The Spellsong War

** SPOILER ALERT **

The Spellsong War is the second book in the The Spellsong Cycle by L.E. Modesitt Jr.. It is possible that parts from the first book, The Soprano Sorceress is/are spoiled when reading on. Look for the former parts for less/non-spoiler review(s) on The Spellsong Cycle.

The Spellsong Cycle:
Part 1: The Soprano Sorceress: https://www.hebban.nl/recensie/ericwijnen-over-the-soprano-sorceress

** END SPOILER ALERT **

The Magic System:
The magic system employed on Erde is songmagic. There are two kinds of songmagic: Clearsong en Darksong. Darksong binds the living or once-living. Darksong is dangerous to use, but the why/how is not further explained. Clearsong binds the nonliving.
People can use magic by singing, but it has to be clear singing, which means without dissonance. The song can be enhanced by using musical instruments, but these then needs to be in harmony with the singing, which is somehow a bit lacking on Erde. Next to that the singer/sorcerer needs to visualize in his mind what is to happen. So any distraction might be hazardous. There do not seem to be a lot of sorceresses, and the reason for that might be that females become infertile when they use songmagic. Using songmagic also takes something from the one employing it. All sorcerers seem to have an insatiable hunger and need to eat almost continuously.
In The Soprano Sorceress Anna found out that is isn't possible for her to cast a spell that directly effects her (say a spell to heal herself), nor that it is possible to create things from nothing. If a spell for instance requires wood or stone it will take that from the immediate surroundings. The further away these products are the harder the spell is for the sorcerer to perform.

Anna has defeated the Dark Monks and has become the Regent of Defalk, in favor of the young Lord Jimbob. Besides that, a lot of Lords in Defalk are not willing to pay their (full) liedgeld to Defalk, also the lands surrounding Defalk are looking to take advantage of the state Defalk is in. Because of the war with the Dark Monks and the battle with the Evult most roads and bridges in Defalk are destroyed. To top it off Anna is unable to find anything she desperately needs: players, smiths, cooks, farmers ... the list goes on. She has decided to pay off the debt Defalk has to The Exchange, so the southern lords of Defalk will be able to loan money to buy the grain they need.

Also Anna has trouble using her spells. If at any time she needs to do a spell by herself, i.e. without players, she gets really fatigued and starts to see with double vision. After something to eat and some spellsorcelled water she usualy recuperates. But it seems to become harder and harder to recuperate. She is using too much Darksong, sometimes without realising it, and that is what is probably causing this condition on her.

The story takes off shortly after the end of The Soprano Sorceress, and seems to follow a natural path. Again character development is key for this book, as there are almost no physical fights.

All the chapters containing Anna are of almost the same length, which reads really nice. All the short chapters in between, showing what the other parties are doing, give more informaton about the intrigue happening between the other parties, telling things that seem to have nothing to do with the current story Modesitt is telling you. For me that is again a part of character development, but this time for the characters Anna is up against. So for me that is not a downside, but an extra bonus.

Although it seems impossible the stakes seem higher than in The Soprano Sorceress and Modesitt gives you more insight in Anna's adversaries, but also the connections - good and bad - between those.