The Singer of All Songs - Kate Constable

Title: The Singer of All Songs
Author: Kate Constable
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 297
Date read: July, 2010

Calwyn, a young priestess of ice magic, or "chantment," joins with other chanters who have different magical skills to fight a sorcerer who wants to claim all powers for his own.

A friend recommended this series to me, and I was fascinated by the idea of singing spells, and having music be part of the magic, so I immediately went out and got it out of the library. Fortunately, it did not disappoint, and had I read it as a kid, I think it could easily have become a fast favourite.

The story itself was nothing out of the ordinary, and did occasionally come across as a bit rushed, but it was charming and I really got to care for Calwyn.

Unfortunately the copy I'd gotten hold of was rather poor quality, so the map was almost illegible, which did frustrate me a bit as I tried to follow their wanderings, but really - that's nitpicking!

Hævnens gudinde - Sara Blædel

Title: Hævnens gudinde (Goddess of Revenge)
Author: Sara Blædel
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 420
Date read: July 2010, August 2014, August 2021

While questioning a young widow whose husband had rocker connections, Louise Rick receives a phone call from her foster son, Jonas, who asks her to come immediately - a call party has been crashed by a group of bullies who wanted booze, and attacked the only adult there when they found none. 12-year old Signe tries to run away to get help, but one of the bullies ran after her, and chased her out in front of a car. She dies from her injuries later that night.

After the death of her only child, Signe's mother no longer feels there's any reason to live. But is her apathy due only to sorrow, or does she wish for revenge? A fire which ends up killing two of the bullies, suddenly makes everybody look at the distraught mother differently, but not everybody is as they seem.

Just like many of Sara Blædel's other books, Goddess of Revenge is slow to start, but once it picks up, it's well worth the effort. This one especially because I loved the secondary plot-line of Louise's issues with getting used to having a foster son.

Sara Blædel is good at introducing believable twists to the story that neither seem forced nor are spotted a mile away (not by me anyway!). Her writing is tight, and any small detail is likely to be picked up again later in the book.

The book very obviously paves the way for a 6th book in the series which would be fine by me!