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Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: A musician is transported into a land of magic�??from the #1 New York Times�??bestselling author of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek Into Darkness. Jonathan Thomas Meriweather is a typical college student, interested in girls, music, and an occasional taste of reefer. But when a journey through an interdimensional portal lands him in a world of talking animals and ominous sorcery, he finds he is on a very different trip indeed. Here, when he plays a strange instrument called a duar, peculiar things happen: powerful magic that may be the only way to stop a dark force that threatens his new world�??and his old one. Reluctantly, he finds himself teaming up with a semi-senile turtle wizard; a thieving, backstabbing otter; and a bewildered Marxist dragon to rally an army for the war about to come.Spellsinger, the first in Alan Dean Foster's eight-book Spellsinger series, introduces a world of magic and mayhem, where animals are people and plunging ahead no matter what the consequences may be the only way to… (more)
User reviews
The book is about how a pre-Law student at UCLA, Jon-Tom, is transported to the other world because the turtle wizard Clothahump is looking for a powerful magic user from our world, and believes that he needs the services of an engineer. Jon-Tom is an engineer, a sanitation engineer (that is a cleaner) however when he arrives in the world, he suddenly discovers that he is much more than a simple cleaner. When he gets his hands on an instrument (he is also in a garage band) it turns out that we he uses it magical things happen. What I mostly enjoyed about this series is the fact that when he played the instrument, he would play familiar rock songs from our world, with the resulting consequences.
Alan Dean Foster is probably more known for his novelisations of a number of movies. Actually, to me he is not, he is known to me for the Spellsinger series. These are the only books of his that I have read, and are probably the only books of his that I will read. I have no real interest in reading a novelisation of a film. I find most films that try to base themselves on books to be severely lacking, however I find that novels that are based on films are even more lacking. I generally do not like spin off series either (I do not believe I have ever read a Star Wars book).
This series is quite amusing, and in a way I related to Jon-Tom. There is a mix between him being a pre-Law student at college, working as a janitor so that he may pay his way through (though when I read this series I was still a teenager), but also being a struggling musician that suddenly comes good when he hits his big break, which is not so much in this world, but rather in the world ruled by talking animals.
Apparently there are a few continuity problems with this series, however it has been such a long time since I read them that they really don't stick in my mind. Further, I was enthralled with the character of Jon-Tom, and pretty much read the six books that had been written at the time. Foster has now written another two, however I have moved on from pulp fantasy (which is basically what this series is) so I really have no interested in returning to them.
I must admit that this story reads a bit like the dream of someone very high, probably because when you first meet our main character he is high. This could turn off some readers, but I enjoyed his reactions. Like most coming of age in a fantasy setting type books the main character is sometimes an annoying prick, but for all that I forgive him because he's an academic without much world hardening to him yet. The story isn't very complex, mostly being about a group of people bonding to each other on a wandering adventure to save a magical version of Earth. This book was clearly a warm-up to the series. I like the take on magic. It's cute, the use of scientific jargon as key magical terms, I'd just caution people not to take that literally in our dimension. Overall, I'd say furries and fantasy fans alike would enjoy themselves as long as they are looking for fun and not something deep, so if you're considering, then give this series a go.
Nice enough read that in time I will want to read the rest of
When I got to the end of the book, I found there was no closure, not even the partial climax that most series give you at the end of each book. Besides the frustration that I was sold half a book, I found that I didn't care; there was no need to get the next book in the series. This group of fantasy travelers to stop the big evil is all pretty flat; besides Jon-Tom, the main character, no one gets enough screen time to really start to develop personality, part of the problem of a large ensemble act. A lot of threads were started, but all the problems that were resolved seem to resolve themselves too quickly and without energy. My least favorite example was when Clothahump casts a mighty, literally once-in-a-lifetime spell to summon what's basically an Elder God, and we get nothing. Apparently it was too early in the series to reveal what was really going on, but why let the character bring out the big magic? It's one of the most anemic and formulaic "epic" fantasy books I've read in a while.
somewhat to my surprise I found myself absorbed by the protanagist's discovery of the world and its ways. Not much is revealed about the greater plot and so the story arch of this one episode is unsatisfying, but the hero - a pot-smoking pre-law student who is whisked away to this magical land and discovers that he has special powers there - runs across and befriends various interesting characters. Their various misadventures are entertaining enough to keep one engrossed and will ensure that i will continue to read the next in the series at some point down the line. The humour adds flavour to what may otherwise have been a bland blend. Overall its nothing exceptional but entertaining enough to keep me interested.
Spellsinger is the first in a series about a law student/amateur musician, nicknamed Jon-Tom, who is transported to a world of magic and talking animals that is seriously not
Jon-Tom discovers that his fledgling musical talents have now manifested themselves as magical with the ability to conjure items via song.
Unfortunately the book stops before it really gets into the meat of why Jon-Tom was transported but it's still worth reading. I look forward to finally reading the rest of the series.
On a world of giant intelligent animals that hasn't progressed beyond pseudo-medieval age, a turtle magician realises that this world is in dire threat from an invasion by the insects and whatever fell power it is that they have associated themselves to. So he reaches out across the multiverse for help and hooks one weed smoking law student named John as a powerful magician to aid him. Jon as becomes known, is obviously not much help, until he discovers within him the power of spell-singing, whereby rock ballads magically summon useful things into creation. Together they gather various allies (an otter-thief, a human-rogue, a rabbit, and bat). John tries to get himself sent home, but only manages to pull his fantasy girl across to him, who turns out to be a kick-ass swords-woman. And so they set off to save the world from the insects, encountering a socialist dragon along the way, and having various boring digressions about how fair or not the world is.
All the animals have irritating accents, that are maybe supposed to be humorous and different, but just blend into annoying and hard to read. There's no sense to the world no replacement of the ecological niches that have been abandoned by there now intelligent animals, no sense to the magic. A lot of innuendo and crude sexual expressions, but no character development or relationships to counter or justify them. It's just the authors fantasies thrown together. Badly.