Singer Book Review

Book Name: Singer

Book Number: Standalone

Author Name: Jean Thesman

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: April 7, 2005

Number of Pages: 280 pages

Review:

            Gwenore has been abused by her mother, Rhiamon, her whole life. She tried to escape once. But it led to the death of a man and her friend Tom being gravely injured. Her mother trapped her in a dark room with no food or water for weeks. Then Gwenore is given another chance. Her nursemaid, Brennan, and a mysterious priest named Father Caddaric sneak Gwenore out in the middle of the night. She is whisked away to an abbey, then a community run by healing women called Blessingwood.

            Gwenore has lived at Blessingwood for almost 3 years, where she learned the arts of singing and healing. While there she goes by the name of Mary Singer. But she must always stay hidden unless she wants her mother to find her. The Fair Folk helps conceal her and send messages through one of their own, a cat named King Harry. But her life cannot last forever in Blessingwood. After an incident with a patient, Gwenore’s location is revealed to her mother, and she must go on the run again. This leads her to the Land of Lir. There Gwenore becomes the nursemaid to four royal children and must protect them from her own mother.

            This book is a retelling of the Irish folktale “The Children of Lir” where a group of royal children are turned into swans by their evil stepmother. They were left this way for eight hundred years until freed. But this book is supposed to tell the real story of what happened. Though this premise is interesting, the author was unable to execute the idea well at all.

            The majority of this 280-page book is used to establish Gwenore in learning her skills and growing into her powers but sadly leaves only 102 pages to retell the whole story of “The Children of Lir” tale. The story is heavily rushed from there. It feels as though someone continues to hit the fast-forward button with each new chapter. This concludes with a Disney-style climax as the villain, Gwenore’s mother, falls from the top of a tower to her death.

            The rushed story also hinders almost all the characters besides Gwenore. Characters like the women of Blessingwood are introduced as Gwenore’s teachers but never expand from healer, herbalist, and blacksmith. The book never goes into real detail about them along with the fact that Blessingwood seems to be a place to protect special children for some amount of time. Only one child is given any real page time, leading the child into giving a moving tapestry to Gwenore which only foreshadows events her magic pocket mirror already did in a better fashion.

            These problems come from the fact this book feels more like one and a half stories than just one. Gwenore’s life storyline then the rushed “The Children of Lir” story. The beginning also is written as though it’s a sequel to another book where Gwenore’s early life was given, but this book is a standalone. This book would have greatly benefited from more time centered on “The Children of Lir” retelling part and trimming Gwenore’s back story. I give this book two out of five stars.

Rating:

⭐⭐✰✰✰

Song Like This Book: The Voice by Celtic Woman