Review: This series rocks hard! Another awesome edition!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 12, 2013
I had just finished reading a rather disappointing book when I decided to finally dive into J.L. Bryan's Fairyvision, the fifth book in the Songs of Magic Series. Now, I have plenty of books to read and many I need to read, but, after a super meh book, I knew I needed a great read, so I turned to one of the few series that never disappoints or fails me...and Fairyvision was beyond awesome!No matter how much time has passed since I read each of the books in this series, each time I open a new one it feels like coming home and hanging out with a group of my besties! I've come to love the Songs of Magic series THAT much,and Fairyvision is another fantastic edition. In this fifth book, the now super famous Rioting Zebras are sent on a world tour and encounter new, fierce magical creatures (and overly enthusiastic fans) in Japan, India, and Australia. Followed by a camera crew taping a reality show, tempers start to fly among the Zebras and fame begins to take its toll. In Faerie, Aoide and her merry group of musicians also find fame and issues when T.V comes to this magical world. Both bands have gotten the fame and wealth they wanted, but the price they have to pay may end up too high.I love everything about Fairyvision and Bryan does everything right in this book: the world-building, the storytelling, the humor, and the characters. Like books 1-4 before it, Fairyvision is a wild and uber fun ride full of the fantastical and funny.There's real magic in Bryan's storytelling and he hits ALL the right notes! Even though this is the fifth book in the series, the superb and captivating storytelling hasn't slowed down at all. Bryan still manages to surprise and dazzle me with each new book. The world-building simply rocks! The world of Faerie is created with such vivid imagination and head-spinning creativity, and I just adore it all! This world is all explosive color, sparkle, and whimsy, but also has elements of wonderful eeriness. In Fairyvision we get to explore even more of Faerie and meet new and exciting creatures, places, plant life, and customs , and I have no idea where Bryan comes up with all of the crazy-awesome stuff! Two words: Cupcake Harvest...I like to think my cupcake-ness rubbed off on the dear author ;)One of the things I love best about this series, is the humor. Silly humor, snarky humor, ironic humor, plain laugh-out-loud humor...these books have it all. Bryan infuses so much great humor in the Rioting Zebra's journey from a nothing band to a world-wide phenomenon and creates such a smart tongue-in-cheek look at materialism, the entertainment industry, and life in general.The heart of this series remains to be the well-crafted and developed characters. Bryan has created so many layered and believable characters; some that readers will love, some that will make you laugh, some that you love to hate. The four teenage members of the Rioting Zebras continue to be some of my all time fave characters! I love feisty Erin, sweet Jason, friggin awesome Dred, and even ironically whiny Mitch. These are characters that feel real, feel like friends, and who readers will continue to root for.Fairyvision takes readers on an exciting and unpredictable trip all around our world and Faerie, and has one heck of an ending (seriously J.L. Bryan?! You end it like that?!) that has me SO ready for book six.MY FINAL THOUGHTS: The Songs of Magic series will delight and enchant both older and younger readers (it's totally appropriate for middle-grade readers). Fairyvision is a fantastic fifth edition in a rockin' series that I can't recommend enough. If you're a fan of the series, pick up this book now, and if you haven't started the series yet, get to it! A MUST read book in a MUST read series....you can get book one for FREE for Amazon Kindle.