Shadowsinger (Spellsong Cycle, Book 5)

Rating:
Summary: Not one of Modesitt's best
Review: "Shadowsinger" leaves a whole lot to be desired.

Lady Secca, Sorceress-Protector of Defalk, has married Alcaren, hidden Sorcerer and Lord of Ranauk (where women rule), and they're in deep, deep trouble. At the end of "The Shadow Sorceress" (book 4), the Maitre of Sturinn was on the loose, a nasty Sorcerer has gained power in Neserea, and no one knew what was going on there despite all their scrying with mirrors.

Secca and Alcaren do have some assistance as they set off to fight; they have the help of the Matriarchy of Ranauk (this comes in handy during several sea battles, which are ridden out on Matriarchy-controlled ships) along with some minor assistance from the state of Norwei. And they have Secca's experienced musicians ("players"), who accompany her and boost her power, along with an assistant sorceress who's rapidly improving (Richina) to spell her now and again, as well as a whole lot of grit and nerve. They're willing to fight the "good fight," and keep the Sturrinese and the nasty Nesereans out of Defalk, and aid their sworn allies to the best of their ability.

In between fighting battles with the various folks out to get them, Secca and her cohorts must fight her own land's leader, Lord Robero. He's afraid of her, yet he needs her to defeat Defalk's enemies; it's a very subtle balance, and the pendulum is starting to slip.

And the Sturrinese, a nasty race of men who enslave and chain their women, are making overtures toward Robero, too. Meaning Secca and the others have a whole lot more problems.

All of that is fine, as far as it goes. But I think Modesitt went too far with the Sturrinese, as they are just too maliciously evil to be believable. They are the equivalent of Germany under Hitler and the Nazis -- but worse.

Even Nazis didn't chain their own kinfolk.

The rank evilness of the Sturrinese causes all sorts of other difficulties, because it just doesn't logically fly. Simply put: I'm supposed to believe that the Sturrinese men have been willfully chaining and torturing their women for umpteen-hundred years? All of them? Why? Why do this to their mothers, their sisters, their lovers? And even if they believe it's right, morally and ethically, it still makes no sense.

Why would they want to take 1/2 of their work-force out of the equation? (Trust me, with the type of chains those women wear, they are not able to do most labor, and even doing "minor household tasks" would be a major stretch. They wouldn't be able to do much else with the constant strain of carrying around and wearing those nasty heavy chains.) How can they afford to do something as idiotic as that?

And why hasn't their "empire" fallen about their heads long before this out of sheer stupidity?

Getting back to the story, the Maitre, leader of the Sturrinese and their most powerful Sorcerer, says that they've united 1/4 of the world under their "beneficent leadership" (paraphrase mine). Why would anyone else in the world sit still for this? Sorcerers can be taken out, and not just by other Sorcerors/Sorceresses (we only saw it happen once, I think in book 2, but it has happened and probably could happen more if people used tactics instead of brute force); a massed force could have toppled these asinine, ahem, *individuals* long before this book starts.

That took a full one and one half stars away from the potential five right there. And could have taken far more, if the rest wasn't so engaging.

In addition, although I like Secca and Alcaren very much as characters, they don't get much time to grow together, and the romance between them is truncated. I disliked that very much. Even when times are hard and bad, if you're partners and you believe in one another and trust each other, you can find more time for romance. Granted, Modesitt hints very well and there is some very subtle romance going on (as well as some not-so-subtle lust). But it's not enough for my taste.

In addition, I don't believe Secca would take over as Lady of Defalk, not after all Anna had to do to stay out of that position. Granted, Secca can still have children; she's in her mid-30s, and she's not too old, plus she could always adopt (this was a possibility with Anna if Anna had kept the throne). But one of the big points made in both books 4 and 5 was that Alyssa, Robero's consort, was smart and tough. Granted, Alyssa couldn't keep Robero from doing stupid things, but was it her fault she couldn't control him? She's no sorceress, only a very smart woman, who got the Hell out of the way when it was clear to her that her husband was Hell-bent on destruction (which, to me at least, proved how smart she was).

It would have made more sense to have had Alyssa resume holding Defalk as ruling _Lady_ -- and have the heirs be picked by her, Jolyn, and Secca alike. Secca shouldn't be the ruler, because there is at least one nasty Sturrinese priest out there, and anyway, the other lands are going to be in violent upheaval for quite some time. She doesn't have time to both be a ruler _and_ put down all the strife in my opinion.

And by Modesitt putting Secca on the throne, it brought up another question. I kept wondering how Secca, who was the pre-eminent sorceress of the world of Erde, was going to be able to train successors? Granted, Richina (her assistant) is well on the way to becoming independent, but Secca shields Richina from the worst spells and doesn't seem to want to let Richina in on the decision making, meaning at best that Richina, once she starts taking students, won't be able to teach ethics or decision making. And that's not right, because Richina is powerful (albeit young), and deserves to know what's going on.

And there was one writing idiosyncrasy that drove me nuts throughout all five books of this series. Every time Modesitt goes away from his main character (whether it's Anna in books 1-3 or Secca in 4-5), he switches from past tense to present tense, almost as if to say, "We're looking through someone else's eyes now!"

Trust me. The reader can figure that out without this sort of clue. There's no reason to do this, it's distracting, and every time Modesitt did it, it made my teeth grind. Which is why I took another 1/2 star away.

Now that I've gone through the minuses, let me count the pluses. The characterizations were very good in the main; Secca and Alcaren are believable, vivid people. I especially liked Palian, the Chief Player. I enjoyed the idea of harmonies and dissonances being used as a form of magic (although I'm still unsure as to how it'd work, exactly). And I believed in the struggles Secca was having with her usage of power.

Still. Compared to "Adiamante" or the four books about the Ecolitans or even to books 1-3 of this own cycle, it doesn't work. It's not as strong as it could have been, and that's a shame.

Three stars.

Barb Caffrey

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Conclusion
Review: I read both book 4, Shadow Sorcceress and book 5 Shadow Singer in tandem which was helpful in keeping the story line fresh to mind. Initially, at the beginning of this series, I found it a stretch to believe in song sorcery, but Modesitt makes the concept viable through his engaging characters and fascinating worlds that he creates. I was glad to see the development of both the female sorcerer Ashtaar in Wei, and the Maitre of Neserea who had been neglected in the 3 earlier books except for brief mention scattered throughout them.In my opinion, this series is much more a woman's read because of strong female characters who exhibit strength and true power.

It was sad when Lady Ana died, but the firey redhead Lady Secca through several near death experiences is able to succeed albeit much devastation results from her self doubt and trial and error battles to overcome the sea priests' invasion and conquest of their lands. The introduction of a male sorcerer who becomes her husband is a welcome addition to her life and to the story line for it balances the concept of power sharing among the genders who inhabit this magical land and offsets the alienation by the male rulers and land holders who, feeling threatened, fight her every step of the way while she is trying to save their bacon.

The reason for the deterioration of rulership by JimBob/Lord Robero remained unclear to the end. His motivations were suspect, but was he merely stupid or simply greedy? In any event, the conclusion and his comeuppance was fitting and the author created a logical and satisfying closure to a fascinating saga.

Rating:
Summary: Accompanimento Obbligato - Not Quite
Review: In Book Four (The Shadow Sorceress) of this five-book Spellsong Cycle, Secca, the ward and foster-daughter of Anna, the Great Sorceress, takes center stage after the latter dies. There is already a disruption in the harmony in the land, as it were. Combating malevolent home-grown sorcerers and staving off the invasion of the women-hating Sea Priests from afar have almost killed Secca.

The Shadowsinger, as Secca is now called in Book Five, along with her sorcerer-husband Alcaren, and a remnant of lesser sorceresses, take the war to the Sea Priests home islands [1]. When the climatic batte is fought, the Sea Priests are vanquished. Secca becomes the first ruler-sorceress of her homeland Defalk. Defalk remains the only super-power at the end of this saga.

Characteristic of Modesitt's writings is the familiar theme on the struggle for geopolitical power and authority and how they are used or abused [2]. In the Shadowsinger, essential leadership qualities with power and authority are contrasted among the relative good (Secca the Shadowsinger), the bad (Robero the Lord of Defalk), and the ugly (Maitre of the Sea Priests).

Modesitt could have written more on music and its effect on the lives of his characters. Afterall, music conveys loneliness and of pain, of strength and freedom, of life and love, of death and sorrow, and of disappointment and never-satisfied love. All these he has written, though contrained and under-developed, in the five books.

If there were a juncture where Modesitt would come through in writing love and music other than music and war, it is between the courtship and marriage of Secca and Alcaren. It would be a spark to the reader if Alcaren, the destined husband and music partner for Secca, says to her bride, "Ich bin mit einem obligaten Accompaniment auf die Welt gekommen"[3]. She then in turn patiently explains and demonstrates to the obliging husband the technique of playing Fernando Sor's "Obbligato on Etude in B minor."

It is ironic Modesitt selects music as the conduit for sorcery. This is a one-dimensional and warped exercise on the speech of the angels. Then again, this is a fantasy - everything is allowed and then some. On balance, it is a fairly good read.

A few final remarks on this last book of the Spellsong Cycle. They all pertain to editorial oversights.

1. The familiar map of the Continent of Liedwahr is curiously omitted in this final book. If one were
to read this book, he would have no reference as to what's where and where battles are fought.

2. The age of Secca and her assistant-sorceress are different in Book Four (The Shadow
Sorceress) and Book Five (Shadowsinger).

• Secca is 25+ years old (Chapter 13, The Shadow Sorceress)
• Secca is 35+ years old (Chapter 6, Shadowsinger)

• Richina, assistant sorceress to Secca, is but a" few years more than a girl" (Chapter 9, The Shadow Sorceress)
• Richina, assistant sorceress to Secca, is now "more than fifteen years younger than Secca"
(Chapter 2, Shadowsinger)

3. This one is really a salient oversight on Modesitt's part. He thinks he is writing about Candar
from the the Recluse series. Here is the quote made by the Maitre of the Sea Priests as he and
his command are out-maneuvered by Secca and her allies.

"Wards that are not wards, or more than wards. Ships from all across Candar..." (Chapter 75,
Shadowsinger)

__________

[1] The crux of the geopolitics and ideological elements in the Shadowsinger parallels the war actions post-September 11, 2001 when United States takes the war of terrorism to Afghanistan. The Shadowsinger is first published in February 2002.

[2] The Saga of Recluse is a long and skillfully crafted study on power and authority. There is the cut -and-dry "black" or "white" ideology, and the in-between "grey" ideology. All are expressed or represented by the respective ideological magic/sorcery.

[3] Attributed to Beethovan: "I was born with an obbligato accompaniment"