Songmaster (1980)

I was debating between 3 and 4 for a while, because I liked it, but it was a rather sad book, not to mention I liked the first half better than the second. The second felt hurried, and while I was hoping the book would show more of what happened after the point where the short story ended, I was rather disappointed by the happenings themselves. So, 3 it is.
Also, the cover creeps me out. I keep thinking it looks like his life's being sucked out, rather than him just singing. It's something about the way the face is painted. I guess it fits the book though. ( )

Kidnapped at an early age, the young singer Ansset has been raised in isolation at the mystical retreat called the Songhouse. His life has been filled with music, and having only songs for companions, he develops a voice that is unlike any heard before. Ansset's voice is both a blessing and a curse, for the young Songbird can reflect all the hopes and fears his auidence feels and, by magnifying their emotions, use his voice to heal--or to destroy. When it is discovered that his is the voice that the Emperor has waited decades for, Ansset is summoned to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. Many fates rest in Ansset's hands, and his songs will soon be put to the test: either to salve the troubled conscience of a conqueror, or drive him, and the universe, into mad chaos.

As a huge fan of Card's Ender/Shadow books, I couldn't help comparing this novel to the other series as I read. There are a lot of parallels, especially between the protagonists of the two series--Card seems to enjoy writing about ill-used Messiah-figures, who inevitably end up martyred for their cause but leave the world forever changed in their wakes (I will say that Songmaster ended on a much happier note than Ender's Game, ultimately).

Still, Ansset and his story stand on their own quite well, and I can honestly say that I was (pleasantly) surprised by the story and several of the ways the plot twisted as I read. The author convinced me to care about his characters and the strange little world he'd created for them, and I'm happy to have been affected as much as I was. ( )

The plot just didn't make sense. The author introduces too many foreign ideas without ever stopping to explain them. I was also turned off by the negative view of homosexuality in this book. In my opinion, there is a very negative underlying theme regarding homosexuals in this book. ( )

For any reader passionate about music, science fiction, love, loss, Orson Scott Card, or any combination of attributes, this is a must read.

This is the story of Ansett, a boy with a voice unmatched by any in history. We are taken through his childhood, in both a school setting and as a placement to the most powerful man in the universe. We are carried through his inability to connect, despite an amazing ability to communicate. We are shown his final ability to love, and all of the pain that comes with that ability.

I was saddened by the plot turns which propelled a punishment for a certain kind of love, but was grateful for the tact with which it was handled in the story line. At the same time, I found the discussion of serial relationships compared with simultaneous loves to be a breath of fresh air. (Neither is a main plot point in the novel, but both jumped out at me, regardless.)

Despite all of the pain and punishment that Ansett must endure in this story, the ending is a sweet one for me. For the look to the future at Ansett's death, what he has been able to leave behind, both in political and emotional senses, I was able to take primarily hope away from this story. ( )