Sing the Four Quarters (#1)

Next: Fifth Quarter (#2)

The Bards of Shkoder hold the country together. They, and the elemental spirits they Sing – earth, air, fire, and water – bring the news of the sea to the mountains, news of the mountains to the plains. They give their people, from peasant to king, a song in common.

Annice is a rare talent, able to Sing all four quarters, but her brother, the newly enthroned King Theron, sees her request to study at the Bardic Hall as a betrayal. To his surprise, Annice accepts his conditions, renouncing her royal blood and swearing to remain childless so as not to jeopardize the line of succession. She walks away from political responsibilities, royal privilege and her family.

Ten years later, Annice has become the Princess Bard and her real life is about to become the exact opposite of the overwrought ballad her fellow students at the Bardic Hall wrote about her. Now, she’s on the run from the Royal Guards with the Duc of Ohrid, the father of her unborn child, both of them guilty of treason – one of them unjustly accused. To save the Duc’s life, they’ll have to cross the country, manage to keep from strangling each other, and defeat an enemy too damaged for even a Bard’s song to reach.

Reviews

"A favorite book means to me one you reread frequently and know you will enjoy even with flu. Out of a shelf-full of such, the one my hand goes to most unerringly is Tanya Huff’s SING THE FOUR QUARTERS. I love this book for being both very funny and wholly serious about the elemental spirits and about justice, mercy, love, kindness and honor. Above all, I love it for its accurate portrayal of exactly how it feels to be pregnant. I don’t think this has been done in fantasy before."
Diana Wynne Jones, The Washington Post

“A richly complex story set in a magical world that could almost be part of our own history.”
Science Fiction Chronicle

“Huff has created a romantic fantasy that offers the reader a sometimes feisty but always intelligent, vocal and vigorous heroine. She brings together all of the ingredients of a stirring adventure story set in a mythical kingdom with magical beings and brave men and women and wrongs that obviously must be righted […] a complex plot that is a page-turner.”
VOYA

“Ms. Huff is a marvelous talent whose vibrant characterizations and intelligent prose make each and every book a very special reading experience. Bring on the next verse!”
RT Book Reviews