Spellsinger

In short: Jonathan Meriweather, quickly abbreviated to Jon-Tom, pothead grad-student gets summoned to another plane to solve their problem with the Big Evil coming from a land that's not called Mordor. We get a hunter guide (Mudge, an otter since this is a furry universe), the big wizard (Clothahump, a turtle), and the local love interest (a human, of course), they summon another person from Earth (another love interest), and start out on their trip to save the world, at which point they find an urban guide who is competition for Jon-Tom's love interests (a rabbit) and con a dragon into serving as transportation and big threat. Now that we've assembled our adventuring party, buy the next book to see anything actually happen...

When I got show more to the end of the book, I found there was no closure, not even the partial climax that most series give you at the end of each book. Besides the frustration that I was sold half a book, I found that I didn't care; there was no need to get the next book in the series. This group of fantasy travelers to stop the big evil is all pretty flat; besides Jon-Tom, the main character, no one gets enough screen time to really start to develop personality, part of the problem of a large ensemble act. A lot of threads were started, but all the problems that were resolved seem to resolve themselves too quickly and without energy. My least favorite example was when Clothahump casts a mighty, literally once-in-a-lifetime spell to summon what's basically an Elder God, and we get nothing. Apparently it was too early in the series to reveal what was really going on, but why let the character bring out the big magic? It's one of the most anemic and formulaic "epic" fantasy books I've read in a while. show less

I read this one off of the advice of a coworker, and boy did he have me right. I wouldn't say that this is my favorite fantasy world but it sure was fun. I really am a fan of anthropomorphic animal stories, and this one really did have something. Despite some emotional turmoil in my life the past few days and a tablet whose app kept malfunctioning I was able to keep reading and finish in a relatively short amount of time.
I must admit that this story reads a bit like the dream of someone very high, probably because when you first meet our main character he is high. This could turn off some readers, but I enjoyed his reactions. Like most coming of age in a fantasy setting type books the main character is sometimes an annoying prick, but show more for all that I forgive him because he's an academic without much world hardening to him yet. The story isn't very complex, mostly being about a group of people bonding to each other on a wandering adventure to save a magical version of Earth. This book was clearly a warm-up to the series. I like the take on magic. It's cute, the use of scientific jargon as key magical terms, I'd just caution people not to take that literally in our dimension. Overall, I'd say furries and fantasy fans alike would enjoy themselves as long as they are looking for fun and not something deep, so if you're considering, then give this series a go. show less

Meriweather wakes up in another world, summoned by a turtle-wizard who requested an engineer and found a sanitary engineer. A light-hearted fantasy novel set in a land where most animals are equal, all speak English and magic happens. The wizard is worried about an evil force approaching and a team is gathered, including an otter, a hare, a bat, a dragon and humans. The clothing is colourful, the technology from the middle ages and everyone carries a knife. Jonathan finds he is a spell singer, playing and singing he conjures magic. The novel ends but clearly doesn't, pushing you to the next volume, as it leaves the team about to try and persaude the leaders in the big city that danger is coming. I won't read anymore.

On one hand, this book has an incredibly familiar fantasy theme - the normal person from our world who ends up in a world where magic works. On the other hand, the plot here is that Jon Tom (Jon Bon???) is summoned by a turtle wizard who needs a hero. Think School of Rock meets Ninja Turtles meets Discworld. Its a good combination, at least in this book.

I don't know why I decided to reread this but I'm glad I did. I forgot how much I liked some of Alan Dean Foster's work.

Spellsinger is the first in a series about a law student/amateur musician, nicknamed Jon-Tom, who is transported to a world of magic and talking animals that is seriously not Narnia. Unless Narnia is now inhabited by alcoholic, fornicating, foul-mouthed, violent creatures.

Jon-Tom discovers that his fledgling musical talents have now manifested themselves as magical with the ability to conjure items via song.

Unfortunately the book stops before it really gets into the meat of why Jon-Tom was transported but it's still worth reading. I look forward to finally reading the rest of the series.

This was a fairly entertaining read - a light, humourous take on the usual fantasy epic story in the vein of Dickson's 'The Dragon and the George' or Brooks' 'Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold'. One significant difference is that while those could be read as standalones, this is very much the first in a multi-part series (six to complete the storyarch I think, with two tacked on later on). The world that Foster creates is in some ways remniscent of standard fairytale lands familiar to fantasy readers, with talking animals a la Narnia and an evil wasteland somewhere in the east inhabited by an evil race of insectoid creatures and ruled by a dark queen that plots conquest. Where it departs from the usual is in giving such a word greater show more 'realism' than is the norm - racism, violence, poor sanitation, poverty and exploitation are all a part of this world.

somewhat to my surprise I found myself absorbed by the protanagist's discovery of the world and its ways. Not much is revealed about the greater plot and so the story arch of this one episode is unsatisfying, but the hero - a pot-smoking pre-law student who is whisked away to this magical land and discovers that he has special powers there - runs across and befriends various interesting characters. Their various misadventures are entertaining enough to keep one engrossed and will ensure that i will continue to read the next in the series at some point down the line. The humour adds flavour to what may otherwise have been a bland blend. Overall its nothing exceptional but entertaining enough to keep me interested. show less

Jonathan-Thomas Meriweather, a law student and amateur guitarist from Earth, is accidentally summoned to a magical, anthropomorphic world by a turtle wizard named Clothahump to help fight a war. Jon-Tom discovers his music acts as magic via a duar instrument, making him a Spellsinger who navigates dangers, including the Plated Folk, alongside allies like Mudge the Otter.