The Song of the Forever Rains by E. J. Mellow is a charming book to read when you want a simple romantasy without too much complication and to gain an actually nice, generic book boyfriend. It is the first book in a trilogy revolving around the Mousai, otherwise known as the Basette sisters. Each sister gets a chance to shine in their own book, with this one following Larkyra Basette and her love interest, Darius Mekenna. The second follows Niya and her enemies to lovers style romance with the pirate captain, Alōs Enzo. The third involves the last and eldest sister, Arabessa and her love story with Zimri, the childhood friend and semi-adopted brother of the sisters.
A quick disclaimer before we continue, I am not particularly fussed about the “romantasy” genre. For those unfamiliar, romantasy is the combination of the romance and fantasy genres, with a heavier focus on love and sex than typical fantasy. Now, my personal opinion is that fighting the magic war is more interesting and productive than having sex on the battlefield, but others might not feel the same. And, like all things we do not particularly have interest in, it is important that we branch out occasionally to understand these things. That is part of the reason why I chose to read this book. But also, it had a cool cover and fantabulous magic.
The Song of the Forever Rains follows a powerful singing magic user, Larkyra Basette, as she undergoes a mission for her family to discover how the Duke of Lachlan, otherwise known as Hayzar Bruin, is getting access to the drug known as phorria (a drug that gives the dregs of magic siphoned off magic users, to people without magic, so they may use it). Due to the mission, she is forced, as a 19-year-old, to court the 40-something Duke in his estate in Lachlan and eventually ends up engaged to him. Along the way she falls in love with Darius Mekenna, the Duke’s stepson, and together, they change the fate of Lachlan forever.
The Song of the Forever Rains has effective and fascinating worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is a term typically used when in conjunction with the fantasy genre and it means creating a fictional world, sometimes down to the languages, the customs and the cultures. Mellow actually explains some of the process behind her worldbuilding, with a little note from her at the end of the book discussing her choices for the naming of characters, places and things within The Song of the Forever Rains, which I enjoyed as someone with a degree in Creative Writing and a lifelong passion for fantasy.
As part of Mellow’s worldbuilding, each Basette sister possesses a power revolving around music, with Larkyra channeling her magic through her voice, Niya through her dancing and Arabessa through playing any instrument. Their magic also appears in different colours, yellow/gold, red and purple, respectively. There also exists an entire hidden place, known as the Thief Kingdom, where worldly sins and magic abound, exerting control over the rest of Aadilor by containing the wretched within. This was a very fun part of the novel which I wish was explored, more so than the romance. The small twist at the end of the book was interesting, although a little simplistic. The themes about the dangers of magical drug use and, as a result, familial violence, seen in Hayzar, were insightful things to explore. Overall, the fantasy aspects of this book are enjoyable.
Darius MeKenna appears to be a very stock standard book boyfriend by being caring and nice and an all-round decent guy. But, from what I know of romantasy, they create their book boyfriends a little darker and morally grey, so the good guy angle was very refreshing to read. I am sick to death of the romanticism of abuse in these romantasy books. He does not need to hurt you to protect you and Darius ensures just that. I would recommend him as a book boyfriend to those who prefer their love interests to not romanticise abuse and for those who have a penchant for redheads. Although, I pictured him as brunette most of the book, due to some confusing lines about honey coloured hair in the sun.
The singular sex scene is very cut and paste and feels like the author never had a Wattpad phase. It is very vanilla, even for someone like me who does not enjoy reading spice. For those wishing to skip, the spice goes from pages 349 to 355. Skip to page 356 if you want to avoid it at all costs. The spice also offers nothing to the plot, so you are not missing anything by skipping.
The book overall was a pleasant read with quite a few wholesome vibes despite some of the heavy and violent content matter throughout. Please read the book if you wish to slowly but surely get back into fantasy-esque books or try romantasy for the first time. I hope to continue this series as I have a love of pirates (blame Peter Pan). This book definitely was not a DNF (Did Not Finish).
Spice Rating: 1 Chili out of 5 Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
Overall Rating: 3 Music Notes out of 5 Violins
*This was originally published in the ‘Tertangala: Heartbreak Issue’ (2024)