The Spellsong War (The Spellsong Cycle, Book 2) - Softcover

Modesitt Jr., L. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812540026 ISBN 13: 9780812540024

Publisher: Tor Books, 1999

Synopsis

Praise for "The Spellsong Cycle": "I read slowly, 'tis true, but I stayed up until 2:30 to finish "The Spellsong War."... That's a good indication for any reader that Modesitt tells a damned good tale. Even if you're a tenor." --Anne McCaffrey "One of the premier voices in fantasy... A highly original new series that promises to enthrall us as much or more than the popular Magic of Recluse collection of books. "Mr. Modesitt is a fabulous world builder who once again creates a milieu so compelling that it seems like we actually go there with the plucky heroine." -- "Romantic Times Magazine" "The gritty details of this world make it as real as any in science fiction. As usual, Mr. Modesitt's sense of power makes the fantastic background more plausible." -- "Philadelphia Press & Review" "Resplendent feminist fantasy with an inventive and expertly handled scenario, life-sized characters, and flawless plotting." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

About this title

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

"I read slowly, 'tis true, but I stayed up until 2:30 to finish The Spellsong War....That's a good indication for any reader that Modesitt tells a damned good tale. Even if you're a tenor." --Anne McCaffrey

"One of the premier voices in fantasy....A highly original new series that promises to enthrall us as much or more than the popular Magic of Recluce collection of books. Mr. Modesitt is a fabulous world builder who once again creates a milieu so compelling that it seems like we actually go there with the plucky heroine" --Romantic Times Magazine

"Mr. Modesitt is a fabulous world builder who once again creates a milieu so compelling that it seems like we actually go there with the plucky heroine." --Romantic Times Magazine

"The gritty details of this world make it as real as any in science fiction. As usual, Mr. Modesitt's sense of power makes the fantastic background more plausible." --Philadelphia Press & Review

"Resplendent feminist fantasy with an inventive and expertly handled scenario, life-sized characters, and flawless plotting." --Kirkus Reviews (pointer review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0812540026
• ISBN 13: 9780812540024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 657