While all three of them are well-rounded and compelling, Keyne is the one I ended up loving the most. As for the magic, while the way it’s woven into the book is nothing new, it was fascinating all the same to see the role it played out in the story.Įach of the three main characters are brilliantly written, and you really come to see them as real people with follies and fears. Riva, Keyne, and Sinne are the three point of view characters in this novel, and Holland expertly blends each chapter into the next, so the sudden shifts in the narrative voices don’t seem disruptive. Holland’s storytelling is mesmerising, and Sistersong kept me feverishly turning the pages until the very end.
Holland accurately brings the dark, ominous feeling of the original murder ballad into her novel even as she threads it through with exhilarating magic even when everything seems to be just fine, you can’t help waiting in trepidation for something to go horribly wrong. With the imminent threat of the enemy outside their gates and their ever weakening familial bonds, the three siblings would have to take fate into their own hands and shape the future of Britain, or let their land, and with it its magic, be lost forever. Further change comes with the sudden arrivals of Myrdhin the magician, who helps Keyne recognise himself, and Tristan the warrior, who drives a wedge between the sisters Riva and Sinne.
Meanwhile, as the three siblings are only beginning to understand their birthright and realising the extent of their respective powers, the Saxon forces are spreading throughout Britain. However, as the new ways of Christianity start taking roots around the kingdom with the arrival of the priest Gildas, the king turns his back on magic and the old gods of their land, leaving the kingdom vulnerable without its magical defenses.
As they grow up, they see the world around them rapidly change they remember a Dumnonia where magic was tied to the very land, where magic came as naturally to the people as breathing. The story is narrated by Riva, Keyne, and Sinne, who are the three children of Cador. Brimming with magic, Sistersong is at heart a tale of dysfunctional family dynamics, one where Holland hands over narrative agency to the voices history silenced. Set in ancient Britain and revolving around a particular tribe living in Dumnonia, ruled by king Cador and queen Enica, Holland’s lush reimagining of the ballad is a fantastic amalgamation of historical fantasy and English folklore. Lucy Holland’s Sistersong is a retelling of the traditional British folk ballad The Twa Sisters, also known as The Cruel Sister.
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