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Talia Wins: Metal Music Rules – My Playlist for Silver Blood
If Rachel Rener isn’t a metal-head herself, I will delete this post. A common theme in her books is the protagonists love of or interest in metal music. Metallica, Nunslayer, Godsmack – all of these bands get mentions in her books.
“‘…listening to metal music can be relaxing,’ she argued. ‘It’s a controlled outlet for processing intense emotions – anger, for one.'”
This line…*chef’s kiss*. I make the joke all the time that metal is angry music for happy people, and it’s true, at least for me. All you have to do to see my love of metal is to look at any of my other playlist posts or the “On Repeat” playlist in the widget tab – which shows my top songs of the week. The fact that Rener infuses metal into her books made this playlist all the more fun to make.
Naturally, there is some Metallica on there. I would be completely remiss not to include some of Talia’s favorite band. In her honor, Master of Puppets makes an appearance on the list. Included my personal favorite, Nothing Else Matters.
“For the time being, at least, the slightly better of two abysmal choices was to keep her under the watchful eye of the devil she knew.”
As cliche as it may seem, the song Devil You Know by Tim Montana was a must on this list for this line alone. Zayn continued with this thinking throughout the book, viewing himself as the threat Talia knew, even if she didn’t understand, more than anything else. I also think Zayn would appreciate the clean vocals, even if he doesn’t like metal.
The rest of the songs on the list are ones the made me think of Zayn’s mental state. My heart broke as he continued to tear himself down when his heart is beyond good. The way he treats Talia, Breta, Lamswyth, even just random girls in the bar who need a help to get out speaks volumes to the true nature of his character. It’s complete opposite to who what he thinks of himself.
I hope you enjoy the playlist as much as I enjoyed making it! -
“Silver Blood” – A Prequel Worth the Read
*Note: This review contains spoilers to the Gilded Blood series by Rachel Rener. I highly recommend reading the series in release order, rather than reading the prequel first.
Early last year, I blazed through the Gilded Blood series by Rachel Rener. I loved it so much, I ended up reading pretty much everything Rener had published at the time as well. When I saw she was releasing a prequel to the Gilded Blood series, I was 100% on board.
Much to my enjoyment, Silver Blood did not disappoint. The book follows Zayn’s viewpoint from the moment Talia walks into his tattoo shop through the first 2 or 3 chapters (in truncated form) of Inked. We get a clear look into the mind of our favorite tortured book boyfriend.
The insights we glean from Zayn’s point of view confirms everything we saw of him in the Gilded Blood series. He loathes the demon inside, and is entirely selfless in his interactions with those he deems innocents. He views himself as a monster to the point of near self-destruction, but he truly is anything but.
I found it interesting Rener had Zayn discover his parentage in Silver Blood. It came as a surprise revelation to readers in the Gilded Blood series, but to know he knew all along paints a different spin on some of his actions and feelings towards how Sol treated Talia throughout Gilded Blood. All of his pain surrounding Sol trying to claim Talia seems amplified knowing he was his father.
As far as prequels go, Silver Blood is near perfect in my opinion. Weaving the back story with the main story was done in such as way as to not feel forced. We see Zayn’s POV on their one-night stand, how he protected Talia for years before letting her in, and his reaction to Roy’s snake tattoo shenanigans. Upon finishing, I wanted to dived right into a re-read of Inked and keep the story going.TL:DR Details
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓 (Just read the dedication – there are 25.)
Diversity of characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inclusion of lifestyles: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Favorite Quotes:
“You don’t exactly come off as someone with anger issues.”
“Yeah, because I listen to a lot of death metal.”“Despite everything, she remained the singular bright spot in my bleak existence. I couldn’t openly love her, but I could cherish her. I couldn’t hold her, but I could protect her. And while I would never again be her lover, I would forever be her guardian and steadfast friend – albeit in my own quiet distant way.”
“…it was almost as though destiny had devised a greater plan of its own for me, and I was just along for the ride.”
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Playlist for the Enchanted Letters Series
More often than not, my brain is full of music. There is a never-ending playlist of songs feeding through my subconscious at any given moment. Most of the time, I give in to the need to quiet my ADHD brain with the music it desires. Often, a song or a lyric will pop into my head in response to something that was said or something I read. Anyone who knows me well will know that I will 50% of the time respond in a song lyric. The other 50% I’m holding it in.
This affinity for my brain to match my life to music also works with books. I will read a line a character says or a scene and instantly be transported to a song. Similarly, I can hear a song and link it back to the book I’m reading. I thought it might be fun to start putting these book playlists together and sharing them with you. As I just finished reading the Enchanted Letters series by Rebecca Ross (review here), I decided the first playlist shared would coincide with these books.
However, I built this playlist a little differently than I plan to do in the future. While I was reading these books, songs did pop into my head, but all I could think about was how they didn’t fit aesthetically. While the lyrics worked, the sound was off. After all, Ross does a great job of transporting you back in time to her early 20th century timeline. Then, it struck me: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is the perfect blend of modern lyrics with the swing style one might place in the early 1900s.
In building this playlist, I looked through the repertoire of Postmodern Jukebox and picked the songs that spoke to me about the book series. (Sidenote: A brand new album, Lounge Language Models, dropped yesterday. I highly recommend a listen.) Some are songs that are normally a part of my in-head playlist; others were fun finds in browsing through the catalogue. Some, like Grenade, were just too perfect to pass up. If you know, you know.
I really hope you enjoy the music!
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A “Divine” Review
Rebecca Ross weaves a compelling story of love and magic in the midst of a war between gods.
…reads the description of every romantasy book on the market. I have to say, while I love the genre and will read just about every romantasy book on the market, the Letters of Enchantment series was a breath of fresh air.
Set in what feels like 1910s London, the story of rival journalists and enchanted typewriters embraces it’s turn of the century/WWI feel. Immediately, you feel the tensions of Iris’ life – a young girl with an alcoholic mother and an older brother missing in the war. Her decision to become a war correspondent seems like a no-brainer way for her to try and gain some semblance of purpose in her upside-down world.
Billed a fantasy, I felt Divine Rivals was lacking a bit in the fantasy department. Outside of the magically tied typewriters (and the fact the war is between gods), the myths were presented more as bedtime stories than facts. The gods were not inherently central to the story. I felt as though the book could have been any WWI period romance novel with a bit of whimsy thrown in.
This is not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it. The book gave me You’ve Got Mail vibes – one of my all-time favorite rom-coms. When Iris discovered who was on the other side of the typewriter, it felt like the final scene when Meg Ryan looked at Tom Hanks and said, “I wanted it to be you.” *swoon* Well, after she got over being pissed, that is.
Ruthless Vows dives in on the fantasy world created by Ross. The focus shifts from the romance (though it’s still very much there), and transitions to focus on the climactic ending of the war. Dacre is a truly loathsome being. He’s cold, cruel, manipulative, and abusive. At no point do you ever feel sympathy for him or his cause. The moment the feeling even creeps in, Ross crushes it with another truly despicable act.
Despite the lure of the presumed happy ending, there were hard moments to go through. A beautiful, hard moment (SPOILERS) was the way Ross shifted through multiple character viewpoints during the bombing of Oath. It was a powerful, poignant display of humanity in a truly disturbing event. This moment, more than any other in the book, has lingered with me in the aftermath of the read.
I truly enjoyed reading through Rebecca Ross’s interpretation of a fantasy war. It felt different and refreshing, while keeping with the ideals expected in a romantasy novel. Definitely worth a read through.
TL:DR Details
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️
Diversity of characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inclusion of lifestyles: ⭐⭐⭐⭐Favorite Quotes
“You will learn to live outside of it again, as impossible as that may sound. Others who share your pain will also help you heal. Because you are not alone. Not in your fear or your grief or your hopes or your dreams.” ~ Roman Kitt, Divine Rivals
“It’s not a crime to feel joy, even when things seems hopeless.” Roman Kitt, Divine Rivals
“Many pieces of the past have been rewritten or lost. Forgotten. Think of all the books in the library with pages torn free.” Security Guard, Ruthless Vows
“Write me a story where there is no ending, Kitt. Write to me and fill my empty spaces.” Iris Winnow, Ruthless Vows* A review of Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment) by Rebecca Ross. I was not compensated for these reviews.
