Customer Reviews

Songmaster (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Never having read any of the works of Mr. Card, and not even associating him with the whole "Ender's" phenomenon, I went into this book without any preconceptions or expectations. I found this to be one of the most insightful and unique stories written in the latter half of this century. The concept of a collective who communicates primarily through song is a twist on the norm, and Orson Scott pulls it off with utter brilliance in his prose and form. At one point I had to actually mark my place, put the book down and regain my composure, lest I surely lose my ability to see through the tears. These were not tears of sorrow, mind you, rather tears of joy. This story grabbed my attention and emotions and slung them around like only an E-ticket ride at the Magic Kingdom can do. I have since read anything and everything I can get my hands on by Mr. Card, and not once have I been disappointed. Although some of his works are better known and more popular, "Songmaster" remains my favorite. Find this book and purchase it immediately. On my honor, you will not be disappointed.

Bryon T. Smedley - bsmedley@novell.com

Card seems to have a predilection for having child protagonists. But not just any children, rather children who are special, who are prodigies, who in many ways are far stronger than most adults. This book is no exception, with Ansset as the premier Songbird of his day. Songbirds are specially trained child singers, trained in not just the basics of music, but more importantly in how to read the emotional makeup of their audience and express it in their songs.

Ansset is assigned to be the Songbird for the Emperor Mikal, a brutal man who thinks nothing of wiping out the entire population of a planet to further his ends. But the end Mikhal is driving toward is lasting peace throughout the galaxy - a truly benevolent dictator. It is just this moral ambiguity that Ansset sees and understands, just as he can understand, accept, and reciprocate the love of Josif, a bisexual who can only be attracted to one person at time.

In fact, there are no hard and fast moral laws laid down in this book. Fraud, kidnapping, assassination, murder, homosexuality, pedophilia, devotion, political machinations, and, yes, even true love all receive an examination here, and each item is shown in more than one light. A good part of this book's strength lies within these examinations, which are shown by the events and people Ansset is exposed to, rather than by any sort of expository dialogue. The rest of the strength lies within the raw emotion that sings throughout this book, an almost poetic handling of what would be in lesser hands a very ugly set of happenings. Characterization is excellent, for not just Ansset but also all the players around him: Mikal, Ricktors, Esste, Kya-Kya - each are unique individuals that breathe life into this work.

Not so good is the believability of the basic scenarios, from Ansset's incredible ability as a very young child to read the deep emotional makeup of those around him and sing that back to them, certain fighting skills that Ansset learns, even to the musical language members of the Songhouse converse with. While Card makes a good stab at presenting these items in such a way as to try and make them believable, and while reading it these doubts can easily be pushed into the background, after closing the book they leave a bit of a sense of something not quite right, a lack of direct applicability to the 'real' world. While this is not a great flaw, it does bring this book down from the level he achieved in Ender's Game, making it merely very good as opposed to that book's greatness.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

This was my first Orson Scott Card book, and the second I finished it I rushed out to get another. In my opinion, Card is one of the best American authors ever, and he proves it in Songmaster. This book has so many complex ideas, feelings, nuances, and plot lines, I have no idea how Card dreamed it all up. He never ceases to amaze me, and I never cease to praise his written creations! This book will rock your world.

This was my first Scott Card novel. I came across a review in Amazon's very clever Listmania. I have actually found a number of "unknown" (to me at least) authors this way, not the least of whom is Orson Scott Card. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I had to get it through Z-shops. How can anything this good be out-of-print? To describe the plot is to do an injustice to all concerned, but I'll attempt to give some idea. The theme of teaching children to use their voices in song as communication, healing, education, destruction is not new, but it has never been done like this. This is what I always hoped to read, but could never find. The characters are complex, beautiful, touching. The unfolding of a story in which such beauty must be exposed to such ugliness, in which such love must endure such betrayal, and yet it ends on such a note of hope, victory, courage, triumph of human spirit and wisdom... I did not want it to end. I'll have to re-read this at least once. And so, a boy is trained to use his talent, and becomes a SongBird. This is the story of his life and the music he makes in strange and sometimes not so wonderful times, in strange and sometimes not so wonderful places. If you want the depth and magic of it, you'd best read it yourself! It is sheer brilliance.

Orson Scott Card's stories and novels always carry a moral message. In his more recent, in-print publications, the moral message is often very clear and up front, and while he's hardly someone who uses a formula to write his books, he does have a very strong method and set ideas about what he wants from literature. But back when he wrote Songmaster, he was still finding his way. As with most of his early work, his characters here face far more immediate violence, pain, and hardship than in his later books, and while their responses can be somewhat uneven, the result is, from my perspective at least, a far more moving read than the smooth, knowing Card of today. This younger, rougher, less morally bound Card is worth checking out.

There's no denying the similarities between this book and Ender's Game. Yes, the main character is a male prodigy who struggles to learn and grow in emotional isolation. But all four of Card's major series begin with such a character (Ender, Bean, Alvin, and Nafai), and it's when he's writing about these remarkable children that Card does his best work. They're far more interesting than his adult characters because they genuinely don't know what to do when facing a problem -- every important decision they make is based on the information they have at hand, not any prior set of beliefs. This, plus their genius, makes them remarkably unpredictable and allows us to re-evaluate out own beliefs. Ansset, the "hero" of Songmaster, is no exception.

Card explores homosexuality in this novel, a topic he hasn't really braved since then, and an interesting choice given his Mormonism. The results may initally seem ambiguous -- after all, bisexual Josef suffers tremendously and commits suicide as a result of his failed encounter with Ansset. However, looking past that, you can see that Card is strikingly liberal in his treatment of love between men. After all, Ansset quite righteously makes the men who hurt Josef suffer in return. Josef's wife doesn't object to his love for Ansset, and like her, Ansset sees only the love that Josef sought to express. It's society at large that deems homosexuality wrong, not the heroes, and that (unfortunately) reflects the world we live in, an important function of science fiction and something that Card does very well.

Card is liberal and forward-thinking in many other ways in this book, but what's most important is his as-ever wonderful and full characterization. Genuine people populate this novel, and as they rejoice, grieve, and raise the next generation, you will love them because you understand them, just as Card does.

Songmaster is, as usual, an ambitious work of sci-fi from the pen of Orson Scott Card. I have been familiar with Card for some time now, and his thoughtful brand of writing shines through within this novel. Card is not afraid to explore emotions, good or bad, and has a knack for exploring truths.

As a science fiction story, Songmaster does not bog down the reader with overly descriptive science; rather, Card is more concerned with creating a world that is an expression of ideas made flesh. Great sci-fi can project ideas far into the future, and create worlds in which todays ideas have been brought to their logical conclusion. Songmaster is set at least 20,000 years from now, so parallels to todays world are few; however human behavior and motivations are still very much the same as they are now. Only the surroundings have changed.

Songmaster tells the life story of Ansset, a boy being trained since birth in the Songhouse, a place where young people are trained to be Songbirds, the most colorful and esteemed singers in the galaxy. Wealthy individuals from across the galaxy purchase the services of the Songhouse singers, many paying extravagant amounts of money for the privilege. When the Emperor requests a Songbird, it is many years before a suitable singer can be found to serve his individual needs properly. That Songbird is Ansset.

Card once again uses his writing gifts to produce another well-drawn picture of childhood. Card always knows how to express the point of view of young people, and Songmaster is no exception. He can express joy, sorrow, grief, guilt, laughter, embarrassment, pain (both mental and physical), and the full spectrum of human emotions. There are scenes in Songmaster which make you want to cry, and also scenes of great beauty and happiness.

As Ansset grows, so do the characters he interacts with. Each person he comes into contact with is changed in some way through the songs he sings. The ideas herein are not exactly new, but Card has such a powerful voice that he can make even a potentially silly idea leap off the page with flair.

I have to lower my rating to 4, only because I think Card missed an opportunity about ¾ through this novel. SPOILER ALERT  do not read the rest of this paragraph if you havent read the book. Ansset grows into manhood over the course of this novel, and loses is ability to sing. Ansset then takes a governmental position, and we follow his career as it unfolds. Unfortunately, I think these events are not fully realized, and I think more could have been made regarding the loss of his singing skills. The closing portions of Songmaster redeem Card and prove that he certainly DID have powerful ideas for ending the novel, and that the weaker sections were a fluke, not an indication of Card giving up on the story.

All in all, this novel ranks high among my recent reads. I strongly recommend Songmaster for those familiar with the Ender books. Many ideas here have parallels within the Ender books, and fans of that series would be missing out if they choose to skip this novel. Songmaster is another compelling novel from Card, and worthy of reading time and again.

I have read and loved a number of Card's other books, and this was not among his finest works. Quite a few interesting ideas, especially the way that certain characters in the book possess the ability to communicate with and influence others through songs, even without using words. But Card never really described how this occurs. In most of his other books, when he introduces novel ideas or futuristic concepts, he takes the time to carefully describe and explain them to the reader; but here I was left wondering how it could be possible for people to sing like this -- it was never fully explained and left me confused at times. More than a typical suspension of disbelief, it required me to force myself to stop constantly asking "How do they do this?" and just try to focus on the rest of the plot.

In addition, Card brings in incidents of homosexuality that seem forced and out of place in the larger context of the plot, almost as if he threw them in just for added conflict, or because they were very controversial and perhaps even uncomfortable topics. These parts of the book felt very unnatural and didn't really advance the plot. The book could have done without them without changing any of the actual story, which indicates to me that they were not necessary to have included in the book.

Finally, the ending of the book, like more than a few of Card's endings, felt like it rushed to wrap things up. The book jumped forward in time by a substantial amount -- whole decades were skipped and summarized in just a few paragraphs, leaving me wondering what was missed and why the rush to wrap things up. The ending left me fairly unsatisfied as a reader.

In conclusion, although I will probably, at some point in my life, read every single one of Card's books just because I love his writing so much in general, this didn't rank anywhere near the top of the list for me.

I'll leave explantion of the story to the other reviewers. Instead I'm going to focus on what I personally liked about this particular work.

Card seems to have a deep intuitive understanding of human interaction, and he captures these subtlties believably. For the first few pages I noted the flaws in his prose, but after that I became so absorbed in the depth and richness of the stories and characters I completely forgot to feel irritated with the style. That's no small feat!

Also, although Card writes about practices he doesn't personally condone - homosexuality, for example - he does so very gently, and without judgement. In fact, he has a great talent for abstaining from providing moral judgement as the third-person narrator, which very few authors are capable of. He can write about things he doesn't condone, and yet he as the narrator never draws judgements. The author remains morally invisible, allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions. Very admirable!

There are dark themes in this book, but Card writes those scenes with grace and sympathy, which makes them wonderful to read. Although he writes about violent things and kills characters who the reader has become attached to, he never does this in order to emotionally manipulate the reader, which is also rare in books which are very dramatic.

I wouldn't recommend this book for small children (too scary/too many confusing adult themes), but teens, young adults, and adults will all enjoy it. I highly recommend it!

I was thrilled to finally be able to get this on my Kindle!

This is one of my all-time favorite stories and it played a huge role in getting me to fall in love with the entire genre in the first place. While best know for "Ender's Game", Mr. Card created an absolutely brilliant story with SONGMASTER and this book can be read over and over and over again.

Heart-rending at times you come to love and hate various characters appropriately ...all while striving with all your being to image the voices and songs discussed.

I dare you NOT to fall in love with this story!

Reading the first few chapters of Songmaster I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a plot line without further ado.
In a short introduction we learn about the request of Mikal - Emperor of the galaxy to recieve a Songbird from the Songhouse. Card seemed as anxious as Mikal to rush us through the childhood of Ansset till he's ready to be sent to Mikal, stopping only for a moment to tell us about two important events in Ansset's life.

After Ansset gets to Mikal the story becomes alot more engaging and gripping, while Card takes once more into the dark caverns of intergalactic politics. We witness plots and tribulations in the galaxy's rulership going hand in hand with relationships and deep loving emotions between the characters.

This novel deals with love, politics and music in a way that tries to be as open as its writer can write about it. Its tune is exciting and full of emotion, though lacking the portrayal of characters and scenes.

Card's decision to sketch only the borders of places like the Songhouse, the Palace and the galaxy's goverment without entering the finer details of this universe as well as its characters makes the plot line somewhat lacking yet turns it into a sort of fairy tale story that gives the reader enough mystery and embition to fill in the blanks.

All in all, despite the feeling of imperfection in some points throughout the novel, I couldn't help but shed a tear at the end of this epic story, and I believe that most readers would feel the same.