Blog Book Tour | “DawnSinger” (Book One: Tales of Faeraven) by Janalyn Voigt another series within the realm of #INSPY #Fantasy

Posted Thursday, 19 September, 2019 by jorielov , , , , , , 0 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.

I received a complimentary copy of “DawnSinger” direct from the author Janalyn Voigt in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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On why this author has been on my bookish radar:

Before I was a book blogger, I was an avid reader of book blogs – curated by readers & authors alike, wherein I would be actively seeking out blog posts, cover reveals, new release announcements and the old fashioned blog tour wherein it wasn’t organised by a touring company but rather a collective of book bloggers and/or group author blogs where authors who were releasing a new book would “visit, guest post and/or interact with readers” in the comment threads. It was a lovely introduction to how to become invested in this side of book world within the labyrinth of the ‘book blogosphere’.

As this pre-dates 2013 (the year I developed Jorie Loves A Story) – I had no foresight of expectation to recognise I would one day tackle book blogging myself! It became an organic transition because through my frequent visitations to those blogs & bloggers, I was developing a way to interact with fellow readers and writers. I wrote the same hearty commentary as book bloggers are familiar with nowadays and I loved communicating about all things bookish & geeky. I wasn’t even traversing the twitterverse at that point, as that came in November after launching Jorie Loves A Story live in August, 2013.

You might be curious – why the back-history about this journey?

Glad you’ve asked! During that period of exploration, my path crossed with a lot of INSPY authors who were co-blogging their writerly adventures. In that capacity, I first stumbled across today’s spotlighted novelist Janalyn Voigt. However, at the time, the key focus of the stories she was blogging about had to do with my personal favourite genre Historical Fiction as she’s a multi-genre writer (something I can personally relate too!) of whom delves into different branches of literary wandering.

When I came across this lovely blog tour for her series “Tales of Faeraven” – the timing felt like a good one. I’ve been appreciating reading more Fantasy & Speculative Fiction this year – especially anchoured through my co-hosted event @WyrdAndWonder. This was also the first year where I could delve directly into INSPY Fantasy novels – through my readings of Morgan L. Busse’s Ravenwood saga.

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Blog Book Tour | “DawnSinger” (Book One: Tales of Faeraven) by Janalyn Voigt another series within the realm of #INSPY #FantasyDawnSinger
Subtitle: Tales of Faeraven
by Janalyn Voigt
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

The High Queen is dying...

At the royal summons, Shae mounts a wingabeast and soars through the air to the high hold of Faeraven, where all is not as it seems. Visions warn her of danger, and a dark soul touches hers in the night. When she encounters an attractive but disturbing musician, her wayward heart awakens.

But then there is Kai, a guardian of Faeraven and of Shae. Secrets bind him to her, and her safety lies at the center of every decision he makes.

On a desperate journey fraught with peril and the unknown, they battle warlike garns, waevens, ferocious raptors, and the wraiths of their own regrets. Yet, they must endure the campaign long enough to release the DawnKing and the salvation he offers into a divided land. To prevail, each must learn that sometimes victory comes only through surrender.

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, High Fantasy, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781611162004

Also by this author: DawnSinger (Spotlight), WayFarer, SoJourner (Spotlight)

Also in this series: DawnSinger (Spotlight), WayFarer, SoJourner (Spotlight)


Published by Harbour Light Books

on 29th June, 2012

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 342

Published By: Harbour Light Books
an imprint of Pelican Ventures, LLC (@pelicanbookgrp)

Tales of Faeraven Series:

DawnSinger (book one)

WayFarer (book two)

→ SoJourner (book three) *releasing soon! (11th October, 2019)

DawnKing (book four) ← *forthcoming!

Converse via: #INSPYFantasy + #Fantasy
as well as #INSPYbooks + #SpecLit

Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt is a writer and professional speaker with a photography habit and a passion for travel. Her unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and fantasy creates worlds of beauty and danger for readers. Tales of Faeraven, her epic fantasy series beginning with DawnSinger, carries readers into a land only imagined in dreams. She is represented by Sarah Joy Freese of Wordserve Literary.

What I was appreciating about this Faeraven world:

As I move into the Faeraven Tales – here is what I am most eager to see come into the forefront of the narrative:

→ winged horses (wingabeast) : when it comes to mystical, mythological and magical creatures & beasts, there is something wicked #awesomesauce about an animal who gives you FLIGHT. I most admit, these are the creatures I am most eager to meet on the page as I have Equestrian roots IRL.

→ a Medieval Historical world : taking this journey into the folds of Quest of High Fantasy set in a Medieval setting is one I don’t oft get to explore. I am fascinated by the hierarchy of power alignments and also, the presence of technologies and/or innovations alongside old school fantastical elements. I look forward to seeing what inside this world and how Voigt envisioned it for us to walk through.

→ Good vs Evil : as discovered through how Busse treated this concept within the framework of INSPY Fantasy, similarly, I am curious to see how Voigt treats it as well. I know there is a power struggle between light & dark inasmuch as their is exchange of light and dark – seeing how she finds balance between the two whilst hinging it against an INSPY narrative yet maintains the concepts of Fantasy itself is what truly drove me to want to seek out this series.

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my review of dawnsinger:

Kai is attempting the impossible at the behest of his Queen – Maeven – whilst riding a wingabeast – as this is the first encounter I’ve had of a creature of this description, I was most enthralled to know more of its origins than I was momentarily to know of his Royal duties and loyalty. Whenever I find a new creature in a Speculative novel, I love to learn as much as I can about their species, their quirks and what their habits are – inasmuch as the descriptive details which give you as stronger impression on their behalf moreso than the ‘straight facts’ sometimes can limit your understanding of their nature.

Counter to Kai’s flight, we find Shae is also traversing the storm whilst questioning why she instead of her twin is the one who causes the most strife in their family. She doesn’t like to be confined and constricted (who would?) but it felt like there was a duty and sense of loyalty underlining her thoughts – almost as if due to those reasons, she has caught herself in a cycle of obedience as she knows no other way forward. Her sojourn to find stillness and contemplation in the garden amongst the greenery and the species who called this place home was beautifully visualised by Voigt. Any reader who loves walking in the natural world will hug this section due to the simplicity of the joy in Shae’s heart for what she observes and how she internally feels more ‘still’ rather than rattled for being there.

Until of course you realise the truth of whom they are and how they are related – brother and sister, each carrying a burden neither is ready to shoulder. As Shae had a startling realisation – where I was thankful Voigt didn’t lengthen the horror of the moment but rather was honest about it and then segued into how she was trying to pull together the meaning behind what she saw – especially to determine, was it a living memory of what she just observed or was it an impression of a vision which would prove prophetic?

They greeted each other with a bit of shock – as why would her brother risk himself to fly so dearly long? When his news reached her ears, I think she was ill-prepared for his message, as even she felt deeply what the ramifications of those words would mean for them. Shae is mindful of her brother’s station and his role in the Queen’s life – something she contemplates as they make their way to reunite with their parents. It was here where you can take a small pause to soak into the information you’ve learnt of their world – of how there are loyalties and uniquely different stations of duty where each of them plays a role which is expected of them. And, yet I didn’t gather the notion that either Kai nor Shae share a blind faith to trust what others desire them to do.

And, just when I felt I understood the direction of the story, Voigt happily surprises me by re-directing the path I am meant to take with Shae and Kai. The interesting bit there is how emotionally convicting the scene was between Kai and his mother; of how they both knew how the news of the Queen’s imminent passing was going to affect hem as a family but how could they stop what was meant to happen at this time? As truth lets out even when those who don’t wish it to surface find that they must reconcile their thoughts once it takes root.

Theirs is a close-knit family – where everyone is keenly attached to the other person in their unit but theirs isn’t an easy life. They have their gardens and they have their adversities – though in some ways, according to what you can infer from the mother, their burdens feel a bit heavier somehow but perhaps that is due to what was being revealled moreso than the weight. Even Kai is not immune to what he must convey to their father, of news not expected and the kind of news that might drive a wedge between a father and son. A family who was missing the sons to carry-on their ancestral estate to where others could intercede and re-take the authority over their own home. Although they would be related it would not be the same – part of me understood the loss before it occurred as it isn’t hard to imagine the plight Kai felt he was inside – to show loyalty to his Queen and the life he’s lived in service or to return home and do a son’s duty. He was caught between obligation and the unspoken promises families hope to have within the folds of their own kind. This is one of those stories where the siblings each had their own thoughts about such matters and did not feel re-missive to carve out their own way in life.

As her heightened intuition (Shae’s) speaks to her awareness of things not yet lived nor seen, you had to wonder how she found the balance between owning her gift and being free of the anxieties those kinds of visions would bring to her conscience. She could not forget their importance nor the ways in which they were given to her (visually) but at the same time, she did not share them with her family. It was almost like she felt it was a personal yoke to bear and that only she should carry the responsibility to sort out what the visions meant and why they were (on occasion) repeating themselves. Shae was at risk and the sad bit there is that she did not know her enemy; even as her mind and her heightened abilities attempted to warn her of things yet to come.

I felt for Shae – she is frightened out of her mind and Kai isn’t sharing information with her – he is fearful for her safety as much as she has become but with the advantage of foreknowledge – of what is causing the danger and why Shae is most at risk now rather than at any other point in her life. You get attached to Shae so early-on in the novel, it is hard to see her crippled by fear and the unease which comes with feeling as if you’ve lost control.

The journey Shae and Kai were embarking on was not for the faint of heart – they encountered numerous obstacles just to take rest and to find a path towards their destination which would not besot them with more situations of angst than they could ill afford to resolve. Even people they felt they could trust might not be the same people they ought to trust now. It was a changing world – even as they travelled, there were things happening in the world which they were not privy towards knowing first-hand but they were experiencing the changes all the same. There was a high level of unrest – to where different regions of the world were complaining about needing to battle when no one had to battle before in the same kinds of ways. For Shae and Kai, it proved to be a confusing route to take as just when they felt they were ‘safe’, there was a renewed reason why they should remain cautionary and hopeful the rest of their journey would be lest harrowing then the previous hours which took them to the brink of exhaustion.

On their arrival wherein I thought Shae might learn more about herself, we are instead caught in the swirls of warfare as it felt like their whole world was suddenly in disagreement with each other! No one was acting diplomatically and as Kai tried to seek out a way to understand all the changes, there were other changes happening closer to them than they first realised. When Voigt had them notice the behaviour changes in the wingabeasts you could definitely tell there was a distinctive switch-up in the balance between good and evil. They hadn’t caught on to this seemingly benign change as they felt there was something else causing the duress for the animals but as Shae had been forewarned about keeping towards the Light, it felt only natural that there would at some point be a race to either defend the Light or to see how darkness would try to overtake the land.

My goodness! Not since the Lord of the Rings trilogy (by film) have I come across such a tangled web of deceit and intrigue – which not only expands through a world but has crosses to bear which are rather arduous for the lead characters! In this world, the mistakes of the few place the majority at risk – as seen through the trials, journeys and adventures of Kai and Shae. I was not quite prepared for where their journey would finally end – as part of me felt that Shae did not get the ending she deserved until I realised there is a moment of hopeful transcendence emerging out of the latter chapters. It was in that small fraction of hope that you can see how Shae had to walk through this path, to learn as she went and to embrace the fears which sought to destroy her along the way.

It was not a journey for the faint nor the weak of will or spirit – as Kai and Shae had multiple trials to face both together and separately. Despite coming this far forward there are many questions I still personally have and especially in regards to where Shae is at the end of the novel. I had a few recollective thoughts stemming from my readings of The Clan Chronicles in regards to how Sira’s life and Shae’s had a bit of an overlap in responsibilities and how they were both gifted in a way that is not easily understood nor readily known. They each share a personal destiny which neither of them could have predicted and yet, in this world, I was curious about that ‘other space’ and the realm in which we have not yet traversed. Off then, with I, into WayFarer to seek the answers I need.

on the speculative styling and narrative vision of janalyn voigt:

Whenever I re-enter the Medieval era, I love when authors give their characters heavy cloaks to wear and how the elements of the natural world tend to plague them. It helps root you into the era itself as this is before too much was known about forecasting weather, which kinds of clothes were best for health and where you had to rely on your wits moreso than your knowledge, as knowledge was not just limited but the scope of it was not as openly available to everyone as it became in further generations. This is a world which sets itself against a Medieval background – where the style of their life here is a variant of the Medieval era we have in our own chronicles of History. What I was thankful for were those little touches of recognition to where the world of Faeraven was not entirely outside of a ‘known’ universe and had within it descriptions you could readily draw upon especially if you are a reader who appreciates dissolving inside the historical past via Historical Fiction.

Very early-on in the novel, Voigt mentions how Shae must ‘keep to the Light’ as told to her by a visiting WayFarer – their presence was not explained nor had their kind be described past what was messaged to Shae. I felt there was more to that visitor than meets the eye but I also knew their name was the title of the second novel in this series; perhaps, it would due well to keep patient and not to reflect too strongly on what is not yet known nor revealled. What I did appreciate though is this is a gently told INSPY Fantasy novel – wherein, despite the advance of trials and tribulations, there is a hopefulness which is underpinning the dramatic reveals in such a way, you feel the hope of where Voigt left a respite from the worries of this world to where you can tell how strongly faith and hope play a role in how this world evolves. There is definitely a layer of faithfulness and of religious belief – it is not readily spoken about openly but it is hinted towards and that felt like an organic move not to dive too critically into explaining everything in the opening bridge of DawnSinger.

There is no shortage of beasts and otherworldly creatures within the pages of DawnSinger – as Voigt introduces us to so many different animals, I wish we had a bit more detail in their passing. A few of them I know of from other writers – such as gryphons but some of the others are new to me and although part of the depictions were dearly accurate and fittingly representative of their natures, a few others were not as widely described and I was left curious about the details which were not yet threading into the timeline.

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This blog tour is courtesy of:

Prism Book ToursFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I look forward to reading your thoughts & commentary!
Especially if you read the book or were thinking you might be inclined to read it. I appreciate hearing different points of view especially amongst readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read. Bookish conversations are always welcome!
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I am rather curious if other readers who appreciate the mainstream side of Fantasy & Speculative worlds if they’ve taken this curious passageway into INSPY Fantasy such as I have been doing? What they felt about how the fantastical is re-anchoured through a narrative highlighting the inspirational aspects of its newfound roots in this new sub-niche of INSPY Lit whilst if they also felt this niche honours both literary roots it is cross-secting? I am finding there are certain authors who are mastering this dual balance & focus; giving me not just wicked good reads but worlds in which I am impressively in awe of how they’ve built them!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comJourney with me as I enter into Faeraven
and let’s see what we’ll discover together!

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Dawnsinger blog tour via Prism Book Tours

previously on this blog tour I hosted a book spotlight – i wanted to bookend my reviews for “dawnsinger” with my review for “wayfarer” – as I had a rough ending to August and needed a bit more time to finish my readings of the first novel whilst the sequel went on tour this September.

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End of the Blog Tour badged provided by Prism Book ToursFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Be sure to visit the blog tour for the second novel in the Tales of Faeraven –
whilst returning to Jorie Loves A Story on the morrow [20th September]
to read my thoughts on behalf of “WayFarer”!

Wayfarer blog tour via Prism Book ToursFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Reading this novel counted towards one of my reading challenges:

Beat the Backlist banner created by Austine at A Novel Knight and is used with permission.

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{SOURCES: Book covers for “Dawnsinger” and “Wayfarer”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Janalyn Voigt, the tour host badge and Prism Book Tours badges and/or banners were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. 2019 Beat the Backlist banner provided by Novel Knight and is used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

read more >> | Visit my Story Vault of Book Reviews | Policies & Review Requests | Contact Jorie

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Posted Thursday, 19 September, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Fantasy Fiction, High Fantasy, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Prism Book Tours




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