The Echorium Sequence


The Echorium Sequence is a fictional young adult fantasy trilogy by Katherine Roberts. The trilogy comprises Song Quest, Crystal Mask, and Dark Quetzal and follows the tales of The Echorium - the singers located on the Isle of Echoes. In the first book, Song Quest, the major characters are singer Rialle, and Kherron. Song Quest is followed by Crystal Mask, which focuses on singers Renn and Shaiala. Dark Quetzal, the third instalment, stars Kyarra and Caell. The trilogy follows each generation carrying on from the previous generation in each book, starting with Rialle and Kherron. The series features mythical creatures such as nāgas, centaurs, and half-creatures.

Awards

Song Quest - Winner of the Branford Boase Award for 2000.

Plot summary

''Song Quest''

In Song Quest, Rialle, a novice Singer, is asked to travel to the mainland in order to stop the hunting of Merlee and other Half Creatures, and her friend Frenn leaves orderly training to join her. As she leaves, another novice, Kherron, runs away from the Isle with the help of the merlee hunters. They discover Frazhin controlling the Karchlord with poisoned merlee eggs and keeping the other inhabitants under control using khiz ures to stop him.

''Crystal Mask''

Set 20 years after Song Quest, Crystal Mask introduces Rialle's son Renn as a novice at the Echorium, who must travel overseas when the arrival of Shaiala, a wild girl who claims to have been raised by centaurs, casts doubt on the long-held belief that Frazhin is dead. Between them, they discover that Frazhin, with the help of his lover Yashra, has been kidnapping children and enslaving Half Creatures in an attempt to build a khiz palace of the Songs to rival the Echorium. By combining Renn's songs with Shaiala's centaur kicks, the khiz is defeated and Yashra captured, although Frazhin disappears, presumed drowned.

''Dark Quetzal''

Eleven years after Crystal Mask, Kyarra, a gifted young novice, is horrified to learn from her friend Caell's discussion with the merlee that her parents were not Singers, and she falls into a trap and is kidnapped. Meanwhile, Night Plume, a dark-coloured quetzal under Frazhin's control, suddenly finds himself free after being sung to by a captured Rialle. He fetches the Singers to help while Kyarra struggles with her new identity as Frazhin and Yashra's daughter, and all the while, Frazhin grows closer to eradicating Singers forever using the quetzal Memoryplace. The characters from the series come together to stop him, and eventually, the world is put right, Frazhin is killed, and the Half Creatures are freed.

Characters

  • Frazhin - uses khiz crystals to manipulate humans and half-creatures. The main antagonist of the series. Features in Song Quest, Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Singer Kherron - becomes the Second Singer of The Echorium in Crystal Mask. Features in Song Quest, Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Singer Rialle - mother of Renn, sensitive to the songs of half-creatures, particularly merlee. Features in Song Quest, Crystal Mask, and Dark Quetzal.
  • Singer Renn - son of singer Rialle. As a novice, he is able to understand half-creature speech. He features in Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Shaiala - human child brought up by centaurs and later adopted by the Kaleri. Features in Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Erihan - son of Horse Lord Nahar. Features in Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Lady Yashra - mother of Kyarra. Features in Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal.
  • Singer Kyarra - Frazhin's daughter, raised on the Isle of Echoes as a novice. She features in Dark Quetzal.
  • Night Plume - is a Quetzal, half-man and half-bird corrupted by Frazhin's use of the khiz crystal. Features in ''Dark Quetzal.''

    Magic

Many different forms of magic are used within the series and are not always referred to as such. However, the supernatural occurrence can be roughly divided into three parts: Songs, Half Creatures, and Stones of Power.

Songs

Singers use the Songs of Power to manipulate, heal and punish those around them. There are five Songs, which are listed in The Echorium Anthem at the start of each book:
  • Challa - The dream song, often used to calm people or produce healing sleep. It is considered the easiest Song to learn, and the least harmful.
  • Kashe - The laughter song, used to waken people or heal through mirth.
  • Shi - The crying song, used to force people to confront pain and heal through tears.
  • Aushan - The fear song, used to bring hidden fears to life and punish misbehavior. The most dangerous song commonly used.
  • Yehn - The death song, used to close doors in the head. In mild cases, causes people to forget, and in severe ones can create a form of 'living death'. The most dangerous of the Songs, and one only used very occasionally.
The Songs are amplified through certain materials, including bluestone, khiz and water, and have the most effect when sung to a relaxed individual by five Singers on the corners of a Pentangle. In addition to each Song's individual properties, they can all be used to contact Half Creatures and communicate over distance with bluestones. The Singers have other magical abilities related to the Songs, including listening over great distances and listening to determine if someone is lying to them.

Half Creatures

Half Creatures are half-human, half-animal sentient beings living in secluded areas of the world. All Half Creatures are protected under treaty from being hunted or enslaved, and while not all can speak aloud, they can communicate using Wild Speech with each other, and with certain Singer novices. There are four types, each with distinct abilities and ways of life.

Merlee

Merlee is half-fish, half-humans inhabiting the seas around the Isle of Echoes. They live in large shoals, each presided over by one dominant male. Their children hatch from eggs, and at a young age resemble tadpoles, which live in pouches inside their mothers. Merlee have the power to control the weather on the ocean, creating storms, mists or clear days depending on their mood and their relationship with those on the ships currently travelling. They are notoriously forgetful, and may have to be reminded several times to maintain the weather asked of them. Although they cannot speak human languages, the merlee have a close relationship with Singers, and often communicate through Wild Speech with novices on the Isle, although they are closest to Rialle, who maintained to ability to speak with them into adulthood and lives in a cave in order to remain close to them.

Quetzal

Quetzal are half-bird, half-human beings living in The Quetzal Forest. They have wings as well as arms, and beaks instead of mouths, and come in a variety of colours. They hatch from brightly coloured eggs in treetop nests, and although colourless eggs are sometimes laid, they are considered by the mothers to be unlucky and are rolled out of the nest. Quetzal naturally flock together in groups, and all quetzal share access to a collective Memoryplace, to which every quetzal can add. By accessing the Memoryplace using yellow flowers, it is possible for humans to learn about both the past and the possible futures of the world. Because of the extreme accuracy of the Memoryplace, quetzal are natural mimics. They cannot generally speak human languages except while mimicking, but under Frazhin's control Night Plume and his flock learned to speak, as well as how to produce bows and arrows fletched with their own feathers.

Naga

are half-human, half-water-snake, and live in rivers and other fresh water. Their children are born from eggs in caverns near the Fall of Clouds, and all naga obsessively collect glittering objects, generally called "sparklies". They can be communicated with only through Wild Speech, and can be called to from most river banks.

Centaurs

are half-horse, half-humans living on the Purple Plains. They live in herds ruled over by a stallion, and their horse bodies are shades of blue and purple ranging from nearly white to nearly black. They wear mare's-hair tunics on their upper bodies, and are the only Half Creatures able to communicate through human speech, although they generally use a form of Wild Speech known as Herd. Every adult in the herd carries a herdstone, and to join the herd foals must independently travel to the Dancing Canyons and extract a herdstone of their own from the rock. Centaurs can use these herdstones to bend light around themselves, rendering the herd invisible from the outside, and they used this ability to hide their existence from humans until the events of Crystal Mask. Centaurs have developed powerful kicks for hunting and defence which make them very dangerous to attack.

Stones of Power

Several forms of stone in the series are shown to have magical properties; in Dark Quetzal, these are referred to as the three Stones of Power of the Earth: the blue, the green and the black.

Bluestone

Bluestone is the material the Isle of Echoes is made of, and it has many properties related to the Singers. Its presence amplifies the power of the Songs, and for this reason the Echorium is constructed out of it. It can also help transmit Songs and messages over great distances: when the Second Singer travels, he often takes with him a piece of bluestone with which to contact the Echorium. Although bluestone is only found on the Isle and is considered very valuable, it is occasionally given away as a "trust gift" to those who make treaties with Singers, so that they can be sung to over a distance if the need arises.