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Songmaster

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Songmaster

By: Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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Kidnapped at an early age, Ansset has been raised in isolation at a mystical retreat called the Songhouse. His life is filled with music, and having only songs for companions, he develops a voice that is unlike any other. But Ansset's voice is both a blessing and a curse, for it reflects all the hopes and fears of his audience, and, by magnifying their emotions, can be used either to heal or to destroy.

When it is discovered that his is the voice that the Emperor has waited decades for, Ansset is summoned to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. Many fates rest in Ansset's hands, and his songs will soon be put to the test: either to salve the troubled conscience of a conqueror or drive him, and the universe, into mad chaos.

©1978 Orson Scott Card Classics Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction
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Critic Reviews

"Orson Scott Card is a fine writer with great insight, great idealism, and love." (Science Fiction Review)
"Card understands the human condition and has things of real value to say about it. He tells the truth well, ultimately the only criterion of greatness." (Gene Wolfe)
All stars
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I first read this book as a teenager and loved hearing it now.

Listening to it (superbly narrated by Stefan Rudnicki) brings back fond memories but I never realized how sad Ansset's life actually was and how homosexuality was viewed at the time the book was written, still a favorite but now viewed in a different light.

One of my favorite books

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I don't know why, but there's something about these old timey recordings that make them very difficult for me to follow.
I found myself losing track of what was happening a lot of the time.

Difficult to follow

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