Singer by Jean Thesman

This is a young adult novel. The writing is smooth, the story well thought out and the characters interesting.

It is a fantasy novel about Singer a young girl who escapes her cruel mother, but is hunted by her mother for reasons she does not know. As she is hidden by different people she learns and acquires skills that it is her fate to master. We and Singer do not learn the truth of her birth and the reason she has a drop of blood until more than half the story is told. But this suits the story and the ‘tenor’ of the book.

This is a good novel and worth reading. What keeps it from being a ‘very good book’ to me is Singer herself. She is like a leaf blown in the wind through the whole story. She never becomes a strong enough character to exert control over her life and fate. I had the urge to tell her “get some backbone, think, decide, act.” While the writing and story were excellent and the characters (including Singer) were interesting the central character of Singer never developed any rapport for me.
So while this book is an enjoyable read I would recommend Tamora Pierce’s Wild Magic, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong or Andre Norton’s Octagon Magic because in all three novels you come to care for the heroines.