Maestro cantor

by Orson Scott Card

Una sobrecogedora historia de poder y de amor. La formación de un artista y su educación sentimental y política. Una vida trágicay gloriosa, narrada con la mano experta en el tratamiento de sentimientos y emociones de Orson Scott Card. Secuestrado a muy temprana edad, el joven Ansset ha sido educado en el aislamiento de la Casa del Canto. Su vida es la música y la canción. Su voz posee cualidades nunca oídas antes. Su arte puede reflejar todas las esperanzas y los miedos de su audiencia y, amplificando las emociones que inspira, puede incluso servir para sanar. Aunque también para destruir... Por ello, será el esperado Pájaro Cantor de Mikal el Terrible, el emperador de la galaxia, y sus canciones serán puestas a prueba para calmar la preocupada consciencia del temido gobernante. Opinió
«Un Shakespeare moderno.»
Stephenie Meyer

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction, Adult

406 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1980

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[TAP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ansset is the greatest Songbird ever created by the Songhouse. Songbirds are singers cherished for the beauty of their voices and their ability to sway an audience. Ansset has a voice that can sway the world through more than emotion; he can change the cosmos. Once perfected, Songbirds are gifted out to those the Songhouse deems worthy. They are sent off to colonized worlds in order to share their cherished talents. Ansset is crafted into the perfect Songbird for the Emperor Mikal, the vicious and benevolent ruler of humanity. Ansset’s voice becomes known to all humans, and his power becomes legend.

Songmaster is an interesting book because Orson Scott Card is an interesting man, for positive and negative reasons. Card is an oxymoron. He is blatantly anti-LGBTQ, and yet writes some of the most homoerotically charged science fiction in existence. Card’s infatuation with beautiful boys is fascinating. Songmaster is full of homoerotic content. Every man and woman lusts after Ansset’s beauty. The term “catamite” is used repeatedly. And there are actual homosexuals in the book, the homosexuality is not just implied. Because of this, Orson Scott Card highly confuses me. He clearly wants to explore gay characters, but he preaches against them in the real world. There would be no confusion if his books denounced homosexuality, but it is quite the opposite. Card humanizes and empathizes with these characters. They may not represent real gay people, but they are not depicted offensively.

So, Card, what is your point? What’s up with the hate if we fascinate you so much? I think you might be one of us.

3.5

[Spider the Doof Warrior · Rating 1 out of 5]

But, if you are going to do something to someone that causes them terrible pain should the orgasm shouldn't you TELL them about this? I don't want to read this book again. It's disturbing. But mainly because I'm just not sure gay people WORK like that!


This book is like several books crammed into one. It's Ender's Game with singing instead of laser tag. It has a terrible underlying message about being gay too. OSC does NOT understand how gay people work! Or straight people for that matter. I'm sorry, but most people don't look at a kid that way. If they do, they need help.

Though there are those older women who want Justin Bieber and Taylor Lautner. But they were in their teens at least. High teens. I don't think it's RIGHT, but they were not prepubescent kids. Gay dudes don't go, ooo, look at that kid *cringes* when he is 15 and frigging looks 11 OR 12!!!??? It didn't seem like any of the other dudes he harped on were teens except when he was a teen, so WTF was up with this?

It's so insulting on a lot of levels.

In terms of prose it's all tell and no show. I'm not saying books have to be all avant guard but maybe I don't like having everything spelled out to me like I'm a little kid. There's no subtlety. No hints. Nothing you as a read can gather on your own. I like to try to figure things out. I know OSC snubs this kind of writing, but I find it INTERESTING.

So, yeah, this book is frustrating. Anyone remotely gay gets punished for giving in and being gay. They either end up with no penis and kill themselves or they end up getting to be celibate forever while folks who follow the rules get married, have kids and live happily even if it makes no sense to marry someone you barely know and have kids with them.

Ugh.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is truly my favorite scifi book of all time. it's got orphaned children, gay-questioning sex, weird psychic powers, enough tragedy to make me cry, and bards. How could I not love it? well, I did when I was 14. I really should qualify my sci-fi reviews since many of these are from my teenage years and it could be that if I read them now I'd be like huh what is this crap, like when you watch a cartoon movie like The Last Unicorn as an adult and think now why does that tree have boobs? But I bet that since this is Orson Scott Card and he has so many crown masterpieces in his oeuvre that it is still good even as a jaded older person.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 5 out of 5]

No entiendo que no le deis todos un 10 redondo a este libro (xD). De chaval me encantó.

[Javier Ventura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hasta ahora, Orson Scott Card, nunca me había decepcionado. Hasta ahora.
Maestro Cantor tiene todos los elementos que lo caracterizan. Una historia protagonizada por un niño con un don, donde las emociones, la sensibilidad de los personajes, y los problemas de orden moral son clave fundamental en el desarrollo.
Pero en esta ocasión no le he pillado el rollo. No me han gustado los personajes. No me he metido en la historia. Todo el tema de las canciones y la amplificación de sentimientos lo he visto absurdo. La trama me ha resultado aburrida. Y las connotaciones sexuales me han rechinado.
En definitiva, y muy a mi pesar, no me ha gustado.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, honestly, I did. I'm a fan of Card's 'Ender' books, and the synopsis to Songmaster was one of the most intriguing I've ever come across. While reading however, I found myself constantly questioning the point of the plot. "Songmaster" is quite frankly a poor story. Poorly composed, and poorly told. It's little more than a series of uninteresting things occurring, one after the next, with no larger story arc, and virtually no entertainment value.

The various sexual themes/content are also rather unnerving, mainly because there doesn't seem to be any need for it. Anyone who knows anything about Orson Scott Card, knows he's a Mormon, and huge anti-gay whackjob. Why he feels the need therefore, to inject so much homosexuality into this story, is peculiar to say the least. I suspect his purpose was twofold; to make the reader feel uncomfortable about homosexuality, and to portray gays having bad things happening to them. I mean, what would a desperately boring story be, without some unnecessary bronze age preaching to go along with it? This is symptomatic of the puritanical fear/obsession with homosexuality, that small-minded faith-crippled cretins such as himself suffer from.

Despite his preposterous religious beliefs, Orson Scott Card is a very talented writer, and story teller, although you wouldn't know it from reading Songmaster. The book showed so much promise, but ended up leaving a sour taste in my mouth, and the knowledge that I'll never get this time back.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha encantado, es francamente entretenido. El personaje protagonista recuerda a Ender y te atrapa igual que él en la narración de su vida.
Pese a todo lo dicho sigo pensando q Scott Card no es buena gente...

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't help but find this a remarkable book in many ways. The characters really live for me, and several are quite complex--certainly not simple to evaluate as good or evil. And I loved the world Card created of the Songhouse. This is a place where even common communications are made by song. I fell in love with Orson Scott Card's writing after discovering his Ender books. The theme of those books is tolerance, and trying to understand the "Other." And the theme of this one is love--of all kinds. The children brought to be trained to the Songhouse are orphans; when the young and gifted Ansset, who this novel is centered upon, is brought there, another child comforts him with the house's "Love Song" which is repeated at key moments:

“I will never hurt you.
I will always help you.
If you are hungry
I'll give you my food.
If you are frightened
I am your friend.
I love you now.
And love does not end.”

Including by the way, love between two men, and I don't mean platonic. Especially given this book was published in 1978, the novel is incredibly liberal and accepting in outlook. And yes, you might know that Orson Scott Card is now infamous for public statements against same sex marriage so vehement it's hard to believe it's just a matter of conviction, rather than bigotry. I know some reviewing this novel can see only hostility in its depiction of a relationship between two men--but I suspect they read this book in light of Card's remarks, and read into it what they were expecting. I only know that when I read this for the first time as a teen, that's far from what I took from it. And it's notable that those reviewers expressing anti-gay sentiments are angry at Card for his depiction, not happy with it. I found a remark of Card's over a decade after the book's publication defending the novel where he claimed:

What the novel offers is a treatment of characters who share, between them, a forbidden act that took place because of hunger on one side, compassion on the other, and genuine love and friendship on both parts. I was not trying to show that homosexuality was "beautiful" or "natural" -- in fact, sex of any kind is likely to be "beautiful" only to the participants, and it is hard to make a case for the naturalness of such an obviously counter-evolutionary trend as same-sex mating. Those issues were irrelevant. The friendship between [them] was the beautiful and natural thing, even if it eventually led them on a mutually self-destructive path.

The relationship isn't the central focus of the book. I wouldn't belabor the issue so much in this review, except that Card's views on homosexuality (expressed in ways much more extreme than in the quote above) so shocked me because it seemed so contrary to the spirit of what I had read by him and knowing those views now taint how I read his books. So rereading this--trying to decide whether or not to keep this book on my shelf or not has only deepened my bewilderment. How can he believe that, but write this? Maybe it's because in the end, Card is too good a writer to write caricatures--that his subconscious can counter even strongly held and expressed views as they're typed on the page. Just as Shakespeare may give us a Shylock that while reinforcing anti-Semitic stereotypes, at the same time has him cry, "Hath not a Jew eyes" demanding us to recognize his common humanity. I only know that I still can't reread Songmaster and remain unmoved. So despite feeling a bit embarrassed to admit Card still sings to me, it's true--the man's a bard.

[♥ Rebecca ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really nothing like what I expected. Its actually a great deal like Ender's Game. A young boy grows up as a prodigy, a genius, and the best of the best among a group of exceptionally talented children. He has a great talent for reading and understanding people, and even loving his enemies. After he has accomplished what is expected of him, he is sent away, and perhaps there is a little bit of Bean mixed in, because he goes on to rule Earth.

What surprised me the most about this book was that the boy, now a teenager, has a brief romance with another man about half way through the book, and it is quite known that OSC is a colossal homophobe. So I was so confused that I had to look into this to try to understand how he could have written this. Not that I wanted to ruin a book that I was enjoying by reading his hate filled thoughts on the subject, but I was just that surprised. OSC said about this book, that the two men had genuine love for each other, but that he wanted to depict how being together ultimately destroyed them. Well I say he failed. I would even be so bold as to say that OSC is so skilled at writing complex and realistic characters that, against his will and intentions, he made me love these two men more than anyone else in the book. He created them as 3-dimensional characters who loved each other, but they were destroyed by the world around them, not through any fault of their own. It was their society and the people closest to them that destroyed them, people like OSC himself. I would have not interpreted any of this from the story myself if I had not known anything about the author beforehand. I would have seen their relationship as short, true, and tragic. Happiness does not come to all.

The boy went on to be a man and accomplished great things, but never loved again, had what he thought was a fulfilling life, and died old and happy. But I found the story to be very sad. His life was long, and hard, and lonely. I loved this boy, Ansset, and I was captivated by his life, and by his heart and generosity.

[sologdin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nutshell: school for the Euterpean arts involves itself in galactic politics, leading to homophobic crimes, coups d'etat, &c., 20,000 years in the future.

Principal is a pre-Ender wunderkind, a victim of child trafficking. Euterpeans know the victim status and the location of the grieving parents, but elect to ignore it all (69). In addition to being scum, they're also stupid, insofar as their constitution selects the new schoolmaster by virtue of whoever finds the corpse of the current schoolmaster; finder picks new boss (32). Principal is hooked up with several galactic emperors in the standard device to place the narration at the center of the entire setting. Yawn.

Focus for the Euterpeans is "Control," a form of mental discipline: the "object of Control was not to remove the singer from all human contact, but to keep that contact clear and clean" (43). Advanced Euterpean arts produce "possession, ownership, dependence, self-surrender" in untrained listeners (80). It's all very Dunyain, especially when used to "read the flickers of emotion in his voice" and thereby know the thoughts of others (116). In addition to mind control, principal acquires superhuman kung-fu. I have therefore found RSB's Hidden Source.

Emblematic of the whole: "The longer [the eels] wiggle the more they pee and the better they taste. This pond's full of them. Connects right up with the sewer system. They live in the sewer. Along with worse things. [The city] produces more turds than anything else, enough to keep a million [eels] alive" (56).

There's FTL transit (no system of FTL rules, though), laser guns, and whatnot. But otherwise, for 20,000 years out, it's looking very 20th century. It's therefore more of a Fantasy of the Present Moment, projecting current facts, including our own science fiction content, into the far future. Not sure if the ineffectiveness is a result of the genre or the specimen.

Bizarre random love triangle. Bizarre random palace intringues. Love triangle reveals that principal is afflicted with an "orgasm torture" drug (300); his homosexual lover is castrated (312). Principal ends up, also randomly, at apex of imperial power, so, yaknow, there it is.

Recommended for those pretty enough to be catamites, Kinshasans from the southern tip of Africa, and writers of theses and dissertations, feces and defecations.

[Ham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every time I see an Orson Scott Card book, I think, "Hey, why haven't I read that yet?" There are in fact dozens of his books that I have not delved into, and today I was reminded why I'd lost my enthusiasm for this talented writer.
Songmaster, is one of his earliest novels and I found it disturbing on so many levels. Oh, it starts out benign enough, with life in the song house as Anssett learns to sing. As soon as we get into this story, however, it's over and Scott has begun another plot which at first seems related, and then takes a wild turn into left field. After that plot is more or less resolved, he writes a third story using many of the same characters he used in the first two thirds of the book, but with absolutely no recognizable connection to the first two stories.
If this were the only problem I'd had with this book, I would've given it four stars. Although episodic and graphically violent in places (Scott needs to figure out if he's writing a romance, a coming of age, murder mystery, or a horror novel and stick with it) I found the characters deep and interesting and the scenes dramatic (some a little over the top) and full of emotion.
I could have over looked all that if it hadn't been for....
(some may consider this a spoiler, but I would've wanted to know this before I picked it up).

How is OSC going to bear his testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ’s principles in his blog (he's pretty good about that) and in public declare his pro-family stance on marriage and then publish a book like The Songmaster?
In the last quarter of the book, for no reason that I can discern, he writes about a homosexual's struggle to be loyal to his wife and kid. I'll let you know that he's not exactly successful and Scott included a homosexual sex scene for us, involving a 15 year old boy.
What is wrong with this man? If you're going to write gay romances, fine, but change your name and spare the world your affiliation with a church whose focus is Christ-centered, traditional family values. Perhaps OSC would say he's showing how much pain this causes and therefore it's the perfect sermon against giving in to same-sex-attraction. Maybe there's a moral at the end of the book, but I guess I'll never know, because I couldn't finish it. Even if he is so inclined to write such a preachy, controversial lecture on the evils of homosexuality, CALL IT WHAT IT IS. Don't engage us with a completely different story and then throw this in as an afterthought. (Although I will say he does mention child sex slaves quite frequently in the first half, so I guess I should've seen it coming.)
I don't care what he think's he's accomplished by writing this type of literature, but he's not doing anything to improve the reputation of the church and as a temple-attending member he has promised to make that his top priority. He's also not doing anything for his own reputation.

[Antonio TL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secuestrado a una edad temprana, el joven Ansset se ha criado en aislamiento en un retiro místico llamado Songhouse. Su vida ha estado llena de música, y al tener solo canciones como compañía, desarrolla una voz que no se parece a ninguna que se haya escuchado antes. La voz de Ansset es tanto una bendición como una maldición, ya que puede reflejar todas las esperanzas y temores que siente y, al magnificar sus emociones, usar su voz para curar o para destruir. Cuando se descubre que la suya es la voz que el Emperador ha estado esperado durante décadas, Ansset es convocado al Palacio Imperial en la Tierra Vieja. Muchos destinos descansan en manos de Ansset, y sus canciones pronto serán puestas a prueba: ya sea para aliviar la conciencia del emperador, o para llevarlo a él y al universo al caos.
Como seguidor de los libros de Ender, uno no puede evitar comparar esta novela con las otras series. Hay muchos paralelismos, especialmente entre los protagonistas de las dos series: Card parece disfrutar escribiendo sobre figuras del Mesías, que inevitablemente terminan martirizadas por una causa pero dejan el mundo transformado para siempre. Si solo conoces la saga de Ender o la de Alvin Maker, es posible que te soprendas a ler esta novela. Card explora el amor en su conjunto y por lo tanto, incluye algunos temas homosexuales, que pueden no atraer a toda la audiencia. Card, un mormón devoto, no es un defensor de la homosexualidad y es muy posible que eso se refleje en que a veces es un poco sermoneador al respecto.
Aún así, Ansset y su historia se sostienen bastante bien por sí mismos y puedo decir que me sorprendió la historia y las formas en las que la trama se gira mientras leía. El autor me convenció de que me preocupara por sus personajes y el pequeño y extraño mundo que había creado para ellos.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert! Piece of trash. I've gotten more enjoyment from reading the back of a box of cereal. Orson is a homophobe and just proves it with his disgusting treatment of homosexuality in this dank and dark book. Everything in this book is all about pedophiles for the first half. The first supposedly gay character screws a woman first thing (I think Mrs Card is a little confused about the word homosexual). Ultimately, he pays for his abomination with castration and suicide. The main character is a completely unrelatable character who finally gets up the nerve to bang a dude and is punished by pain instead of pleasure at orgasm and then forever rendered impotent. The politics are crude and juvenile. The characters are all either perfect and punished for it or horrible people. There were a few somewhat interesting musical concepts floating around, but Mercedes Lackey and many others have done much more with better style, class and humanity. Also, in case you were wondering, I called him Mrs Card on purpose. Between this and Ender's Game, it has become painfully clear that Orson is a self loathing homosexual with serious emotional damage brought on by his infantile religion. Hope that dude gets laid and gets over himself and his big bag of crazy. I tried to like him regardless of his personal beliefs, but there is nothing there worth respecting and nothing there in his body of work that can't be found elsewhere with better quality ingredients. Two very definite thumbs down. Icedragons Snowqueen wrote a better love story.

[Clarence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, hands down, my favorite fiction book of all time. It's unfortunate that it is usally classified (and shelved) as science fiction, which it is not. The occasional travel from one planet to another does not science fiction make. This book alone made me an Orson Scott Card fan for life, and because of it I can forgive him the various other authorial sins which, IMHO, he has committed in his career since.

I'm pretty sure I sought this out after reading "Mikal's Songbird" in a (science fiction!) magazine. Over the years, I've pressed it on several people I thought would be well affected by it. A dear friend, years and years back, wasn't much into reading and I knew I wouldn't be able to get her to read Songmaster, so instead I read the entire novel onto ninety-minute cassette tapes and gave it to her as a present. It was slow going because reading aloud always makes me yawn a lot, but the ending started to get ridiculous -- it took me several days to get the last three or four pages down, because I kept having to pause to let the tears well up, as they always do every time I read it.

I have a much longer review (90% synopsis) on Everything2, from which I want to draw one sentence:

 You know it's not your usual story when a sentence
 like this suffices to describe Ansset's life as
 Emperor of the Galaxy: 

 So Ansset was crowned and reigned for 60 years.

Hmmm, it must be four or five years now since I read it last. Time to indulge again.

[RK · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very, very strange novel. I've been a fan of OSC since I was very young, and since I was a young teen I've been very disturbed by the almost violent intolerance of homosexuality he expresses in his essays. This attitude seemed so at odds with the values woven into the stories of Ender and Bean - stories of children who are different, but good, and catch a lot of crap for it but save their tormentors anyway.

This book answered some of my questions. No spoilers here, but suffice is to say that one of the only truly sympathetic characters in the novel is an openly gay man. OSC's treatment of this character and his associates paints a more complete picture of OSC's views on homosexuality, and I found it very, very interesting.

(This has been a favorite topic of mine for a while - there are explicitly queer characters in much of OSC's fiction, most often struggling against themselves - but there is nothing simple or moralizing in his portrayals, as there is in his essays.)

More study is needed. :)

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part one of this is a review of the book on its own merits, afterward, I will talk about my feelings on Orson Scott Card and his political activities.

Songmaster was published in 1980, and as such, it’s the earliest work I’ve read by Card, and this is evident because it is also the worst thing I’ve read by him. It has a strong opening section, that really gets me interested in the premise and had me caring about the characters, but the sections that follow are a seeming random parade of events that lack any real structure and like the film Robocop 2 too much action actually becomes boring when there is no break, and I actually find myself not caring about any of these characters although I identified with them strongly at the start.

I had just come off reading two of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation prequels and in Card’s defense, these were both written after Songmaster (although the Foundation series itself is much older) but I really was ready for a change of pace, but sadly, I found this to be a very similar book to those. For one thing the story plays out in short episodes, but also they share many elements, such as an empire in decline, a sympathetic emperor, planned attacks made to look random, brainwashing, a throneworld divided into nationalistic communities, an institution that is exempt from imperial interference and the most unlikely people displaying badass fighting skills. We also see hints of things to come in Card’s work, as Songmaster is particularly reminiscent of Ender’s Game with it’s themes of a child removed from his loving family at a very young age to be trained for a serious task, often with adults conspiring to manipulate his progress without his knowledge. It is a common thing in Card’s work in general for a hero to begin his labor during childhood. (Also see Seventh Son and )

Card had a strong premise about the manipulative power of music taken to levels we haven’t seen in the real world, and its role in this future society. If he had stuck with this premise, focused on it, this could have been a great book, but that premise gets lost in a machine-gun barrage of ideas and the chaos becomes dull quickly with abductions, human weapons, statisticians uncovering pension fraud, children thrust into high ranking political office and crippling orgasms.

****

I read books as a child, I remember particularly enjoying Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Oz books and several of Roald Dahl’s books for younger readers. As I grew into my teenage years I got lazy and distracted by less intellectual pursuits until my favorite aunt gave me a gift of Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. These books hooked me instantly and I am a reader today because of them. Card was my favorite author in those days.

It was only in the last few years that I started hearing people call Card a “bigot” although they were being rather general, and my liberal friends seem to show less tolerance toward Mormons (Card is one) than any group except Scientologists. So when I saw something vague on Wikipedia saying that Card was sometimes accused of bigotry because of his far right politics, I let the matter go. I’m not a conservative, but I generally tolerate right-wing opinions if they aren’t unreasonable. I did find it hard to believe he was that hard right considering the themes of his books. For example in Lost Boys (a novel with no relation to the film of the same name) the mane character is the head of a Mormon family (and Card actually cast himself in the role in the short story version.) This character is shown to be very impatient with the older women who are the Mormon equivalent of “church ladies” at the temple his family attends, in other words, conservatives. In The Tales of Alvin Maker franchise, conservative traits are common in the villains of the series, including Confederates, politicians after Indian land and a preacher who’s devoutness leads him to persecute others (and inadvertently serve The Devil.)

Anyway, it is with the approach of the Ender’s Game movie that the shit has hit the internet fan and the accusations of bigotry have become much more specific. Orson Scott Card stands accused of being anti gay, particularly in being quite vocally against the legalization of same sex marriage. Furthermore there are claims that he is spending his own money to fund a group who’s purpose is to stand in the way of marriage equality. These accusations strike very close to my heart as a very close friend of mine will be exercising her newly won right to marry this fall, and I take exception to anyone who would condemn this wonderful person for that.

So I researched it, and...yup...it’s pretty much all true. Except for claims that he threatened to commit violent revolution. That was a misquote, but everything else is true. In Cards blogs he is a strange contradiction. He starts out very compassionate and understanding towards homosexuals, but then quickly descends into hateful condemnation. He acknowledges that being gay is not a choice. He acknowledges that it is natural. He acknowledges that gay people aren’t bad in any way just because they are gay. Then he turns around and condemns them, demands that the law deny them basic rights and accuses them of trying to turn him gay or destroy his marriage. It’s as if he’s two different people. When I came across the below quote, I decided to read Songmaster to try to understand what exactly is going on in his head.

In Songmaster (and also in the third Homecoming novel, The Ships of Earth, the only other place where I have dealt with homosexuality in my fiction) I attempt to create real and living characters. I find it nearly impossible to create a character that I do not end up understanding and sympathizing with to some degree. Thus it should surprise no one that I treat homosexuals in my fiction with understanding and sympathy. - Orson Scott Card, 1990

The Ships of Earth is a book about a group of pilgrims. God, who is actually a character in the book, let’s them know that their group must have an equal number of male and female members who must pare off and remain faithfully married in order to repopulate the Earth. Zdorab, a minor character, is a librarian who through sheer accident, finds himself recruited to the group against his will. When he reveals to Nafai, the groups Christ-like leader, that he is in fact gay, Nafai convinces him to resist his own natural drives and he agrees to marry the groups resident ugly chick and procreate with her, because it’s what God wants him to do. The two have a child or two and Zdorab’s decision is treated as his own conscious choice to do what’s right and a noble sacrifice. He’s a hero because he found the will in himself to stop being gay.

Through most of Songmaster I found myself wondering exactly what sympathetic portrayal of gay characters Card was talking about, since the only thing gay going on was several adults lusting after an eight year old boy. (Stay classy Orson.) Finally in the last third of the book the gay (and once again minor) character is introduced, Josef, and the first thing he does is seduce a woman. The only thing really sympathetic (more like pathetic) about Josef’s gay aspect is that he whimpers to the girl, Kya-Kya, about how difficult life has been because he’s gay, until she agrees to have sex with him. From here on out they are a couple and basically our “sympathetic gay character” is simply a straight guy with a girlfriend and like Zdorab, he becomes a protagonist since as a team the two proactively start making the world a better place...until. Ansset, the book’s main character enters the equation and Josef is instantly smitten. Up until this point, Ansset, whom I interpret as being severely autistic, has shown no sign of sexuality whatsoever, but as he is want to do, he can read Josef’s desires and wants to fulfill them, which eventually happens. When Josef finally gives in to his desire the consequences are both swift and severe resulting in instant permanent bodily harm to the object of his desires followed shortly to an even worse fate for himself.

Card’s sympathetic view of homosexuals is clear to me now. These characters are well meaning, good hearted, even innocent people, but it is their own nature that Card portrays as a challenge to be bravely overcome. Card portrays homosexuality like an addiction. Some people are burdened with it and it is a difficult struggle but they must resist it or it will destroy them and the people they love. God and nature are distinctly separate entities to this viewpoint and resisting nature is what God wants you to do.

Card has displayed the ability to understand his fellow human beings, and yet he continues to crusade against a group that had picked no fight with him. I would be more understanding of the six-toothed hillbilly who was conditioned from birth to believe that the word of the Bible is fact, even though he never did learn to read it. That’s just ignorance. Card is intelligent and educated on the subject, he has no excuse. Yet, it also means he has the potential grow out of his hate. He’s smart enough, just stubborn I guess.

In the mean time, after all I’ve learned from this, I wonder if I’ll still be able to enjoy his books. I read The Ender Quartet multiple times in my teens and twenties. Since then several more Ender books have come out, including the first three Shadow books that have sat on my shelf for years. If I get around to reading them will the experience be untainted by Card’s assholery? There are other books by him that are not in my possession, that I was looking forward to getting around to, such as The Crystal City, the most recent, and possibly final book in the Tales of Alvin Maker series, which wasn’t out yet the first few times I read through those, and I should be excited that Card is now actually chronicling The Formic War in a series of Ender prequels. Card’s views wouldn’t actually bug me at all if he weren’t actually taking negative action. Since he’s spending his own money to hurt people just because they are gay, if I do buy any more of his books, I’ll certainly buy them used rather than contribute to his livelihood until he sees the error of his ways.

Sometimes you think you know someone.

[Cmadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This stands easily among the best of Card's works, and although many reviewers have compared the protagonist, Ansset, to Card's best-known character, Ender Wiggin -- the similarities seem to me to be mostly superficial -- I found this to be very much of a piece with Card's two novels that preceded it: Hot Sleep, and especially A Planet Called Treason

Of all Card's characters, Anssett is surely most similar to Lanik Mueller. Both Anssett and Lanik were raised in privilege, with the expectation of performing some large duty, but each found his life twisted by circumstances beyond his control. Each suffered tremendously, grew through the suffering, and accomplished more than could have been originally imagined. In the end, although each dominates and eventually reshapes his world, both find the greatest satisfaction through quiet servitude.

For as much as this novel has attracted attention for its brief references to man/boy love and child molestation, and the actual inclusion of homosexuality, the principal themes are honor, loyalty, belonging, and non-sexual love. A major secondary theme is political power and great art shaping (and attempting to outright control) each other.

[Q. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's known to anyone who does cursory research on Orson Scott Card that he is an anti LGBT bigot. Songmaster was Card's attempt to write a gay protagonist and although the the book is problematic, I would say Card succeeds on the whole. The very rightful criticism of this book points out the science fiction setting is reminiscent of the Roman Empire for a number of reasons including the idea that someone being a catamite isn't a big deal. The other major sticking point is that Ansset is lusted after by older men when he is a child and when he has a sexual encounter with a bisexual man Josif near the end of the book, Ansset is only 17 but is stated to look younger. Josif also initially becomes attracted to Ansset when he is 15. These uncomfortable overtones don't do the book any favors, but in my case Card's empathetic and very human portrayal of the characters and there struggles helps a great deal. This book will be a deal breaker for some and if that's the case I get it. But speaking only for myself I enjoyed it.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siempre doy mucho el coñazo con lo de que cada historia tiene un medio óptimo, en el sentido de que no puedes hacer Outer Wilds un libro o una peli ni hacer Aftersun un libro o un videojuego. Maestro Cantor no puede ser, ni de coña, ni una peli ni un juego, lo cual puede parecer raro teniendo en cuenta que es un libro que trata en parte sobre los efectos casi inexplicables que tiene la belleza de la música sobre nosotros. Pero ese es precisamente el motivo por el que creo que es intraducible a cualquier otro medio. ¿Como puedes representar una voz y una canción que llega tanto al corazón de la gente, que prácticamente tiene la habilidad de controlarte? Es el tipo de cosa que sólo puedes imaginarte, porque cada persona tiene una imagen distinta de las sensaciones que causa la voz de Ansset. El genio de Maestro Cantor es que muchas veces puedes sentir su voz porque la relacionas a tus propias experiencias, que es lo que lo hace digno de ser el Pájaro Cantor de Mikal. Ese aspecto me ha dejado con el culo tan abierto que automáticamente le da cinco estrellas, porque no he visto nada parecido en ningún otro lado. Pero aún ignorando esa parte, este puto libro tiene tres clímax separados, tres momentos que son tan, tan especiales que no creo que se me olviden nunca. En una historia de poder, de corrupción, de dolor y de la perdida de la inocencia, Maestro Cantor pone especial énfasis en todas las formas que puede tomar el amor. Y aunque se quede en puntos MUY extraños explorando esto (gracias también a que Scott Card es racista, homófobo, gilipollas y todo cualquier otro calificativo derogatorio que se te pueda ocurrir), al final da tal vuelta que se acaba llegando hasta a justificar. Porque al fin y al cabo está ambientado en un futuro en el que hay niños de tres años que cantan con tal fuerza y pasión, y con perfecto Control de sus emociones (Control que hace que parezcan seres insensibles y vacíos cuando en realidad es todo lo contrario) que hacen que adultos que llevan todas sus vidas tocándose los huevos se replanteen sus existencias enteras gracias a una sola voz. Y hay algo muy bonito y muy especial en que a mí me haya llegado la voz de Ansset de manera parecida a como le llega a la gente que escucha su canción del amor.


"-Mamá -lloró, y no había canción en su voz, sólo infancia"

[Pablo Mallorquí · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ha sido una decepción y mira que lo empecé con ciertas dudas, pero al menos me esperaba algo dinámico y con el ritmo que Card sabe imprimir a sus novelas. Maestro cantor es una novela sin tensión ni dramatismo que se basa en la evolución de un protagonista que resulta plano y con el que no puedes empatizar. Además el worldbuilding es escaso aunque al principio promete. Lo único que destacaría son los personajes secundarios y algunos conflictos emocionales pero en general me ha parecido una novela plana y con cuestiones que han envejecido mal.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 5 out of 5]

reviews.metaphorosis.com

5 stars

The Songhouse trains singers - such good singers that the House is by custom inviolate. Yet when the tyrant Mikal requests a Songbird, the Songhouse gives him one, risking its long reputation for probity. Mikal's Songbird Ansset, who knows only how to sing, ends up at the focus of change in the Empire.

I first read Songmaster in a Futura edition with 23 pages missing out of the middle. Intensely annoying, especially because I thought the book was so good, and because those pages were crucial. It probably helped to highlight the book's impact.

I recently included Orson Scott Card's Songmaster in a list of my top five SFF books. When someone asked why, I realized I hadn't read the book in so long that I couldn't answer in any detail. So, I reread it, and I'm happy to say my view hasn't changed

Songmaster brings together the separate concepts of "Ender's Game" (youth with talent and control, an impassive master), Capitol (needful destruction, tyrants with depth), and "Unaccompanied Sonata" (purity in music). Each of those works was first class, and Songmaster proves to be an equally worthy synthesis.

It's hard to point to specific moments in the book that demonstrate its quality. The fact is that, throughout, Card achieves an almost perfect balance of prose and feeling. All the notes are right, all the emotions credible, all of it very human. What takes the story beyond the ranks of merely 'excellent' is Card's ability to follow through. Many writers can bring a story and reader to an emotional crescendo, a satisfying ending. Very few writers are then able to pick up the pieces and keep going. Card achieves this deftly and surely, and with perfect balance.

There are a couple of missteps, of course, and one key plot element that's weakly handled. But overall, this is one of the finest SFF works of the last century. If it's hard to point out exactly why, it's because Card achieves the impact not with gimmicks or clever ideas, but with honest-to-goodness polished, effective prose. It doesn't have the flash of Vance, or the poetry of Zelazny, but it has more human characters than the one, and more emotional depth than the other. Card may not always be good, but this book is among his best.

Note: When I first read Songmaster, I knew very little about Card. I took the actions and desires of individual characters as the actions and desires of individuals. On this re-read, I still know very little about Card, but it was impossible not to consider his well-publicized and disagreeable views about homosexuality. It's certainly possible to read this book and come away uncomfortable with the way in which homosexuals are treated. That may reflect Card's worldview; I hope not. Nonetheless, even with this knowledge in the back of my mind, in my re-read, I still took the characters as individuals, and not intended to represent one or another group. Read in this way, the book is excellent. If you go looking for a fight, I think you can find one here, but I don't think you have to.

[Kyla Denae · Rating 1 out of 5]

so much homophobia, and For What?

eta: no, actually, i’m not done. how, exactly, is this book homophobic (because some of the other reviewers seem nonplussed by this)?

there is no gay character in this novel that isn’t either conflated with pedophiles, ends up punished for it, or both. as for the lbt+ portion of the acronym: there are no lesbians, and the one solitary reference to something like transgender folks is a throwaway line about “changers”, with no attempt to deconstruct the bias or societal anathema involved. & the throwaway line itself is in the middle of an inner monologue by a female character whose entire plot line revolves around being marginalized for her gender, and how she needs a man to make her life whole & share power with.

like i forgot that card is mormon, almost, and then this book slapped me in the f**king face.

but returning to Orson’s Gays: the first mentions of same-sex attraction in this book focus on pedophiles. and then he keeps mentioning them. every time he describes ansset, it’s to make note of his otherworldly beauty, and how men around him want him in a carnal way. even josif, the only moderately fleshed-out character who exhibits same-sex attraction (though he’s bisexual, not gay, fwiw), has a weird pedophilic overtone to the way he reacts to ansset.

and while we’re talking about josif, let’s consider the way his plotline ends: in suicide, after being mutilated by the ferret. the nature of his end is a deliberate choice—card is communicating something, just like he was communicating something about the tall sergeant in the beginning, and with the pain ansset experiences while being introduced to lovemaking.

and all of that is ultimately what makes this homophobic. it would have been less egregious if card had included any—hell, just one—lgbt character that didn’t end in tragedy or punishment, or one gay character that wasn’t also a pedophile or unable to truly love.

he also gets major side eye for the way he wrote ansset’s difficulty with emotion in the beginning. i thought we were going for some kind of autistic representation, but then we started calling ansset “inhuman” for it.

anyway, all of that is why i sent this book to rot in a landfill. get wrekt, orson. i’m glad i didn’t spend any money on your crap book.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read and enjoyed most of Orson Scott Card's books. 'Songmaster' is not an exception. It's funny, though, that although many of Card's novels contain dark elements and portray gentle people who are compelled by circumstances or their own moral decisions to commit acts of great violence, this particular novel was really harrowing to read. Ansett, the novel's protagonist, is similar in many ways to Card's most famous protagonist, Ender Wiggen. Exceptionally gifted, required to bear heavy burdens while still very much a child, asked to forgive more than anyone should ever have to, Ansett is both broken and remade by the circumstances of his life. Although 'Songmaster' was written long before the Ender Saga, Card was more successful with Ansett than he was with Ender in demonstrating the terrible toll Ansett's life took on him and Ansett's ultimate redemption. A good book, but hard to read.

[Seregil · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a very touching and amazing story. At least twice the story could have ended - everything was tied up nicely and at a pleasant point - but then the story starts again after a few years have passed and something happens that changes everything. Sometimes it's just about growing up and needing to move forward, other times it's something terrible that changes the character's life. Nothing lasts forever, the book seems to point out, yet, at the very end we are left with hope and happiness because even if nothing lasts, neither does anything truly disappear. The legacy of an individual lives on in the collective mind, in humanity's soul.
I liked that the Songmasters valued control, but never forgot how important it is to know how to let it go. Having Control meant being able to chose when and how not to be in control.

A very beautiful book that left me the feeling of reading a myth.

[Franklin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the most homophobic science fiction books, in and of itself, I have ever read and I have read 1000s of SF books -- and this is NOT even taking into account Card's publicly open bigotry against gay people and black people.

Anyone who has ever given this novel a positive review in any way should be ashamed of themselves.

. . .

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orson Scot Card a ramas vestit, in Romania cel putin, pentru “Ender’s Game” (1985) si continuarile “Speaker for the Dead” (1986) si “Xenocide” (1991) – traduse si in colectia Nautilus a editurii Nemira – primele doua castigand atat premiul Hugo cit si pe cel Nebula, si transformandu-l pe Orson Card in singurul scriitor ce a reusit performanta de a primi ambele premii, la intervalul a doi ani consecutivi.

“Stapanul Cintecelor” a fost scrisa in anul 1980, fiind rasplatit in 1981 cu premiul Hamilton-Brackett Memorial, necunoscut “muritorilor” de rind pentru ca este un premiu decernat pentru cele mai bune carti sci fi ale reprezentantilor comunitatii mormonilor. Daca vreti sa stiti cu ce sa mananca aceasta miscare religioasa puteti consulta si articolul de pe wikipedia.

Desi mi s-a vorbit la superlativ de carte, din punctul meu de vedere, prima jumatate are toate ingredientele necesare sa-ti mentina curiozitatea treaza, sa uiti de timp si de alte stresuri, insa aceasta prospetime si placere a lecturii se pierde total in partea finala, ce poate deveni chiar frustranta, pentru mine a cam fost.

Actiunea are momente de suisuri ce alterneaza cu cele de acalmie, in care se pregateste o alta noua lovitura de teatru, insa acestea nu reusesc decat sa temporizeze subiectul si sa desprinda brutal cititorul de feeling-ul cartii. Ideea de a structura cartea in capitole ce poarta numele personajelor si asupra carora se centreaza atentia ajuta la identificarea celor ce trebuie urmariti si ale caror destine sunt trecute sub lupa ochilor critici ai scriitorului.

Desi par ca sunt relativ independente si se pot citi separat, tocmai prin aceasta separare a capitolelor pe baza personajelor, si prin prezenta actorilor in intregul fir narativ al romanului, am tras concluzia ca in fapt, acestea trebuie vazute toate ca un intreg si nu ca povestiri de sine statatoare.

Daca ar fi sa le delimitam in puncte de reper diferite atunci doar primele doua capitole, Esste si Mikal sunt cele definitorii pentru roman, cele care iti starnesc curiozitatea si apoi ti-o alimenteaza cu informatii si detalii noi, si privite separate, de restul capitolelor, “cântă” cu succes despre focul creativ ce pusese stapanire pe scriitor in acea perioada.

Ne gasim intr-un viitor indepartat al omenirii, pe planeta Tew, in plin razboi de cucerire si unificare a tuturor lumilor cunoscute din Galaxie sub o singura mina de fier, cea a imparatului Mikal. Casa Cantecelor se gaseste pe aceasta noua planeta subjugata si se ofera sa-i livreze, la un moment ales de ei, o “Privighetoare” care sa-i lumineze zilele si sa-l binedispuna pe imparat.

Astfel avem un roman de constructie si slefuire a unei personalitati, cea a privighetorii Ansset, al carui nume in pod paradoxal nu il regasim in denumirea niciunui capitol. Insa nu iti trebuie prea multa intuitie sa poti observa ca inca de la inceput intreaga evolutie a evenimentelor este tesuta in jurul mitului Privighetorii si mai apoi a faptelor si intamplarilor prin care trece acest tanar special antrenat pentru a canta.

Romanul este dominat de ideea ca fiecare fiinta are un cantec al sau special, particularizat, si atunci cand aceste adevaruri si puncte sensibile sunt atinse, in cazul de fata prin notele si ritmul cantecelor, oamenii isi pot percepe mai usor greselile, obtinandu-se in acelasi timp si o limpezime a ideilor si a modului in care este vazuta interactiunea cu lucrurile si situatiile din jur.

Probleme intalnite de Mikal in domnia sa si modul in care-si conduce el imperiul mi-a adus in minte crampeie din domnia Imparatului Zeul al Dunei din capodopera lui Frank Herbert, probabil deoarece exista si aici aceleasi tente si nuante de anxietate, de teama ca imperiul nu va dainui dupa moartea celui care l-a intemeiat, problema alegerii succesorului nefiind una usoara.

Nu lipsesc nici obisnuitele intrigi de curte, rapiri pentru a se obtine rascumparari fabuloase, actiuni militare in forta, asasinate politice, descrieri de planete din galaxie, politii secrete si retele mascate de rebeli, etc.

Totusi romanul este marcat de drama fiintei inzestrate cu abilitati deosebite, constiente sau nu de puterea ei de a schimba lumea si a influenta cursul evolutiv al istoriei prin actiunile si repercursiunile faptelor sale. songmasterFinalul este in acelasi ton cu nuantele dramatice si inchise, ce-si lasa amprenta asupra desfasurarii intamplarilor, insa surprinde ideea unui viitor marcat de personalitatea celui inadaptat, a carui genialitate a fost unanim recunoscuta.

“Stapanul Cintecelor” a fost o lectura surprinzatoare, mai ales prin originalitatea subiectului abordat si detaliat cu lux de amanunte, impresie pregnanta in primele doua capitole/povestiri, cu o intindere apreciabila, mai mult de jumatate de carte.

Din pacate desi era interesant de urmarit si evolutia celorlalte personaje, povestirile lor nu s-au mai ridicat la acelasi nivel cu cele doua, Esste si Mikal.

Luand in considerare aceste idei si finalul in care actiunea isi schimba total perspectivele si subiectul se centreaza mai mult pe drama personala a eroului si mai putin pe evenimente si intamplari, as reveni cu ideea ca o povestire sau o nuveleta ar fi avut un impact mult mai puternic si ar fi ramas mai mult timp in mintea cititorilor.

http://www.cititorsf.ro/2008/12/27/st...

[Eloise Sunshine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minu esimene kokkupuude Orson Scott Card'iga oli loomulikult Enderi mäng millalgi üpris varsti pärast seda, kui see Varraku F-sarjas eesti keeles ilmus. Mäletan, et 2004 Rootsis elades soovitas seda mulle rootsi keele harjutamise eesmärgil mu õpetaja keelekursuselt. Isegi kaalusin seda mõtet, sest õnneks oli see mul varasemast loetud ja sisu teada, kui ka sõnavaraga jänni peaksin jääma, kuid üle lugemata tookord see mul jäigi. Siiski kuulasin Enderi sarja mingi hetk aastaid hiljem audiona edasi ja kuigi Speaker for the Dead mulle meeldis, siis 4. osa Children of the Mind hakkas juba tüütuks heietuseks muutuma ja rohkem ma polnudki sellest ajast saati Card'i poole vaadanud.

Evalt saadud "Laulumeister" seisis mul juba mitu aastat riiulis ja ootas lugemist 🙈
Loo ülesehituse osas on tunda autori käekirja, kus peategelaseks on väike andekas poiss, kes mõjutab maailma saatust, kuigi "Laulumeister" on kirjutatud algselt ilmunud kahe lühiloo pealt romaaniks 5 aastat enne "Enderi mängu".

Küllap siis oli nüüd aeg selle loo tarbeks minu jaoks küps, sest läbi siinsete peatükkide toimus ka minu hinges mingi omamoodi transformatsioon, vanade valude läbimine koos Anssetiga, uute uste avamine... See oli teekond raamatus ja hinges paralleelselt ning mõjutas mind väga. Kui mu vend otsib ulmest seiklust (ja seiklusjutt pole see kohe kindlasti mitte), siis minu lemmikud ongi just säärased elu ning inimolemuse üle filosofeerivad pigem psühholoogilised raamatud, kus ulmeline taust lihtsalt võimaldab lükata tegelase veelgi kaugemale üle tavareaalsuse piiri ning vaadelda, et "aga mida sa nüüd teed? 🤔". Selles mõttes oli tegu täieliku maiuspalaga, kus head ei olnud lõpuni üllad ega pahad üdini pahad, kõik sõltub vaatepunktist ja asjaoludest. Kes ulmet just väga ei põlga, aga inimloomuse uurimine kõnetab, siis julgeksin seda soovitada ka muidu ulmet mitte lugejale. Jah, siin on taustaks eri maailmad ja suur impeerium meenutab Star Wars'i, kuid need ei ole põhilised. Koos Esstega vaatleme me ilusa ja andeka Laululind Ansseti arengut Laulukojas, kus õpetatakse andekaid orbusid kuulama peentasandil inimese hääles ja intonatsioonis kostuvaid tegelikke emotsioone. Samuti edastama hingekeeli puudutavaid sõnadega ja sõnadeta "laule", mis peegeldavad kuulajatele tõde nende eneste kohta. Vahel on see karm ja valus, vahel pakub aga piiritut tingimusteta armastust. Kui aga kellelgi on nii suur võim impeeriumi vägevaima inimese üle, põhjustab see paratamatult mahhinatsioone...

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of four or five books that I started the year with, all reading at the same time, in different spots in my home. Once I got past the first chapter or two, I felt compelled to finish this, to the exclusion of others.

Songmaster is set in a world with Earth, but significantly different from the world we know. Earth is both the armpit of the universe and the home of the Emperor of Everything. What a dichotomy! Earth is a government of continents, not countries, and the US is divided into Western and Eastern America. Some American nameplaces are familiar, and a few references are made to other recognizable places on Earth.

Communication at its best is done by Singers, and Singers are trained in the Songhouse on Tew, which is a planet. People still talk, but Singing communicates at a subconscious or subsonic level and affects people's feelings, attitudes, actions. Frankly, I'd hate to live in a world where I could not sing (I CAN sing, but you really don't want to have to listen to it), even to myself. In this world, only Singers can sing (unless you are very small and don't know better), and you can only become a Singer by being raised in the Songhouse.

OK, enough about that.

The book follows main character Ansett, a supremely gifted Singer, from his beginning as he is separated from his mother, to his death, and slightly beyond, in vignettes, some longer, some shorter. Details are never glossed over, but neither are unimportant things included. I don't need to know the minutiae of his life, endlessly recycled, to know that three years have passed. You understand?

At times I found myself identifying with Ansett. He was by turns pampered and abused, praised and vilified. I was able to get into his skin, so to speak, and memories would scamper across my mind, much too quickly to be conscious, but passing through and leaving food for contemplation. Reading this was similar to reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein many years ago. I find myself mentally chewing on something days after reading, and learning things about myself I did not know.

Orson Scott Card is famous for his Ender books in particular. I've read Ender's Game, which left me glad I'd read it, though I was confused throughout. I've tried reading other Orson Scott Card books and been unable to get into them. Without a doubt, he has a way with words, and sometimes, my brain is just not ready for that train yet.

If you've liked other Orson Scott Card books, I recommend this one without reservation. If you've never tried an Orson Scott Card book, this might be a good one to start with.

P.S. Others have tagged this gay fantasy or gay romance, and though it does exist in this book, it's mentioned in passing, in a chapter or two, definitely not part of the main plot. If you're not into that, this shouldn't discourage you from reading this book, and if you are, just remember, it's a very small part of Ansett's life. Personally, I loved that it was so casually a part of the background, and not overthought.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since this was one of Orson Scott Card's pre- Ender's Game books, I didn't quite know what to expect. It is science fiction in that space travel and multiple worlds are involved but it is nearer to fantasy since, for me anyway, sci-fi/fantasy both share a need for something other-worldly, hi-tech invention or magic respectively. Songmaster's other worldly aspect is the music itself and since it really doesn't count as invention or magic it can safely straddle the two genres.

I didn't care much for the homosexual references; although since homosexuality seems so prominant in musicians (more so in theatre though) I suppose it could be an integral part of the story. Interestingly enough none of the singers in the book are homosexual though.

Part of me wishes I could give the book two-and-a-half stars, since it really is better than two, but not three.

[Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps my favorite Orson Scott Card book. It has a richly developed universe and characters and covers the entire lifetime of the main character. I did not want to put it down and when the book was over, I felt as if I had been in the presence of a great person and was happy to have joined him on his journey. This book is a science fiction, but has a similar feel to a lot of epic fantasy, so would probably be good for fans of either genre.