Darksong Rising is the third Spellsong book , and concludes a trilogy featuring Anna Marshall, the music teacher and soprano from the midwest transported into a fantasy world where magic works according to musical principles--making her a powerful magician. Now Regent of Defalk, Anna must battle men who would destroy her and claim Defalk for their own.
Darksong Rising: The Third Book of the Spellsong Cycle
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From Publishers Weekly
The third volume of Modesitt's popular Spellsong Cycle may be its conclusion, but enough loose ends remain to both create realism and allow another trilogy--a felicitous combination for a saga in which music is a source of magic and a bereaved voice teacher from Iowa becomes a mighty ruler. Anna Marshall is now undisputed regent of the fantastic realm of Defalk. Everyone there seems to want their own way in spite of her authority, however, starting with Jimbob, the youthful heir to Defalk who is now well into his teens and suffering from an excess of male pride and adolescent enthusiasm. Keeping him out of trouble creates numerous diverting episodes, as do the intrigues of various nobles, local and foreign, who cannot deny either Anna's power as a wizard or their own distaste for obeying a woman. The Defalkan musicians, the accompanists to Anna's magic, are loyal--but small-group politics afflict even their ranks. Indeed, the suspense and tension in Anna's situation is created largely by her having more to do than any three people could, even without opposition--and she meets resistance at every turn. Modesitt's knowledge of academic politics is also a fruitful source of plot complications. Despite a somewhat episodic treatment and occasional plot lags, this novel is yet further evidence that Modesitt can tell an entertaining story, with panache. Author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Transported from her home in Iowa to a world where her musical talent makes her a powerful sorcerer, Anna Marshall has risen to the position of Regent of Defalk. When rivals for her position threaten to take her land from her, Anna gathers her loyal supporters together to defend her realm. Modesitt's deceptively simple prose and true-to-life characters add a realistic touch to an epic tale of magic, love, and war. Suitable for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Anna readjusted her floppy brown hat and shifted her weight in the saddle. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Anna readjusted her floppy brown hat and shifted her weight in the saddle. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I enjoyed the first two in this series, but this one was, frankly, just stupid in places. Not only were the characters black-and-white cutouts rehashed from the previous books, but the sorceress herself was just plain dumb at times. If you know the Bad Guy uses huge drums to amplify his magic and you have this convenient spell that rains fire from the heavens, it might occur to any sentient being to hit the drums with the fire while the Bad Guy is asleep, instead of waiting until he wakes up and tries to defend himself. Apparently that's too much to hope for.
Also too much to hope is moral ambiguity and any chance that someone the sorceress dislikes at first glance will turn out to be anything other than a Bad Guy (possibly temporarily tolerated for Political Purposes).
I had high hopes for this series. Pity this book is in it.
By afeitarse
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This series is so darn repetitive, it's amazing that it even got into print. Here's how the story goes, over and over again for like 700 pages:
"Oh no! 50 guys just walked up to me and tried to rape me again! Let's sing my special song!
Flame flame, come again
kill all men because they're insane"
Then all of these subcommanders tell her: "Ah yes, we have 12 score and they have 100 score men..oh no!" Meanwhile, Anna is eating 15 biscuits and complaining about her headaches. Then they go fight and she uses the stupid "flame song" again and everyone dies. Then Anna is like: "Oh no! Death!" and she goes off and kills another 100 score or whatever. This book is pure trash, plain and simple. Don't even bother reading this review about it.
By frumiousb
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Strange book. Modesitt is almost always an entertaining writer-- this is no exception. His books are adept at introducing realism into fantasy, the characters worry about unions and logistics and politics more than they do evil and magic and that is one of the things that I very much like about his writing. I liked this book for the very same reasons.
As a series entry, however, _Darksong Rising_ is oddly lacking. We see no character development from Anna and no real continuation of the older more interesting threads (Seers of Wei, for instance)and seemingly nothing new is introduced to be picked up later. It's as though Modesitt had to turn out a new installment for the publishers, but hadn't quite figured out where he needs to take his little fantasy-based political experiment. There are some interesting questions raised here (as in the others of the series) about cultural change, appropriate use of power, and political systems but I think that in order to keep the readers' attention Modesitt is going to have to come up with an equally interesting plot direction.
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3.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
2nd Book was best in series, this one is still worthwhile.
I am a fan of most L.E Modesitt stories, and have always been a fan of strong female characters that are well written. Read more
Published on April 26 2001 by Music fun in NYC
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Sub-Standard Work
The first book in this series contained a very clever and fresh idea. The second book developed it nicely. Read more
Published on Mar 7 2001 by George Oshry
1.0 out of 5 stars
simply bad
Simply bad
Once I start a fantasy series, I tend to stick with it. This was my main reason for buying Darksong Rising. Read more
Published on Feb 9 2001 by M. Joshi
4.0 out of 5 stars
Darksong Rising
After reading what passes for literature in some of the other genres, to I think I'll stick with this series. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2001 by Dale Smith
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