Summer 2005 Review:

One journey, one purpose, one enemy. It all begins with an innocent girl secluded in a world of ice and cold, a world of learning, a world where only women reside and teach each other the power of Ice. Calwyn, the main character of the novel, does not realize that there is a whole world out there and that she will soon be in control of the fate of Tremaris. When Darrow ends up in Antaris, where Calwyn is learning how to become an ice priestess, he becomes the first man to enter her world. They become friends and discover a way to escape Antaris and the dangers that a powerful enemy named Samis brings upon them. Soon, a journey begins, and they flee from Samis, who wants to become ruler of Tremaris and master of all nine songs of power, earning the title of the Singer of All Songs. However, they recruit other singers to aid them in their fight for peace and create a united world once again. In Kate Constable’s novel, Calwyn and Darrow undertake a difficult quest to destroy the evil Samis with the help of other friendly singers and bring about justice to their world.

This novel is suitable for readers from grades six through twelve. I found the novel to be very enjoyable and full of suspense. Kate Constable builds up plot and adds new characters to the main party in a way that makes the book interesting. The main characters begin with Calwyn and Darrow, then progress to people with the other powers who help when Samis becomes more dangerous. This allows the reader to become accustomed to a character until another one is introduced, which avoids the confusion of introducing too many characters at once. Although The Singer of All Songs does not use much high vocabulary, it is still something that older people can enjoy. This allows younger readers to comprehend the novel as well. Some aspects of the novel that I loved were the suspense created whenever Samis appeared and the way that the author gave Calwyn powers that arose throughout her journey with Darrow, making her seem special and important to the plot of the story. Furthermore, I found that I could relate to her personality, which made the book seem more realistic. The Singer of All Songs is a great novel that makes me impatient to read the next book in the series. 

~Rebecca Theophanous, 10th grade, Boardman High School, Boardman, OH

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