Product Description

When Anna Marshall is transported from her boring and frustrating life in Ames, Iowa, to the very different world of Erde, she's angry and confused, but soon finds out that for the first time in her life she's uniquely powerful. In Iowa Anna was a music instructor and small-time opera singer, but on Erde her musical ability makes her a big-time sorceress--potentially. First she must figure out how to use her ability before the big-time rulers who've notices her arrival kill her just because she's an unpredictable new power......Those rulers may wish they hadn't waited as long as they did.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244619 in Books
• Published on: 1997-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 672 pages

From Library Journal
A singer/music instructor becomes a sorceress in this first in a new series.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Modesitt takes leave from Recluce, the scene of his successful series of fantasies, in a new take on the classic situation of someone from our world being tossed into a fantasy realm. In this case, the one tossed is singer and music teacher Anna, who is recovering from the death of her eldest daughter. She finds herself in a world in which songs are spells, music is the source of power, and she herself is a potent sorceress. That status promptly makes her the target of at least three villains who, for grittily realistic and unpleasantly plausible reasons, seek to exploit or destroy her. In fact, a tone of gritty realism pervades the whole book, as Modesitt develops his variation on a venerable plot with his usual intelligence, so that more than just his staunch fans will be busily turning pages. Moreover, few will be unmoved when Anna routs a hostile army with her (literally) spellbinding rendering of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Roland Green

From Kirkus Reviews
A new fantasy from the versatile author of Adiamante (p. 1108), the Recluce series, etc. Here, blond, middle-aged soprano Anna Marshall finds herself whirled away from everyday Ames, Iowa, to another world in which the country of Defalk is threatened with invasion by evil Dark Monks from neighboring Ebra. In this world, however, music is magic, and, instructed by the sorcerer Brill and his sponsor, Lord Barjim, Anna discovers that she has enormous powers--if she can learn to harness them. Clearly, the Dark Monks, who want to enslave Defalk and have magically engineered a long, ruinous drought, are wicked and must be stopped; and Anna, adapting the songs familiar to her, joins Brill and Barjim in a tremendous battle that destroys the invaders, though both Brill and Barjim are slain. Women, however, even sorceresses, are little respected in Defalk, so Anna agrees to support Lord Behlem, the self-styled Prophet of Music, even though knowing that he will soon attempt to assassinate her. The Ebrans, meanwhile, prepare another and greater assault, and Anna, struggling with sorcery, intrigue, and gender politics, determines to do what is right no matter what the cost. Resplendent feminist fantasy with an inventive and expertly handled scenario, life-sized characters, and flawless plotting. Sequels are supererogatory; the publishers threaten them nonetheless. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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?