Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother...
Review: I think this book is quite a step down from Modesitt's usual caliber. And from its strong effeminate perspective, I almost suspect Modesitt had less to do with it than his wife. Although I haven't quite finished it yet I can safely say that the story line drags, any conflict is usually resolved in a one-sided manner, characters are poorly developed, the eternal male/female role battle is beat to death (along with the heat), the basis and cost of musical sorcery is not well-explained, and the magical lyrics are almost comical. It's taken me a month or two to get almost through this book because it keeps returning to the bottom of my stack. Find some other book that will stay at the top of yours.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh! Please!
Review: I understand that the author is married to a singer, but for goodness sake! She is one dimensional and crabby, and all the men are stupid and bigoted. There is also some of the most horrible revised lyrics I have ever seen in my life. An example: Modesitt gives us painfully childish renditions of Row Row Row Your Boat and Sing by the Carpenters, topped by a grotesque revision of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which is supposed to be sufficient music to make powerful magic. PLEASE! Yuck. Look, reviewers, just because a man writes a woman character who isn't a complete bimbo or window dressing [rare in fantasy, I realize] doesn't make this whiney one a feminist icon.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was fun, but...
Review: for truly entertaining fantasy, read a Harry Potter book. While I can't deny that the book had me entertained for the day or so it took me to read it, I can't think of a book that left me less to think about afterward. Well, maybe I can, but it's not worth the effort. What I'm trying to say is, the entertainment was fine, but the level of inventiveness was low, the morality on thin ice, and the sneezing and eating all too frequent. What in the world was up with all the sneezing? The book had me convinced they were all going to die of the plague. Well, as another reader astutely observed, it's fine for an airplane ride. Skip it for your library of classics.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't want to read it
Review: I'm a huge fan of Modesitt, but when I first read the back cover of this book I wasn't at all interested. In fact, it was months before I purchased and read it. I guess there's something to be said for not judging a book by its cover (or in this case the back cover). I find it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. Anna was a very interesting character - not the stereotypical hero who is told to save the world and bravely goes about doing it. Having a hero who questions herself and her actions is refreshing. The political dimension of her powers and actions I found particularly intriguing (this is developed in greater detail in the later books of the series).As I first said, I didn't want to read it. But since I have, I've eagerly awaited each new book in the series (and I've bought them in hardback instead of waiting for the paperback version).
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: As a fan of the Recluse Series, I've enjoyed Modesitt's work. In an effort to branch out a little, I've recently read The Soprano Sorceress and found it a refreshing addition to my library.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent new fantasy series
Review: L E Modesitt has come up with a winning tale in the story of Anna Marshall, who is taken from her world into a world of magic where songs create the spells. She finds that the literal meaning of her songs can be used to perform magic and must find a way to temper her power. Everyone she wants to stop with a little magic fire ends up burned to a cinder. Her cool water spell brings forth a block of ice in her cup. Modesitt does a great job of showing Anna working to discover how best to use and control her powers. This looks to be the start of a very entertaining series.
Rating:
Summary: Are There No Editors?
Review: A friend gave me this. I thought at first it was because she knew I like music, and stories about people from this world going to other worlds, but P.U. After toiling through endless pages of two people eating a meal (every single bite cut, chewed, swallowed) and nattering about nothing, I simply couldn't read on. All of that boring description of people eating, and NOTHING ELSE HAPPENING made me realize that my friend wasn't giving me a gift, but getting rid of a clunker she'd wasted money on. I'm donating it to the library sale.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, interesting, but derivative
Review: Recluce rehashed: plucky displaced-person protagonist, half-understood magical physics. The spellsong stuff has been done before, and certainly the displaced person zapped into a new world who suddenly can do magic (and better than any native!) has been done before, and better. Even so, I enjoyed this book -- it kept my interest, and I found Anna believable given her situation. Modesitt has a gift for portraying power struggles and intrigues. I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa...just WAY to much detail
Review: There are no words for this book. It stinks. How could a writer as good as Modesitt turn out something as awful as this? I know the old saying goes, " A lifetime of boredom with two days of sheer terror," but this was taking it overboard. The characters are flat, and the plot got lost in the details. It just went on and on...if you like descriptive books, this is one for you, but if you like action, bypass this all together.
Rating:
Summary: The worst book I have ever read, and that's saying something
Review: I cannot find words to describe how incredibly bad this was -(but you just know that I'm going to try anyway). The storyline wasboring. The main character was incapable of seeing her own faults - she used her magic to massacre thousands with searing flames and justified it without any qualms. She used a spell to compell a man from committing crimes - she took away his freedom, but who was she to judge him? Basically, even though Anna is the heroine, her morality is non-existant. When she fights for Defaulk, does she ever wonder that she might not be hearing the full story? The status of a character could be decided by their attitude towards Anna. If they like her, they're a good guy. Only villains were written as hating her, even though the ruthlessness that she quickly acquired should have made her more than cardboard enemies. Could she have compared the man she fancied to Robert Meechem once more than she did? And could the various men in the book have tried to rape her any more often? That last one was gratuitous, tasteless and over-feministic. The author insisted upon inserting her own awful rhymes at every possible place. They added to the suffering of the reader. The book was far too long for its scope and purpose. I finished it because I told myself, every time the writing made me cringe, that it couldn't get worse. But it consistantly did. I adore singing. When I saw the blurb on the back of the book, I unwisely judged it by its cover and bought it straight away. Don't make the mistake that I did. Do not read this book - it will only disappoint.
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