The Wind Singer (The Wind on Fire, Book 1) (Wind on Fire, 1)

ISBN: 0786824948

Author: Nicholson, William

Condition: Used

Product Description Kestrel Hath's schoolroom rebellion against the stifling caste system of Aramanth leads to explosive consequences for her and her family: they are relegated to the city's lowest caste and are ostracized. With nothing left to lose, Kestrel and her twin brother, Bowman, do the unthinkable: they leave the city walls. Their only hope to rescue the rest of their family is to find the key to the wind singer, a now-defunct device in the city's center, which was once the course of happiness and harmony in Aramanth. But the key was given to an evil spirit-lord, the Morah, in exchange for the Morah's calling off its terrible army of Zars. Armed with desperate bravery, wits, and determination, Kestrel, Bowman, and a tagalong classmate set off to find the key. Along the way they meet allies and foes, but in order to succeed in their quest, they must face the most sinister force of all: the powerful Morah. From School Library Journal Grade 5-8-A prominent producer/director/ scriptwriter ventures into epic-or at least epic length-fantasy with this tale of three children out to save the regimented residents of their walled city. Over generations since the small silver "voice" of a mysterious aeolian pipe organ known as the wind singer was meekly surrendered to the Morah, a menacing spirit-lord, Aramanth has become enslaved by a relentless ethic of academic self-improvement, enforced by color-coded social strata and regular, supervised, written examinations. When the misfit Hath family draws the eye, and ire, of the Chief Examiner, twins Kestrel and Bowman set out to reclaim the wind singer's voice, accompanied by a despised, simpleminded classmate. After an episodic series of encounters-including hordes of giant eagles and wolves, and finally with the Zar, an army of murderous zombies that marches at the Morah's behest-the three do give the wind singer back its ethereal voice, whereupon the pursuing Zar all die and the citizens of Aramanth spontaneously throw off their oppressive urge to excel. Nicholson throws a satiric light onto his various societies, gives his young protagonists intriguing capabilities, and concocts genuinely bone-chilling supernatural menaces. However, rescue (usually of a contrived sort) is always so conveniently close at hand that the children never fall into convincing peril, and subplots seem to exist for the sole purpose of giving their parents something to do. Still, despite being the first of a projected trilogy, the story stands alone, and fans of such barbed journey tales as Tanith Lee's Wolf Tower (Dutton, 2000) will enjoy the social commentary.John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.