CRYSTAL MASK

Roberts (Spellfall, 2001, etc.) returns to the fantastic world she created for Song Quest, but fails to include any likable inhabitants. Twenty years have passed at the Echorium, where the Songs of Power keep the peace, when Shaiala, a wild girl raised by centaurs, is brought for treatment. The apprentice Singer Renn reluctantly uses his ability to communicate with magical Half Creatures to uncover her suppressed memories hinting that black “khizcrystal” is again being used for sinister purposes. Despite their annoying bickering, the two young people join a perilous expedition to the lands of the Horselords to confront this danger, never dreaming that they will need to join forces to overcome the evil that lurks ahead. Song-based magic, while hardly an original premise, is skillfully handled, and the Half Creatures are charming entities, although treated disdainfully by most humans. Unfortunately, they are used as little more than triggers for the incomprehensible actions of the unappetizing heroes. Renn is self-centered, petulant, and cowardly; Shaiala is heedless, pigheaded, and shockingly violent; even Kherron, who returns from the first novel to provide adult leadership, is arrogant and abusive. Only Erihan, a Horselord prince who inexplicably befriends Shaiala, is at all appealing; indeed, it is difficult to distinguish heroes and villains on the basis of either their actions or their attitudes. As the final confrontation sputters into an inconclusive anticlimax, the one interesting revelation, which might explain some contradictions, is pointlessly repudiated. Fans of the first book might enjoy the updates on favorite characters; but hardly anyone else will care. (Fiction. 10-13)