Singer in the Snow

Reviewed by Dena Landon for TeensReadToo.com

In this inventive and well-told fantasy, Marley creates a world bound by ice and snow, where the daily ritual of quirna is all that keeps its residents from death. Those who create the ritual are called Singers, their ability to channel their Gift - a psionic power - and create warmth carefully trained at the Conservatory before they are sent out into greater society to serve. Emle is training to be a Singer, but while her technical skills are perfect, she can't control her psionic power. Frustrated and angry at the unreliability of her gift, she wonders what she'll do with her life if she can't become a full Singer.

When she's sent to a holding named Tarus to help interpret for Mreen, a new show more Cantrix with a great gift but without the ability to speak, it may be her last chance to master her gift. The novel deftly switches between Emle's point of view, and her struggles to not be jealous of Mreen's greater gift, and that of Mreen, as she struggles with the great responsibility placed on her shoulders in assuming her new position at Tarus, and with her shame over the circumstances of her birth. When Emle and Mreen arrive at Tarus they step right into a difficult situation with the apprentice hrussmaster, Luke, who is trying to protect his little sister, Gwin, from their abusive stepfather.

Marley unfolds a story that is rich with internal conflict, as each of her characters has to discover their own strength and path in life, and yet keeps a quick pace. Not strongly action-oriented, her novel is more about her characters and the decisions they face. By focusing on three central characters she can touch on many of the themes of adolescence; searching for meaning, struggling with the new responsibilities of adulthood, and knowing when to stand up for yourself, thus giving readers a lot they can relate to. Though this book is set in a world she has written in before, it can be read on its own even if you haven't read the others in the series. show less

interesting worldbuilding, and the use of language was skilled, conveying the world and the constraints therein with clarity. I really enjoyed this side of it. However the story and characters were rather thin - a fairly standard fantasy coming of age. The only characters who really had any depth were the brief glimpses we had of the Magistrix Sira & Cantor Theo - there were sufficient hints of an interesting history there for me to hope the characterisation and plot thinness were due to a misguided idea the author needed to somehow 'simplify' for a YA audience, and look out their books.

Singer in the Snow is a wonderful book. Not realizing that it was part of an extended universe when I read it, I found myself able to fully understand all that Marley was describing. The idea of a world where it is necessary to develop psionic abilities to survive is brilliantly played upon in this book, as is the notion that a gift can also be a curse at times. While I liked Mreen quite a bit, I connected more to Emle over the course of the book. I will definitely be searching out the other books in the Nevya cycle.

Definitly a good favorite because it is different from most of my books, seing s how it centers around the magic of music. I loved this book so much I wrote a book report that was 6 pages long for school :O Worth reading, especially if you like music.

I really enjoyed this.