Book Review: The Song of the Swan by Karah Sutton, Pauliina Hannuniemi (Illustrator)

Publisher’s description

A magical retelling of Swan Lake, featuring a clever orphan, a castle filled with enchanted swans, and a quest to unearth the secrets of the past.

Olga is an orphan and a thief, relying on trickery and sleight of hand to make her way in the world. But it’s magic, not thievery, that could get her into trouble.

When Olga and her partner-in-crime Pavel learn of a valuable jewel kept in a secluded castle, Olga sees an opportunity to change their lives: a prize so big, they’d never have to steal again. But the castle is not as it seems, ruled by an enchanter who hosts grand balls every night, only for the guests to disappear each morning, replaced by swans. Guided by cryptic clues from the palace spiders, Olga soon realizes she’s in over her head—torn between a bargain with the enchanter, loyalty to Pavel, and determination to understand how the enchanted swans are linked to her own fate.

One thing is certain: there is dark magic behind the castle’s mysteries, and Olga will stop at nothing to unmask it.

Amanda’s thoughts

I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on reading. I spent all of October and early November battling pneumonia and bronchitis, and just when mine started to abate, my husband started coughing. Then our son did. I am patient zero. I started this mess. But I swear, my friends, I cannot handle a single second more of listening to coughing in my house. It’s distracting and annoying and interrupts my brain. BUT. I started reading this and basically read it all in one go. It was totally enjoyable and I got lost in Olga’s world, where I don’t think anyone even coughed one time.

This is a great, well-paced story about love, connections, hearts, and deceit. Full of magic, Olga’s story takes her and her friend Pavel on a quest for a treasure that could offer them a different kind of life, but what they find instead may be able to offer that life, too. Or at least Pavel thinks so. Olga is more skeptical, and for good reason. Things are not as they seem at Sokolov Palace. In fact, absolutely nothing there is at it appears. Olga, long an orphan, knows life is not a fairy tale full of happy endings, even if that’s what Sokolov Palace is appearing to offer those who come there. And yet, night after night, year after year, its guests enjoy a fabulous ball. Sounds perfect, right? But Olga, and her new spider friend, know all is not perfect. In fact, what’s actually happening here is rather alarming and certainly nothing the palace’s guests would choose.

But while Olga grows increasingly concerned and despairing over what the baron is doing at the palace, Pauk, her spider friend, helps keep her in the right frame of mind. Fairy tales are about hope, he reminds her. They’re about a way out. And Olga, who may just be a young orphan who’s had a hard life, is just the person to find that way out. And what she finds in herself here, what she finds she can offer the others at the palace, is worth far more than any treasure could be. Readers who love fairy tales and retellings and those with no knowledge of the source material alike will enjoy this look at wishes, deceptions, and true treasures.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780593121696
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Publication date: 10/24/2023
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

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