The Time of the Transference
The sixth Spellsinger story by Alan Dean Foster opens with thieves invading the turtle wizard Clothahump’s tree, with these bandits dealt with, albeit at the expense of Jon-Tom’s duar, key to his spellsinging abilities, being broken. Thus, Jon-Tom fetches the otter Mudge for another quest to Strelakat Mews, in the jungle south of the city of Chejiji, well across the ocean. Whilst on the journey, Clothahump suggests Jon-Tom stop by the shop of Izfan ab-Akmanjiandor, nicknamed Dizzy Izzy, in Yarrowl, where Jon-Tom finds a less powerful instrument aiding his spellsinging, a suar.
On the sea, pirates attack the ship Jon-Tom and Mudge take, with the latter meeting a female otter named Weegee who is rescued. A parrot captain named Captain Kamaulk leads the pirates, with Jon-Tom and his companions ultimately deciding to hike to Chejiji by foot, and taking refuge in a cave where they find signs of Jon-Tom’s home world of Earth. The comrades eventually find themselves in Earth, namely Las Vegas, where they hope to rescue Kamaulk from becoming a meal. A pegasus named Teyva, who is ironically afraid of flight, plays a minor role in the story.
The novel concludes with a meeting with the repairman who can fix Jon-Tom’s duar, Couvier Coulb, an epilogue occurring a few years afterward. Overall, this is another good entry of the Spellsinger series, sure to appeal to audiences such as the furry fandom given its endearing animal characters, along with its occasional sense of humor and continuity nods to prior entries. Not all contemporary audiences, however, will get the references to classic rock music, but regardless, those who enjoyed the book’s predecessors will most likely enjoy the sixth entry, which stands out even today.