The Soprano Sorceress

Spellsong Cycle, Book 1

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: Amy Landon

When Anna Marshall is transported from her boring and frustrating life in Ames, Iowa, to the very different world of Erde, she's angry and confused. But she soon finds out that for the first time in her life she's uniquely powerful. In Iowa, Anna was a music teacher and small-time opera singer, but on Erde, her musical ability makes her a big-time sorceress-potentially. First, though, she must figure out how to use her ability before the rulers kill her.

©1997 L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

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

Be careful what you wish for, or power dynamics at play

What happens when a classically trained soprano who has been overlooked and condescended to her entire career winds up in a land where music is magic? She will change worlds … if she can survive long enough to make a difference.

Anna wishes to be *anywhere* else right when a young man, conveniently anywhere else, wishes for a mage to be summoned. She puts up with endless testing & needling & attempts on her life while trying to suss out exactly where she is, what’s going on, & what she has the power to do. Everyone is cagey with info, despite needing her help. She has to learn magic semi- covertly with minimal guidance which leads to a few rough patches, but her history of trying to blend in & not make waves helps her. Then when not making waves ceases to help her, she girds her loins and goes ham on her enemies, both foreign & domestic. She strikes a good balance there, imho.

In the “let’s get to business” phase, she starts ushering in progressive changes, mostly with the youth, yet both she & the author acknowledge that the good she is doing will be perceived as ultimately a bigger threat than her sorcery. She puts a lot of safeguards in place to address this, which I think an entitled character wouldn’t have thought to do. (Then she runs off on a mission that could jeopardize all the beans, making her plans a blip if she doesn’t live. And given that big spells knock her out, she’s vulnerable even if her spells are successful. The one & only thing rich & powerful people stop other rich & powerful people from doing is sharing the wealth.)

Worldbuilding (+): Sorcery in the world means consuming vast calories & gallons of water. It’s possible to knock yourself out overdoing a spell. This is consistent. (Beware her internalized fatphobia & diet culture internal comments.) Anna, luckily, finds water cleansing & refreshing spell songs come easily. (slight spoiler:It’s a relief to this reader that she’s able to get a message home, but that sorcery is more catastrophic & thus very limited. /end spoiler)
I have a personal bent for the Battle Hymn of the Republic but bemoan the religiosity of the lyrics which makes this use of it particularly satisfying.

It seems that even with many locals ABLE to perform spells, few actually do, and few try substantial spells. Importing sorcerers from “mistworlds” is how they get the big guns. Only in the last chapter (not a spoiler) is it explained why the locals have so little power compared to one classically trained soprano. While our protagonists have their lives impeded by nefarious sorcery, The amount of daily life dependent on positive sorcery seems small outside homes of prominent sorcerers.

WB (-): A huge number of people get wiped out. Like half or more of the people whose existence we’re made aware of. As they’re mostly people in armies, it’s presented as inevitable but is it? We can’t know. Anna’s angst over it isn’t unfounded.
Aside from the number of named characters who perish, stale bread was my biggest complaint. Trail bread isn’t stale by day 2! No matter how limited the ingredients, good cooks can make tasty fare of anything that hasn’t fully spoiled. The author forgets how much fermenting & brewing & aging & drying & brining & smoking of foods people used to do before refrigeration! For some reason Anna never tried to un-vinegar wine or refresh bread. Likewise, she deloused a bed but never made one less lumpy. That seems like a good return on investment since she needs good sleep as much as water.
It seems to me that there’s a general attitude that handmade things can’t be as good as sorcery made things so Anna is constantly noticing lower quality goods - either that or the author thinks quality fabrics & comfortable beds for the wealthy only happened after the industrial revolution. (That’s when *poor* people got comfy beds. the rich could always buy comfort, and we’ve lost the ability to make some incredible fabrics because we don’t grow the plants, tend the specialty vicuñas, or teach the methods anymore.)

Steam: There’s no primary romance. There is some pining in secondary characters. A little “hmm, maybe later, thoughts from Anna. Beyond that, Good & terrible extant relationships exist. Sadly, a large number of leches who won’t take “no” from a woman exist here too. The most annoying one was where it was someone she didn’t want to hurt & after repelling him, she waffled about “does fighting him off make her just as bad as him targeting her” (narrator: no) because she is so used to victims getting blamed for the disruption sexual assault causes, she ran around wiping up his mess. Which was kind, but I’m tired of it being seen as ok for predators to keep their comfy lives. (1997 is not too soon to know better.) Her angst around repelling sexual assault *is* unfounded. Fortunately after she wipes up after him, she isn’t so kind in future such encounters.

Narration: Top quality narrator. Does different voicing for male/female characters & tries to make to more distinctive characters sound unique, something I appreciate as a listener. The sound quality is even & clear. (As usual, I’m bummed that music industry shenanigans keep it financially all but impossible to use music in audiobooks, but the author picked a number of well known tunes so most will be familiar to an audience familiar with high profile Americans songs.)

Great new story by Modesitt

I really enjoy the mechanics of this new world by Modesitt. His ability to come up with his many different worlds and the construct of his magic are so creative. Another fantastic book.

One of my favorite book series

The Spellsong Cycle is one of my favorite book series, one I have read again and again over the years in print and through audiobook.

Does Not Disappoint

I was hesitant to purchase this book. It follows a plot that has been done many times by many authors. The mix of today and another world and time. Very few authors have done the storyline credit, Modesitt Jr is now one of them. I pre-ordered the sequel before I was half-way through and am eagerly anticipating its arrival on my phone.

Love

so far I have loved everything this author has written. This book did not disappoint.

Engaging

Story had a slow beginning and had to get used to the readers style for the main character. I kept going and am so glad I did. Story got very engaging and I got where I could hardly stop listening. Love the strong female sorceress character. She's my hero.

Taking the power of music to a whole new level.

I enjoyed the story very much. As a singer, I found myself wanting to be a part of it.

Lately litrpg surprised how good this was…

Really good story and reader, compelling characters and great tempo to progression of narrative…highly recommend this story to anyone who likes fantasy fictional stories or King Arthurian sort. Take an hour it’s free and enjoy the whole series.

worth the credit

Not the first singer/magician from another land but worth getting. This writer does an excellent job of world building. I wish that they actually sang the songs but it is probably a copyright issue. Thumbs up!

Be patient

It's worth the slow beginning. Give it a little time and you will enjoy this story :)