Yeleeve, a young Soul-Singer fresh out of training, embarks on a sweeping quest to drive corruption that turns out to be the work of meddling aliens out of the government of Tyrnos, her realm. With the help of the warrior Lisaux Blackshield and a strange, intelligent lynx-ish creature only ever referred to as the Winter Beast, she travels the land in search of truth. A fairly short novel, but quite emotionally charged.
Soul-Singer of Tyrnos contains examples of:
- Driven to Suicide: Razul, after Yeleeve sings his soul and forces him to confront just how evil he is.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Singers go nameless to avoid being tempted to glorify themselves, so most people simply refer to Yeleeve as "Singer". Also, Ahlia is called "the Winter Beast" for most of the story, simply because Yeleeve and Lisaux don't know she's Ahlia in the first place.
- Informed Obscenity: While the secondary characters (especially the Holdorn and Ruif's gang) tend to use terms that are supposed to be foreign swearwords a lot, Yeleeve doesn't translate them on the grounds that she's "made no study of such things" and doesn't even know quite what they mean.
- Magic Music: Why else would they be called Soul-Singers?
- Ring of Power: Ahlia's ring can unseal secret passageways, shed enough light to penetrate any darkness, and even One-Hit Kill the Ethranen when worn by a Chosen Singer.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Mayanna. Yeleeve is quite impressed by her dignity once she has a chance to change her robe and put up her hair.
- Team Mom: The Winter Beast to the group that strikes out for the Citadel, Leeanna to the group that stays behind.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Metaphorically. A Singing "reflects" the image of the subject's soul onto the wall behind the Singer.
- These Hands Have Killed: Yeleeve's initial reaction to the aftermath of the sword fight against Ruif's henchmen. (Lisaux, on the other hand, is used to it.)
- Utopia: Tyrnos aims to be this, thanks to the Soul-Singers. It was actually working quite well until the Ethran showed up.
- Walking the Earth: The general lifestyle of a Soul-Singer
