A Book a Day: The Lark and the Wren

 Every day I'm posting a cover of a book I like. Today is a throwback to 90s fantasy cheeseball, where everything is delightfully low-stakes and music is magic. This was the first in a weird series of diminishing returns, half-thought-out spin-offs, and minimal continuity. There were four books in the "Bardic Voices" series and one in the "Bardic Choices" series--I'm not sure if the series was cancelled or if whoever was in charge of marketing just oopsied, but either way the internet confirms there were only five books altogether. Each one centers on different characters who go in and out of the other books as minor characters; there's nonhumans to stand in for civil rights causes ala Star Trek, recurrent themes of secular humanism vs. religious authoritarianism, some low-key championing of sex workers, and all the good guys are good and all the bad guys are bad.




Also, apologies for the poor picture--this genuinely was the best one I could find on the internet, and it's still in better shape than my copy...