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Amazon.co.uk Review
L.E. Modesitt is best known for his long fantasy series beginning with The Magic of Recluce (1991), in which magical power works with the unforgiving balance and precision of physics. The Soprano Sorceress (1997) and its sequel The Spellsong War are similar in tone but use another magic system based on song. Thus singer-heroine Anna, summoned from Earth to the fantasyland of Erde, finds that her trained voice makes her the most powerful sorceress around. After wreaking much magical devastation in book one, she's now running the land of Defalk as Regent. Defalk is surrounded by scheming enemies, while its own vassal lords dislike being ruled by a woman. Modesitt's strength and weakness is that he imagines what follows in minute, realistic detail. It's good that, unlike some authors, he doesn't gloss over the hassles of tax-gathering in a feudal economy...but a little of this goes a long way. Anna deals with foe after foe in repeated, gruelling magical battles, each well visualised and each taking its toll of her health...but with a few too many roughly similar skirmishes in the book's 656 pages. One wonders, tongue in cheek, whether Modesitt deliberately conveys the exhaustion of war by half-exhausting his readers. Big, well-crafted and demanding. --David Langford
Review
Modessit creates a deeper and more intricate world with each volume. (PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY )
An intriguing fantasy in a fascinating world. (Robert Jordan )
Modessit follows the very real concerns for food, latrines, shelter, medicine, and the struggle for power within the group, while tracing the lifes of gifted men and women in the process of becoming legends. (LOCUS )
L.E. Modesitt is best known for his long fantasy series beginning with The Magic of Recluce (1991), in which magical power works with the unforgiving balance and precision of physics. The Soprano Sorceress (1997) and its sequel The Spellsong War are simi (David Langford, AMAZON.CO.UK )
An intriguing fantasy in a fascinating world. (Robert Jordan )
Modessit follows the very real concerns for food, latrines, shelter, medicine, and the struggle for power within the group, while tracing the lifes of gifted men and women in the process of becoming legends. (LOCUS )
L.E. Modesitt is best known for his long fantasy series beginning with The Magic of Recluce (1991), in which magical power works with the unforgiving balance and precision of physics. The Soprano Sorceress (1997) and its sequel The Spellsong War are simi (David Langford, AMAZON.CO.UK )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Modesitt's books are well known to me; I have most of the "Saga of Recluse" books, but these books, the Soprano Sorceress and it's sequel the Spellsong War, are written from a different angle. A new universe was portrayed in those two books, of such a reality that when I had read both books I found myself thinking "whatever did Anna do with...." before I could stop myself. Even though the Spellsong War tends to be a little bit too long and the end is not as imaginative as I had hoped for, it is an adventure that stands like a house. Well done! And I cannot help but wonder: who is the lady who inspired to write these books.... and WHY?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I like the detail of the story, the differences in food, conditions of living, etc, and how she deals with the belligerent and agressive lords in the only way she can. It's a book I like to re-read, and am looking forward to reading Darksong Rising.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hmm... where shall I start? I bought this book because I had read the Soprano Sorceress, the first in the series. Although not perfect, that book was based on an interesting idea, namely that of a world where music and singing enabled the performance of magic. Anna, the heroine, is a singing teacher on earth, but is transferred to the magical world of Erde due to an ill-timed wish to be anywhere but where she was. There, she discovers her magic powers, and ends up saving the kingdom, becoming regent, etc etc. All of this could lead to a gripping plot, and I was sufficiently interested in Anna to get the second book, but have to say that I was very disappointed. The writer is obviously trying to be 'realistic', but there are limits to the amount of times we need to be told exactly what Anna ate for breakfast (as happens on almost every page), or that she yet again order-spelled some water, or performed a vocalise. Characterisation in generally poor, the writing is dull and pedestrian, the magic songs etc are risible, the wars are repetitive and boring, there is very little humour, just constant 'why me' whining from the self-righteous Anna, before she incinerates yet another victim. I also have to admit that I found the geography very confusing, and was never quite able to sort out all the various countries in my mind - my own fault, no doubt, for not paying sufficient attention. It's a pity, because there is potentially quite a good story in all of this. However, it's not a patch on the worlds created by Robert Jordan, Katherine Kerr and others of the genre, where there is also sufficient variation in plot, tone, characterisation and so on. Having read this book, I certainly won't be trying to track down a third, and probably wouldn't even bother to read it if it was left lying in my path - and that's saying a lot! Overall: don't bother.
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