Crystal Mask

Crystal Mask

Early paperback edition cover
Author	Katherine Roberts
Illustrator	James Marsh
Language	English
Series	The Echorium Sequence
Genre	Fantasy Novel
Publisher	The Chicken House
Publication date	August 1, 2001
Publication place	United Kingdom
Published in English	Aug 1, 2001
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	255 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 190343419X
Preceded by	Song Quest
Followed by	Dark Quetzal

Crystal Mask is a fantasy novel by Katherine Roberts. It is the second novel in The Echorium Sequence, and it is the sequel to Song Quest which won the Branford Boase Award in 2000. The novel was first published in 2001 by the Chicken House.

Plot introduction

Crystal Mask is set along the Isle of Echoes and the Purple Plains, focusing on a group of people called the Singers who harness the Power of Song to keep the region at peace and balance. The Singers or The Echorium suspect Frazhin, previously known as the Khizpriest, is up to no good again as another crazy appears on their shores who has no memory of her past due to the power of khiz who only Frazhin has harnessed. The crazy and a young novice singer are set on a quest to save The Echorium.

Explanation of the novel's title

Crystal Mask refers to a mask with magical properties that can change the balance within people's minds. It can be used to mind control others, erase memories, reveal the truth, as well as be used as a weapon; it is made from a crystal called khiz. Frazhin is known to have the power to harness the khiz's special properties.

Plot summary

Renn, novice of the Echorium, discovers he can understand and talk the language of the half creatures but is rather embarrassed of this ability. Renn is forced by two of his class-mates to go down to the steps outside The Echorium to see what the commotion is about concerning a new arrival to The Echorium. A crazy is brought to the shores by sailors from Southport who apparently found the girl in the hands of a man wearing a feathery mask. The Echorium traded the girl for a bluestone even though they'd already paid a fee for her before. The crazy; Shaiala a human child that has been brought up by half creatures speaks this half creature language but has had her memories erased. Renn encounters Shaiala when he and his class-mates collide with her at the Five Thousand Steps. Renn then realizes he can understand her language and respond to her, embarrassed in front of his class-mates. The Echorium believe Shaiala holds the key to understanding her past and if this has any connection with The Echorium.

Renn is forced into accompanying the Singers to the Pentangle where they were going to commence treatment for the crazy. The Singers use the Pentangle to try to stimulate her lost memories by showing Shaiala objects such as khiz crystal to refresh her memory as she and the sailors described a man wearing such a mask made from such a crystal in Southport. Shaiala responds to the crystal emotionally and The Echorium stop their questions. Renn helps translate Shaiala's half-creature language to the other Singers unwillingly as he was already embarrassed about the whole situation already. Rialle breaks news to Renn that she is his mother and that he shouldn't be embarrassed that he is able to speak and understand the half-creatures. Rialle suggests she should take Renn and Shaiala to her caves to spend some time together and to get to know her better.

The Echorium immediately know who they are dealing with, believing it's Frazhin; an evil khizpriest from 20 years ago who attempted to destroy The Echorium. They knew that only Frazhin had the ability to use the khiz crystal in such a way to wipe memories like Shaiala's case.

The Singers decide to take Renn and Shaiala; Renn because he understands Shaiala's half creature speak, and Shaiala to uncover the truth revolving around Frazhin's doings. The singers and Shaiala set sail to Southport; a 20 day journey of which during the voyage the Second Singer offers a bluestone necklace to Shaiala. Upon arrival Singer Kherron decides to explore Southport to find supplies and try to gather information on Frazhin. They lose Shaiala when she breaks free from the Singers and escapes whilst they're busy dealing with traders in the markets of Southport.

Shaiala runs to the docks of Southport only to be kidnapped by evil child snatchers. She is held against her will with tens of other children including Erihan who is the son of Lord Nahar the leader of the great Kalerei. Shaiala builds a bond with Erihan as she realizes he is also from the Purple Plains (her home). They both attempt to escape but fail to find any way of doing so. The children are eventually called and taken away to board a ship which would take them to the Dancing Canyons.

The children find out that "Aunt Yashra" also known as Yashra is behind all this but she offers the children a chance of a lifetime to live in luxury at her Khizalace far away. Erihan and Shaiala see through Yashra's lies as Shaiala is adamant she has seen the woman before but not sure where. Erihan believes she is up to no good and tries to persuade the others to ignore her lies but they take a while to persuade.

The children devise an escape plan involving Shaiala using a centaur kick to make a hole in the ship's hull. Most of the children successfully escape from their captors but several of the children are still trapped with the sailors. Shaiala does not manage to escape with the others and is stranded with the other children that did not escape. Yashra's hired men; the sailors come searching for the children in a small raft at the swamps near where they escaped but find no one because it is so dark. The sailors take the remained children to Aunt Yashra's camp further up stream where the ship was originally heading. Yashra had gone out riding to search for the sailors ship that was due to be at Yashra's camp a while ago. Yashra comes back to the camp and argues with the sailors as to why only a few of the children arrived safely and why they are not the ones she picked. Laphie; one of the children shouts at the sailors calling them liars but Aunt Yashra reacts by showing Laphie what's in her bag and instantly Laphie becomes quiet and cooperative. Yashra then shows what was in her bag to the other children; it was a crystal mask specifically a khiz mask. When Shaiala sees what Yashra was using to seduce the children she instantly remembers how her memory was erased and screams. Yashra comes over to Shaiala and uses the mask to contact Frazhin who is able to speak to Shaiala through the mask. Shaiala struggles to resist the mask but Erihan appears and shouts to Shaiala to kick Yashra in the stomach because she was pregnant it would have a greater damaging effect to her and would draw attention away from Shaiala long enough for her to escape.

Shaiala goes with Erihan to meet with Teggi by a big boulder downriver. There they find Teggi and the other children that escaped and a lot of loot that they stole from Yashra including her horses. Shaiala becomes fond of Yashra's horse and decides to take its bridle off at which point the horse goes mad and canters away from the camp. Erihan chases after her and the two catch each other up when Shaiala tells her horse to stop. Shaiala persuades Erihan to come with her to the Dancing Canyons where she believes she can find her lost centaur tribe but Erihan insists that centaurs do not exist.

They travel on horseback to the Dancing Canyons for 6 days until they arrived at a steep trail where they discover centaurs who explain to them about being out of contact with the captured foals for months and about how they use the herdstones to hide themselves from others(centaur stones which are able to bend light so anyone behind them would appear invisible) and the Pass of Silence (the only entrance known to enter the Sunless Valley but if a noise is made within the pass then it will start an avalanche) which Shaiala suggests they use the herdstones to hide the centaurs and themselves and muffle their hooves so they can enter the valley via the Pass of Silence. But the centaur herd explains this is not possible as they cannot bend light using the herdstones unless their hooves are in contact with the ground. The herd suggests using the watercourse the get to the valley as their friends; the nagas protect the passage but centaur cannot go with them past the watercourse as they cannot breathe underwater. Shaiala, Erihan and the centaurs decide to go ahead with the rescue mission to save the captured children and centaurs. They guide Shaiala and Erihan to the watercourse using their herdstones along the way to hide themselves. They guide them to a water filled cavern but they cannot go any further and Shaiala and Erihan pass through the watercourse with the help of naga.

Once past the watercourse they free the captured centaurs which they find in the khiz mines using the centaurs herdstones to their advantage by hiding the centaurs to gain a preemptive attack. Meanwhile Renn and the Singers at the same time had been travelling down the "Black River" in search of the river monster they had heard of from the townsfolk of Rivermeet. Renn contacts the naga or the water monster as the townsfolk of Rivermeet call it and asks to see the nagas "sparklies" referring to shiny objects which the naga has in its possession. The naga has 3 objects; one is Shaiala's bluestone which Kherron gave her which she lost when she escaped from the sailor ship that was heading for Yashra's camp the second was a dagger which Erihan owned and received from his father as a gift that he'd lost when he was swept downstream to Southport and the third was a khiz crystal. They come across Horselord Nahar and his tribe; the Kalerei who threaten to kill Renn if the Singers don't cooperate as Lord Nahar had been following the Singer party since Rivermeet and noticed that the naga had given Kherron the 3 "sparkies" one of which belonged to his son. The Horselord offers a deal that the Singers communicate with the nagas to see where they found his son's dagger and in return the Horselord would do something for them. The Singers agree and in the morning after some celebration, Renn communicates with the naga again to answer three of the Second Singer's questions: Where the naga found the dagger, where the naga found the black crystal (khiz) and if there was another way into the Sunless Valley apart from the Pass of Silence. Renn was only able to get two questions answered before the naga had escaped upstream. Kherron promised the naga one of the "sparkies" back which was the khiz crystal which Renn thought he should have given the naga after answering the questions instead of before. The Kalerei decide to go back to Rivermeet to gather reinforcements and then follow the trail of the Harai and help the Singers at the Pass of Silence. The Horselord Nahar offers the sword that Erihan used to own to Renn as a gift until he finds Shaiala and if he doesn't Renn can keep it.

The Singers travel for 2 days south east up mountains and crags until they reach the Pass of Silence. At the pass they travel silently through the trail but three-quarters of the way along Renn shouts "Behind you Singer" warning the others of danger as he had seen robed figures coming down the mountains. Frenn and Durall; two of the orderlies dies from the rockfall and Kherron is taken hostage by the Harai which meant only Lazim, Verris, Anyan and Renn survived the rockfall excluding Kherron. The 4 of them discover two gongs at the end of the pass which was used to bring down a second avalanche. Lazim tells Renn the story of the Battle of Merlee and afterwards giving the reader an insight into what happened between the 20 years before Crystal Mask. He explains how after the Battle of Merlee, Singer Parrien was sent to check all the people on the mainland who had been given Yehn had died and retrieved the trust gifts back which the Second Singer had given them who was now dead. He also set sail on the Wavesong (The Echorium's ship) along the Khizpriest's trail but that was the last anyone saw or heard of him and the Wavesong (Which was rebuilt years later). After that Lirill was appointed as Second Singer for ten years after which Kherron replaced him.

Renn goes on with Lazim (from Song Quest), Anyan and Verris, 3 from the Singer party to save Kherron and the others. Yashra and some Harai troops arrive in the pass but the Kalerei are right behind them so Lazim and the other orderlies go to help them fight off guards near the exit of the pass. Renn takes cover behind a stone whilst The Singers deal with the Harai but he is found by Aunt Yashra who was bringing the captured children to the palace when he drops his blade down the hills from where he is hiding. She takes him captive stuffing a cloth into his mouth so he cannot sing and is taken to the tower complex in the valley in her palace of khiz.

Erihan, Shaiala and the other centaurs, use their herdstones to sneak into the base of Yashra but the centaurs believe its a trap. Some of the centaurs didn't listen and carried on towards the palace. The two girls Yashra brought to the palace are led into a tower with a huge khiz crystal at the top. Renn is taken to the cellars where Kherron is tied up and imprisoned. Yashra and Kherron talk with Renn and Kherron about their future and past suggesting Renn is the son of Kherron that is the reason why he did not struggle at the Pass of Silence before he got captured. They also blackmailed Kherron into saying he would teach lessons to the children of the khiz in the future. Renn is taken upstairs to the top of the tower to sleep near the large khiz crystal which Yashra hopes will dim his voice. Shaiala, Erihan and the centaurs enter the complex after hearing sounds coming from somewhere within the complex. They enter the complex and encounter some guards which they hide from inside a room but Shaiala and Erihan hide outside the room as there is no time to get inside. After the guards had passed Shaiala and Erihan go inside the room to find the centaurs have disappeared. They carry on without the centaurs following the scratching noises to some spiral stairs where they climb them. The stairs are within the large tower seen from outside. At the top of the stairs, Shaiala and Erihan burst open the door to find some Harai guards. There find two doors leading to the dormitories shaped like a crystal with the large khiz crystal in the middle. Shaiala and Erihan try to crack the crystal and destroy it as well as waken the children who were seduced by Yashra and Frazhin but can't. Renn is also climbing the steps to the top of the tower when more guards come upstairs after one of the unconscious guards from upstairs awoke and raised the alarm. Renn gains an advantage and runs upstairs to help Shaiala.

Renn arrives at the top of the tower and Erihan and Shaiala tell him about the crystal but Renn only argues about how if Shaiaia stops kicking he can help crack it. Erihan realizes it is both of them and tells them both to kick and sing at the same time. The Harai have reached the top of the tower by this time and are approaching the 3 children but are put off by Renn's singing. The centaurs and the Kalerei (who had now come to join the battle) battle it out, outside the tower with Yashra's troops; the Harai. Renn and Shaiala go downstairs to free second singer Kherron just intime before the tower collapses but leave Erihan alone. Frazhin and Yashra's men shut the gate leading out of the tower complex meaning the Singers and the other forces could not get out. They lose Erihan to Yashra somehow and she uses him as a hostage to blackmail the Kalerei and the Singers into handing over Renn and their weapons. Kherron distracts Yashra and Erihan escapes and jumps down into the tower courtyard with the khiz mask Yashra uses. Lord Nahar takes the mask from Erihan and in a fury throws the mask at the gate, creating a high pitched noise that brought down the tower complex. Novice Renn attempts to break the gate with his voice and Shaiala with her feet and capture Yashra and Frazhin before they escape to lake where Frazhin was heading. They break the gates and they all follow Yashra and Frazhin to the lake within the valley.

At the lake Frazhin is seen attempting to call nagas to defend him and gain an advantage against the Singers. He claims the nagas are his children but they turn against him in confusion and kills him as the khiz crystals he was using poisoned their lair and was killing their young.

The singers capture Yashra and offer her execution or the birth house where she would give birth to her baby which she was pregnant with which afterwards from the birth she would be infused with Yehn as a form of punishment at the Pentangle for her crimes; a form of singer magic. She accepts the birth house (a place in The Echorium complex) for her child's sake.

Second singer Kherron reveals to Renn that he is related to Frenn or could even be related to himself but it is doubtful as Frenn and Rialle (his mother) had a close relationship. Shaiala and Erihan leave with the Kalerei to start a new life and Renn returns to the singer island where his mother waits for him. The story is carried on 11 years into the future with the sequel Dark Quetzal.

Characters

Major characters

• Shaiala - A human child brought up by centaurs, but her tribe was ransacked and the centaur foals taken to the mines in the Sunless Valley to work for Yashra mining khiz. Later, she is brought to the Isle of Echoes, home of the Singers, for a dose of Singer healing to regain her memory that was erased, discovering that it was erased by Frazhin using khiz crystal. She travels for a short while with Renn and the Singers to Southport but becomes separated when she runs away from their grasp and ends up captured by child snatches. Escaping from her captors, she later travels with Erihan; one of the other captured children to regroup with her centaur and find Erihan's father and tribe.

• Renn - A novice singer from The Echorium who is the son of singer Rialle and Frenn. He discovers he is able to understand Shaiala's half creature language after encountering her at the Five Thousand Steps on the Isle of Echoes. Renn is unfriendly and abusive towards Shaiala showing a stubborn attitude towards her and the trip he is brought along on. Renn realises his differences with Shaiala towards the end of the story and they stop arguing. Renn is taken with Kherron on a quest to find more about Shaiala's past and the Khizpriest Frazhin. He discovers his talents and destroys the large khiz crystal at the Khizalace, destroying the mind control device that was controlling the captured children that were being held there.

• Kherron - The Second Singer of The Echorium and enemy of Lord Frazhin who has the ability to control the powers of the khiz crystal. He was also part of the previous novel in the trilogy called Song Quest as novice Kherron being one of the main characters associated with the plot. He has had a troubled past and shows this through his forceful and impatient characteristics as Second Singer.

• Erihan - The son of the Horse Lord Nahar and Prince of the Kalerei who gets captured by the Harai when he is carried downstream a river to Southport and picked by them. He makes friends with Shaiala; also from the Purple Plains and joins with her to find his father and tribe and her centaur tribe. This ultimately ends in a final quest to free the children and centaur slaves at the Khizalace.

• Nahar - The leader of the Kalerei who helps Kherron and the Singers to defeat Yashra as they share a common goal to free the children slaves and centaurs at the Khizalace which she and Frazhin are holding. He has a son named Erihan, Prince of the Kalerei who is also a main character in the novel. Lord Nahar's assistance at the Khizalace results in a victory with his army of the Kalerei and the Singers, they defeat Frazhin again and capture Yashra.

• Yashra - An evil woman who owns a mask made from khiz crystal that she uses to link and keep in contact with the half-living Lord Frazhin. She is an enemy of The Echorium who helps Frazhin enslave human children and centaurs that they use to quarry for the khiz crystal she and Frazhin need. She later has a child named Kyarra who is mentioned as the unborn child in Crystal Mask and later appears in the last novel of the trilogy Dark Quetzal.

• Frazhin - An evil male character who Yashra works with. He also features in the prequel Song Quest as the Khizpriest; manipulating the minds of others and using the khiz-crystals to detect if someone is lying, as well as other functions like wiping memories. He works with Yashra to enslave centaurs and human children for their own purposes. He is believed to have died at the end of Crystal Mask as the nagas looked to have killed him at the lake outside the Khizalace but as the sequel is written it seems he survived.

Minor characters

• Imari, Laphie and the other captured children - Imari and Laphie are characters Shaiala encounters once she is captured by the Harai in the docks of Southport. Erihan (who later becomes a major part within the novel), Imari, Laphie and Teggi are some of the more prominent children captured by Harai's men, with Teggi being the more charismatic character influencing and leading the children.

• Rafiz Longshadow - One of the captured centaurs taken to the Sunless Valley to work under the mines to collect khiz crystals for Frazhin and Yashra. A centaur friend of Shaiala who appears at the beginning in the description of one of Shaiala's flashbacks and at the end when Shaiala frees the centaurs and uses the herdstones to gain an advantage against destroying the palace.

• Kamara Silvermane - Another one of the captured centaurs taken to the Sunless Valley to work under mines. Kamara is also a friend of Shaiala's who helps the other centaurs destroy the Khizalace.

• Alaira and Geran - Both appear at the very beginning of the novel as classmates of Renn; novice singer at The Echorium. Alaira and Geran bully Renn at times specifically at the beginning they bullied him into going with them to observe a crazy being brought to The Echorium which therefore led to the discovery of his talents (being able to speak half-creature language).

• Ollaron - A teacher at The Echorium who features at the beginning of the novel, teaching Renn's class a history lesson of The Echorium. Ironically he talks about the "Battle of the Merlee" which is referring to the plotline within the prequel Song Quest when Rialle persuades the Merlee to conjure storms and destroy the ships Frazhin was bringing to the Isle of Echoes. Ollaron explains what happened to Lord Javelly from Song Quest, who apparently died from the Yehn the Singers were singing at the Pentangle on the Isle of Echoes which appears inconceivable as it is too far away to be transmitted that far but this explained as the Lord Javelly was given a trust gift by the second singer in Song Quest which ultimately killed him as the bluestone necklace the Lord was given amplified the song and killed the wearer which was Lord Javelly. Ollaron is described as an old ancient man almost as old as the events he teachers within his history lessons.

• First Singer Graia - The First Singer of The Echorium during the times of the Crystal Mask. She features in Song Quest as one of the teachers of The Echorium. She appears once in the book at the very beginning when she is in the Pentangle with the rest of the Singers trying to heal a crazy (person who is not right in the head and in this case has a loss of memory).

• Singer Rialle - No longer a full time Singer, Rialle from Song Quest appears at the beginning during the Pentangle session and afterwards when she takes Renn and Shaiala to see her home on the Isle of Echoes which is in a cave away from The Echorium. The most likely location of this cave is probably where Kherron in Song Quest went to investigate which was a series of caves along the beach.

• Lazim - From Song Quest he has a minor part throughout the novel and travels with Second Singer Kherron and the other Singers on their quest to investigate Shaiala's story. He survived the avalanche at the Pass of Silence and helped destroy the Khizalace. He is an orderly not a singer as he joins The Echorium in Song Quest.

• Frenn - From Song Quest he also has a minor part, travelling with the Singer group on their quest. Frenn dies during the avalanche at the Pass of Silence and is later revealed as Renn's father. Frenn is not officially a Singer but an orderly.

Major themes

The plot is similar to Song Quest as the story follows young novices who have the chance to adventure outside The Echorium, which is rare for their age. Crystal Mask relies on Song Quest its storyline to be understood; for example about Renn's parents and concerning the centaur tribes. Crystal Mask contains many instances of arguments and abuse towards each of the characters, such as the arguments between Renn and Shaiala with Renn's stubbornness towards Shaiala's ignorance and impatience.

Crystal Mask is based on a general plotline, involving setting off on a quest, becoming separated, and each party finding its own way to a final destination, gaining experience, acquiring allies, and overcoming difficulties along the way .

The Echorium Sequence uses themes from Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea and Anne McCaffrey's Pern in the sense of merlee and half creatures in conjunction with human beings and singers.

Half-creatures

The usage of half-creatures is a theme throughout The Echorium Sequence as the general plot behind each of the three novels concerns or involves half creatures or mentions of them through references. Crystal Mask focuses on centaurs, which are half creatures native to the Dancing Canyons who are enslaved by the khizpriests.

Also, the Singers have a bond with half-creatures at a young age as some novices are able to understand the half-creatures' languages, but this eventually fades as they become older, with the exception of Rialle who has retained her ability to communicate with them.

Through Crystal Mask, a symbiotic relationship is seen between the half-creatures and the Singers. At the beginning of the book, it describes how humans and half-creatures lived in harmony with each other, but the humans went back on their old ways and started to progress and forget about half creatures. The Singers were the group of people who moved away from all this to keep to their old traditions so they moved to the Isle of Echoes and this is how the mutual relationship between half-creatures and humans was kept throughout the history of the trilogy.

Khiz

Khiz plays a major part in the Crystal Mask, with the manipulation of the crystals for mind control and to erase people's memories. Yashra for example used the khiz-crystal to seduce children to come to her palace in the Sunless Valley and sing for her. Yashra and Frazhin both use khiz to keep in contact with other using masks as Frazhin is fatally injured and cannot come with her on her travels.

Khiz is also detrimental to the Singers ability to use their voice as it becomes weaker in the vicinity of khiz. Khiz also pollutes the nagas habitats, as described at the end of Crystal Mask that the khiz-crystals were polluting the nagas watercourse in the Sunless Valley.

Songs of Power

The Songs of Power were the songs used by the Singers for different situations and effects. The effects of these songs are:

• Challa - Dream Song. Most common form of healing. Puts people to sleep and helps people forget their troubles

• Kashe - Laughter Song. Wakes people up, and cures depression in them.

• Shi - Pain Song. Forces people to confront their pain and heals through tears.

• Aushan - Fear Song. Gives life to inner fears and makes people scream.

• Yehn - Death Song. Closes doors in the head. In extreme cases, leads to a form of living death.

Singers use these powers to control the environment around them and to keep peace within the region which they live in with humans and half-creatures. The songs have immense power and can only be dwarfed by the manipulation of khiz-crystals which dims the effect of the Songs.

Allusions/references to other works

Crystal Mask relies on its prequel, Song Quest, for the reader to fully understand the novel's storyline. The plot, as regards to Renn's true parents, can partially be explained from Song Quest with the friendship of Frenn and Rialle. Some of the main characters in Song Quest feature in Crystal Mask, following on 20 years into the future but do not have a major part within the storyline.

The setting is roughly the same as Song Quest, located at the Isle of Echoes and the shoreline of the continent to the west of the island. At the beginning is a scene set in a history lesson being taught by Singer Ollaron who refers to events 20 years in the past that occurred in the novel Song Quest. The theme of half-creatures is still apparent within Crystal Mask; like in Song Quest, they play a major part within the storyline.

Literary criticism

Crystal Mask received mixed reviews with several negative comments; Goodtoread.org commented that, "The characters seem stilted, never really fulfilling their initial promise," and that it relies too much on the previous book Song Quest to truly appreciate the plot behind some of the novel.

Also, Goodtoread.org said, "The characters of Renn and Shaiala who interest the reader at first quickly become pale and flat plot devices with only occasional moments of relief and colour."

Other comments made by Goodtoread.org were, "Music clearly plays an important, almost mystical, part in the history of the story. Song is used by those trained in its use for healing, laughter, discipline, even death. There is no sign, however, of recreational music."

Kirkus Reviews said, "It is difficult to distinguish heroes and villains on the basis of either their actions or their attitudes," referring to the fact that the main characters appear aggressive and violent towards each other as well as ignorant and abusive. According to Kirkus Reviews, Erihan is the only truly appealing character within Crystal Mask, showing kindness and friendship towards Shaiala. Kirkus Reviews also said, "As the final confrontation sputters into an inconclusive anticlimax, the one interesting revelation, which might explain some contradictions, is pointlessly repudiated," referring to discovery of Renn's true parents. Kirkus Reviews concluded in their review that "Fans of the first book might enjoy the updates on favorite characters; but hardly anyone else will care. Crystal Mask fails to include any likable inhabitants."

But author Jacqueline Wilson said, "There are so many deft, exciting and original touches. I raced through it occasionally moved to tears."

The majority of reviewers raised the point that the novel was poorly concluded and lacked a climax and interest at events such as the discovery of Renn's true parents and the destruction of Yashra's palace. Reviewers pointed out that the characters lacked development with most of the speech, including arguments and abuse between the main characters. The recurring characters from Song Quest, such as Kherron, also showed similar characteristics to the prequel such as their ignorance and weak mindedness. Other comments raised were concerned with the plot, that it was too slow to start with and contained dull and plain characters bringing little interest at first. It is also noted that it is better to read the prequel before reading Crystal Mask as many of the sub-plots are not understandable from reading only the second book.

Positive comments raised were the original touches used within the book, such as the concept of Singers and half creatures which have references to other novels' work. The School Library Journal said the world she has created is original and detailed with cliff hangers and realistic responses from the characters to situations raised in the plot. The School Library Journal also said the novel had a consistent pace and mystery surrounding the plot to maintain interest, contradicting what was raised by Kirkus Reviews who stated the novel as having an "inconclusive anticlimax".

Release details

• 2001, UK, The Chicken House, ISBN 190343419X, Pub date 1 Aug 2001, Hardback
• 2002, UK, The Chicken House, ISBN 1903434564, Pub date 1 Jul 2002, Paperback

External links

• Katherine Roberts homepage
• Review of Crystal Mask