[.ca] Soprano Sorceress: The Spellsong Cycle (ISBN 0812545591)

a very slow read with limited thrills:
I'm currently more than half way through the book and am still waiting for the story to lure me in. Between the over-eating of food, the making of new dresses, the purifying of water, the singing of nursury rhyme magic spells, and the sweaty heat, lies the occassional thrill that one expects in a book with over 600 and some pages. I am very dissappointed, but will still finish the book just to get if off my chest.

Singing In the Rain and Fire:
The Soprano Sorceress is the first novel in the Spellsong Cycle. In the world of Erde, sorcerers and sorceresses can use songs to build or destroy. Lord Brill uses song to build the foundations and walls of a fortress and then uses another song to destroy one of his musicians, Culain, whom he accuses of humming despite prior warning. Culain's son, Daffyd, wants revenge for this wrongful death and asks his friend Jenny to bring a sorceress from the mists to kill Lord Brill. In this novel, Anna Marshall is a singer and music instructor at Iowa State University. She is a divorcee and has recently lost her daughter. She is on her way to sing at the Founders' Dinner for major donors when the world swirls around her. After a swaying step, she finds herself in a small, gloomy room in a peasant cottage on the world of Erde. Trying hard to remain calm, Anna questions Daffyd and Jenny to learn how and why she was brought to Erde. Meanwhile, Lord Brill is notified of the arrival by his magical alarm system and is shown the view in Jenny's cottage. When Brill arrives at Jenny's cottage, he invites Anna to join him for supper at his Hall. On the way back in his carriage, he explains something of the nature and hazards of sorcery and tries to persuade her of his good intentions and the dangers facing Defalk. Her quarters are sumptuous and even has its own jakes. The Hall is guarded by armored men with swords and bows, yet is cooled by Lord Brill's magic. After washing her face and hands, Anna comes down for dinner, but is more interested in learning more about Erde and magic. Lord Brill is building a fortress to defend against the Dark Monks, who have used massed Darksong to conquer Ebra. Now they threaten both Defalk and Ranuak. Lord Brill wants Anna to stand with him against the dark ones. When Anna is brought through the mists to Erde, another alarm sounds among the Dark Monks. The Songmaster is informed that a Sorceress has been taken to Lord Brill's Hall, but nothing is known of her origins. He orders a thorough investigation of the new Sorceress. This novel is a sword and sorceress fantasy with a number of twists and differences. Of course, the use of song to produce magic is not new; Foster's Spellsinger series exploits the same gimmick. However, this tale is a little more serious, with a more developed sociological and political structure as well as a cast of powerfully portrayed characters. Moreover, the energy losses from using spellsong are well-considered. While the author shows snippets of Anna's inner thoughts, he does not fully explain her actions, so there is a continual suspense generated by her behavior. At first, she waits and gathers information, but then she cuts loose with her own sorcery. The autobiographical aspects of this novel, and Of Tangible Ghosts, are intriquing. The author is married to a classical concert singer and some of the concerns and behavior probably come from real life. I wonder if his wife is also an instructor of music and voice tutor? The academic irritations and rewards seem to reflect modern academia. Highly recommended to Modesitt fans and anyone who enjoys sword and sorceress tales with a strong heroine.

Over and over and over...:
Normally, I have no problem taking Anne McCaffrey's recommendations on reading material. However, this time I have to wonder. The story line in this series of books is pretty good. The problem I have with them is the extremely repetitive writing style. You could probably put all 5 books in this series into 3 if you eliminated all the unnecessary repetition. Did you know that all doors in Erde, when knocked upon, go "thrap"? No booming, knocking, rapping - just "thrap". All horses "whuff". No neighing, whinneying, trumpeting, etc. And the protagonists, Anna and her successors, are some seriously angst-ridden folks - you feel guilty - WE GET IT ALREADY! I've read other books by Modesitt and the writing style seemed quite different. These books almost condescend to the reader by implying you can't remember what you read a chapter or even a paragraph before! I've NEVER before thrown a book down in frustration because I told myself that if the character "said that one more time.......". I honestly don't know if I recommend this series or not. I gave it 3 stars for story content only. But the writing style at least makes it a good read for ADD or Alzheimer's patients, I guess. I'm just finishing up the 5th book and I will be glad when it's over but still enjoyed the story. Weird, huh?

I'm Puzzled . . .:
by all the favorable reviews of this book (and the others in this series). Most of the book consists of trivial and repetitive daily events. If you took out all the episodes of Anna sweating (annoying and unattractive), or rubbing her nose to keep from sneezing, or patting her horse (which always replies with a 'whuff'), or wishing for a bath - well, it would be a much shorter book. She is constantly eating, her meals consisting exclusively of bread, cheese, and occasionally apple slices or meat in sauce (I predict some serious constipation), but although she is supposedly starving, she is never really hungry. Nothing happens for chapter after chapter while suspense is supposedly building, but then the battles are resolved more-or-less immediately by her overwhelming power, which is never adequately explained. What bothered me the most, though, was the lyrics of her spellsongs. We are given to understand that the spells are very sensitive to the words used, and the way those words work with the music, but then the actual poetry Anna uses is drivel - badly rhymed garbage, quite possibly the worst I have ever read! Your average angst-ridden, under-educated teenager could write better verse, and I can hardly believe that a popular, widely published author couldn't come up with something better. If you have any literary standards whatever, skip these books.

Good read with a little preaching.:
As always Modesitt does a good job of world building and character creation. The series has an interesting premise, though one that has been used a bit often. A character is transported to some other world and must deal with the culture and situations found there. Modesitt is one of the few authors who is able to make the transition between scifi and fantasy. However, in each of these genres he has a distinct political bent to his writing. In scifi he generally writes about religious, economic, and ecologic topics. In his fantasy he generally emphasizes feminism. However, I tend to think that he comes across as a Superfeminist and lays his message on a little to thickly, all men are warmongers and would physically abuse women if they could get away with it. He could be a little more subtle with his message. However, the Spellsong Cycle is a good series and quite enjoyable. All of his writing is. Just go into it knowing that you will be getting a dose of his political and moral views. I don't mind this because writing is one of the best nonviolent ways to spread ideas and it's always good to expose yourself to another's opinion, though the best reason to read his books is that they're just plain good.