Customer Reviews

Sing the Four Quarters

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first paragraph of 'Sing the Four Quarters' has our heroine, Annice puking up her breakfast in the privy. Now, if this had been a romance and not a fantasy, I would have guessed right away that she was pregnant, and not cursed by a wizard or suffering some equally fantastical stomach ailment. However, this book is a fantasy and Annice's long term lover is another woman, so I was as surprised as she was, when our heroine finally visits the healer. In spite of the fact that about a quarter of the novel is spent describing Annice's pregnancy, her reaction to being pregnant, and other people's reaction to her being pregnant, it is a good read. Among those who Annice manages to rescue before giving birth are a boy who can 'sing' to air and water sprites (saved from drowning), the one-night-stand who fathered her child (who was about to lose his head to the King's executioner), and her long-term lover (who was wasting away in a dungeon). Quite a list of accomplishments for someone who had problems maneuvering her growing girth up the curves of a spiral staircase! Anyway, the characters in this book are lovingly developed, and the mix of religion and wizardry is quite intriguing. The vividly described all-night vigil in the cathedral on the longest night of the year was the hook that drew me into 'Sing the Four Quarters' and I kept going through the night until I came to story's end. Now, I'll have to order the sequel.

The king considers his sister, Annice, to be utterly rebellious. She realizes her stubbornness, but clings on to the term "independent" rather than rebellious. Annice has the bardic talent of calling all of the elemental spirits ("kigh"): air, earth, fire, and water and she abandons her royal title to join the Bards. The king places only one restriction...no children to threaten the succession.

All is going well until Annice is found to be pregnant. And the father of her unborn child is charged with treason. Annice must rescue her lover, prove him innocent, and save the life of her child.

One important point: the characters do have a sense of humor, and are not the flat, "I-know-exactly-what-I'm-doing" heros/heroines from other authors.

The book has much of the flavor of Mercedes Lackey's early Valdemar novels (Arrows of the Queen, etc.).

Although there are several more novels set in the "Four Quarters" world, this novel is truly a "stand-alone" book. You may, however, want to visit the world again to understand the mysteries of the kigh.

I fell in love with this book before I even finshed the first page! I found it while dragging my tired friend through the book store at 9pm, I was making her read all the back of books that looked intresting (I was too busy looking for other books to bother reading it myself) and when she read Sing the Fourth Quarter, to be honest didn't sound very good to me, but my friend thought it sounded great (she probly just wanted me to find a book and leave) anyways- I found Tanya Huff to be an exellent writer who was very good with plot and true to her characters. I couldn't put it down! I'm now investigating other Tanya Huff books hopeing they're just as wonderful!

Annice was born knowing that she was meant to be something other than the Queen her family was raising her to be. When her father lay on his deathbed she asked for only one boon, and that was to be allowed to train and study with the bards. From this point on her life was lived divided from all that she had grown up with. Her family disowned her, and her brother put her under penalty of death if she ever bore a child.

Annice has not only the power to call the kigh, ethereal spirits only visible to bards, but the power to call all four quarters of them: fire, earth, wind, and water. Though she is strongest in wind those kigh begin to shun and avoid her, and soon enough the cause of this odd behavior becomes apparent...she's with child.

Not only does this child's birth spell out treason, but after a nasty turn of events the child's father is falsely brought up on charges of treason himself. Oh, what will they do? *g*

While the tale of a princess turned commoner is, well, common, Tanya Huff has no problem weaving an engaging and suspenseful story within it's layers. Annice is the type of person I think everyone dreams to be. She's headstrong and has enough courage to do what she believes is right. And being a pregnant heroine can't be an easy job to tackle.

Once again Huff earns my respect for creating a world in which gender doesn't matter. She seamlessly integrates women into the military and men into the kitchens. Never once does a character seem out of place, though I did have to pick my own brain a few times when a character she was describing turned out to be a gender opposite from what I was picturing. In this book love has no gender definition, and she doesn't try to explain why she simply tells a story. It's truly beautiful.

I absolutely adore each character in this book, and that connection heightens my fear when they're in danger and my joy when they've succeeded. The kigh are an interesting take on what other fantasy books have always called faerie or even simply magic. I love the way the kigh intereact with the bards that call them. The whole magic/kigh system is very intricate and easy to get lost in at first, but immersion is the best way to learn about something.

This a readable fantasy novel, but one which is lacking in any complex human emotions. The main conflict of the story is quickly resolved, with little resistance on either side, and turns out anyway to have been little more than a misunderstanding. The protagonist's two lovers feel no jealousy of each other, and she seems to feel no particular passion for either of them (despite the rather juvenile banter between herself and the father of her child), nor any conflict about her relationships with them. Two of the major villains swiftly and conveniently dispatch themselves from the scene and the third is compassionately but unconvincingly rehabilitated, while the minor villains retreat to the background. The warriors have a very PC distaste for violence, and the only evidence of any prejudice throughout the book takes the form of superstition towards supernatural forces. An entertaining read, but not one that resonates with any greater meaning.

Sing the Four Quarters was a very original book, that I greatly enjoyed. Annice, a former princess, has the gift to summon the spirits of the elements earth, water, fire, and air...so she becomes a bard. Now Annice flees from two counts of treason to avoid being executed by the king...her brother. Once you pick it up and start reading you will not beable to put it down untill you finish it! I also suggest it's sequal The Fifth Quarter..it introduces totally new characters and is almost as good as Sing the Four Quarters.

It is perhaps rare and not convenient to give a 10 out of 10, but this book was the first fantasy novel for years that evoked a state of mind in me, that I cannot describe. It is as if you break through the mists and reach for the golden Isle of Avalon. There is virtually bardic music in this story out of another dimension. SO to cut a long story short the world in which Annice strikes for freedom is a class of its own. And even better the characters grow with the outline of the story. Unfortunately The Fifth Quarter, the sequel, is not nearly as good as Sing the Four Quarters, but in both book Tanya Huff holds the tension and the story is never really predictable. There is always the missing link and first at the end the holistic image grows together. Brilliant....

I read this book in one sitting. I just simply could not put it down. A magical adventure with its fair share of danger, unexpected twists and humor. One of the original novel ever written, let alone thought of. Convincing plot and characters. Tanya Huff, I must say, is in a class of her own

Yes, this is a fantasy story. It is a very excellent fantasy story. It has magic and betrayal and family turmoil. Oh, did I mention that the heroine is pregnant almost the entire book and basically marches (waddles) across the land to save her country ( between bathroom breaks )and clear the name of her babies father whom she doesn't get along with. This story is not like any other and was a shear delight to read. There are some great reminders in this book why it is not wise to mess with a mother-to-be especially when she's in labor.

"Sing the Four Quarters" is pretty interesting as fantasy novels go. I don't means in terms of plot, because basically it concerns a cross country trek and several anti-climatic battle scenes, but because of the world it is set in. It's a fairly standard medieval world with several changes. One is that there are these little elemental spirits called the kigh can talk to certain people, who are the countries bards (the spirits respond to music.) The other, is that although some of the country is essentially terrified of these mostly invisible spirits and deem them to be religiously evil, the sexual morals of the world are completely up in the air. I happened to think this was an interesting contrast.

Other than that, this is about a cross country trek, a plot to tack over a country, some religious bigots, a bard who happens to be the disowned kings sister who got pregnant by the traitor in question (though he was apparently impossibly framed) even though she is a lesbian. Entertaining stuff, a bit bleak in writing style, but worth reading. I found it a bit slow in some parts, but essentially it ranks 3.5 stars. There are other books that take place in this world, but I think this can stand alone as a novel. I have to say though, I don't know now if I'm intrested in reading anything else by this author. I just wasn't that pulled in.