The Singer and the Sea (Winter of the World) Book

Michael Scott Rohan's "Winter of the World" fantasies began with an epic, Wagnerian 1986-8 trilogy set in prehistoric Ice Age days, with the life-hating Ice opposed by other, kinder Powers who favour humanity. The Castle of the Winds (1998) takes place a millennium earlier, and the stand-alone The Singer and the Sea features the now grown-up apprentices of that book's Mastersmith--randy Gille the singer and the mighty Olvar. Gille's wild fling with a minor female Power of sea and air sets him longing for sea travel. His and Olvar's resulting trade voyage to the rich South goes astray as they follow a plea for help, to find the island refuge of a tough but innocent tribe harried by murderous black longships of the Ice. Desperate sea-skirmishes ensue, with the outnumbered merchants managing to give the enemy some ingenious surprises. Even with Southern naval reinforcements, though, our heroes seem helpless against the might of the main black fleet--but Gille unwittingly has contacts in high places, or deep ones, and finds himself singing for his life in the ocean-god's undersea court. Rohan strikes a stirring high-fantasy note as--with Gille's song as catalyst--the chief Powers of sea and fire at last begin to move directly against the Ice. The story ends satisfyingly. --David LangfordRead More