Through the breaking ice, in a vortex of brilliant light, energy, and sound, Jeremy plunges into a dangerous and mysterious new world. It is a world where music is absolutely prohibited--on pain of death. And Jeremy breaks that law when he arrives in Persus Am in a swirling cloud of light and music. A stranger in a strange land, he does not know why he has been sent here. But it soon becomes clear that he must risk everything to help his new friends in this weary and war-torn world. Song of Fire is a powerful tale of the triumph of good over evil, and healing love in a fantastic world that feels as real as the one we live in. Bentz uses the shopworn device of a plot unfolding in a dream to frame "Song of Fire ", but it's an exceptional fantasy in every other respect. A musician named Jeremy argues with his Christian girlfriend about the course his life should take; he skates off across a frozen lake and plunges through the ice into an alternate universe. In this world, Jeremy's music is prophetic and almost palpable. Through it, God makes his presence known to a suppressed cult called the Emajians. A righteous path has been ordained for Jeremy, but he doesn't know what it is, and even as he is hailed as a great prophet, he becomes a stooge for a clever ruler and his beautiful daughter. Bentz's sense of politics is shrewd and elegant as is his portrait of the ruling class, who regularly retire to their chambers and lose themselves in visions brought on by soporific "vapors." Bentz's story, of course, eventually resolves into a great battle between good and evil, but it is a most ingenious battle, and Bentz's speculations about the possibility of messiahs on other worlds are an intellectual delight.