The Day of the Dissonance (Spellsinger Book 3)

Rating:
Summary: Jimi, your musical legacy continues [no spoilers]
Review: "The Day of the Dissonance" is the amusing third volume in the Spellsinger adventure about Jon-Tom and colleague Mudge.

Back cover of book:

Fantastic Voyage

Clothahump, the wizard, is dying. All that can save him are rare medicinal powers to be found across the Glittergeist Ocean, past distant Snarken, Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, sets out on the most perilous pilgrimage of his still-young career armed with only his music-making duar and a reluctant Mudge, the otter, as his guide. Along the way he conjures up Roseroar, Amazonian tiger, rescues Jalwar, the ferret, and together they free Folly, the beauty, from bondage! Spellsinger and his motley crew press on, confronting a forest of Fungoid Frankensteins on the Muddletop Moors, a parrot pirate on the high seas, cannibal fairies in the enchanted canyon, and the evil wizard of Malderpot who poses the greatest challenge of all!

End back cover of book.

The reader is introduced to new individuals while most characters outside of Mudge and Clothahump are given notable mentions. I found Roseroar particularly appealing as a character whereas Mudge and his occasional juvenile antics bordered on bothersome (but I still love the little otter). With a wide selection of idiosyncrasies to choose from, parallel personalities are available for every species. The ending left a huge impression on me 20 years ago and I wasn't disappointed.

As a fan of the classical, rock, and heavy metal music genres, I find the magic Jon-Tom creates with his duar exciting since I believe a well-constructed song can affect people with its intensity and power in a primal aspect.

Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Jimi, your musical legacy continues [no spoilers]
Review: "The Day of the Dissonance" is the amusing third volume in the Spellsinger adventure about Jon-Tom and colleague Mudge.

Back cover of book:

Fantastic Voyage

Clothahump, the wizard, is dying. All that can save him are rare medicinal powers to be found across the Glittergeist Ocean, past distant Snarken, Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, sets out on the most perilous pilgrimage of his still-young career armed with only his music-making duar and a reluctant Mudge, the otter, as his guide. Along the way he conjures up Roseroar, Amazonian tiger, rescues Jalwar, the ferret, and together they free Folly, the beauty, from bondage! Spellsinger and his motley crew press on, confronting a forest of Fungoid Frankensteins on the Muddletop Moors, a parrot pirate on the high seas, cannibal fairies in the enchanted canyon, and the evil wizard of Malderpot who poses the greatest challenge of all!

End back cover of book.

The reader is introduced to new individuals while most characters outside of Mudge and Clothahump are given notable mentions. I found Roseroar particularly appealing as a character whereas Mudge and his occasional juvenile antics bordered on bothersome (but I still love the little otter). With a wide selection of idiosyncrasies to choose from, parallel personalities are available for every species. The ending left a huge impression on me 20 years ago and I wasn't disappointed.

As a fan of the classical, rock, and heavy metal music genres, I find the magic Jon-Tom creates with his duar exciting since I believe a well-constructed song can affect people with its intensity and power in a primal aspect.

Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Good for teenagers
Review: I read this series for the first time as a teenager, and I have to note with some sadness that I think it's definitely lost stars for me as an adult reader.

The premise of the Spellsinger series is that an aspiring singer/lawyer (Jon-Tom) is pulled into an alternative universe where all animals except lizards can talk and think and he has magical powers as a spellsinger. But since all he knows are rock songs from our western world, his results are occasionally unpredicatable.

In this book, Jon-Tom has to go searching for medicine for his mentor Clothahump. On the way he picks up a 7-foot high white tiger, his irascable companion Mudge, and a teenage street kid named Folly. Hilarity and mayhem ensues.

The spellsinger books are light on the realism and heavy on the humor. Note that many of the jokes are dependent on knowing pop culture from the 80s. I laughed at the Def Leppard jokes. Current teens may not get them.

Rating:
Summary: In vain hope I pray for more Spellsinger novels...
Review: There is a rather ludicrous sense of majesty surrounding the Spellsinger series. A sometimes comic, sometimes morbid world where the imagination of one obvious rock fan can proceed uninhibited by the averages of fantasy guidelines. Mr. Foster, accidently, I believe, created a bit of a masterpiece when he sculpted the first of the Spellsinger series,which has, all the way through it's last installment, Chorus Skating, supplied new and various dishes for those travelers on this world which the offer never bothers to identify. This book, in particular, captures the sheer ridiculousness and fun at the heart of the Spellsinger series; it's a kind of jovial feeling you sense that the characters would partake of as well, were they confronted with this astounding piece of literature. Now, all I want to know is...will there be any more? : ) I can only pray and hope!