I have a love for 80s and 90s fantasy that I just can’t quite reach for modern fantasy. Please don’t get me wrong, there several examples of modern fantasy novels I love (Joe Abercrombie may quickly be approaching my favorite fantasy author ever) but 80s and 90s fantasy has something special that modern fantasy doesn’t. I don’t quite know how to identify it. It’s almost seems more character based and more nerdy, as if the books were planned out by the author creating a D&D character that they RE

I have a love for 80s and 90s fantasy that I just can’t quite reach for modern fantasy. Please don’t get me wrong, there several examples of modern fantasy novels I love (Joe Abercrombie may quickly be approaching my favorite fantasy author ever) but 80s and 90s fantasy has something special that modern fantasy doesn’t. I don’t quite know how to identify it. It’s almost seems more character based and more nerdy, as if the books were planned out by the author creating a D&D character that they REALLY liked and decided to Mary-Sue them to hell and back… and there’s something rather charming about that.



In this case, Huff really wanted people to see bards as a bad-ass character class (something, which honestly, I agree with despite most people I know hating to play them). She creates a world where bards are pretty much key to our kingdom’s inner workings. They act as magic users, spies, scouts, town criers, living lie detectors and… well, they sing a good song in taverns as well. This is a world that is frankly fascinating and is built upon a fairly unique magic system. Songs can speak to what are essentially elementals and they respond based on the song’s tone Very few sing properly and even fewer can sing the four quarters as it’s called. Of course our Mary-Sue lead bard CAN sing all four!



Okay, Mary-Sue may be a little bit strong as Huff proceeds to cripple her amazing skillset at the start of the book, because our lead character gets pregnant. This creates two interesting aspects to the book. First, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen pregnancy be a main focus in a fantasy novel before. It was refreshingly different (though I confess had I read this when I was on my biggest fantasy kick in the early 2000s, I probably would not have been as fascinated by this as I am now, having also fairly recently become a father). Second, it created a character who is “weakened” in the physical sense and magical sense in that she can now only sing one element and that’s earth (and also the one she was weakest in before). As someone who was used to being the best, she now has to be more cautious, and also think along different lines than she did before.



This was different. This was unique. Add a strong enfaces on a quest feel rather than a focus on war (well… they are trying to prevent one, but war is not the focus) and you’ve got something so completely different than most 80s/90s fantasy, yet still keeping the same feel… sign me up! What’s not to love?



Well for a start the characters. Our two main leads, Annice and Pjerin seemed to go out of their way to find new ways to annoy me. Some of the banter was amusing, but for the most part I felt like I was reading about two brats who were old enough to know better… and before anyone responds with “Oh Tim, don’t you know couples in 80s/90s fantasy novel always hate each other at first?” Well… the relationship here is a bit unique. While Pjerin and Annice did have a one-night stand (hence the pregnancy aspect), they’re not really a couple. Annice is in a pretty solid relationship with another bard named Stasya, who is completely okay with all this. There is no addressing her feelings on the pregnancy, which seems a bit odd. While bisexuality seems to be the norm here, and marriage is accepted from any combination of gender, the relationships are not really presented as open. Thus it seems a bit odd that Stasya’s opinion is in no way expressed.



That little digression out of the way, the characters were mostly annoying, and those who weren’t annoying were sadly not built up enough. I literally liked every single bard we are introduced to in the novel more than our lead, and few of them get many pages and those who do are not given a fully fleshed out personality… yet all could have made a more intriguing protagonist.



While this hurt the book a lot, the biggest problem is that the plot is mostly forgettable. While there are perils the characters face along the way, the biggest dilemmas get solved all fairly quickly and honestly very little happens during the main journey portion of the book. As much as I hate to say this, I highly suspect that if you asked me my thoughts on the book in one year, I’d remember it having interesting ideas and a great magic system, but wouldn’t be able to tell you much of what actually happens.



While my complaints are fairly major, I still found myself surprisingly enjoying the book throughout. In fact, I felt a little bad complaining about them, as I found that when all is said and done, I really enjoyed the book. While aspects annoyed the hell out of me, I never found myself feeling like throwing it down. It was a relaxing read. A fun read and yes, a charming read. What it did well, it pulled off with style and was different enough while still keeping that 80s/90s feel I wanted. While I can’t give it the wholehearted recommendation I wanted to early on, I can still say it was a fun read and I will likely press on with the series at some point (partially because I got this in an omnibus with the other books and also because the second has different leads in the same world, so I won’t have to endure the same characters).



A slightly generous 3/5 stars and a recommendation to old school fantasy fans who want something a bit different.

