into the second half. So much repetitive descriptions but not a lot of on page action.

This book has a very interesting story but I can't say I'm a fan of the writing style. I felt like certain aspects that I really wanted to know about were barely touched on while things that added nothing to the story were constantly being given more detail than necessary.

I also found the characters to all have very under developed personalities and I felt no connection to any of them.