Andre Norton (1912–2005)

I enjoyed this story which is set in the Dales where people without power migrated after the land was abandoned by the Old Ones (who I think moved northwards, from what I read recently in 'The Jargoon Pard' though I don't know why). They have left behind remnants of their magic, including certain ruins and monuments, and those who have some trace of psychic ability are drawn to these, sometimes with ill results.

The book is told from two alternating first person viewpoints. Kerovan is the son of the heir to Ulm keep, but he was born in one of the Old Ones' ruins when his mother's party were forced to shelter from a storm enroute to the shrine of Gunnora. Seemingly as a result (though much later it is explained how his mother's meddling was culpable) he has amber eyes and hooves instead of feet. His mother rejects him, and he is sent away to the foresters to be raised, by an old soldier and a man called Riwal, who is psychic and is studying the Old Ones ruins and broken artefacts, though not for evil purposes.

Over the years, we are told, Kerovan is visited by his father, although that is not actually shown. His father eventually tells him that, given his absence, a lot of rumours have been spread that he is monstrous. He arranges for Kerovan to return to the keep to be acknowledged his heir. It seems odd that his father chose to exile him in this way, but that is eventually explained. For certain members of Kerovan's family are in league with dark forces.

Joisan, meanwhile, is the niece of the ruler of another stronghold. Her uncle agrees to betroth her to Kerovan, with the eventual marriage mooted for eight years in the future (she is eight and Kerovan is ten). As a girl, Joisan is not able to inherit the rulership of her dale despite the fact that her uncle has no heir - he could make her his heir, but would have to name her as such. Despite this, however, he is quite decent to her throughout her upbringing which is mainly undertaken by his formidable sister, a woman who had previously planned to become a nun (the Dales people follow the worship of the Flame) but had returned to the keep where she was raised to become the chatelaine when her brother's wife died.

As she grows older, Joisan has to contend with rumours about her betrothed, after she is first confronted with them by a spiteful cousin. She commissions a small painting of herself, as is customary, and sends it to Kerovan with a request for the same from him, but never receives one in return. However, he does send her a beautiful necklace - a pendant of a gryphon within a globe which he found near a place of the Old Ones when exploring once with Riwal. The pendant seems to be an object of Power, but of the light. Joisan eventually learns from her uncle that the purpose of her betrothal was to make available the manpower of their Dale in the event that her future husband's inheritance is contested by others in his family.

Into this situation intrudes an invasion by the Hounds of Alizon who feature in series one of the Witch World stories as a threat to Estcarp, and who have colluded with aliens and have access to their technology. The rest of the story takes place against a background of war and hardship, with the added danger provided by members of Kerovan's family, who will stop at nothing to kill him and deepen their connection to the dark forces with which they have already dabbled.

I found this a good page turning read and am awarding it 4 stars.

… (mais)

This story follows on from 'The Year of the Unicorn' as I realised when I began reading - although the characters were not named, I could tell that the woman having her baby in the shrine of Gunnora, at the same time as the mother of the narrator of this novel, is Gillan, the woman with powers in that novel, and her husband is Herrel, the Were, or shape shifter who can transform into a snow leopard. They come back into the novel much later.

I also realise on doing this review that I've missed out a couple of volumes in this second Witch World series, book 0 and book 1 - however, I don't think it prevented me from understanding or enjoying this one. Briefly, Heroise, the protagonist's mother, goes to the shrine to have her baby believing it will be a son and through him she will be able to rule, as their land follows the custom of the sister's son of the ruler inheriting. The baby is a girl - but a ready solution presents itself as Gillan is in the room next door having her baby which they realise is a son. The mother's nasty wise woman sidekick Ursilla puts Gillan and her midwife into an entranced sleep and makes them forget so that when they wake up they think the baby girl is her own child.

However, things don't work out as Heroise hoped, as the son, whom she names Kethan, is not the malleable tool she and Ursilla hoped. He is too independent and he also faces enmity within the keep because Heroise's sister-in-law hates him and wants her own son Maughus to succeed the father, against custom. Kethan grows up in an atmosphere of tension and hatred, although this is character building in the long run. His time of trial comes when he is betrothed to Maughus' sister, and her mother gives him a gift to commemorate it - a belt he had already been drawn to when a mysterious trader visited the keep. The belt has the effect of turning him into a pard - a big cat - probably because it brings out his innate gift from his real father, Herrel. Everyone, including him, assumes it is a curse laid on him by the belt. The intention is either to kill him as an animal, or else to denounce him as a thing of the Dark. So he has to go on the run, unable to turn back into his human form, and pursued by multiple enemies.

It is quite a short book in comparison to some of the other Witch World novels and a quick read. It isn't outstanding, but I enjoyed it nevertheless, with the suspense as to whether Kethan would prevail, whether he would learn who his real parents are, and whether he would come into his true heritage. So I would award this a page turning 3 stars.… (mais)

Another re-read of a Witch World novel, this time the first book of those set in or originating in High Hallack, a place of dales abuting onto the Waste or moorlands. This is told from the viewpoint of a young woman called Gillan, who has been raised in the local version of a nunnery and apprenticed to the healer. Gillan is a misfit as she was rescued from a ship of the invading Hounds of Alizon (originally seen as aggressive invaders in the earlier Witch World stories set in the land of Estcarp) and any knowledge of her origins was lost when her rescuer was killed in the war against the Hounds. Although about 8 years old at the time she remembers nothing of her original life, but her physical description - dark hair whereas the High Hallack women are all blondes - is a clue to any reader of the earlier volumes that she most likely originated in Estcarp and therefore may have "witchy" powers. Sure enough, Gillan has always had hunches and other psychic sensations and this witch self is a strong part of her identity.

Gillan finds life in the nunnery stultifying and has no real friends, as the other girls view her as an oddity. So when opportunity offers itself to escape into the unknown on a perilous adventure, she seizes it with both hands. The folk of the dales have had to make a pact with a group of men known as the Were Riders, who are reputed to be shape shifting sorcerors but are also doughty fighters and played a major role in driving off the Hounds. As payment, the Riders requested "twelve and one" brides - young women between the ages of 18 and 20. Gillan contrives with the help of another woman - and the tacit connivance of the abbess - to change places with a girl who is hysterical at the thought of being married off to one of these odd men.

Their reputation proves to be justified when the allocation of brides - there are more Riders than 13 - is settled by ensorcelled cloaks. Only Gillan can see the reality which underlies the glamour spell cast by the Riders, but she is neverthless drawn to the cloak of a rider, Herrel, who is also a misfit, for he is of mixed heritage. This earns the enmity of one Rider in particular and so develops the threat to the pair as first Halse and then other Riders begin to gang up against them.

The story is rather proto feminist - even the independent heroine chooses escape through marriage - but the issue of choice is also paramount. Gillan instinctively avoids a physical relationship although she has never been told she is from Estcarp and that the witch women are reputed to lose their powers with their virginity (although the earlier stories would suggest this is at least in part psychological considering that Jaelle's returned after her marriage). Possibly this suggests a changed premise. The Were Riders are controlling: they ensure the placid conformity of the brides through ensorcelement and they are ruthless in their attempts to crush Gillan, unable to accept her as an equal who is able to see through their illusions.

I enjoyed the story - and wasn't put off by the rather stately and ornate prose, also found in other Witch World books and part of the charm - though I did find the ending slightly weak and for that reason I would rate this at 4 stars.… (mais)

Andre Norton was noted for her unique take on the tropes of science fiction and fantasy and her influence on the genres. In her version of the Arthurian legend, we follow the progress of Merlin/Myrddin with a twist which, as far as I know, having read many Arthurian retellings, is unique.

Two space-faring races have encountered planet Earth in the far distant past. Humanity, under the mentoring of one of them, known as the Star Lords, rose to a technological peak, but civilisation was destroyed in a cataclysm and the survivors reverted to barbarism. Gradually, human beings have clawed their way back up and it is now the time of post-Roman Britain. A beacon placed long ago by the Star Lords guides in one of their automated starships which sets up a base in a cave system and sets out to influence human development, with the aim of eventually restoring the advanced technology of the past.

The first step in the process is to bring about the conception of someone who will work to accomplish certain aims - Myrddin, as he is initially known. We follow the tale of how he is conceived and raised, with the help of an old druid, and gradually comes into his heritage with his discovery of the alien technology in the caves. He must return a certain stone to the Temple of the Sun (pretty obviously Stonehenge) which will activate a new beacon to guide the Star Lords back, as the old one failed some time ago, and also bring about the birth of a leader who will establish peace - Arthur. But an adversary already works against him - a woman called Nimue, the representative of the Star Lords' enemies who do not want humanity to develop a technological society and eventually space flight.

This should have been an absorbing tale given the novel treatment of the well-known legend. And yet the style was quite distant. It is possible to tell an absorbing story even with the older style of omniscient narration, yet here it often set Merlin apart so that it was difficult to relate to his concerns, human as they were. I felt more could have been made of the church's enemity towards him, but there was also a slight continuity glitch. After his unavoidable absence for some years due to Nimue's meddling, he changes his name to Merlin and is supposed to be someone else, as the cryogenic technology in the caves slowed his ageing process, yet everyone still refers to him as having no father, being demon-spawned and the like. That was the rumour about his original self, Myrddin, so why does it persist - years have gone by and no one is meant to remember Myrddin (apart from Nimue), so why should they associate him with someone who hasn't been seen for years and would be older? It's also a bit inconsistent that the church do not target Nimue for their prejudice considering that she is known as a healer, which was something that always brought women under suspicion of witchcraft.

The characters of women - or rather non-characters - suffer greatly in this story. Early on, we are in the viewpoint of the woman who will give birth to Myrddin, but she is rather shallow and can't wait to get married. She is soon sent off stage. A foster nurse has something of a bond with the young boy, but is killed off. Nimue, the main female character, is always trying to seduce Myrddin/Merlin who has to keep himself totally celibate for not very convincing reasons, and doesn't have much of a motive for what she is doing, although there is a little hint of this right at the end of the book which, if it had been brought out sooner, might have been interesting. Morgause is a non-event, only a brood mare to produce Mordred, and Genievere is a shallow woman only interested in being the centre of attention to men: both have small cameo appearances and their importance is more in what they do offstage - Morgause being Nimue's prisoner, then supposedly being the one who spreads the 'truth' about Arthur, and Genievere supporting Mordred against Arthur.

As an informational note, the cover of this edition is rather misleading with its portrayal of the cliched white-bearded old man: Myrddin/Merlin is in his prime, especially in view of the fact that he didn't age at all for at least sixteen years during the story.

Given the distancing narrative style, I found the book slow going although it is not long - only 205 pages. But it took quite a long while to get through which wouldn't nomally be the case for a book of this length. So with this and the other issues, I can only rate it 2 stars.… (mais)