copyright 1980; The Dial Press publishers, New York; hardbound; Book Club Edition; very good condition; dust jacket good with very minor edge wear.
Description -
Kidnapped at an early age, the young singer Ansset has been raised in isolation at the mystical retreat called the Songhouse. His life has been filled with music, and having only songs for companions, he develops a voice that is unlike any heard before. Anssets voice is both a blessing and a curse, for the young Songbird can reflect all the hopes and fears his audience feels and, by magnifying their emotions, use his voice 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 Anssets 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.
Songmaster is a haunting story of power and love - the tale of the man who would destroy everything he loves to preserve humanity's peace, and the boy who might just sing the world away.