History Literature / Spellsinger

In the first book, ''Spellsinger'', the hero Jonathan Thomas Meriweather, also known as Jon-Tom, is a prelaw student with pretentions to rock stardom, who is innocently smoking pot when he's abruptly transported from the University of California at Los Angeles to a weird world in which [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy animals talk, wear clothing, and live alongside humans]] by the turtle wizard Clothahump, who was searching for a great wizardly "En'geeniar" (meaning an engineer, as he was under the impression that this is the name our world gives to wizards). Unfortunately, he caught Jon-Tom, a law student and would-be rock star who works part-time as a janitor and on his pay stubs is called a "sanitation engineer"[[note]]and his mind was "the most receptive" at the moment, which might have had to do with that joint he smoked[[/note]].

** Book three has Roseroar on the cover. Only instead of the [[BrawnHilda 500 lb block of muscle]] the book describes her as, she's noticably smaller than Jon-Tom (when it was mentioned that she's one of the few individuals who's taller than he is) and appears to be nothing more than a human wearing a costume from {{Theatre/Cats}}--she's even got breasts and a human nose.

* HitodamaLight: Gneechees are floating flames which appear whenever Jon-Tom's spellsinging is on track and particularly powerful. They aren't the ''cause'' of magic, exactly, but their presence facilitates or enhances it. They normally cannot be seen because they actively dodge away whenever you try to look at them directly. When Jon-Tom is in M'nemaxa's plane, he discovers [[spoiler:each is actually the soul of a deceased person]]. Because of this spoiler, gneechees have different interests and affinities, and so Couvier Coulb must summon particular musically-inclined ones when retuning the broken duar in ''Time of the Transference''.

* LoveableSexManiac: Mudge, again with various degrees of loveability. If it's female and a mammal, Mudge will almost certainly make a pass at it (though he's a bit more hesitant than usual with regards to Roseroar, due to fear of angering her). However, in the first books his advances tend to find no success whatsoever... and after he gets observably better at seduction, various events conspire against his ability to follow this trope. According to his son, Squill, in book seven, the average mink makes him look like a celibate.

* OneTrueLove: Jon-Tom is initially attracted to both Flores and Talea, but remains unwaveringly faithful to the latter, after finally getting together with her. [[spoiler: Mudge]] of all people, finds one in Weegee. Perhaps realistically, while even love [[spoiler: does not entirely banish his old womanizing habits from his mind, he finds [[UnusualEuphemism that his body disagrees on this matter]]]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs The whole concept of the Warmlands]] can make one seriously ask this question, but it's also amusingly literal since Jon-Tom is summoned while high on marijuana and thus [[InvokedTrope thinks at first]] what he's seeing ''is'' due to being on drugs. (This comes back as a BrickJoke in Polastrindu when he wishes for a toke [[BottledHeroicResolve to help him face the council]].)

* OneTrueLove: Jon-Tom is initially attracted to both Flores and Talea, but remains unwaveringly faithful to the latter, after finally getting together with her. [[spoiler: Mudge]] of all people, finds one in Weegee. Perhaps realistically, while even love [[spoiler: does not entirely banish [[AnythingThatMoves his old womanizing habits from his mind]], he finds [[UnusualEuphemism that his body disagrees on this matter]]]].

* SingleSpeciesNations: Most places in the Spellsinger world are mixtures of various mammal and bird species, but there are exceptions across the novels. The Weavers are a nation made up of human-sized spiders who keep to themselves because they find mammals to be scary. In Moment of the Magician, Jon-Tom and Mudge find a pair of cities, one inhabited exclusively by gophers, the other exclusively by moles. And Paths of the Perambulator features a tribe of cannibal muskrats (who naturally [[CapturedByCannibals capture]] the heroes).

** This also applies to Mudge, as he is eager to have a drink to the point where it puts his health at risk (as noted in Day of Dissonance).

* PlayfulOtter: Invoked in the truism "one otter can focus on something serious for a while, but two or more otters is a permanent party." Weegee seems to be the lone exception to this, as she plays [[WomenAreWiser another trope]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: Whether it was Braglob or the perambulator reading his nature, having Mudge, the resident [[AnythingThatMoves sexual predator]], get turned into (and contract) a venereal disease takes the cake for karmic fates.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Averted in that in ''The Time of the Transference'', Jon-Tom discovers a passage that allowed him to go back. He did go back to his own world, but returned to Clothahump's, because he liked it there better.\\
\\
The last two books suggest he's made the trip back and forth a few more times, to sample our world's new music and stay in touch with his parents.

* ExtremeOmnisexual: If it's female and a mammal, Mudge will almost certainly make a pass at it (though he's a bit more hesitant than usual with regards to Roseroar, due to fear of angering her). However, in the first books his advances tend to find no success whatsoever... and after he gets observably better at seduction, various events conspire against his ability to follow this trope. According to his son, Squill, in book seven, the average mink makes him look like a celibate.

* LoveableSexManiac: Mudge, again with various degrees of loveability.

* ReallyGetsAround: Mudge likes to insinuate this about Talea... then turn it into InnocentInnuendo whenever she overhears. On the other hand Talea strongly implies that, even if the spirit ([[ExtremeOmnisexual and flesh]]) is willing, Mudge doesn't get around [[UrbanLegendLoveLife nearly as much as he claims he does]]. This comment might seem motivated by either jealousy or a desire to insult a disgusting habit, except it is stated in the context of her warning Flor to avoid Caz because "unlike Mudge, who's a talker, this one's a doer". (I.e., if Mudge really did get around and she was just trying to insult him, surely she'd have warned Flor away from the otter too.) Though she contradicts herself in book six "that otter will screw anything that moves, and probably a few things that don't." Most likely, Talea meant that while Mudge would act crude and lecherous toward Flor, he wasn't actually interested in sex with a human while Caz was--while InterspeciesRomance occurs frequently, it's typically limited to couples who are members of the same genus or order, and it's much rarer with humans.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Markus the Ineluctable, it turns out.]]

::In the end, though, it becomes clear Jon-Tom does come to see value, hope, and goodness in this world, since he not only fights to defend it from the Plated Folk but various threats which crop up including the cosmic perambulator, and ends up forging many bonds and relationships in the Warmlands, to the point of having a wife and children and, when the opportunity comes to return to Earth, choosing to stay. So by the end of the series his view has shifted to that of AWorldHalfFull.

:::In the end, though, it becomes clear Jon-Tom does come to see value, hope, and goodness in this world, since he not only fights to defend it from the Plated Folk but various threats which crop up including the cosmic perambulator, and ends up forging many bonds and relationships in the Warmlands, to the point of having a wife and children and, when the opportunity comes to return to Earth, choosing to stay. So by the end of the series his view has shifted to that of AWorldHalfFull.

::::In the end, though, it becomes clear Jon-Tom does come to see value, hope, and goodness in this world, since he not only fights to defend it from the Plated Folk but various threats which crop up including the cosmic perambulator, and ends up forging many bonds and relationships in the Warmlands, to the point of having a wife and children and, when the opportunity comes to return to Earth, choosing to stay. So by the end of the series his view has shifted to that of AWorldHalfFull.

* AnythingThatMoves: If it's female and a mammal, Mudge will almost certainly make a pass at it (though he's a bit more hesitant than usual with regards to Roseroar, due to fear of angering her). However, in the first books his advances tend to find no success whatsoever... and after he gets observably better at seduction, various events conspire against his ability to follow this trope. According to his son, Squill, in book seven, the average mink makes him look like a celibate.

** The geolk, who just seemed like a [[invoked]] BigLippedAlligatorMoment, show up in the climax of book four to help Jon-Tom and the others escape from the dungeon.

* ReallyGetsAround: Mudge likes to insinuate this about Talea... then turn it into InnocentInnuendo whenever she overhears. On the other hand Talea strongly implies that, even if the spirit ([[AnythingThatMoves and flesh]]) is willing, Mudge doesn't get around [[UrbanLegendLoveLife nearly as much as he claims he does]]. This comment might seem motivated by either jealousy or a desire to insult a disgusting habit, except it is stated in the context of her warning Flor to avoid Caz because "unlike Mudge, who's a talker, this one's a doer". (I.e., if Mudge really did get around and she was just trying to insult him, surely she'd have warned Flor away from the otter too.) Though she contradicts herself in book six "that otter will screw anything that moves, and probably a few things that don't." Most likely, Talea meant that while Mudge would act crude and lecherous toward Flor, he wasn't actually interested in sex with a human while Caz was--while InterspeciesRomance occurs frequently, it's typically limited to couples who are members of the same genus or order, and it's much rarer with humans.

* SelfishEvil[=/=]EvilIsPetty: [[invoked]] Zancresta is so jealous and resentful of Clothathump's prowess and admiration in the warmlands (despite the fact most of this comes from his having helped ''save the world'' from the Plated Folk) that he [[spoiler:disguises himself as the lowly, servile merchant Jalwar and]] travels to Crancularn to obtain the medicine the turtle needs...so he can take it back to the Bellwoods, dangle it over Clothahump's bed-ridden form, and taunt him. Also, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he would have escaped the Shop of the Aether and Neither with the medicine untouched]] if he could swallow his {{Pride}} and a) pay for the damages and b) be polite and courteous to Snooth instead of mocking and insulting her.

* AesopAmnesia[=/=]IgnoredEpiphany: Invariably, whenever something bad happens to Mudge, he will either forget the lesson he learned from it the next time a similar situation shows up, or he'll have an epiphany and swear to change his ways which he ends up dismissing/abandoning a short time later. Or it will be PlayedForLaughs and the Aesop will be subverted or broken by Mudge ComicallyMissingThePoint about what he was supposed to learn. Example: after having been inflicted with a venereal disease by the perambulator, he swears off bedding a different lady every night: "I guess I'll 'ave to restrict meself to a different lady every ''other'' night."

* TheAlcoholic: Sorbl, Clothahump's replacement famulus after Jon-Tom [[spoiler:transforms Pog into a phoenix]]. Very unfortunate, since he is a very good student in the rare times he's actually sober. On the other hand, his alcoholism actually [[DisabilitySuperpower comes in handy]] in book five, since he's so used to seeing the world through a distorted, hallucinogenic lens that the permabulator's reality tweaks don't faze him, letting him be the OnlySaneMan when things go wonky. Though in book seven, he is replaced by a much more competent owl. Which makes sense as Clothahump was at the end of his rope with him by book five; he would never be able to keep his sanity if Sorbl stayed for eighteen years. Then again the end of the sixth book hints that he gave up alcohol for good.

* AndIMustScream: Jon-Tom when he's captured by the underwater Plated Folk colony in the fourth book. His captors need to carry him back alive and whole to their homeland [[AFateWorseThanDeath to answer for his crimes]], but they don't dare give him the slightest chance to work his magic. Enter "[[BewareMyStingerTail The]] [[TheParalyzer Ruze]]"...

* AnimalStereotypes: Appears everywhere, from [[CunningLikeAFox clever foxes]] to [[CatsAreMean villainous cats]] to sex-crazed otters to temperamental badgers to evil insects. But a particularly prominent example is the BigBad of book five, a wolverine...who is an AxCrazy wizard who [[LonersAreFreaks abandoned his people]] because they in turn [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer would not accept him]] [[SubvertedTrope for being a coward]]--and this is actually suggested as the ''reason'' he is insane, that being HotBlooded and fierce fighters is so in the nature of wolverines that his mind could not handle him being a coward. As a result, he [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery wants to make the whole world insane like him, even if the being he uses to do it also destroys creation]]. When the departure of the perambulator [[HopeSpot cures his insanity]], [[DoubleSubversion he then still ends up trying to kill the heroes]]--partly because by freeing it Jon-Tom took away [[EvilFeelsGood something he was actually enjoying]] that made him unique and powerful in his opinion, and partly because of the HotBlooded BerserkButton tendency of wolverines.

* ArborealAbode: The turtle wizard Clothahump's home is inside a massive oak tree.

* BodyHorror: One scene in ''Son Of Spellsinger'' has a spell gone wrong which has the characters literally fall to pieces only to reassemble wrong (for instance, Buncan's head is sticking out of his chest and his arm is where his head should be). Oddly the way the scene is described (the characters totally nonchalant and lack of detail), it feels like if anything, it was intended to be a "silly scene" as if from a cartoon.

* BunniesForCuteness: Played straight with Caz, although contrasted by his QuintessentialBritishGentleman personality.

* CanonWelding: ''Chorus Skating'', the last novel, includes repeated cameo appearances by [[spoiler: a dimension-hopping [[Literature/HumanxCommonwealth thranx]]]].

* CapturedByCannibals: Happens to Colin in book five, until Jon-Tom and the others rescue him.

* CoolOldLady: Memaw, who manages to even whip Mudge into some semblance of civilized behavior.

* CrapsackWorld: Between TheDungAges setting and the FantasticRacism which seems to prevail in the Warmlands, Jon-Tom is understandably upset about the world he's ended up in once he accepts it as real. Considering during his first visit to Lynchbany "he'd nearly being assaulted by a beggar, had taken part in a distressingly [[BarBrawl violent riot]], and...serv[ed] as an accessory to assault, robbery, and possibly murder", followed immediately by being thrown out of Thieves' Hall for insulting the honor of a female wolf he'd won in a game of chance, he could be forgiven for not wanting to stay in this world any longer, or even for wondering why he should bother to help save it. (And so might the reader.)
-->''I guess I just thought things would be different here, as far as that kind of thing goes. I was imagining a world that doesn't exist.''
-->'''Jon-Tom''': I want to see some of the goodness, the kindness that this world should have.
-->'''Mudge''': Should 'ave? By who's determination?
-->''What could he say? By rights of legend. What legend? By logic?''
:::In the end, though, it becomes clear Jon-Tom does come to see value, hope, and goodness in this world, since he not only fights to defend it from the Plated Folk but various threats which crop up including the cosmic perambulator, and ends up forging many bonds and relationships in the Warmlands, to the point of having a wife and children and, when the opportunity comes to return to Earth, choosing to stay. So by the end of the series his view has shifted to that of AWorldHalfFull.

* CreepyCleanliness: The extremely neat and clean orphanage run by the Friends of the Street in Snarken appears to be on the up and up until Mudge points out that with so many orphans present it should be more dirty. The protagonists investigate and discover [[spoiler:that the operators are puritanical religious fanatics who regularly beat the orphans, as well as neuter them to make them more docile and less likely to make messes]].

* FantasyWorldMap: Every book provides one. For the first two only a small subsection is shown relevant to each book's plot (with a zoomed-in view of the Bellwoods for the first); after that a full-sized world map is provided, identical in each book, again with subsections added for that book's plot.
** Though oddly, there is an error in the sixth book's map. Once the party enter the Cave With No Name, they end up in [[spoiler: our world, in San Antonio, Texas]] which is still displayed on the Fantasy World's map.

* ForeignQueasine: Averted; even once he finds out his first real meal in the Warmlands is snake, Jon-Tom doesn't have any problem with it. "Why be squeamish in the face of good taste? Meat was meat."
** Also averted when Jon-Tom [[spoiler: Brings, Mudge, Weegee (Mudge's girlfriend) and Cautious (a raccoon) temporarily to our world, The furs enjoyed eating chocolate bars, potato chips and canned tuna]]

* FunnyAnimal: The world is entirely populated by these, the vast majority being walking, talking, and clothes-wearing but otherwise looking like their animal counterparts. Very much a UsefulNotes/FurryFandom world.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler:The Plated Folk army at the end of the second book, having surrendered, finally begin to talk with the Warmlanders rather then fight. The two sides seem well on their way to mutual understanding, but by the fourth book, the Plated Folk are back to being AlwaysChaoticEvil.]]
** [[spoiler: Though that group was implied to be a rogue faction who still hang on to the few threads left of their evil army. No different from people today who still support the Nazis, despite Nazis being long gone.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: One of the more disturbing aspects of the Plated Folk's culture, and why their BugWar is such a frightening prospect -- they generally don't take prisoners, and don't distinguish between military and civilians. ''Everyone'' is food.

* IneptMage: Jon-Tom's spellsinging is variable, to say the least.
** After years of practice and dedication finally turning Jon-Tom into a skilled and (mostly) reliable spellsinger, [[StatusQuoIsGod he is turned into this once again]] by having to use the substandard suar when his duar is broken.

* InterspeciesRomance: Normal in the warmlands to the point that Jon-Tom gives offense by refusing the advances of a lupine female.

* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Despite the fact ''The Day of the Dissonance'' ends up being [[spoiler:a ShaggyDogStory]], it can be said much was learned and accomplished along the way that never would have been if they hadn't gone on the trip, ranging from eliminating Corroboc and saving Folly, to exposing the truth about the Friends of the Street, to helping the fairies so they would no longer eat travelers, to eliminating the evil wizard Zancresta. Jon-Tom, naturally, is not amused by the lesson, however.

* MeaningfulName[=/=]StealthPun: M'nemaxa's name, when Jon-Tom sounds it out, sounds like "Omni-maxa". M'nemaxa is described by Clothahump as the supreme gestalt embodiment of all beings, and "omni" means "all", while "max" means "most" or "greatest".

* ThePowerOfRock: Literally--the music Jon-Tom plays with his duar creates magical spells of varying effect.

* ReallyGetsAround: Mudge likes to insinuate this about Talea... then turn it into InnocentInnuendo whenever she overhears.
** On the other hand Talea strongly implies that, even if the spirit ([[AnythingThatMoves and flesh]]) is willing, Mudge doesn't get around [[UrbanLegendLoveLife nearly as much as he claims he does]]. This comment might seem motivated by either jealousy or a desire to insult a disgusting habit, except it is stated in the context of her warning Flor to avoid Caz because "unlike Mudge, who's a talker, this one's a doer". (I.e., if Mudge really did get around and she was just trying to insult him, surely she'd have warned Flor away from the otter too.) Though she contradicts herself in book six "that otter will screw anything that moves, and probably a few things that don't." Most likely, Talea meant that while Mudge would act crude and lecherous toward Flor, he wasn't actually interested in sex with a human while Caz was--while InterspeciesRomance occurs frequently, it's typically limited to couples who are members of the same genus or order, and it's much rarer with humans.

* {{Retcon}}: In the first book, Jon-Tom is told that hoofed mammals aren't intelligent, but later books have him converse with talking camels and horses, and hire a talking hinny to accompany his group.

* SummonEverymanHero: Quintessential example in Jon-Tom being summoned by Clothahump. That he turned out to be a magician after all, which is what Clothahump expected an "engineer" to be, suggests it's not just Jon-Tom whose magic brings what's needed rather than what's expected.

** Flor is infatuated with Caz, a rabbit. [[spoiler:Much to Jon-Tom's chagrin, they end up a couple at the end.]]

* BiggerOnTheInside: Clothahump's Tree. And the Shop of the Aether and Neither in Crancularn.