Customer Reviews

Annals of the Witch World

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first read Norton's Witch World series about 35 years ago and in recent years I have managed to collect all of them. Compared to books written today, they certainly lack the wild hot sex that most of the today's writers seen to believe is required. Instead, all of Norton's books actually tell a story - one that takes place in a strange foreign world filled with artifacts from prior races and gates that can transport a person to an unknwown place.
Norton wrote these first books during or shortly after WWII and they reflect the events in our world - foreign invaders intent on taking over the Witch World - events that could be related to by people in the real world reading them at that time. The heart of the story is not that Tregarth was somehow magically relocated to another world through a gate, but rather it's the story of the gifted witches in that world, their internal struggles and prejudices, together with the courage of one witch to break with tradition and help a male who had witch-like powers of his own in this new world in which he found himself, something unheard of in the area where the witches lived.
Later books cover the horning, where an entire race of people was hunted and killed, probably reminescent of the Jews in WWII and then the turning, in which the witches combined their powers to literally turn the mountains topsy-turvy to prevent invasion in their lands.
The landscape of the Witch World is littered with remnants and artifacts from prior battles that had taken place between powerful wizards many centuries in the past. There are pockets of powerfully protected lands where many races battle the forces of evil and there are many pockets of evil as well.
I would have to urge the first reviewer to give this series another try and visit a world populated by strange creatures of the light and powerful forces of the dark. The stories are, after all, about the struggles of the forces of the light to prevail against the forces of the dark and Ms. Norton did a fine job in the telling of these stories.

One important fact that previous reviews of 'Annals' failed to mention is that this book is actually three of Andre Norton's previous Witch World novels under one title. They are "Witch World," "Web of the Witch World," and "Year of the Unicorn."

"Witch World"--Simon Tregarth is a hunted man, unjustly cashiered from the U.S. Army for dealing in the post-war blackmarket. Since he had been labeled as a crook, he figured he might as well play the game.

After seven years in the underworld, surrounded by his enemies and a gunshot away from death, Simon treats himself to a decent last meal (Andre Norton heroes and heroines NEVER whine. They assess the odds, then keep on slogging). Enter the mysterious Doctor Petronius who persuades Simon that he has nothing to lose by vanishing from his enemies' gunsights through the Siege Perilous, a Cornish megalith that is rumored to be a gate to other worlds. Simon leaves the restaurant with Petronius, almost positive that he is walking into a trap. Instead of the bullet he is expecting, our hero is transported to the foggy moors of a new world.

The action doesn't let up. The first thing Simon does is rescue a witch from a nasty bunch of snake-headed dogs and hunters (we don't learn the witch's name until the very end of the book). The next thing he knows, he's embroiled in a war where the good guys appear to be losing.

Simon allies himself with "a tall, proud-walking race with...the carriage of rulers and an odd weight of years upon them." His new home, medieval Estcarp is a matriarchate, ruled by witches, whose powers depend on their continuing virginity. Nevertheless, Simon falls in love with the witch he rescued.

The enemies that he and Estcarp must confront have invaded Witch World via a gate similar to the Siege Perilous. The alien Kolder are technically advanced, with submarines and mind-control devices that they use to command their zombie soldiers.

Estcarp's only allies are the Sulcarmen, seafaring warriors and traders who lose their main port of Gorm to the Kolder. Simon, his friend Koris of Gorm, the witch he rescued from the Hounds of Alizon, and a youthful soldier called 'Briant' tread the mysterious byways of Estcarp and its warring neighbors, in an attempt to track down and destroy the technically superior aliens.

"Web of the Witch World"--WWW (1964) is the sequel to "Witch World" (WW) and continues the story of Simon Tregarth and his witch-wife, Jaelithe. They once again find themselves in combat with the alien Kolder, who invaded Witch World through a gateway from their own dying planet. The Kolder were temporarily stymied in the WW, but Simon and his fellow warriors know that they must somehow close the gate between worlds before there will truly be an end to the alien evil.

Witch-ruled Estcarp must do battle with her own neighbors as well as the aliens. Yvian of Karsten declares open war against the witches, and they in turn believe that he has somehow been tainted by the Kolder. The Hounds of Alizon, seething with hatred against all things magical must also be tamed.

WWW is a book of battles as well as a continuation of the love stories of Simon and Jaelithe, plus pale Loyse and the sea-faring Koris of Gorm. The plot is complicated and exceptionally bloody for one of Norton's novels, but she weaves most of the plot together in the end--leaving just enough unfinished business with Alizon, the sea-faring Sulcar, Karsten, and Estcarp to bewitch the reader through many more novels.

"Year of the Unicorn"--This is my favorite Witch World novel among the many five-star novels in this series by Lifetime Grand Master of Fantasy, Andre Norton (Alice Mary North). Each setting, each character is illuminated with clear description and color, like scenes from a medieval Book of Hours. Even though I first read this book in 1965, I can still close my eyes and see Gillan and the ancient Dame Alousan gathering herbs in the high-walled garden of Norstead Abbey. I can see the twelve and one high-born maids riding forth from the Abbey - the twelve and one maids who were promised as brides to the Were-riders of the Waste.

The heroine, Gillan realizes that she is not meant for the quiet life of her vowed companions. She possesses a magic that is forbidden to the goodly Dames, and a restless curiosity that is stifled behind the stone walls of the Abbey. And so she rides forth, disguised as the bride who had threatened to kill herself rather than marry a Were-rider. In order to survive, Gillan must rely on her unschooled magic to separate illusion from reality, and true love from the snarling masks of the Were pack.

"Year of the Unicorn" is a grand adventure, a love story, a coming-of-age novel set like a jewel amidst the fantastical Dark and Light of Norton's Witch World. `Unicorn' veers away from the `mainstream' WW adventures of the Tregarth family ("Witch World", "Web of the Witch World", "Three Against the Witch World", etc.), but it is perfect in its own setting (the Wastes and Dales of High Hallack), and in its own right.

Norton was one of the first women and one of the best fantasy writer's around, and her recent death was a great loss. Her 'Witch World' stories were my entry into fantasy & sci fi--however, that was at age 8 or 9. I've passed this book on to my daughter, and perhaps that's what the above reviewer should do, or some other younger reader.

I kept opening this book and reading a few pages at a time but never found myself wanting to read further. I kept thinking surely I'll get more interested if I read just a bit further. For now I've quit reading it and am not even done with the first book in this set.
The story sounds and starts off like something I think I would enjoy. A man gets transported to another world where Witches exist and has to adjust and find his way. Sadly though the premise is more exciting to me than the actual work.
Perhaps if I'd just read a few more pages..