The Shadow Sorceress

Spellsong Cycle, Book 4

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Secca, a young sorceress, is thrust into a position of power and responsibility when the legendary Sorceress-Protector of Defalk dies unexpectedly before Secca's training as a master magic wielder is anywhere near complete.

As she leads an army for the first time, Secca finds that she must master diplomacy in order to save her ruler and his kingdom and form alliances with unfriendly potential allies. At the same time, she discovers the unexpected potential for love and companionship in a world where few men are wise enough to value women as anything more than wives, mistresses, or mothers.

Coping with it all, Secca proves herself to be more than just a quick study; she has become a courageous woman who shows a fearless commitment to fighting the good fight.

©2001 L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The saga continues on course toward becoming Modesitt's most outstanding work of fantasy." ( Booklist)

This book begins the story of new sorceress

So This book had a nice farewell to a beloved character in the first few books.....and setup some new spells.... with new battles on the sea....it's a adventure!! Hope you enjoy!!

Song magic The Next Generation

I’m glad I read the blurb or review that warned of the passing of the torch. With Anna gone, the mourning sorceresses she’s trained need to deal with the fallout. I thought showing how the new generation was kicking along with vast infrastructure & mining projects was good. It was neat to see which people aged well from the prior trilogy. I didn’t like the adventure to go off and genocide some people quite so well. Partly because I’m reading this while people are being massacred & partly because there *is* room between “Do nothing” & “Annihilate every enemy in the blast radius” and I’m tired of fantasy writers seeing success as killing every enemy to where there aren’t even toenails left over. It takes years to grow people to adulthood & they shouldn’t be fried like chicken around every corner. Except the ones who thought women weren’t people; they had the chance to clear the lowest possible bar & chose not to so good riddance. Those on the ships weren’t given that out. Time constraints don’t make genocide ok. I would have been happy with an interim book of just infrastructure projects & teaching & following up on the school & postal service and left the death matches to the next installment. There were a few teasers with the blacksmith & the other 1/33 lord who died, but those arcs didn’t arc (at all & much, respectively) or wrap in this book.

The rest of the death match adventuring was, oddly, more theoretical. We know of the enemy from harmonic disruptions & scrying, not personal involvement. That’s not disqualifying but it was hard to rally for the protagonists in the last half. Listening on audio, I just let most of the names wash over me, and had to rewind multiple times when infodump details wound up being important-ish. Then we get to the ship. Somehow, when our heroine steps on a ship for what appears to be the first time, she thinks & speaks in niche nautical terms, even under duress. She grew up inland with bad comms & few nautical myths. She wouldn’t have culturally gained knowledge of port & starboard let alone the various decks of a ship. Either the author really likes ships or wanted us to know they did their research, but it was largely unnecessary & intrusive when in Secca’s POV.

Steam: None. I am begging fantasy authors to take a few days & read a few romances. ‘Kinda like the guy, spend a lot of time trying to suss out his secret then he saves your life’ isn’t a romance. I can be, but the intention & emotion have to be there or it’s just colleagues on a trust building exercise. (TBH, I met the guy & ~his face lit the hall like daylight breaking~ is what usually signals interest, but that got dropped like a stone. I’m A-OK with no instant attraction & only becoming enamored after extended exposure, but the emotional element of that was NOT built up here.

Minor quibble. Mining is inherently destructive, yes. It isn’t inherently poisonous in their situation. I like that their open pit iron mine became a lake. I like that the author considered the destruction (and even created a historical example of a nuclear fallout zone) with the long view. But most of mining’s danger comes from carelessness with the chemicals used to separate out elements (and cheaping out on structural supports & ventilation). Without the leaching baths, most of their magical mining isn’t going to cause contamination, unless they decide to mine unstable or poisonous elements. Ok, I can let that go now. I really do appreciate how the magically built structures work out better if the sorcerers know how the structure works. Graded road beds with proper runoff & drainage are aces. I really could read a whole installment on infrastructure improvements.

Narration: Still good which is why I’m still reading for infrastructure & personnel updates despite cooling on the fights. Fixed the pronunciation of the musical exercises, which is nice, (along with the decrease in frequency of the word mucous).

Pleasant story telling

I enjoyed this story even if it seems a bit generic. The magic is performed by spell singing with a bit of a twist as they use bands to help with the music. Nothing shattering here just some strong story writing.

Another great book by Modesitt

I have been a huge fan of Modesitt for years and this book is no exception. if you enjoy a great epic fantasy this is a great book for you