Comment 360 on “Song of the Sparrow”

1. Shannon (Giraffe Days) says:

   at 9:24 AM

   I have never had any interest in the Arthurian Legend, and have avoided the many books about it since reading The Sword in the Stone in grade 6 and winning the school library s book jacket competition with a new cover for it , and struggling through the first fifty pages of The Mists of Avalon There was even a course at uni that was solely about the legend of King Arthur which I ran a mile to avoid I can t really explain what I don t like about the myth, except to say that I don t get the attrac [...]

   Reply


2. Annalisa says:

   at 9:24 AM

   I ve decided I just don t like modern books in verse There is no cadence to them Take for instance this stance The noise brings me back,the fearsome noise of swordsstriking swords, a metallic clanging that rings inmy ears, echoing and echoingthe fearsomedin of menscreaming and crying as theymeet the sharp ends of blades.Why is the fourth line broken after in There is no rhythm in that And why is the second to the last line not broken before as they I d personally separate echoing and echoing too [...]

   Reply


3. Angie says:

   at 9:24 AM

   Originally reviewed here.So this is a book I ve spent a lot of time talking about Chances are, if you ve hung around these parts, you ve heard me push it But I actually read it for the first time way back in the olden days before the blog was, well, what it is now I read it shortly after it was first published, back in 2007, when I was writing monthly posts, mere collections of mini reviews So SONG OF THE SPARROW got shortchanged The fun thing is lots of friends have read and reviewed it since, [...]

   Reply


4. Reynje says:

   at 9:24 AM

   I read Song of the Sparrow last year, but it s only now that I m posting my rating and review because, in truth, I was nervous I have good friends who all seemed to fall into passionate, swoony love with Lisa Ann Sandell s verse interpretation of the Lady of Shallott And I did not So I held off Did I really want to be the lone lukewarm drop in the bucket of adoration And maybe it was me Maybe I was just a philistine with no literary taste While reviewers and critics alike praise this book, I jus [...]

   Reply


5. Rabbit Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines! says:

   at 9:24 AM

   I have a weakness for stories told in verse.

   Reply


6. Liz Janet says:

   at 9:24 AM

   Elaine of Ascolat, better known as The Lady of Shalott, is the main character in this new telling of Arthurian legend It is told in prose It is advertised as of a romance than anything else, but it is much than that, the story of a girl becoming a woman, a soldier, and a friend I LOVE ARTHURIAN MYTH SO MUCH Not very accurate on the Gwynivere canon Or the original canon, but most works don t follow it, so there is that Cool characters that have HONOURRRRRRRR

   Reply


7. Nomes says:

   at 9:24 AM

   4.5 and a fave read of the year A re telling of the Lady of Shallott in verse I am the fan of the verse Featuring Camelot, Lancelot, Arthur and Tristan from Tristan and Isolde sounds kinda cool, yeah Started slow for me, but then suddenly I couldn t put it down And I stayed up sneakily until 2am just having the best time reading it.Loved it, a re read for sure.Lyrical and atmospheric.Even felt a little teary towards the end which was weird, to suddenly feel that prickle of tears but also kind of [...]

   Reply


8. Holly says:

   at 9:24 AM

   Red headed Elaine of Ascolat has been the sole girl at Arthur s war camp for as long as she can remember Although she misses her mother and dislikes all the washing and mending Elaine wouldn t trade living with her father and brothers and being part of the military for a quieter life There, as a healer, her job matters She may not have fine clothes but she knows how to take care of herself and importantly how to find and prescribe the herbs that can save the wounded Her life would be complete i [...]

   Reply


9. Emily Cassady says:

   at 9:24 AM

   This prose style novel ends with the disclaimer that the author has completely used artistic license based on semi fact I love that the author spun a fanciful and romantic tale and ended it with responsible tone and further research notes Sandell, before beginning her tale, includes the poem by Tennyson entitled The Lady of Shalott This poem sets the tone for the main character who Sandell speculates, is actually the true Lady She then spins her tale of Arthur and the Round Table Of Gwynivere, L [...]

   Reply


10. Valerie says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I loved this book I was a bit worried about the poem structure and I was also worried because it was about Lady Elaine But I really could admire Elaine and her courage And I could follow the book just fine I really liked that the men were very chilvaric and honorable The few women that were in the story were not pathetic and swooning all the time They actually played a big part in Arthur s success Elaine helped in a realistic way during that period in time After I finished reading it I was smili [...]

    Reply


11. Chachic says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Originally posted here.Song of the Sparrow is based on Alfred Lord Tennyson s The Lady of Shalott, an Arthurian poem about Elaine of Ascolat I ve never read a novel in verse before and I thought it would be a good idea to start with this one because I like the premise I don t read a lot of Arthurian tales either although I remember reading Le Morte d Arthur for English back in high school and I love Elizabeth E Wein s books When I saw an inexpensive used copy from Julie s Sari Sari Store, I boug [...]

    Reply


12. Jacqueline (Fall In Love With The Sound of Words) says:

    at 9:24 AM

    My Arthurian knowledge is very limited I really only know what I have picked up in snippets from other books or television which honestly wasn t very much I had no idea that Elaine had even existed, and I only knew of Tristan from that movie with Heath Ledger which I hadn t watched D.Okay so long story short, this was a fantastic first introduction for me The pace was fast and easy, it flowed really well and despite my worry that I wouldn t connect with the characters because of the format of th [...]

    Reply


13. Jennifer Wardrip says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Reviewed by Holly for TeensReadTooSixteen year old Elaine of Ascolat is amazingly beautiful with her long red hair and her soft natural face Living in an army camp full of all guys, Elaine figures the handsome Lancelot to be her true love Until her troubles and daydreams get the best of her, when even prettier Gwynivere arrives at the camp and is immediatley drawn to Lancelot even though she is engaged to Arthur Gwynivere s mean remarks but beautiful outer self makes Elaine jealous enough to pla [...]

    Reply


14. Cara says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Love it At first I was intimidated by it since it was in poem form, but I shouldn t have worried It is a great addition to the great Athurian legends Elaine is given a lot strengh, as are all the women in this book Elaine is practically the only woman in the camp of soldiers You see the same faces in these book like Arthur before he is the King , Lancelot, Tristan and others Fast read and make sure to read the author s note at the end of the book Again I can t say enough good things about it No [...]

    Reply


15. Tina says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Original post at One More PageThis year is the year of novels in verse for me, and I have been trying to keep one on my TBR in case of a need for a quick read Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell is one of those books that hovered by my radar but I never really got becausewell I m not sure any But anyway, when I saw a copy of this for swap in one of our meet ups, I got it immediately with cackles of delight because I got it first then again I m not sure if anyone else wanted this than I did. [...]

    Reply


16. Adele says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I am usually adverse to verse but having read two amazing verse novels this week, I am about to pull an about face Song of the Sparrow was an absolute joy to read lyrical, poetic, inspiring and wrenching Drawing upon the stories of Arthur, Lancelot and Merlin, Sandell has strongly integrated the inspiration for Tennyson s poem, the Lady of Shalott, into the mix Elaine the Lady in question has been raised in the war camps of 5th century Britain, by her widowed father amongst battle weary men She [...]

    Reply


17. Lena Morrison says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I do my reviews in the form of a letter, which is why they are written like this.Dear Lisa Ann Sandell, The actual rating for this book is a 3.5 I just preferred giving it a three I than just liked it, but I didn t really like it It s in between When I first picked it up, I was twelve or eleven I remember being bored to death in the beginning, but after a while I got really into it I loved it at that time I cried a lot in several parts.I think the lower rating is due to a change in taste on my [...]

    Reply


18. Nikki says:

    at 9:24 AM

    This ended up not really being my thing, and I mostly skimmed it It s laid out like poetry, but I m not sure it s really written as poetry I m not the type of person that dismisses free verse, or anything like that, but it didn t flow or condense the images in the way that poetry typically does it feels like staccato prose, instead A quick example He takes a deep breath.And I loved being your hero.But that day, that day when youoffered yourself to me, I was shocked, and I was angry with theworld [...]

    Reply


19. Jo says:

    at 9:24 AM

    You see This is the joy of and writing honest reviews.They don t always have to be positive because if it wasn t for Miss Rey saying that she wasn t too keen on novels written in verse I would never have seen this and thought Hey I might like this one because I am keen on novels written in verse This is why it s good to have diversity in our reviewsRRAH In the immortal words of Hot Chocolate I believe in miracles, you sexy thing Everyone s a winner, baby

    Reply


20. Alexandra Nieman says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I would have given it 5 stars except I cannot get on board with the ending view spoiler Elaine cannot be with Tristan I m sorry but Tristan and Iseult are my Arthurian otp, and you can pry their meant to be ness out of my cold dead hands It s ride or die hide spoiler

    Reply


21. Kelsey says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I absolutely love this book The prose is beautifully written and sparse that each word provokes you It is one that I go back to constantly If you love tellings of Arthurian legend, you will love this book

    Reply


22. Kelsey says:

    at 9:24 AM

    This was a wonderful book My sister bought it at a book fair, and at first I was wary, because it was poetry Finally, I read it, and I absolutely loved it It is a beautiful, amazing book.

    Reply


23. Laura W says:

    at 9:24 AM

    This is such a lovely, sweet book written in verse It hardly feels like verse though because it reads so smoothly You can gather and infer so much from the way the lines are formatted For that reason, I really liked it and would definitely reread it Well, that and other reasons For one thing, I love how the sparrow is incorporated into Elaine s journey That s what this book is really about Elaine s journey to find herself and where she belongs in the world She has an idea at the beginning of the [...]

    Reply


24. Michelle says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I ll admit it first thing I was a King Arthur groupie Summers were spent at Renaissance festivals, and one year my best friend and I even made medieval dresses for ourselves and it wasn t even close to Halloween So coming into this lovely, lovely book which retells the story of Elaine, the Lady of Shalott, I was than excited Then I opened the book and saw it was all in verse and I sort of did a little dance around the house Okay, so it was a big happy dance In this revised version of The Lady o [...]

    Reply


25. Sarah says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I ran into a sweet little twelve year old at a yard sale, and because it s my favorite thing to ask kids, I asked what her favorite book was I was happy to find that she was a book lover, and she let me give her a whole list of books she should read this summer Anyway, at the end of the conversation, she said she wanted to loan me this book to read, and I m always going to take a book recommendation from a kid who takes the time to talk books with me, so I read it.I have to admit the only thing [...]

    Reply


26. Melissa says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Sandell brings to life the fictional story of The Lady of Shallot Elaine through history and the legends of King Arthur and his knights.When I first picked up this book I thought Oh, no It s a 380 page poem But as I read it, I found it was merely written like a poem, not in rhyming words or anything so don t let that scare you.It was a bit slow at first, but it picked up quickly The book is very poetic and detailed Surprisingly it had a bit of history and the characters were down to earth, not [...]

    Reply


27. Heather says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I loved this book because I love King Arthur tales but the author did totally change the tale of Elaine of Ascolat, she gave her a happy ending and from what I know of the story of Elaine she did not have a happy ending, she actually died from her unrequited love of Lancelot, and I think she took a lot of liberties with the three women, Elaine, Morgan and Gwynivere, giving them all very modern feminist values, but I am not very familiar with all the tales so maybe that was really how they are po [...]

    Reply


28. Tristan says:

    at 9:24 AM

    I loved this book so much I thought Elaine was an amazing character I think that the best part about this book was when Elaine found out that Arthur and Gwynivere were going to get married I hated how mean Gwynivere was I felt bad for Elaine because the only true family she had was her father, and her two brothers My favorite characters were Tristan of course , Elaine, and Morgan I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a very interesting book that takes place during the Arthur [...]

    Reply


29. Meredith says:

    at 9:24 AM

    boring

    Reply


30. Elizabeth says:

    at 9:24 AM

    Wow this was absolutely phenomenal Beautifully written in verse , a wonderful main character, and so atmospheric I love all things arthurian legend and this did not disappoint, not at all.

    Reply