Customer Reviews

Time of the Transference (Spellsinger)

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I have Alan Dean Foster's entire Spellsinger series. They are covered in waterstains(from being tragically, and accidentally, I assure you, left in a flooded garage for a month), in horrible purple plum stains(don't ask--it's just too painful), and at present have been in the hands of a younger cousin for about half a year now. Frankly, I have doubts as to whether I will ever see them again.

As I've said, I have the entire series, including the two latest books that I know of, "Son of Spellsinger" and "Chorus Skating". At the time I discovered these I had just purchased and read the last, "Time of the Transference", so completing, as I had thought, the series. I was pretty thrilled as I hadn't figured there were, or ever would be, any further sequels, as the last, "Time of the Transference", had been written quite a while ago. As often as you tell yourself, "The more sequels, the more risk of a decline in quality", I don't think anyone would be able to help getting a little excited in similar circumstances.

Oh the horror! Poor old Foster must been kidnapped by desperate fans unable to cope and forced to continue the Spellsinger story. It's too horrible--God, the humanity!

Well, I survived. I suppose maybe, forcing myself to be openminded, these two books aren't that bad. They just don't measure up to the previous six. And after all, it's not as if this series ever pretended to be great literature, just great entertainment. Still, you have to forgive me when I say that up till the time I lent my series out I had "Chorus Skating" and "Son of Spellsinger" stuffed away on one of my dustiest, most infrequented shelves, and now would not be too horribly dismayed if my younger cousin should "forget" to give those particular two back.

Unfortunately I fear he has, while a poor conscience, better taste.

Well, since you probably would prefer hearing a little about "Time of the Transference" to my vented spleen, it is classic Spellsinger--funny, action-packed, and with some unexpected twists and turns. I figure(sniff) Foster intended this to be his last and best(before he made the ill-fated decision to write the two afore-mentioned vile mistakes).

For Mudge fans out there, this the last time you're getting your idol in all his untamed and licentious glory. It may be pathetic of me to say this, but a Mudge with grey fur and a paunch sucks.

The Spellsinger series is not my favorite, but to give Foster credit, the quality of his writing is fairly consistent. If this had been an Anthony or a Chalker series, by the sixth book the story would have broken down completely.

In this, the sixth book about the rock-n-roll singing wizard from another world, Foster maintains the level he set in the earlier books and creates an enjoyable read. Jon-Tom faces the biggest villain of all-- his own desire to go home.

The plot is not perfect in the Time Of The Transferance. It meanders a bit more than it should. Foster really seems to forget the mission in some places and get caught up in cannibals and bad puns. Still, fans of Spellsinger should not be disappointed. As usual, people new to the series should begin at the beginning with Spellsinger and not here.

"The Time of the Transference" is the sixth volume in the enjoyable Spellsinger adventure about Jon-Tom and colleague Mudge.

Back cover of book:

There's No Place Like Home...

It was a pretty good life for a spellsinger from L.A. He'd battled demons, fought deadly Plated Folk, even met a socialist dragon and survived. Now Jon-Tom was quite happy to settle into domestic bliss with the fiery Talea, study magic, and practice spellsinging on his duar. But the magic instrument is broken when Jon-Tom protects the wizard Clothahump from thieves and he must set out across the Glittergeist Sea to find the one person who can fix it. With the irrepressible Mudge the Otter as a traveling companion, only the unexpected can happen. But cannibal muskrats, ogres, and a fierce pirate king parrot seem ordinary indeed when Jon-Tom finds a way back to Earth - and he must choose which world is home.

End back cover of book.

Although I am amazed at the creativity in the exploits of Jon-Tom and Mudge, the continuous dangers faced can become mind numbing. I enjoy the strange characters he meets, especially those with a phobia or a personal problem. This book is a pleasant read but not as colorful as the earlier ones in descriptions of the environment and attire of the inhabitants of the world. As the back cover indicates, Jon-Tom finds a way back to Earth and one would hope this novel or the next would have an involved exploit. Unless one is a fanatic about a complete series, I would suggest ending with this book knowing of the next and final two volumes. "Son of Spellsinger" and "Chorus Skating" didn't leave a great impression on me as the first six. "Son of Spellsinger" deviated from the norm with the offspring of Jon-Tom and Mudge while "Chorus Skating" doesn't have the high energy as the earlier ones.

As a fan of the classical, rock, and heavy metal music genres, I find the magic Jon-Tom creates with his duar exciting since I believe a well-constructed song can affect people with its intensity and power in a primal aspect.

Thank you.