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Quarters #1
Sing the Four Quarters
To call the kigh was the height of bard's magic. Only those born with the gift could learn to Sing these spirits of earth, air, fire and water into doing their bidding, and even someone as gifted as the Princess Annice must spend years studying at the Bardic Hall to truly master the Art. And for Annice, one of those rare talents able to Sing the elemental spirits from each of the four quarters, the call of magic was too strong to be denied, even if it meant renouncing her royal blood and privileges.
But Annice might have made a different choice if she could have foreseen that ten years after she'd transferred her life and loyalties from the Royal Palace to the Bardic Hall, she'd find herself fleeing from the King's Guards. For Annice was twice guilty of treason, first for imperiling the order of succession by becoming pregnant, and second for aiding the father of her unborn child, the Duc of Ohrid, to escape the palace dungeons and the sentence of death hanging over his head.
Now the fugitives' only hope lay in tracking down and bringing to justice the enemy who'd masterminded the Duc's downfall, a dangerous foe who had found a way to tie lies and truths together into a knot even the most powerful of Bardic spells could not unravel...
But Annice might have made a different choice if she could have foreseen that ten years after she'd transferred her life and loyalties from the Royal Palace to the Bardic Hall, she'd find herself fleeing from the King's Guards. For Annice was twice guilty of treason, first for imperiling the order of succession by becoming pregnant, and second for aiding the father of her unborn child, the Duc of Ohrid, to escape the palace dungeons and the sentence of death hanging over his head.
Now the fugitives' only hope lay in tracking down and bringing to justice the enemy who'd masterminded the Duc's downfall, a dangerous foe who had found a way to tie lies and truths together into a knot even the most powerful of Bardic spells could not unravel...
410 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
210 people are currently reading
4281 people want to read
About the author
Tanya Huff
151 books2,446 followersTanya Sue Huff is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science fiction series. One of these, her Blood Books series, featuring detective Vicki Nelson, was adapted for television under the title Blood Ties.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
February 27, 2019
I have a love for 80s and 90s fantasy that I just can’t quite reach for modern fantasy. Please don’t get me wrong, there several examples of modern fantasy novels I love (Joe Abercrombie may quickly be approaching my favorite fantasy author ever) but 80s and 90s fantasy has something special that modern fantasy doesn’t. I don’t quite know how to identify it. It’s almost seems more character based and more nerdy, as if the books were planned out by the author creating a D&D character that they REALLY liked and decided to Mary-Sue them to hell and back… and there’s something rather charming about that.
In this case, Huff really wanted people to see bards as a bad-ass character class (something, which honestly, I agree with despite most people I know hating to play them). She creates a world where bards are pretty much key to our kingdom’s inner workings. They act as magic users, spies, scouts, town criers, living lie detectors and… well, they sing a good song in taverns as well. This is a world that is frankly fascinating and is built upon a fairly unique magic system. Songs can speak to what are essentially elementals and they respond based on the song’s tone Very few sing properly and even fewer can sing the four quarters as it’s called. Of course our Mary-Sue lead bard CAN sing all four!
Okay, Mary-Sue may be a little bit strong as Huff proceeds to cripple her amazing skillset at the start of the book, because our lead character gets pregnant. This creates two interesting aspects to the book. First, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen pregnancy be a main focus in a fantasy novel before. It was refreshingly different (though I confess had I read this when I was on my biggest fantasy kick in the early 2000s, I probably would not have been as fascinated by this as I am now, having also fairly recently become a father). Second, it created a character who is “weakened” in the physical sense and magical sense in that she can now only sing one element and that’s earth (and also the one she was weakest in before). As someone who was used to being the best, she now has to be more cautious, and also think along different lines than she did before.
This was different. This was unique. Add a strong enfaces on a quest feel rather than a focus on war (well… they are trying to prevent one, but war is not the focus) and you’ve got something so completely different than most 80s/90s fantasy, yet still keeping the same feel… sign me up! What’s not to love?
Well for a start the characters. Our two main leads, Annice and Pjerin seemed to go out of their way to find new ways to annoy me. Some of the banter was amusing, but for the most part I felt like I was reading about two brats who were old enough to know better… and before anyone responds with “Oh Tim, don’t you know couples in 80s/90s fantasy novel always hate each other at first?” Well… the relationship here is a bit unique. While Pjerin and Annice did have a one-night stand (hence the pregnancy aspect), they’re not really a couple. Annice is in a pretty solid relationship with another bard named Stasya, who is completely okay with all this. There is no addressing her feelings on the pregnancy, which seems a bit odd. While bisexuality seems to be the norm here, and marriage is accepted from any combination of gender, the relationships are not really presented as open. Thus it seems a bit odd that Stasya’s opinion is in no way expressed.
That little digression out of the way, the characters were mostly annoying, and those who weren’t annoying were sadly not built up enough. I literally liked every single bard we are introduced to in the novel more than our lead, and few of them get many pages and those who do are not given a fully fleshed out personality… yet all could have made a more intriguing protagonist.
While this hurt the book a lot, the biggest problem is that the plot is mostly forgettable. While there are perils the characters face along the way, the biggest dilemmas get solved all fairly quickly and honestly very little happens during the main journey portion of the book. As much as I hate to say this, I highly suspect that if you asked me my thoughts on the book in one year, I’d remember it having interesting ideas and a great magic system, but wouldn’t be able to tell you much of what actually happens.
While my complaints are fairly major, I still found myself surprisingly enjoying the book throughout. In fact, I felt a little bad complaining about them, as I found that when all is said and done, I really enjoyed the book. While aspects annoyed the hell out of me, I never found myself feeling like throwing it down. It was a relaxing read. A fun read and yes, a charming read. What it did well, it pulled off with style and was different enough while still keeping that 80s/90s feel I wanted. While I can’t give it the wholehearted recommendation I wanted to early on, I can still say it was a fun read and I will likely press on with the series at some point (partially because I got this in an omnibus with the other books and also because the second has different leads in the same world, so I won’t have to endure the same characters).
A slightly generous 3/5 stars and a recommendation to old school fantasy fans who want something a bit different.
In this case, Huff really wanted people to see bards as a bad-ass character class (something, which honestly, I agree with despite most people I know hating to play them). She creates a world where bards are pretty much key to our kingdom’s inner workings. They act as magic users, spies, scouts, town criers, living lie detectors and… well, they sing a good song in taverns as well. This is a world that is frankly fascinating and is built upon a fairly unique magic system. Songs can speak to what are essentially elementals and they respond based on the song’s tone Very few sing properly and even fewer can sing the four quarters as it’s called. Of course our Mary-Sue lead bard CAN sing all four!
Okay, Mary-Sue may be a little bit strong as Huff proceeds to cripple her amazing skillset at the start of the book, because our lead character gets pregnant. This creates two interesting aspects to the book. First, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen pregnancy be a main focus in a fantasy novel before. It was refreshingly different (though I confess had I read this when I was on my biggest fantasy kick in the early 2000s, I probably would not have been as fascinated by this as I am now, having also fairly recently become a father). Second, it created a character who is “weakened” in the physical sense and magical sense in that she can now only sing one element and that’s earth (and also the one she was weakest in before). As someone who was used to being the best, she now has to be more cautious, and also think along different lines than she did before.
This was different. This was unique. Add a strong enfaces on a quest feel rather than a focus on war (well… they are trying to prevent one, but war is not the focus) and you’ve got something so completely different than most 80s/90s fantasy, yet still keeping the same feel… sign me up! What’s not to love?
Well for a start the characters. Our two main leads, Annice and Pjerin seemed to go out of their way to find new ways to annoy me. Some of the banter was amusing, but for the most part I felt like I was reading about two brats who were old enough to know better… and before anyone responds with “Oh Tim, don’t you know couples in 80s/90s fantasy novel always hate each other at first?” Well… the relationship here is a bit unique. While Pjerin and Annice did have a one-night stand (hence the pregnancy aspect), they’re not really a couple. Annice is in a pretty solid relationship with another bard named Stasya, who is completely okay with all this. There is no addressing her feelings on the pregnancy, which seems a bit odd. While bisexuality seems to be the norm here, and marriage is accepted from any combination of gender, the relationships are not really presented as open. Thus it seems a bit odd that Stasya’s opinion is in no way expressed.
That little digression out of the way, the characters were mostly annoying, and those who weren’t annoying were sadly not built up enough. I literally liked every single bard we are introduced to in the novel more than our lead, and few of them get many pages and those who do are not given a fully fleshed out personality… yet all could have made a more intriguing protagonist.
While this hurt the book a lot, the biggest problem is that the plot is mostly forgettable. While there are perils the characters face along the way, the biggest dilemmas get solved all fairly quickly and honestly very little happens during the main journey portion of the book. As much as I hate to say this, I highly suspect that if you asked me my thoughts on the book in one year, I’d remember it having interesting ideas and a great magic system, but wouldn’t be able to tell you much of what actually happens.
While my complaints are fairly major, I still found myself surprisingly enjoying the book throughout. In fact, I felt a little bad complaining about them, as I found that when all is said and done, I really enjoyed the book. While aspects annoyed the hell out of me, I never found myself feeling like throwing it down. It was a relaxing read. A fun read and yes, a charming read. What it did well, it pulled off with style and was different enough while still keeping that 80s/90s feel I wanted. While I can’t give it the wholehearted recommendation I wanted to early on, I can still say it was a fun read and I will likely press on with the series at some point (partially because I got this in an omnibus with the other books and also because the second has different leads in the same world, so I won’t have to endure the same characters).
A slightly generous 3/5 stars and a recommendation to old school fantasy fans who want something a bit different.
June 27, 2018
Sing the Four Quarters is one of those books that I enjoyed reading but probably wouldn’t read again. If you’re looking for a warm, character driven fantasy story with a queer lead, you may very well want to read this one.
Annice is a bard, able to work magic by singing to the kigh, the elemental spirits. She also has the rare gift of being able to sing to all four types of kigh. Only, she wasn’t always a bard. She was born a princess, and in following her dream she was exiled from her family. According to the terms set by her brother, she would not be considered royalty, and if she ever married or had children, she would be charged with treason for endangering the line of inheritance.
Annice is totally fine with this. Then she gets pregnant, and she decides she wants to keep it. That’s already one potential charge of treason, but then she learns that the father of the child (who she wasn’t planning on being involved) has been arrested for treason and sentenced to be executed. Which means her pregnancy is now doubly treasonous. Only, she thinks he’s innocent, and she’s not about to let him be executed for something he didn’t do.
The narrative doesn’t hew closely to Annice. Pjerin, the father or her child, receives quite a bit of page time, so you know from off the bat that he really is innocent and that he’s being framed as part of someone else’s treasonous scheme. It’s one of those stories where you see the villains plotting, so you know way more than the protagonists. You also know that Annice’s brother the king is unlikely to actually charge her with treason and that if she would only talk to him, the entire affair could be reconciled. This isn’t a spoiler. Literally everyone in the book knows this except for Annice, and they keep trying to tell her. It could have fallen into one of those very annoying plot devices where the characters won’t actually talk to each other… but in this case, I thought it fit with the characterization.
I mentioned at the beginning of the review that Annice is queer. Specifically, she’s bisexual (word not used). She’s in a long term relationship with a lesbian woman who’s also a bard, but it’s an open relationship. Annice has flings with other people while she’s traveling around the country on her work as a bard. That, plus some sloppiness with birth control, led to her current situation. Oh, and I should also mention that Annice and her girlfriend remain an item through the book. The relationship with Pjerin isn’t romantic, which goes against almost every narrative expectations. The relationship arc isn’t Annice realizing, “Oh, I’m in love with him.” More like, “Oh, he’d actually be a good father and maybe I should try to figure out a co-parenting situation.”
In terms of world building, there’s no sexism or homophobia present in Annice’s society. There’s gay, lesbian, and bi characters, and their sexuality is never an issue in terms of how they’re treated. If you like Laurie J. Mark’s Fire Logic, then this might be a good book for you. The lack of homophobia/sexism was probably the biggest world building appeal. Otherwise, everything seems fairly standard Western fantasy with elemental magic (uh, again fans of Fire Logic might like this or vice versa). There wasn’t anything really memorable about the culture or setting. Very generic.
On the plus side, it is a warm book. Definitely not grimdark. The heroines and heroes might have flaws, but they’re good people. There’s some suffering but nothing that gets too bad. Everything turns out all right in the end. If you’re looking for a book that won’t emotionally drain you, then Sing the Four Quarters would be a good pick.
That warmth is what made me enjoy Sing the Four Quarters, but I don’t know if it was enough to balance out the weaknesses I found with world building and plotting. I don’t regret reading it, but I won’t be picking up the sequel.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
Annice is a bard, able to work magic by singing to the kigh, the elemental spirits. She also has the rare gift of being able to sing to all four types of kigh. Only, she wasn’t always a bard. She was born a princess, and in following her dream she was exiled from her family. According to the terms set by her brother, she would not be considered royalty, and if she ever married or had children, she would be charged with treason for endangering the line of inheritance.
Annice is totally fine with this. Then she gets pregnant, and she decides she wants to keep it. That’s already one potential charge of treason, but then she learns that the father of the child (who she wasn’t planning on being involved) has been arrested for treason and sentenced to be executed. Which means her pregnancy is now doubly treasonous. Only, she thinks he’s innocent, and she’s not about to let him be executed for something he didn’t do.
The narrative doesn’t hew closely to Annice. Pjerin, the father or her child, receives quite a bit of page time, so you know from off the bat that he really is innocent and that he’s being framed as part of someone else’s treasonous scheme. It’s one of those stories where you see the villains plotting, so you know way more than the protagonists. You also know that Annice’s brother the king is unlikely to actually charge her with treason and that if she would only talk to him, the entire affair could be reconciled. This isn’t a spoiler. Literally everyone in the book knows this except for Annice, and they keep trying to tell her. It could have fallen into one of those very annoying plot devices where the characters won’t actually talk to each other… but in this case, I thought it fit with the characterization.
I mentioned at the beginning of the review that Annice is queer. Specifically, she’s bisexual (word not used). She’s in a long term relationship with a lesbian woman who’s also a bard, but it’s an open relationship. Annice has flings with other people while she’s traveling around the country on her work as a bard. That, plus some sloppiness with birth control, led to her current situation. Oh, and I should also mention that Annice and her girlfriend remain an item through the book. The relationship with Pjerin isn’t romantic, which goes against almost every narrative expectations. The relationship arc isn’t Annice realizing, “Oh, I’m in love with him.” More like, “Oh, he’d actually be a good father and maybe I should try to figure out a co-parenting situation.”
In terms of world building, there’s no sexism or homophobia present in Annice’s society. There’s gay, lesbian, and bi characters, and their sexuality is never an issue in terms of how they’re treated. If you like Laurie J. Mark’s Fire Logic, then this might be a good book for you. The lack of homophobia/sexism was probably the biggest world building appeal. Otherwise, everything seems fairly standard Western fantasy with elemental magic (uh, again fans of Fire Logic might like this or vice versa). There wasn’t anything really memorable about the culture or setting. Very generic.
On the plus side, it is a warm book. Definitely not grimdark. The heroines and heroes might have flaws, but they’re good people. There’s some suffering but nothing that gets too bad. Everything turns out all right in the end. If you’re looking for a book that won’t emotionally drain you, then Sing the Four Quarters would be a good pick.
That warmth is what made me enjoy Sing the Four Quarters, but I don’t know if it was enough to balance out the weaknesses I found with world building and plotting. I don’t regret reading it, but I won’t be picking up the sequel.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
May 13, 2021
This is the first of four volumes in Huff's Quarters series, a nicely plotted and well-written high-fantasy series. She incorporates the concepts of music and magic very imaginatively, and, as always, the characterizations are excellent. I prefer her contemporary/urban fantasy books, but the Quarters books are great for anyone who enjoys an occasional gaming evening.
April 22, 2013
Ok, I abandoned this since the quality of the writing is incredibly poor. I have no idea why the book has such high ratings, as it seems a mere recycling of stereotypical characters with nothing special or likeable. Which is a shame, really, as the magical world is interesting and has a lot of potential to grow into something nice. Too bad Tanya Huff is unable to get out from a very, very poor writing style and very, very poor character building.
Annice is a bard, ex-princess and aged 26. Nonetheless, she acts as if she was 16. She suddenly decides to give up her birth control to someone who needed it more and as a result gets pregnant after a random sexual encounter. What is more surprising is that for no reason, she decides to keep the baby even though she is under death-threat should she ever remain pregnant. Her girlfriend, who is a rather bland supporting character has nothing to say about this. Then the father, who we find out is a great lord somewhere in the mountains, comes in. Again, despite being 30 or so, he also has the mind of a teenager and acts as if he were seriously lacking brains. The character is so simplistic and all manly, rash to act, good-looking but otherwise completely bland too.
There are some serious problems with the writing too...Ms. Huff has no subtlety at all, from the beginning she plainly reveals who the villains are and that something nasty is in for Pjerin, the aforementioned father. He, of course, is utterly blind to all the plotting and entirely trusty and friendly to a character he considered very slippery and untrustworthy in a previous scene, simply due to sharing the bad experience of a woman. Furthermore, all the explaining is done very simply and with no skill, sometimes even in pieces of dialogue where things both character know are still repeated. Kind of like in a bad move.
On this premise, with a very predictable series of events and unlike-able, one-dimensional characters, I decided to abandon the book.
I suppose the bad mix of Romanian-inspired names added to this. As a Romanian, I immediately recognized her inspiration and can't help but wonder what on Earth prompted her to use such a melange of typical fantasy names (e.g. Theron) and badly modified Romanian names, behind which seems to be no research. This is quite obvious, but perhaps she never expected any Romanian to actually read her work.
Annice is a bard, ex-princess and aged 26. Nonetheless, she acts as if she was 16. She suddenly decides to give up her birth control to someone who needed it more and as a result gets pregnant after a random sexual encounter. What is more surprising is that for no reason, she decides to keep the baby even though she is under death-threat should she ever remain pregnant. Her girlfriend, who is a rather bland supporting character has nothing to say about this. Then the father, who we find out is a great lord somewhere in the mountains, comes in. Again, despite being 30 or so, he also has the mind of a teenager and acts as if he were seriously lacking brains. The character is so simplistic and all manly, rash to act, good-looking but otherwise completely bland too.
There are some serious problems with the writing too...Ms. Huff has no subtlety at all, from the beginning she plainly reveals who the villains are and that something nasty is in for Pjerin, the aforementioned father. He, of course, is utterly blind to all the plotting and entirely trusty and friendly to a character he considered very slippery and untrustworthy in a previous scene, simply due to sharing the bad experience of a woman. Furthermore, all the explaining is done very simply and with no skill, sometimes even in pieces of dialogue where things both character know are still repeated. Kind of like in a bad move.
On this premise, with a very predictable series of events and unlike-able, one-dimensional characters, I decided to abandon the book.
I suppose the bad mix of Romanian-inspired names added to this. As a Romanian, I immediately recognized her inspiration and can't help but wonder what on Earth prompted her to use such a melange of typical fantasy names (e.g. Theron) and badly modified Romanian names, behind which seems to be no research. This is quite obvious, but perhaps she never expected any Romanian to actually read her work.
December 20, 2015
Written over 20 years ago, this book withstood the passing of time amazingly well. It’s been one of my favorites since I first read it, and its allure hasn’t faded still. It remains one of my favorites even now, after countless re-reads and many new authors emerging into the genre of classic fantasy. I can’t find even one thing to complain about in this tale.
The world
In Shkoder, bards can see kigh, elemental creatures of air, fire, water, and earth. With their music and their Songs, the bards of Shkoder can command the kigh to do their bidding: carry messages across the land, ignite or extinguish fires, infuse the soil with fertility, or remove water from a flooded path. It is an utterly original concept of magic, and the stronger the bard, the more powerful he or she is with their elements. Some bards can command two or more elements. Annice can command all four: she Sings the four quarters.
One of the most talented bards in the kingdom, she is also the most controversial: she was a princess before she became a bard, and in order to follow her bardic calling she was forced to renounce her rights to be part of the royal family. It all happened ten years ago, but the pain of her family’s rejection still smarts inside her. It still hurts.
The protagonists
Annice, the former princess, is one of the first lesbian fantasy protagonists in America. She is strong-willed and opinionated, she doesn’t suffer fools, and compromise doesn’t seem to belong in her vocabulary. She can’t forgive her brother, King Theron, for ordering her out of the family, but her loyalty to her friends and her country has no bounds.
Pjerin, Duc of Ohrid, is a simple man by comparison. An alpha male, stubborn and arrogant, he loves his distant, impoverished mountain principality and he adores his four-year-old son. He doesn’t have time nor inclination for a wife, neither he cares about money. His stone fortress guards the only pass through the mountains that separates the smaller Shkoder from the much larger and aggressive Cemandian empire, and Pjerin would give his life protecting the pass from any invader.
The plot
Ten years ago, when Theron banished Annice from the Palace, he declared that to become a bard she must forfeit all her princess’s rights, including the right to have children. If she did, it would be considered treason, punishable by death. As Annice was/is a lesbian (mostly), she accepted his conditions with lofty unconcern, but now, after a chance encounter with Duc of Ohrid, she realizes she is pregnant. Was her brother serious in his pronouncement ten years ago? Would he go through with his threats and execute her and her baby for treason? They haven’t met nor talked after that fateful day. She can’t really believe he would have her killed, especially because her pregnancy was an accident, but how could she risk her innocent baby’s life?
The Duc has troubles of his own. Framed by his enemies as a traitor, he must clear his name before it is too late.
Their two lives intersected only once, resulting in a baby, and now both are fugitives, dodging the king’s guards and trying to figure out how to clear Pjerin’s name and what will happen to their baby. And they don’t even like each other.
The impressions
The story flows swiftly, like rapids of a mountain river, with unexpected plot twists at every turn, and the reader frets together with Annice: how can she keep her baby safe?
Funny that personality-wise, I liked neither Annice nor Pjerin. Both are too pigheaded for my taste, but I definitely respected them both, and my deep sympathy ran with them. I wanted them and their yet unborn baby safe. I wanted them to vanquish their enemies and triumph over all adversities. I was a silent partner in their madcap escapades, and I enjoyed every minute I spent in their company.
A wonderful story.
The world
In Shkoder, bards can see kigh, elemental creatures of air, fire, water, and earth. With their music and their Songs, the bards of Shkoder can command the kigh to do their bidding: carry messages across the land, ignite or extinguish fires, infuse the soil with fertility, or remove water from a flooded path. It is an utterly original concept of magic, and the stronger the bard, the more powerful he or she is with their elements. Some bards can command two or more elements. Annice can command all four: she Sings the four quarters.
One of the most talented bards in the kingdom, she is also the most controversial: she was a princess before she became a bard, and in order to follow her bardic calling she was forced to renounce her rights to be part of the royal family. It all happened ten years ago, but the pain of her family’s rejection still smarts inside her. It still hurts.
The protagonists
Annice, the former princess, is one of the first lesbian fantasy protagonists in America. She is strong-willed and opinionated, she doesn’t suffer fools, and compromise doesn’t seem to belong in her vocabulary. She can’t forgive her brother, King Theron, for ordering her out of the family, but her loyalty to her friends and her country has no bounds.
Pjerin, Duc of Ohrid, is a simple man by comparison. An alpha male, stubborn and arrogant, he loves his distant, impoverished mountain principality and he adores his four-year-old son. He doesn’t have time nor inclination for a wife, neither he cares about money. His stone fortress guards the only pass through the mountains that separates the smaller Shkoder from the much larger and aggressive Cemandian empire, and Pjerin would give his life protecting the pass from any invader.
The plot
Ten years ago, when Theron banished Annice from the Palace, he declared that to become a bard she must forfeit all her princess’s rights, including the right to have children. If she did, it would be considered treason, punishable by death. As Annice was/is a lesbian (mostly), she accepted his conditions with lofty unconcern, but now, after a chance encounter with Duc of Ohrid, she realizes she is pregnant. Was her brother serious in his pronouncement ten years ago? Would he go through with his threats and execute her and her baby for treason? They haven’t met nor talked after that fateful day. She can’t really believe he would have her killed, especially because her pregnancy was an accident, but how could she risk her innocent baby’s life?
The Duc has troubles of his own. Framed by his enemies as a traitor, he must clear his name before it is too late.
Their two lives intersected only once, resulting in a baby, and now both are fugitives, dodging the king’s guards and trying to figure out how to clear Pjerin’s name and what will happen to their baby. And they don’t even like each other.
The impressions
The story flows swiftly, like rapids of a mountain river, with unexpected plot twists at every turn, and the reader frets together with Annice: how can she keep her baby safe?
Funny that personality-wise, I liked neither Annice nor Pjerin. Both are too pigheaded for my taste, but I definitely respected them both, and my deep sympathy ran with them. I wanted them and their yet unborn baby safe. I wanted them to vanquish their enemies and triumph over all adversities. I was a silent partner in their madcap escapades, and I enjoyed every minute I spent in their company.
A wonderful story.
September 14, 2019
Review also on Reads Rainbow
Rep: bi mc, lesbian li, gay side character
There’s something to be said for the kind of understated fantasy that this book is. The conflict here primarily revolves around family. Yes, there is a subplot regarding a battle between two countries, but it’s mostly about family. And understated fantasy books about family like this are my favourites. Sure, big bombastic fantasies are great, but there’s something more you get with understatement.
And because it’s more understated, I guess I felt more of a connection with the characters. I don’t know how best to explain it really. I think it comes down to this: it’s a more character-driven fantasy, so I fell for the characters more. If you know me and my attention span, that’s a very rare statement (most of the time, I have neither the attention nor the patience to get through character-driven books). So that this one stuck? That’s a good sign.
It also helped that I already knew I enjoyed Tanya Huff’s books (The Fire’s Stone is another good one, just…FYI). So this, and it’s found family, was always going to be something I liked. It was a bit of a slow start, to be fair, but I got into it. And really liked it.
Rep: bi mc, lesbian li, gay side character
There’s something to be said for the kind of understated fantasy that this book is. The conflict here primarily revolves around family. Yes, there is a subplot regarding a battle between two countries, but it’s mostly about family. And understated fantasy books about family like this are my favourites. Sure, big bombastic fantasies are great, but there’s something more you get with understatement.
And because it’s more understated, I guess I felt more of a connection with the characters. I don’t know how best to explain it really. I think it comes down to this: it’s a more character-driven fantasy, so I fell for the characters more. If you know me and my attention span, that’s a very rare statement (most of the time, I have neither the attention nor the patience to get through character-driven books). So that this one stuck? That’s a good sign.
It also helped that I already knew I enjoyed Tanya Huff’s books (The Fire’s Stone is another good one, just…FYI). So this, and it’s found family, was always going to be something I liked. It was a bit of a slow start, to be fair, but I got into it. And really liked it.
January 20, 2019
Why there is only four stars ? I guess I have to reread it and answer that
Edited 13/12/2017
Ok, it's a five. Yep, there are some minor elements that could have been done better.
Mainly the villain. Why is she cougarish ? And I wish her ambition had been shown in a way more... more... more... something. But that's me nitpicking.
Because here you have a fantasy story that is not about love, or betrayal of cosmic proportion or war. Even if we do have love, betrayal and war.
It's just when you say love, you expect heterosexual couple ...
and here you have lots and lots of love, but it's not the falling in eternal love usual trope.
We have fraternal love, arranged married couple quiet love, a same sex polyamourous couple of ten years love, father and son love, vocation love, etc...
Here, the main characters are not a couple (even if they had an enjoyable tumble resulting with a baby... oups). They don't even like each other mostly but the "adventure" enable them to get a grudging respect, as much as two pigheaded people who just happens to have made baby together can.
And we have pregnancy.
Being pregnant here is not about a prophetic child coming in the world. It's about being sick, being full of hormones, being changed but still being oneself.
It's also about society acting like a baby is a social property and you can touch a woman's belly without asking. Well no ! dah.
And so, and so, and so many little things that make a whole so perfect.
So yeah, definetely a five-stars all around.
It's the kind of book, the more I read it, the more I like it.
---
Edit Jan 2019
I love reading this book. I also loved listening to it this week. Some details that didn't stuck out as much when reading where made quite clear by the narrator's voice.
Mainly, the love between characters, and the pain they inflicted each other, and so on, was top notch.
I also really like the way the narrator made kids voices. ^^
Edited 13/12/2017
Ok, it's a five. Yep, there are some minor elements that could have been done better.
Mainly the villain. Why is she cougarish ? And I wish her ambition had been shown in a way more... more... more... something. But that's me nitpicking.
Because here you have a fantasy story that is not about love, or betrayal of cosmic proportion or war. Even if we do have love, betrayal and war.
It's just when you say love, you expect heterosexual couple ...
and here you have lots and lots of love, but it's not the falling in eternal love usual trope.
We have fraternal love, arranged married couple quiet love, a same sex polyamourous couple of ten years love, father and son love, vocation love, etc...
Here, the main characters are not a couple (even if they had an enjoyable tumble resulting with a baby... oups). They don't even like each other mostly but the "adventure" enable them to get a grudging respect, as much as two pigheaded people who just happens to have made baby together can.
And we have pregnancy.
Being pregnant here is not about a prophetic child coming in the world. It's about being sick, being full of hormones, being changed but still being oneself.
It's also about society acting like a baby is a social property and you can touch a woman's belly without asking. Well no ! dah.
And so, and so, and so many little things that make a whole so perfect.
So yeah, definetely a five-stars all around.
It's the kind of book, the more I read it, the more I like it.
---
Edit Jan 2019
I love reading this book. I also loved listening to it this week. Some details that didn't stuck out as much when reading where made quite clear by the narrator's voice.
Mainly, the love between characters, and the pain they inflicted each other, and so on, was top notch.
I also really like the way the narrator made kids voices. ^^
April 20, 2015
I started reading Sing the Four Quarters because it was on a list of best fantasy books with gay main characters. Well, I'd like to say that this should have never been even an honorable mention. The main character, Annice, is nothing more than an annoying adolescent.The relationship between her and Stasya was sisterly at best. Sex is a casual thing, and Stasya hasn't a care in the world when Annice comes back from a walk bearing a child in her womb. The story was just bad. She is the princess bard,disowned from the royal family for her decision, yet had she made ANY attempt to talk to them at all in the last 10 years, none of this would have happened. The king, her brother, is a kind and understanding sort. Had she had any faith in him at all, the story could have been resolved quick and clean. Annice is just a stock female character and Pjerin.. don't even get me started! He was all man (stereotypical manly man, all rage and passion, no DEPTH! Obvious that the book was written by a man hating lesbian), no personality whatsoever! All in all, I found the book to be boring and the characters dull. Would not recommend to anyone who likes characters with personality.
December 12, 2018
A bard returns to the capital to find herself the wildcard in a political plot. Huff's balance of gratifying character dynamics, distinctive characterization, and easy-reading action/political plots has grown on me. She's not a strong technical writer, and this isn't flawlessly balanced--there's some subplots here which I could do without; nor flawlessly written--her penchant for headhopping muddies the narrative and means spending time in poorer-rendered antagonist PoVs. But it's satisfying. Queer characters! immediate immersion into the world! successful marriage of character arcs to plot developments! It's engaging and rewarding stuff. I'm reminded of Tamora Pierce's Emelan books, despite their different intended audience; they feel as good, share similar elements, and I appreciate the focus on the local, non-mythic world.
January 4, 2012
I've read enough fantasy involving music-based magic that it was neat to see it treated as magic, not music. Music theory is interesting, I suppose, but not always what I want a lecture on.
This also may be the first fantasy novel I've ever read where the main character's pregnancy is central to the plot for the entire book. And one of the very few where the bi woman and her lesbian partner don't end up splitting up so the bi chick can end up with the dude. (Or where the lesbian dies.) This is why I love Tanya Huff.
Political issues aside, this is a solid middlebrow fantasy along the lines of the Valdemar series, with less wish-fulfillment and more fundamental queer-friendliness. Right up my alley.
This also may be the first fantasy novel I've ever read where the main character's pregnancy is central to the plot for the entire book. And one of the very few where the bi woman and her lesbian partner don't end up splitting up so the bi chick can end up with the dude. (Or where the lesbian dies.) This is why I love Tanya Huff.
Political issues aside, this is a solid middlebrow fantasy along the lines of the Valdemar series, with less wish-fulfillment and more fundamental queer-friendliness. Right up my alley.
December 30, 2021
It's not easy to connect Annice to Torin Kerr, except that both are unstoppable.
Written a long time ago (1994), this fantasy combines a lot of standard fae themes (the 4 natural elements, the power of songs, etc) with typical feudal intrigue. And yet the story weaves many threads, combining family dynamics, royal obligations, greed, love and passion, and personal integrity into a compelling tale that builds from a soft beginning to a harrowing climax.
I also appreciated that all combinations of romantic relationships were acknowledged without bias. Love comes in all shapes and sizes.
If you enjoy fantasy with constrained magic (no overlords with incredible powers) and a wonderful story, then you should read this.
Written a long time ago (1994), this fantasy combines a lot of standard fae themes (the 4 natural elements, the power of songs, etc) with typical feudal intrigue. And yet the story weaves many threads, combining family dynamics, royal obligations, greed, love and passion, and personal integrity into a compelling tale that builds from a soft beginning to a harrowing climax.
I also appreciated that all combinations of romantic relationships were acknowledged without bias. Love comes in all shapes and sizes.
If you enjoy fantasy with constrained magic (no overlords with incredible powers) and a wonderful story, then you should read this.
December 18, 2020
This was a rather sweet fantasy. It was nice to read a badass bard story.
December 14, 2023
I was so worried this was going to fall into one of the most irritating tropes, where no one talks to each other and everyone gets hit in the face repeatedly by the idiot ball as a result. Thankfully, it was very neatly subverted and I was able to enjoy the whole story. I will say, it doesn't quite feel like it takes place over almost the full span of a human pregnancy, but I think a bit of that comes from listening rather than reading. Good politics, I like the combo of music magic and elemental magic, and it's a nice queer norm high fantasy. Definitely recommend.
November 2, 2019
This was a lovely story and very progressive for something written in the 1980’s. I really enjoyed it. Thank you Allison & Katie for the recommendation!
February 6, 2010
I loved how easy the stories in this book were. The characters weren't over the top nor did they seem anything but real & believable. I couldn't tell you how relieving it is to read a fantasy that doesn't go down the road of this character has a great destiny to follow. I also loved the fact that the author created love in more aspects then just the sexual kind; love lost is here, the unhealthy love between two siblings, & even a character falling in love seems more real than I've seen alot of authors make it.
Another strength here is the storylines of the book (2 of them)...at no point does anything in the story feel forced or contrived. Some authors can't resist putting in stuff that really just creates noise in an otherwise good idea....pushing the reader into a state of having to wait out certain bits. This author created something that was simple & easy to follow yet still exciting.
Overall I would recommend this book as a good read if you want to read a good story.
Another strength here is the storylines of the book (2 of them)...at no point does anything in the story feel forced or contrived. Some authors can't resist putting in stuff that really just creates noise in an otherwise good idea....pushing the reader into a state of having to wait out certain bits. This author created something that was simple & easy to follow yet still exciting.
Overall I would recommend this book as a good read if you want to read a good story.
February 16, 2016
Not really sure how I felt about this one. It was an okay story, but I had a really hard time getting pulled into it or having any kind of an emotional connection with the characters. Not that they were bad or anything, but there was just so much that seemed to be missing that I never really got to understand them or even the world this was set in.
There were lots of concepts and ideas that were tossed around that you could only ever make some very general assumptions about because they were never explained. I think a huge portion of this was based on the world’s belief system, but with little to no details provided to help the reader understand what that was made it incredibly difficult to grasp a character’s behavior or how those beliefs either enhanced or limited their abilities, if it did at all.
I guess it just felt like there were a lot of important details missing or that they were never fully fleshed out.
There were lots of concepts and ideas that were tossed around that you could only ever make some very general assumptions about because they were never explained. I think a huge portion of this was based on the world’s belief system, but with little to no details provided to help the reader understand what that was made it incredibly difficult to grasp a character’s behavior or how those beliefs either enhanced or limited their abilities, if it did at all.
I guess it just felt like there were a lot of important details missing or that they were never fully fleshed out.
June 9, 2019
Bards were terrible at keeping secrets. They insisted on putting them to music.
This was so much fun to read, there's really nothing like an 80s/90s fantasy and the music-nerd in me is always into a bardic storyline. It's basically the ideal version of elemental magic (you make things happen by singing!) which is a classic in it's own right. It's a fun world to imagine being a part of, and I'd definitely want to be a bard myself!
This was so much fun to read, there's really nothing like an 80s/90s fantasy and the music-nerd in me is always into a bardic storyline. It's basically the ideal version of elemental magic (you make things happen by singing!) which is a classic in it's own right. It's a fun world to imagine being a part of, and I'd definitely want to be a bard myself!
September 14, 2016
A fantasy book with a bard as the main character. It’s technically first in a series but the next book has different characters and is set in a different country.
This series is set in a world where magic is done through the Kigh. The Kigh are essentially nature spirits and by asking them (Singing) to do something the bards can affect earth, air, water, and fire. Yup, the bards do magic; there’s no mentions of wizards or other magic users. You have to be born with the ability to see the Kigh. Most of the bards seem to see only one kind of Kigh, some see two kinds. The rarest are the people who see all four kinds. You can only Sing to Kigh you can see them.
Annice was born as the youngest of King Mikus’ children but she was also born with the gift to Sing to all four Kigh. The King of Shkoder and his heir wanted to marry (called joining in this world and also same-sex couples can join) her for political reasons but the headstrong Annice found a way to force his father the king to promise her to the Bardic Hall instead. However, after the old King’s death the new King Theron, Annice’s brother, proclaimed that in order to become a bard Annice had to cut all ties to the royal family and she would be a traitor to the crown if she joined or had a child without first getting the King’s permission. Annice was 14 and eager to become a bard so she agreed.
Ten years later, Annice finds out that she’s pregnant. She loves her life wandering around the country and having casual sex with both men and women. She even has a steady girlfriend Stasya, who is also a bard. She’s never thought about having kids but when she’s confronted with the pregnancy, she realizes that she wants the child. The kid’s father is very handsome but otherwise arrogant, pigheaded, opinionated etc. so Annice decides not to even tell him and raise the kid with Stasya and the other bards. She also intends to keep the kid a secret from the king.
However, the kid’s father, Pjerin, is a duc in a distant but strategically important mountain keep, guarding a pass between Shkoder and the hostile Cemandia. Pjerin is very proud of the place and content to keep it as it is, but others aren’t. People close to Pjerin scheme to get him out of way so that they can cement an alliance with Cemandia and get rich on the profits. They frame him as a traitor and soon Pjerin is dragged to the capital in chains and Annice has to decide what she’s going to do.
This was lots of fun. Annice and Pjerin are so much alike that they get on each other’s nerves all the time; there’s no romance really between them. In fact, there’s no sex scenes in the book. I really liked most of the characters, and the world and the magic system were great.
However, the plot could have been resolved very soon if Annice could have just gotten over the hurt and anger she had towards Theron. So, the plot really sprang up from the characters and their past. Some people seem to hate that, but this time it fit. However, it did take away the tension somewhat. Huff also does a lot of POV shifts very quickly. It took me a while to get used to them. Often enough I don’t care for bickering characters but this time I liked them. I think this is the second time I've read a book where the main character is heavily pregnant most of the time. (Cordelia was pregnant with Miles in Barrayar.)
I really enjoyed the world building. Shkoder is a land where traveling bards bring news from one end of the country to the other. They’re also part of the justice system because they can use Command which compels the person to tell the truth. Also, in Shkoder, same-sex relationships are the equal of opposite-sex relationships: both raise kids and are completely normal. Bisexuality is also normal.
I love bards and would like to read more books with bards as main characters but they seem to be rather rare. The next book apparently has a brother and sister assassins as the main characters.
This series is set in a world where magic is done through the Kigh. The Kigh are essentially nature spirits and by asking them (Singing) to do something the bards can affect earth, air, water, and fire. Yup, the bards do magic; there’s no mentions of wizards or other magic users. You have to be born with the ability to see the Kigh. Most of the bards seem to see only one kind of Kigh, some see two kinds. The rarest are the people who see all four kinds. You can only Sing to Kigh you can see them.
Annice was born as the youngest of King Mikus’ children but she was also born with the gift to Sing to all four Kigh. The King of Shkoder and his heir wanted to marry (called joining in this world and also same-sex couples can join) her for political reasons but the headstrong Annice found a way to force his father the king to promise her to the Bardic Hall instead. However, after the old King’s death the new King Theron, Annice’s brother, proclaimed that in order to become a bard Annice had to cut all ties to the royal family and she would be a traitor to the crown if she joined or had a child without first getting the King’s permission. Annice was 14 and eager to become a bard so she agreed.
Ten years later, Annice finds out that she’s pregnant. She loves her life wandering around the country and having casual sex with both men and women. She even has a steady girlfriend Stasya, who is also a bard. She’s never thought about having kids but when she’s confronted with the pregnancy, she realizes that she wants the child. The kid’s father is very handsome but otherwise arrogant, pigheaded, opinionated etc. so Annice decides not to even tell him and raise the kid with Stasya and the other bards. She also intends to keep the kid a secret from the king.
However, the kid’s father, Pjerin, is a duc in a distant but strategically important mountain keep, guarding a pass between Shkoder and the hostile Cemandia. Pjerin is very proud of the place and content to keep it as it is, but others aren’t. People close to Pjerin scheme to get him out of way so that they can cement an alliance with Cemandia and get rich on the profits. They frame him as a traitor and soon Pjerin is dragged to the capital in chains and Annice has to decide what she’s going to do.
This was lots of fun. Annice and Pjerin are so much alike that they get on each other’s nerves all the time; there’s no romance really between them. In fact, there’s no sex scenes in the book. I really liked most of the characters, and the world and the magic system were great.
However, the plot could have been resolved very soon if Annice could have just gotten over the hurt and anger she had towards Theron. So, the plot really sprang up from the characters and their past. Some people seem to hate that, but this time it fit. However, it did take away the tension somewhat. Huff also does a lot of POV shifts very quickly. It took me a while to get used to them. Often enough I don’t care for bickering characters but this time I liked them. I think this is the second time I've read a book where the main character is heavily pregnant most of the time. (Cordelia was pregnant with Miles in Barrayar.)
I really enjoyed the world building. Shkoder is a land where traveling bards bring news from one end of the country to the other. They’re also part of the justice system because they can use Command which compels the person to tell the truth. Also, in Shkoder, same-sex relationships are the equal of opposite-sex relationships: both raise kids and are completely normal. Bisexuality is also normal.
I love bards and would like to read more books with bards as main characters but they seem to be rather rare. The next book apparently has a brother and sister assassins as the main characters.
October 3, 2017
(Ancient review that I thought Goodreads needed:)
I started reading this one out of sheer curiosity. How would one write a traditional fantasy book where the heroine is pregnant for much of the plot? Would the heroine's "impending arrival" dampen the action required to move it along? The answers to those and other questions are easily solved by peeking at my rating for this book- although it did have plenty of awkward moments that were broken up with a distinct injection of humor.
The magic system of this book relies on the four elements: water, air, earth, and fire. If you are born talented, you can control the individual Kigh (elements that populate the world) by singing to them, and generally you specialize in one or two of the particular elements. Annice, the heroine, is one of the few who can sing all four quarters, but her strong suit is generally air. For some reason, I was confused about the magic system for the first hundred pages or so, but that was resolved after I reread some of the previous passages. Sometimes my mind wanders a bit too far when I devour fantasy novels.
The key element to this book is the characters. Although the plot itself is very interesting, without the character interactions (particularly between Pjerin [the Duc] and Annice) it would be a bit plain. Annice is stubborn and unwilling to compromise with just about anyone. Unfortunately, the Duc/Pjerin is the same way, leading to much of the action of the book being fought with words. There is also Stasya, who is a devoted friend to Annice (and perhaps more- I wasn't paying that much attention in the first 100 pages), who helps enable her sometimes ridiculous schemes. I was surprised to find the attention to detail/personality that was infused in each character- even periphery ones were given an unmistakable voice.
Annice's pregnancy is a key part of the book, but it also helps explore and abolish some fantasy cultural norms. Throughout the book, Annice is given advice she doesn't necessarily want, and constantly told she mustn't do this, that, and the other thing, which given her personality, she naturally does anyway. Never once does she consider giving up the baby, though it would make it a lot easier on her if she considered it. She basically epitomizes the trials and victories of single motherhood throughout the book, but what really clinched it for me was her fortitude in defending herself, even when she knew she didn't necessarily have to. Her conversations with Pjerin were priceless.
Sing the Four Quarters is an unusual take on traditional fantasy. The heroine's pregnancy only benefits the plot, enhancing and invoking drama wherever she goes. Though the magic system sometimes takes the back seat to it, it provides the perfect spectacle for a fitting finale. As soon as I finished this book, I ordered the rest of the series, despite the lack of Annice and Pjerin being present- the author simply grabbed my attention so well. If you're in the mood for fantasy that has both a sense of humor and an uncompromising heroine, you should consider Sing the Four Quarters for your next read.
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars for an excellent fantasy that proves pregnant heroines are for the win!
As seen on my blog, Victorian Soul Critiques.
I started reading this one out of sheer curiosity. How would one write a traditional fantasy book where the heroine is pregnant for much of the plot? Would the heroine's "impending arrival" dampen the action required to move it along? The answers to those and other questions are easily solved by peeking at my rating for this book- although it did have plenty of awkward moments that were broken up with a distinct injection of humor.
The magic system of this book relies on the four elements: water, air, earth, and fire. If you are born talented, you can control the individual Kigh (elements that populate the world) by singing to them, and generally you specialize in one or two of the particular elements. Annice, the heroine, is one of the few who can sing all four quarters, but her strong suit is generally air. For some reason, I was confused about the magic system for the first hundred pages or so, but that was resolved after I reread some of the previous passages. Sometimes my mind wanders a bit too far when I devour fantasy novels.
The key element to this book is the characters. Although the plot itself is very interesting, without the character interactions (particularly between Pjerin [the Duc] and Annice) it would be a bit plain. Annice is stubborn and unwilling to compromise with just about anyone. Unfortunately, the Duc/Pjerin is the same way, leading to much of the action of the book being fought with words. There is also Stasya, who is a devoted friend to Annice (and perhaps more- I wasn't paying that much attention in the first 100 pages), who helps enable her sometimes ridiculous schemes. I was surprised to find the attention to detail/personality that was infused in each character- even periphery ones were given an unmistakable voice.
Annice's pregnancy is a key part of the book, but it also helps explore and abolish some fantasy cultural norms. Throughout the book, Annice is given advice she doesn't necessarily want, and constantly told she mustn't do this, that, and the other thing, which given her personality, she naturally does anyway. Never once does she consider giving up the baby, though it would make it a lot easier on her if she considered it. She basically epitomizes the trials and victories of single motherhood throughout the book, but what really clinched it for me was her fortitude in defending herself, even when she knew she didn't necessarily have to. Her conversations with Pjerin were priceless.
Sing the Four Quarters is an unusual take on traditional fantasy. The heroine's pregnancy only benefits the plot, enhancing and invoking drama wherever she goes. Though the magic system sometimes takes the back seat to it, it provides the perfect spectacle for a fitting finale. As soon as I finished this book, I ordered the rest of the series, despite the lack of Annice and Pjerin being present- the author simply grabbed my attention so well. If you're in the mood for fantasy that has both a sense of humor and an uncompromising heroine, you should consider Sing the Four Quarters for your next read.
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars for an excellent fantasy that proves pregnant heroines are for the win!
As seen on my blog, Victorian Soul Critiques.
January 29, 2021
2.5 stars. The premise sounded so good but I was mostly bored for the better part of the book. It took forever for anything to actually happen, most of the book was travel. I had a hard time connecting to the main characters and I liked some of the secondary characters better. The ending was good but I do wish that the villain hadn't been revealed so early in the book. The magic system was interesting but it sometimes left me confused as to what the bards could and could not do.
June 25, 2012
A really slow and confusing start as it seemed like this was book two instead of the first. Once you get a handle on who's who and what's what, the story and the action really pick up. At this point, the book was unputdownable. I will definitely continue the series.
October 23, 2018
I couldn't finish this book. The writing was so poor and i felt like the author was trying to push a huge story but fell short. There wasn't a whole lot of character development and the conflict was a bit lack luster. I felt a bit let down honestly.
July 2, 2021
While this was a well-written book with some excellent world-building and a plot that was actually more compelling than the synopsis led to believe (not that I wasn't already interested, but the synopsis left out the more intriguing bits), I found it wasn't compelling enough to make me want to continue with the series. It is most likely just my current reading mood, because, as I said, I thought the world-building was excellent.
I enjoyed the characters as well, and I loved how it felt like almost everyone was queer in some way. I adored Tadeus especially - blind as a bat but completely vain and also the prime example of your traditional Bard - and would have loved more interactions with him. Olina was one of those characters who is so completely devious and evil, yet also full of intelligence and cunning. Pjerin and Annice were both too hot-headed and clashed a lot, and Stasya felt...unrefined. Her personality just felt a little flat and lacking to me and I would have liked a bit more from her. Definitely too much of a supporting character and nothing to really define herself as her own person.
While the plot was good, it definitely felt like it wrapped itself up by the end, and with my current reading mood as it is, I don't think I will be continuing with this series any time soon. Overall, an enjoyable read, but one that just personally took me too long to read.
4 stars
I enjoyed the characters as well, and I loved how it felt like almost everyone was queer in some way. I adored Tadeus especially - blind as a bat but completely vain and also the prime example of your traditional Bard - and would have loved more interactions with him. Olina was one of those characters who is so completely devious and evil, yet also full of intelligence and cunning. Pjerin and Annice were both too hot-headed and clashed a lot, and Stasya felt...unrefined. Her personality just felt a little flat and lacking to me and I would have liked a bit more from her. Definitely too much of a supporting character and nothing to really define herself as her own person.
While the plot was good, it definitely felt like it wrapped itself up by the end, and with my current reading mood as it is, I don't think I will be continuing with this series any time soon. Overall, an enjoyable read, but one that just personally took me too long to read.
4 stars
October 21, 2020
Fell foul to the typical fantasy problem of 'a little communication would have literally solved everything' but this was a pleasant surprise, with a unique magic system and an awesome (bi!) protagonist.
July 21, 2017
Good story! I like the way the Bards sing to the elements!
August 9, 2022
Loved the world building in this and the characters. I'm always a sucker for a well written sibling relationship.
September 25, 2024
I can’t wait to read the next book in this series! There are plenty of interesting characters and a family issue and kigh which are magical creatures. A great adventure.
March 24, 2024
I usually don’t care for bardic magic, but this was fun.
February 3, 2025
Tanya Huff is an author who deserves, in my opinion, far more hype than she seems to receive. First, she’s Canadian (represent!), she’s queer (represent!), and she writes fantasy novels that are unapologetically queer and even sometimes unapologetically Canadian (re-pruh-sent!). I often describe her as an author I like but don’t love in the sense that I’ve seldom given her books a glowing review—Sing the Four Quarters is the first time I’ve rated one of her books more than three stars. Nevertheless, I respect her writing and her game.
Sing the Four Quarters takes place in the Kingdom of Shkoder, an unassuming place that just wants to mind its business, if it weren’t for those mean, nasty Cemandians breathing their expansionist breaths down their mountain pass. Annice is a bard, kind of a singing wizard, if you will. She was also a princess, but when her dad died and she joined up with the bards, her brother—now king—made her forswear her title, you know, like you do. Now she walks around the country, carrying tales, observing, and reporting back. But when she accidentally gets pregnant (another no-no, according to her brother the king) and the father ends up accused of treason, Annice needs to act fast.
Based on past experiences with Huff—I’ve liked her contemporary fantasy more than her secondary-world fantasy—I was nervous about reading Sing the Four Quarters. I picked it up from my used bookstore as an omnibus edition collected with the sequel, and it has sat on my shelf for a year or so. I was avoiding it. This book is from the nineties, just following The Fire’s Stone , which I had completely forgotten I had read! Nevertheless, my disappointment with what I viewed as clichés (though I suppose they weren’t yet, back when Huff wrote it) must have sunk deep into my bones, and the apprehension I felt twisting in my gut when I looked at this old-school cover stems from that.
Let me tell you: I could not have been more wrong. Sing the Four Quarters fucking rocks. I laughed, I cried, I cheered … this is what fantasy should be.
Right off in the first chapter, the first twenty pages, two things. First, the main character and a random, male side character she meets along the way both sit down to just … knit. Perfunctory like. Love it. Second, so many people are queer. Annice is bi or pan and living with another woman, and it’s just … there, on the page. Polyamorous too, I guess, given that Annice’s partner reacts not with anger when she learns Annice is pregnant but rather a rueful chuckle of, “This is what you get for sleeping with men!” and that sent me. I, of course, as an ace girlie, don’t see the appeal of sleeping with any gender, but as a sapphic-aligned girlie I am on Stasya’s side for sure. (The two of them and Pjerin form an excellent throuple, though!)
Seriously, after recent political events, it’s just such a breath of fresh air to be reading a fantasy novel from the 1995 that’s blatantly queernormative. I know this wasn’t Huff’s first time doing that, nor is she alone among her contemporaries. There’s something about seeing it during a time of backlash against queer people that is incredibly heartening. It isn’t “woke” or “diversity” to put queer people into genre fiction in 2025 because people were doing it thirty years ago. This, alone, would have endeared me to Huff forever.
Unlike, The Fire’s Stone, however, which apparently didn’t impress me, this story is actually … good?
I love the magic system. I thought I wouldn’t—ugh, singing wizards? How trite! How uninteresing! Again, I was just wrong. The bards are cool. The kigh are cool. In particular, I appreciate how Huff doesn’t bother with much exposition. Bards are basically elemental mages, they invoke spirits called kigh that are always mischievous, often mysterious, and so on. It’s an important dimension to the book but not the dimension; at its forefront, Sing the Four Quarters is a book about family, damn it, and Annice is Dominic Toretto.
I don’t want to go into spoilers. However, let me say that Huff makes a really significant plot choice early in the book that made me sit up and take notice. Annice basically has to go on the run—she’s committing treason by having this baby, and the baby daddy is also accused of treason for an unrelated thing (what bad luck). Let’s just say that it looks like Huff is setting up the pieces such that some characters will be her enemy. Almost immediately after she does that, however, she goes, “Haha, just kidding,” and those characters figure out it’s all a setup and start trying to help Annice as best they can from a distance. I love this. I hate plots based on shallow misunderstandings and miscommunication, and Huff neatly sidestepping this trope is a joy to see.
Annice’s ferocity is also a wonderful trait in a protagonist. I just love how she butts heads with Pjerin when they’re together. How fiercely she loves Stasya. How recalcitrant she is with Theron. She is such a firebrand of a woman, and I want to be her (minus the having-a-kid part). One of my number one complaints in fantasy novels featuring princesses as protagonists, even with female authors, is that the princess gets so little to do, has so little agency. That’s definitely not the case here.
The supporting cast is also delightful. Really, the only stinker was Otik, who begins as a semi-credible threat but quickly turns into a cartoonish oaf to be quickly dispatched. I don’t know if this is just a misfire on the part of Huff’s humour (which otherwise is resplendent yet unassuming in this story) or if I’m just reading him as campier than he should be. Either way, it’s not worth thinking that much about.
In the backdrop to this family squabble, of course, there is a far wider political plot that threatens the sovereignty of Shkoder. I don’t really care, to be honest. However, Huff does a good job of demonstrating how a single person can manipulate ignorant people into believing basically whatever—does this sound familiar?—and it was satisfying to see the villains of this piece dealt with.
At the climax of this story—because Annice is pregnant, and when a main character is pregnant, you know they never go into labour during a lull in the action—I found myself crying genuine tears of concern and joy at the same time. I was actively talking back to the book, cheering on Annice and her allies while also afraid for their survival. Somehow, Huff manages to dial up the tension and the stakes so gradually that I was like a lobster in a pot of water slow to come to a boil. I didn’t notice it was happening until saltwater was trickling down my cheeks even as I laughed at the same time.
Fiction should make you feel things. If that is the standard by which I measure books, then Sing the Four Quarters is an excellent book. I love when I’m proved wrong, when a book surprises me as thoroughly and expertly as this one did. Rather than feeling apprehensive about reading the next book, I am now excited. Hell yeah, Tanya Huff. You did good.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Sing the Four Quarters takes place in the Kingdom of Shkoder, an unassuming place that just wants to mind its business, if it weren’t for those mean, nasty Cemandians breathing their expansionist breaths down their mountain pass. Annice is a bard, kind of a singing wizard, if you will. She was also a princess, but when her dad died and she joined up with the bards, her brother—now king—made her forswear her title, you know, like you do. Now she walks around the country, carrying tales, observing, and reporting back. But when she accidentally gets pregnant (another no-no, according to her brother the king) and the father ends up accused of treason, Annice needs to act fast.
Based on past experiences with Huff—I’ve liked her contemporary fantasy more than her secondary-world fantasy—I was nervous about reading Sing the Four Quarters. I picked it up from my used bookstore as an omnibus edition collected with the sequel, and it has sat on my shelf for a year or so. I was avoiding it. This book is from the nineties, just following The Fire’s Stone , which I had completely forgotten I had read! Nevertheless, my disappointment with what I viewed as clichés (though I suppose they weren’t yet, back when Huff wrote it) must have sunk deep into my bones, and the apprehension I felt twisting in my gut when I looked at this old-school cover stems from that.
Let me tell you: I could not have been more wrong. Sing the Four Quarters fucking rocks. I laughed, I cried, I cheered … this is what fantasy should be.
Right off in the first chapter, the first twenty pages, two things. First, the main character and a random, male side character she meets along the way both sit down to just … knit. Perfunctory like. Love it. Second, so many people are queer. Annice is bi or pan and living with another woman, and it’s just … there, on the page. Polyamorous too, I guess, given that Annice’s partner reacts not with anger when she learns Annice is pregnant but rather a rueful chuckle of, “This is what you get for sleeping with men!” and that sent me. I, of course, as an ace girlie, don’t see the appeal of sleeping with any gender, but as a sapphic-aligned girlie I am on Stasya’s side for sure. (The two of them and Pjerin form an excellent throuple, though!)
Seriously, after recent political events, it’s just such a breath of fresh air to be reading a fantasy novel from the 1995 that’s blatantly queernormative. I know this wasn’t Huff’s first time doing that, nor is she alone among her contemporaries. There’s something about seeing it during a time of backlash against queer people that is incredibly heartening. It isn’t “woke” or “diversity” to put queer people into genre fiction in 2025 because people were doing it thirty years ago. This, alone, would have endeared me to Huff forever.
Unlike, The Fire’s Stone, however, which apparently didn’t impress me, this story is actually … good?
I love the magic system. I thought I wouldn’t—ugh, singing wizards? How trite! How uninteresing! Again, I was just wrong. The bards are cool. The kigh are cool. In particular, I appreciate how Huff doesn’t bother with much exposition. Bards are basically elemental mages, they invoke spirits called kigh that are always mischievous, often mysterious, and so on. It’s an important dimension to the book but not the dimension; at its forefront, Sing the Four Quarters is a book about family, damn it, and Annice is Dominic Toretto.
I don’t want to go into spoilers. However, let me say that Huff makes a really significant plot choice early in the book that made me sit up and take notice. Annice basically has to go on the run—she’s committing treason by having this baby, and the baby daddy is also accused of treason for an unrelated thing (what bad luck). Let’s just say that it looks like Huff is setting up the pieces such that some characters will be her enemy. Almost immediately after she does that, however, she goes, “Haha, just kidding,” and those characters figure out it’s all a setup and start trying to help Annice as best they can from a distance. I love this. I hate plots based on shallow misunderstandings and miscommunication, and Huff neatly sidestepping this trope is a joy to see.
Annice’s ferocity is also a wonderful trait in a protagonist. I just love how she butts heads with Pjerin when they’re together. How fiercely she loves Stasya. How recalcitrant she is with Theron. She is such a firebrand of a woman, and I want to be her (minus the having-a-kid part). One of my number one complaints in fantasy novels featuring princesses as protagonists, even with female authors, is that the princess gets so little to do, has so little agency. That’s definitely not the case here.
The supporting cast is also delightful. Really, the only stinker was Otik, who begins as a semi-credible threat but quickly turns into a cartoonish oaf to be quickly dispatched. I don’t know if this is just a misfire on the part of Huff’s humour (which otherwise is resplendent yet unassuming in this story) or if I’m just reading him as campier than he should be. Either way, it’s not worth thinking that much about.
In the backdrop to this family squabble, of course, there is a far wider political plot that threatens the sovereignty of Shkoder. I don’t really care, to be honest. However, Huff does a good job of demonstrating how a single person can manipulate ignorant people into believing basically whatever—does this sound familiar?—and it was satisfying to see the villains of this piece dealt with.
At the climax of this story—because Annice is pregnant, and when a main character is pregnant, you know they never go into labour during a lull in the action—I found myself crying genuine tears of concern and joy at the same time. I was actively talking back to the book, cheering on Annice and her allies while also afraid for their survival. Somehow, Huff manages to dial up the tension and the stakes so gradually that I was like a lobster in a pot of water slow to come to a boil. I didn’t notice it was happening until saltwater was trickling down my cheeks even as I laughed at the same time.
Fiction should make you feel things. If that is the standard by which I measure books, then Sing the Four Quarters is an excellent book. I love when I’m proved wrong, when a book surprises me as thoroughly and expertly as this one did. Rather than feeling apprehensive about reading the next book, I am now excited. Hell yeah, Tanya Huff. You did good.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
December 15, 2015
A friend who has been the source of a number of good recommendations over the years recommended Sing the Four Quarters back when it came out. It always stuck in my mind, and I've meant to get to it for... yeah. Anyway, I got the Kindle edition a while ago, and finally read it.
It's good, but a little vague in places. The general fantasy premise is that there are kigh, who are elemental spirits, that some people can sense and influence, generally by singing. But while there are fire spirits, and fires would attract them, and they can affect the fire, the fire exists in the absence of the kigh, and still I don't know just where they really exist in the nature of the world (though it does come out that they avoid the interiors of large buildings, but not really why).
This is something of an idealized 'living nature' magic, when you get down to it, which goes along with an idealized kingdom, with a good king, and an idealized other expansionist enemy kingdom across the border. There's also what appears to be an idealized 'free love' aspect, but this is pretty obviously part and parcel of how this society works, and adults are left to be adults, and to work out the consequences of their own mistakes.
However, the characters, as people, do not fall into any of this idealization. The background may be painted in broad strokes, but the people involved are complex and fallible, and can have a heck of a time getting along with each other, even they do care about each other.
The plot takes a little bit to get going, and suffers a bit in places from a number of quick cuts as the action gets more complex than the narrative can handle. Also, its a bit transparent, and telegraphs where, in the main, it is going. But, it's not plot by rote, and the journey is quite enjoyable. Definitely recommended, and I'm keeping an eye out for the later books, which I understand are not direct sequels.
It's good, but a little vague in places. The general fantasy premise is that there are kigh, who are elemental spirits, that some people can sense and influence, generally by singing. But while there are fire spirits, and fires would attract them, and they can affect the fire, the fire exists in the absence of the kigh, and still I don't know just where they really exist in the nature of the world (though it does come out that they avoid the interiors of large buildings, but not really why).
This is something of an idealized 'living nature' magic, when you get down to it, which goes along with an idealized kingdom, with a good king, and an idealized other expansionist enemy kingdom across the border. There's also what appears to be an idealized 'free love' aspect, but this is pretty obviously part and parcel of how this society works, and adults are left to be adults, and to work out the consequences of their own mistakes.
However, the characters, as people, do not fall into any of this idealization. The background may be painted in broad strokes, but the people involved are complex and fallible, and can have a heck of a time getting along with each other, even they do care about each other.
The plot takes a little bit to get going, and suffers a bit in places from a number of quick cuts as the action gets more complex than the narrative can handle. Also, its a bit transparent, and telegraphs where, in the main, it is going. But, it's not plot by rote, and the journey is quite enjoyable. Definitely recommended, and I'm keeping an eye out for the later books, which I understand are not direct sequels.
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