Rating: 
Summary: Where's her next book?
Review: Again I was much impressed with how difficult I found it to put this book down. Magnificent. At first I was thrown by her switching points of view from one character to the next, but once I got used to it, I didn't let it phase me in the least. I found Aidan to be a very believeable character; enjoyed Lara very much, too. Quite unique, as I am looking forward to reading her next novel, and it won't come out soon enough!
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: Another awesome novel by Carol Berg. I've read four books by her and each has been a stay-up-all-night page turner. Her main characters are always tortured souls and her writing is unbelievably melodramatic--both of which would usually turn me off--but despite myself, I'm drawn in and caught up in the intensity. And such intensity! The first chapter starts with a bang--I really wanted to know what would happen next--and after that it was page after page of not wanting to put it down. I would have given it five stars (like her other novels) except for two things. First, I hated it whenever she switched the point of view from the protagonist to side characters, which she does a few times. Even the climax scene is written from someone else's point of view, which was VERY annoying. Secondly, the ending was flat and left me feeling unsatisfied. But it was well worth the many hours of page turning entertainment and I highly recommend it, along with her other novels.
Rating:
Summary: Carol Berg Does It Again!
Review: Even though, reportedly, Carol Berg penned this magnificent novel prior to her trilogy containing "Transformation/Revelation/Restoration, it is no less a fantastic, epic journey and a wonderful read! Aiden McAllister is a prodigy. With a voice of an angel, and an ability to pluck from his harp music that makes Kings cry, he becomes entranced by imprisoned dragons. He learns that their angry cries are really music, if one can just listen. Threatened by Aiden's abilities to "talk" to the war beasts, his best friend and King has him imprisoned as well...for seventeen years. While in his dark cell, he's tortured mercilessly, his fingers irreparably broken, his voice irretrievably lost. Aiden's journey across many vividly imagined lands is an epic fantasy that is timeless in its message. Carol Berg does it again with "Song of the Beast," adding another fabulous notch in her literary belt!
Rating:
Summary: Can music calm the savage beast?
Review: First of all, let me say, that I'm not a fan of Dragon centered fantasy novels. Almost every second fantasy novel on the market now seems to be about Dragons, and I mostly read this one because I enjoyed this author's previous books. Aidan MacAllister is first cousin to King Devlin and the finest musician the world has seen for 50 generations, called 'blessed by the gods' by those who have heard him sing. Then at 21 years of age he ignores a warning from his cousin the King to stay away from the dragons of his army because he makes them 'uneasy' with his music. Aiden then has his best friends killed in front of him and he taken away into solitary confinement where he is tortured for the first 10 years and kept in total silence for the next 7 years. Suddenly released from prison one night he does not understand what he did to deserve a punishment so severe ' one which did not kill him but has crippled him for life and killed his art in his heart. Aiden sets out to find out the truth behind his imprisonment and finds he has unexpected allies and friends in places he never suspected. This is an enjoyable novel, though I'm not sure if it is meant to be a stand alone book or the start of a series. The ending is open enough that another book could easily be written to complete the story (I don't think its totally finished anyway). Aiden is a character you feel sympathy for and wonder at his gift of music, but if this is meant to be a stand alone novel then I don't think I'm totally satisfied with it which is why I would give it 3.5 ' 4 Stars.
Rating:
Summary: Can music calm the savage beast?
Review: First of all, let me say, that I�m not a fan of Dragon centered fantasy novels. Almost every second fantasy novel on the market now seems to be about Dragons, and I mostly read this one because I enjoyed this author�s previous books. Aidan MacAllister is first cousin to King Devlin and the finest musician the world has seen for 50 generations, called �blessed by the gods� by those who have heard him sing. Then at 21 years of age he ignores a warning from his cousin the King to stay away from the dragons of his army because he makes them �uneasy� with his music. Aiden then has his best friends killed in front of him and he taken away into solitary confinement where he is tortured for the first 10 years and kept in total silence for the next 7 years. Suddenly released from prison one night he does not understand what he did to deserve a punishment so severe � one which did not kill him but has crippled him for life and killed his art in his heart. Aiden sets out to find out the truth behind his imprisonment and finds he has unexpected allies and friends in places he never suspected. This is an enjoyable novel, though I�m not sure if it is meant to be a stand alone book or the start of a series. The ending is open enough that another book could easily be written to complete the story (I don�t think its totally finished anyway). Aiden is a character you feel sympathy for and wonder at his gift of music, but if this is meant to be a stand alone novel then I don�t think I�m totally satisfied with it which is why I would give it 3.5 � 4 Stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but not great
Review: I fell in love with Carole Berg through her Rai-kirah books, even though the trilogy lost much of what I loved halfway through book 2. It was the powerful portrayal of the interesting, conflicted, incredibly brave-despite-adversity main character Seyonne that I loved, and his relationship with the charming, aggravating-yet-sympathetic Aleksander. There's a lot of the same good stuff in Berg's latest novel---but some of the *great* stuff is missing. We have the interesting conflicted brave-despite-adversity character, this time named Aidan MacAllister. (Despite his name, the world of this story has nothing to do with Earth and Aidan isn't Irish any more than Aleksander was Russian.) On this world, humans live alongside two other sentient races: the Elhim, vaguely elflike albino creatures who have no gender and live hundreds of years; and the dragons, which are... well, dragons. =P The dragons breathe fire and once lived wild (although they were sentient), but many years before the story begins the humans of this world learned to enslave them using powerful magic "bloodstones". Since their enslavement, the dragons have become mindless and vicious, living only to wreak havoc at the command of the humans who control them. These humans, warriors of the Twelve Familes of the Ridemark, hire themselves out to various kingdoms in the region, resulting in a state of near-constant war as the kingdoms with dragon legions attempt to dominate each other, and those without. Aidan, a musical genius who once seemed destined to become the greatest singer ever known, paid little attention to these world events during his early years. He was obsessed with his music, especially once he first heard the dragons roar and heard music and intelligence within that sound. At age 21 he seemed on the verge of a great discovery... until his cousin the king threw him into prison for seventeen years. We discover through flashbacks that, like Seyonne, Aidan is tortured for much of this time. He is released at last, scarred and broken, at the beginning of the novel---still with no clear idea of why he was imprisoned. The rest of the novel concerns his efforts to uncover this mystery, which is connected to the dragons and the Elhim in a surprising way, and which has terrible implications for the future of human society. Berg does a better job of plot in this novel---the story is clear and to the point, and doesn't veer off into uninteresting stretches as the Rai-kirah books sometimes did. Some parts of it are predictable, but not so much that the story is transparent. She does about the same job of characterizing Aidan as she did with Seyonne---not surprising, since Aidan is essentially the same character. In fact, Aidan and Seyonne are so alike that I kept forgetting Aidan's name as I read the book. I didn't mind this, however; I liked the Rai-kirah novels, so it felt nice to see Seyonne return in a different form. But Berg falters from the Rai-kirah formula in a bad way by not including another powerful, difficult friendship in the story. Not one of the side-characters in Song of the Beast is half as interesting as Aleksander, which is a shame because the morally upright and long-suffering Aidan becomes a bit boring on his own. About halfway through the book we're given a secondary character, Lara, who becomes the generic tough-chick/ugly-duckling romance object for Aidan. Aidan falls in love with her for unclear reasons---it almost seems as though he loves her simply because she's a woman, available, and up to her neck in the same mess as him. After the pleasantly unconventional friendship between master and slave in the Rai-kirah books, this very conventional relationship seems tiresome and lackluster. I think I would have preferred no romance at all to a cliched one. Still, the novel is generally entertaining, so I'll cautiously recommend it. It's a good book, and I probably wouldn't have been as hard on it if I hadn't read the Rai-kirah stuff first... but I did, so I expected better from this author.
Rating:
Summary: Another remarkable tale from a great writer !
Review: I have looked forward to this latest fantasy from Berg as I was greatly impressed with her last effort, the splendid Rai-kirah saga. I finished the "Song of the Beast" in a day. It is a highly addictive fantasy with a unique plot and definitely a notch above most fantasies out there today. Berg's writing is as brilliant. However, I just have to rate this book four stars though I like it. Reason being Song of the Beast lacks the depth of characterization and intensity present in the Rai-kirah saga.
Aidan is a likable character but somewhat pales in comparison to Seyonne, the protagonist in the Rai-kirah saga. The side characters in the Song of the Beast also lack depth, including Lara who narrates the story in the later part of the book. Though this gives a different perspective to the tale as seen from Lara's view I wished Berg has just kept to Aidan as the narrator. Song of the Beast is not a series and its tale too short to justify 2 narrators. Maybe Song of the Beast could have been more worthy of Berg if she has added another 100 pages. After reading the Rai-kirah saga, Song of the Beast seems like a novella which could also be the reason this book lacks the intensity in the Rai-kirah saga. However Berg has continued to prove her talent and my only regret is that she is not writing fast enough.
Rating:
Summary: I'm not sure.
Review: I instantly liked the first book of her other series, and I didn't have the same experience with this one. I wasn't surprised to read that this was her first book, because it had the feeling of having the same issues being worked through-- long imprisonment, the effect of torture on the psyche, hidden talents. While interesting in places, it felt unformed in others. This said, Berg is still a formidable writer who managed to hold my interest throughout the book. I probably would have rated it more highly if I hadn't been comparing it to her other works.
Rating:
Summary: Never end!
Review: I loved this book it takes you to the place where Adian is and you see the world threw his eyes and you feel his pain. Its amazing when you read the things that happen to him and you see how things could be different if only this man didn't get him locked in the prison for almost all is life. well he gets freed after being in prison for seventeen years, he doesn't know what to expect from the world, he some how gets tangled in the same thing that got him locked up in the first place: Dragons. In the way things turn out your not surprised by the way things end but a little shocked by it. Adian lived his life as a singer and expected to be nothing more for it brought him joy and he lived his life on the road only singing for food and a place to sleep every night, never staying in the same Inn for three nights, but in the end it was the thing that saved him and yet it mihgt have been his death.
Rating:
Summary: Very good take on an old theme
Review: I was most impressed by Berg's world building and detailing. Interesting version of the ever-popular dragon. Manages to handle emotional life and ethics without getting overly sappy. Hell of a female character, although the protagonist is male and the supporting cast is largely neuter (Literally). Worth the price of admission for anyone who's looking for something a little different from the usual sword-and-sorcery thud-and-blunder. Tad on the romancy side, though--you might just possibly guess the two leads will be in bed by the curtain. And what's wrong with a little schmaltz?
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