Song Quest

Amazing I never knew what was going to happen. Rialle is a breath-taking character and Kherron is clever but I wondered who's side he was on.

it was so good i couldnt put it down! its action packed and it wants to make you learn more about the two main characters. its about these two kids going through school to become singers, people with extaordinary voices able to sing songs that make people laugh or cry, who go on a journey all for the sake of one race.

This is a wonderfull book filled with everything there is to have in a book. I've read the most books and this is one of my favorites. Truley a glittering gem. Fantasy, adventure, this book has it all. A must read

I picked this book up at the bookstore because I liked the title. Now I'm glad that I did. This is one of the best books I've ever read!!!!! I really like the idea of Songs and Singers. Also, the characters are very realistic, much more realistic than the Harry Potter characters. If you like Harry Potter, you'll love this!!! Buy it now!!!!!!!!!!!

The second reviewer of this book has it quite correctly. Katherine Roberts's works came to my attention a few months ago, when I read this and "Spellfall" (also a delightful book) and found a fantasy far better than HP. Roberts combines beautiful prose, an invented "Singer" community and their array of Songs, and half-creatures like something out of old legends and myths.The Singers live on the Isle of Echoes, where they are taught in how to use various songs that affect others - the dream song of Challa, the laughter of Kashe, the pain song of Shi, the fear song of Aushan and the death song of Yehn. Rialle is one of the most gifted of the Singers, a young girl who hears the "half creatures" crying - the merlee. What she can make out are cries of pain and grieving. Rialle's jealous classmate Kherron goes off wandering by himself - and finds a shipwrecked sailor who rapidly pulls him into a grotesque situation. When the sailor's compatriots find and capture the merlee, Kherron is forced to gut the half-creatures and extract their eggs.Rialle is soon sent off on a ship with the Second Singer (the second in command?) to the mainland. Along the way she finds that her ex-Singer friend Frenn has stowed away, and she also dives overboard, where she frolics with the merlee. But she senses their pain and grief soon after she is brought back onto the boat. Upon arriving at the mainland, she soon finds that other half-creatures -- quetzal, half-birds -- are being destroyed by the evil forces at work there...In a way the Singers are reminiscent of the Jedi knights of Star Wars -- taught in special arts that they must guard and use carefully, feared by some, and lacking the ordinary familial structures (children born in the Echorium are raised by the organization). It's an intriguing arrangement, and the idea of the Songs is excellent. (The rhyme that goes with them isn't bad either)Rialle's initial naivete both makes her endearing for the reader, and helps us see her grow more experienced and wiser as the book progresses. Frenn is a good counterpart/sidekick, tougher, cocky, and sometimes a little sad; the scene where he attempts the Songs on the boat is heartbreaking. Kherron is best described as the rebel who has to deal with getting what he wanted. His growth as a character is even more pronounced than Rialle's; he has the rare quality of a character that you are fascinated by and understand, even if he is not initially a sympathetic character.Roberts' prose runs into downright flowery for a kids' book; some of the best passages include such things as Rialle's swim with the merlee. This book is not for squeamish or easily-frightened children, however: they might be disturbed by such sections as Kherron having to remove eggs from the dead merlee, lots of blood, and the quetzal eating parts of the dead priests.Kids and teens with imagination (and a high squeamishness tolerance) will adore this book; adults will probably enjoy it as well, as Roberts' invente