Braidee Otto

And do you know how, like, were you ever divided into those different reading group levels?

I remember there was like, so obviously, like, you know, if you weren't a very good reader, you were in like the platypus or something.

And then like the top one was like the carousel.

What?

I don't know.

I can't, maybe I'm making that up.

But I remember grabbing it off the shelf and it was in a much higher level than I was allowed to read from.

And my teacher...

kind of took it away from me and told me off in front of the whole class.

So then I spite read that whole series and it just completely opened a whole other world for me, I suppose, that really kind of changed the way

I was able to read and my interest in fantasy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, instead I was like shamed.

It was like probably one of the most shameful moments of my life, particularly because when I then reattempted to read it like in the class and hide it behind another book and pretend that I was reading it, I couldn't.

So like, yeah, I...

felt so ashamed at being called out in front of everyone else and then coming to the realisation that, oh, she's right.

She's right about me.

Songbird of the Sorrows is about an outcast princess-toned spy who's tasked with infiltrating a rival kingdom by competing in a series of bridal trials.

And while she's there, she must navigate the tangled web of duty, desire, and danger.

And in the end, she ultimately has to choose whether she's going to follow orders or defy them.