The Singer Enigma
Reviewed date: 2025 Jul 4
Rating: 1
189 pages
"A science-fiction novel"
Once again my rule of thumb is proved right. Any book that has to clarify on its cover that it is a novel is usually not good. This book's cover clarifies that it's "a science-fiction novel" because…well, I'm not sure why. Today the author is more known for her work in other genres, but not in 1976 when The Singer Enigma was published.
The Concord and the Singers
The story starts in a galactic civilization that operates under the Concord Charter. Into this mix comes a race known as the Singers. We're not told what precisely makes the Singers a problem, but they do present such a conundrum that the Concord hires the Carifil to investigate.
Tarhn and the slakes, and Lyra Mara
The Carifil hired is named Tarhn. (The Carifil are not a race, but rather an organization. Kinda like an interplanetary Pinkerton, except more shadowy.) Tarhn has two slakes as companions. The slakes are small dragon-like creatures, telepathically linked to their master. Tarhn's slakes are n'Lete and Bithe. Tarhn has been hired to follow someone named Lyra Mara, which he does. His slakes alert him during the night, and Tarhn manages to foil an attempt to kidnap Lyra. Unfortunately, in saving her, he gets them both crash-landed on a remote planet named Wilderness.
Wilderness and Singing
Their escape pod is damaged, and the only way off Wilderness is through an Access, which is a portal that can transport them instantly across space to any other Access in the galaxy. Unfortunately Wilderness is an undeveloped planet used mainly for recreational hunting. The only Access is several days' hike across a forest planet teeming with savage wildlife.
Worse, they're being chased by bad guys. They are nearly captured several times, and during it all, Tarhn and Lyra begin to fall in love. Later, Lyra sings and uses her power to whip up a storm and drive off their pursuers. Tarhn realized Lyra is a Singer, and his love turns to hate.
Kretan a Harnan n'Ahler, Acting Helix of Tau
Tarhn and Lyra are captured and brought before Kretan a Harnan n'Ahler, the Acting Helix of Tau. It turns out Tarhn is also from Tau, and knows Kretan. The details are sketchy, but it seems Kretan—and all Tau—are engaged in a eugenics project to create the Supreme Helix: the genetically perfect person. Kretan believes Lyra has the proper genes to be genemother to the Supreme Helix. The other genes will come from Kretan—or from Tarhn.
Access Unlimited
And now we learn a little more about the Accesses. The technology is owned by Access Unlimited, which leases its Access portals to planets in exchange for conscripts, that is, slaves. And Access Unlimited is controlled by one person: Kretan a Harnan n'Ahler, Acting Helix of Tau.
Singing, Lyra Mara, Access Unlimited (again), and Unfolding
There's a lot more. We get a big infodump in the middle of the book, under the guise of Tarhn going through a mental "integration" process wherein he recovers a lot of repressed memories. When Tarhn was a boy, he attended an assembly where the Singers first addressed the rest of the Galactics. They did so by singing, and when they sang, many people died. The trauma of the experience caused Tarhn to block it out.
But there's more. It turns out Access Unlimited is only partially owned by Kretan. The majority share is owned by Lyra Mara. She is the daughter of Daveen, grandson of the investor Lyle Li'mara who funded Kretan and Access Unlimited. As the rightful heir, she owns three-fifths of Access Unlimited. This, among other reasons, explains Kretan's interest in her.
Oh, and it turns out that Singers only experience the positive range of human emotions. They are unaware of negative emotions. The Singers are innately telepathic. When they Sing, it affects others in various ways, but mainly by unfolding the mind and revealing to each person his own self, exactly how it is. This unfolding can be traumatic, even deadly in some cases, as people choose to die rather than face their true selves. Thus, when the Singers sang for the other races, they caused widespread death.
And then what happens?
Let's see. Tarhn and his slakes kill Kretan. There are interminable pages upon pages of Tarhn undergoing mental unfolding, which is dull as dirt. I'm not even 100% sure what happened at the end.
Pages of indescribable description
I prefer books where things can actually be described. About half of The Singer Enigma is descriptions of indescribable mental enlightenments as Tarhn goes through this unfolding, and it's just the worst.
Here is a list of keywords that I wrote down in my notes while I was reading:
Slizzard vs Helix
Tarhn, from Tau, a Carifil (Tarhn a Harnan n'Ahler, Conditional Helix)
n'Lete and Bithe, slakes
amnesian
Lyra Mara, from (presumably) Singer
The Concord, Concord Charter
Access
Access Unlimited
Wilderness (planet)
Stukor drug
Kretan a Harnan n'Ahler, Acting Helix of Tau. Tarhn's uncle. A slaver, eugenicist, working to develop the perfect race, invented Access, sells Access in exchange for slave (conscript) labor
Kidnapped Lyra to use her as a gene-mother to create the Supreme Helix: the final, genetically perfect baby (with Tarhn, it seems.)
Clereth, Tarhn's mother?
Plague
First Helix
Supreme Helix
Flerhan
Li'mara
Daveen (Li'mara's half-son), killed by Kretan's assassins
Jerlis, Tarhn’s mother
Jasilyn
*telepathic communication is written In asterisks instead of quote marks*
Daveen Li’Mari
Singers
sickness
crosser
Chanson
kerden
Centrex
Singer hybrid
sverl hunter