Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #211035 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-15
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.14" h x 4.24" w x 6.82" l, .69 pounds
• 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.