SING THE FOUR QUARTERS by Tanya Huff
**** - Yummy!

Annice was born knowing that she was meant to be something other than the Queen her family was raising her to be. When her father lay on his deathbed she asked for only one boon, and that was to be allowed to train and study with the bards. From this point on her life was lived divided from all that she had grown up with. Her family disowned her, and her brother put her under penalty of death if she ever bore a child.

Annice has not only the power to call the kigh, ethereal spirits only visible to bards, but the power to call all four quarters of them: fire, earth, wind, and water. Though she is strongest in wind those kigh begin to shun and avoid her, and soon enough the cause of this odd behavior becomes apparent...she's with child.

Not only does this child's birth spell out treason, but after a nasty turn of events the child's father is falsely brought up on charges of treason himself. Oh, what will they do? *g*

While the tale of a princess turned commoner is, well, common, Tanya Huff has no problem weaving an engaging and suspenseful story within it's layers. Annice is the type of person I think everyone dreams to be. She's headstrong and has enough courage to do what she believes is right. And being a pregnant heroine can't be an easy job to tackle.

Once again Huff earns my respect for creating a world in which gender doesn't matter. She seamlessly integrates women into the military and men into the kitchens. Never once does a character seem out of place, though I did have to pick my own brain a few times when a character she was describing turned out to be a gender opposite from what I was picturing. In this book love has no gender definition, and she doesn't try to explain why she simply tells a story. It's truly beautiful.

I absolutely adore each character in this book, and that connection heightens my fear when they're in danger and my joy when they've succeeded. The kigh are an interesting take on what other fantasy books have always called faerie or even simply magic. I love the way the kigh intereact with the bards that call them. The whole magic/kigh system is very intricate and easy to get lost in at first, but immersion is the best way to learn about something.

- Katie Wilks
April 10th, 2005