Customer Reviews

Spirit Singer

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Amarynth was training to be the next Spirit Singer when her grandfather, the Spirit Singer of Covedrift, her small village, was suddenly taken by the Beast. Without full training, Amarynth could not sing the souls of the dead through the Between World to the Upper World, where all good souls found rest - let alone face the terrible Beast who had ripped her grandfather's soul from his body. She had no choice but to leave her small village and seek aid from another Spirit Singer until she could complete her training.

Amarynth did not expect to find the nearest village of Cragshadow in turmoil and in desperate need of her help, though. She quickly discovered that her village's remote location had kept them protected from the Wanderers - the Spirit Singers who were assigned to villages by the King and who did not care for the people. Their wills were enforced by the Black Guards, relentless human-like beings who never slept or ate and never let their prey go. Amarynth did her best to escape their notice, but even with the help of Kalar, the innkeeper's son, she was unable to escape and found herself bound for The City of Havenheart to face King Ar-Naathon.

Amarynth was sure that she would be killed or imprisoned as soon as she arrived at the City, but she found herself enjoying the luxury of palace life and reveling in the company of the handsome Prince Ka-Raamon. She was quickly reminded of her prisoner status, however, when the King tried to turn her into a Wanderer and give her soul to the Beast. Once again Kalar, who followed her to the City, helped her escape, but the Prince wasn't about to let her out of his sight and so Amarynth found herself searching the Haunted Range with two boys who hated each other while she hunted for the Spirit Singer who could help her defeat the Beast...

This is a fine fantasy novel for young adults with an interesting plot line and a well-developed world, but I thought that the characterization was a bit lacking. I found that I didn't really care what happened to the characters in the book, but I did want to know how everything ended. I didn't really connect with Amarynth, the main character, and found myself wondering what was so fabulous about her that both Kalar and the Prince fell in love with her and were competing for her affections. I also couldn't really understand Kalar's motivation in following Amarynth to the City, I know that he wanted to avenge his father's death, but he attached to Amarynth almost immediately, despite his protestations to the contrary. Still, characterization aside, the author has a nice, smooth writing style with good descriptions and explanations of the world that he created. Hopefully Edward Willett will keep writing and will be able to match some enjoyable characters with his good plots!