Review: The Sound of Starfall by Scott Palmer

Blurb:

This is the end
The Warlocks of Yehven have ruled over the Remembered Lands with their songs of dark sorcery since the skies were new.
But now, beneath the shadow of an approaching comet, a mysterious death cult from the wild lands have arrived in the name of Nature to exterminate the Warlocks and their sorcerous Words with them.
As the death cult breaches the walls of the Golden City and Ailar crumbles into anarchy, a Warlock, an enslaved man, and a guard are forced to make decisions that will shape the world for thousands of years to come.
The sky is falling
Nightmares are waking
The sound of starfall eats all else

Review:

Re-enter the darkly musical Remembered Lands as we find ourselves in the cursed, golden city of Ailar hours before the Abori death cult brings about the earth-shattering devastation of the Starfall. Multiple POVs paint a picture of the political upheaval that was putting the city of Ailar to fire before the Abori mages ripped a star from the heavens and changes the course of history for Yehven and the entire Remembered Lands for millennia. The Sound of Starfall was dark, gritty, and epic while shocking me with jaw-dropping revelations which made me want to immediately re-read A Memory of Song.

There is an emerging, increasingly common practice for indie authors to publish their first novel and follow it up with a prequel novella of sorts in short order that fleshes out some of the lore or backstory that was revealed in the first novel. Personally, I love this pattern. 

The Sound of Starfall stands in a class of its own when compared to many of these “prequel novellas.” Does it expand upon the lore and worldbuilding that Palmer established in A Memory of Song? Absolutely. It was fascinating learning more about The Starfall. The Abori and dream eaters? Horrifying. The Kiss of Silence? Freak yes. The singers in their gemstone pyramids? Please tell me more! It accomplishes its goals as a tantalizing novella that deepens and enriches the Remembered Lands in spades. But then it blows past those standards and starts breaking ankles with its twists, turns, and drops. In a quick 65 pages, Palmer completely flips the way I read and thought I understood A Memory of Song so much that I wanted to immediately reach for the first book again. I’ve read a handful of these prequel novellas and so many of them have been phenomenal, but Palmer’s ability to use this novella to make me completely question my understanding and perspective of A Memory of Song is a true master’s move in thoughtful, dedicated storytelling.

The Sound of Starfall continues in the same grim, dark tone that A Memory of Song introduced us to. There is no lightening of the load because the devastation of The Skyfall hasn’t happened yet. We see the evil, power-hungry machinations of the Warlocks of Yehven and some of the twisted results of accepting the Words into the soul. There are so many interesting threads of story and lore that are begun in The Sound of Skyfall that I cannot wait to see play out over the rest of this series.

As my first review stated, Palmer has crafted a darkly magical world that harkens back to classical fantasy roots with a modern, grim twist. The Sound of Starfall is a vital novella in this story that forces the reader to question everything they thought they understood about the Remembered Lands. As is typically my recommendation, I would 100% recommend reading this novella AFTER reading A Memory of Song for an optimal reading experience. 

Scott Palmer is the new, indie fantasy master on the block and The Last Ballad is here to stay. So, stop delaying and Welcome to the Remembered Lands!