Dare to Go A-Hunting [Mass Market Paperback]

Andre Norton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1990

Krip Voreland, interplanetary Free Trader, Maelen, sorceress of the Moon of Three Rings, and Farree, an orphan with iridescent wings, search for the mystery of Farree's ancestry, the secret of this race of winged people known as the Little People and their well-guarded treasure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Farree, the misshapen orphan rescued from the slums of the Limits who discovered his wings in Flight in Yiktor , now seeks his own kind, known only from distant legends associated with a fabled Terran past. With Free Trader Krip Vorlund and the sorceress Maelen, his friends and protectors who have found wings such as his for sale in a market, he begins a journey to his birth planet. There Winglings, Hodlins, Darda and others battle men who would enslave them and steal the treasures long associated with the Little People, whose efforts to save themselves are hampered by treason, internecine warfare and their inability to touch iron. Norton, who wrote about the Faerie in Huon of Horn , takes these mythical people to the edge of extinction in the far future, where she allows her engaging hero to find his destiny.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

For well over a half century, Andre Norton has been one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy authors in the world. Since her first SF novels were published in the 1940s, her adventure SF has enthralled readers young and old. With series such as Time Traders, Solar Queen, Forerunner, Beast Master, Crosstime, and Janus, as well as many stand-alone novels, her tales of action and adventure throughout the galaxy have drawn countless readers to science fiction.

Her fantasy, including the best-selling Witch World series, her "Magic" series, and many other unrelated novels, has been popular with readers for decades. Lauded as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, she is the recipient of a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention. Not only have her books been enormously popular; she also has inspired several generations of SF and fantasy writers, especially many talented women writers who have followed in her footsteps. In the past two decades she has worked with other writers on a number of novels. Most notable among these are collaborations with Mercedes Lackey, the Halfblood Chronicles, as well as collaborations with A.C. Crispin (in the Witch World series) and Sherwood Smith (in the Time Traders and Solar Queen series). An Ohio native, Ms. Norton lived for a number of years in Winter Park, Florida, and now makes her home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she continues to write, and presides over High Hallack, a writers' resource and retreat.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (September 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812547128
• ISBN-13: 978-0812547122
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,742,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars confusing, February 27, 2005

By 

Elise - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dare to Go A-Hunting (Hardcover)

This is the fourth book in the Moonsinger series, following "Moon of Three Rings," "Exiles of the Stars," and "Flight in Yiktor." The first two books are excellent, written in the 1960s and 1970s. They focus on two characters named Krip and Maelen. Andre Norton continued the series in the 1980s with "Flight in Yiktor," where she introduced a new character, Farree, whose story concludes in this fourth novel.

That's one reason why this book annoyed me so much. After becoming deeply involved in the adventures of Krip and Maelen, I was disappointed to find them reduced to boring background characters with no personality. Farree's personality also changed drastically between the third and fourth books, and not for the better. He started out as a sweet, timid person, but in this final tale he is often rude, irrational, and bossy.

This book also has the most confusing plot of the series. Even though I had read all three of the other novels first, I was often totally lost as Farree had one bizarre experience after another. The story would probably be better on second reading, because you would know what all the weirdness means.

Also, now that I've read numerous other novels in this same Forerunner universe, I understand this one much better. I do recommend reading some of them before the Moonsinger series. (Click on my name to see a list of nearly 40 other books in Andre Norton's Forerunner universe, in chronological order.)

The writing in this final installment of the Moonsinger saga is like a hastily scribbled first draft, full of awkward sentences. One of the secondary characters simply disappears in the middle of a battle, never to be seen again, as if the author has forgotten about him. Farree never gives his missing friend a second thought and eventually flies away without him, which does not endear Farree to the reader.

Nevertheless, I recommend this book if you've read the first three, because you'll want to find out how it all ends. This one does fill in quite a few missing pieces of the puzzle. Maybe if you haven't read the first three, you'll like this one, because you won't be comparing it to the superior works that came before. It's definitely best to read "Flight in Yiktor" before this one, though, because that is the start of Farree's story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeking Home, February 25, 2012

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dare to Go A-Hunting (Mass Market Paperback)

Dare to Go A-Hunting (1990) is the fourth Fantasy novel in the Moonsinger series, following Flight in Yiktor. The initial work in this sequence is Moon of Three Rings.

In the previous volume, Dung was standing near the beast tent listening to the agony in Toggor's mind. Two pairs of space boots stop near him. He hears someone speaking in his mind, saying there is nothing to fear.

Then Maelen asks him what is going on. Dung tells her about Russtif using a prod on Toggor to make him fight. She comments to Krip that they have found what they seek.

Krip leads the way into the tent. Maelen asks about the price is for the smux. The beastmerchant agrees to sell the smux for two stellars. Krip pays the man and they leave the tent. However, they leave behind mental instruction on how to open the cages.

Togger lets himself out of the cage and grabs hold of Dung's vest. The scavenger cups his hands around the smux and offers him to Krip. The spaceman tells him to take good care of the smux.

In this novel, Maelen was a Moonsinger of the Tlassa. She could mindspeak to other Tlassa as well as many animals. Then she was exiled from Yiktor, but now has permission to return whenever she wishes.

Krip was a member of a Free Trader crew. He became involved with Maelen and had his mind transferred into a Tlassa body. He went with Maelen into exile and is still with her and the little ones.

Dung was a hunchbacked scavenger on Grant's World. Now he is known as Farree. He has been accepted by the Tlassa and has found that the hunch on his back is a pair of wings. Toggor is still his friend, but now he also has Maelen, Krip and Zoror as friends.

Toggor is a smux, a small fighter. He has two oval body masses, eight legs and six eyes. He has poisoned claws on his forward four legs. None knows from where he has come, but a few have shown up occasionally on Grant's World.

Zoror is a Zacanthan who is well versed in legends and myths within the galaxy. He is helping Farree look for others like himself.

In this story, Farree is squirming on a high stool, suffering from the heat within the room. He might be too polite to mention the warmth, but Toggor emits feelings of overheating. Zoror reaches to the wall, flips a switch, and a swift breeze blows through the room.

Then Zoror continues his comments on myths featuring people much like Farree. He says that most such information comes from Terra and its early colonies. He mentions tales of the Little People and the People of the Hills.

Maelen and Krip enter the room accompanied by a fragrance that arouses Farree. The scent comes from some shimmering material. Then he also smells death on the material.

They all examine the scrap and decide that it is from a wing. Zoror pronounces it to be smuggled material. Krip asks whether it is a forbidden import.

They take Farree to the market and he finds more such material. Farree is able to sense the substance when the trader flees them. They track him down and learn more from eavesdropping on his accomplices.

They learn that one of the smugglers was on Wayland's World five years before. Seeing the constellations behind Wayland, Farree recognizes one that he has seen before. They identify a solar system that might contain a habitable world.

Farree and Zoror accompany Maelen and Krip on their ship to a possible homeworld of Farree's people. They land on the planet and Farree is compelled to fly toward someone calling him. On the way, he meets a flying lizard and a barrier in the sky.

This tale puts Farree in the middle of a war. He meets representatives of the various kinds of Little People, but is considered to be a tool of the Guild. Since the only humans known on the planet are the Guild, his friends are called Cursed Ones and attacked by the locals.

This novel is the last in the series. This novel and the prequel are also available in the omnibus edition Moonsinger's Quest.

Highly recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of fairies, various magics and technologies, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dare to go a-hunting, August 13, 2009

By 

Frances J. Jessup "eclectic reader" (Valdosta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dare to Go A-Hunting (Mass Market Paperback)

If you haven't discovered the late Andre Norton, you are in for a treat ! I have been collecting her books for 25 years ! This one is part of the Moon Singer series and needs to be read in order. Ms. Norton's fantasies are just that--- total fantasy. No sexual descriptions.....little violence, but beautifully written. Her descriptins of characters/ environments are wonderful. Please read her.......