Singer of All Songs (Chanters of Tremaris #1), Vol. 1 Book

If you get the strange feeling that you've already read Kate Constable's first installment of the Tremaris trilogy, it's probably because you've read Garth Nix's Lirael. There is very little original or imaginative in Calwyn's episodic journey to destroy yet another one-dimensional Basic Evil Guy: this novel is not novel.

Calwyn, a cloistered novice who has spent her first seventeen years behind a magically maintained ice-wall, plays the gawking spectator on what is basically a tour of Constable's made-up world. But because not enough time was spent establishing Calwyn's world-view, and because most of us have read any number of books set in magical fantasy worlds, we are not surprised when Calwyn is surprised, not filled with wonder along with her. We're left out. For example, very early-on in the book Calwyn finds a Sorceror on the wrong side of the wall. This causes much consternation inside the book, but not out here in the real world because we were not given to understand that it was not widely known inside the wall that men, or even anyone outside the wall, could work magic. That kind of sloppiness permeates the entire book.

If it's available, and you're one of those people who just needs to be reading, don't hesitate to pick it up. It's not as bad as a withdrawal headache. Just don't bother seeking it out. There are other books much more worth the effort.