Customer Reviews

Dukes Ballad

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can say without hesitation that my all-time favorite Andre Norton title is "Ciara's Song". Given that I have 105 Norton books on my shelves, I've read nearly everything she's done.

I've lost count of the number of times I've read "Ciara's Song" over the years since it came out in 1998. I fell in love with the warm, believable characters: Ciara and Trovagh, his father Lord Tarnoor, also Aisling and Keelan, the grandchildren of Ciara and Trovagh. And, of course, a big, 35-pound telepathic cat named Wind Dancer, the product of a union between a house cat and something mysterious she encountered up in the hills. I have a very vivid mental picture of Aiskeep and the valley it guards, along with its people.

In fact, I had only one complaint about "Ciara's Song": it ended too abruptly. Aisling, being of the Old Blood, had inherited certain powers which she didn't know how to control. Her, and Keelan's, older brother Kirion wanted the power for himself, but there was one catch: whereas it tends to manifest itself readily in girls and women to one degree or another, it rarely manifests itself in boys and men. So, after combing through many books of nearly forgotten lore, Kirion devised an evil way to steal power from those who had it, usually to their destruction. Aisling would be a particularly tempting victim, if only he could catch her.

So, the book ended with her fleeing into the neighboring land of Escore, with Wind Dancer to protect her along the way. There she would find people to help her control her gift. Kirion, frustrated by a mountain blizzard, had no choice but to turn back.

And there it remained for seven years. I'd read and reread the book, always wondering when Norton would finish the tale.

Now, it's quite rare for me to buy a book in hardcover, but "The Duke's Ballad" was definitely worth the price. Waiting another year or two for the paperback would have been unbearable. I don't consider it a sequel so much as the long-delayed conclusion to a single story. They could easily form a single volume.

"The Duke's Ballad" picks up three years after the end of "Ciara's Song". Aisling has learned, from the Adept Hilarion, just about everything she reasonably can without benefit of practice. She and Wind Dancer are both homesick. Then there's the problem of her evil brother Kirion and his puppet, the Duke Shastro of Karsten. Someone has to stop them before they completely ruin the country, plunging it into yet another disastrous war with its northern neighbor Estcarp. As we learned in "Ciara's Song", Karsten is a land plagued with instability, with clans warring against each other in blood feuds, endlessly wrestling to put one of their own onto the ducal throne.

And then there's the problem of those people who keep disappearing -- to feed Kirion's power lust, or Duke Shastro's more conventional, but perverted, appetites.

With a geas laid upon her, a sort of magical compulsion, Aisling returns to her homeland and meets up with Keelan and another young man, Hadrann ("Rann") of Aranskeep, who has his own reasons to fight Kirion and Shastro. It will not be easy. Aisling has to be very discreet in the use of her power, or Kirion will capture and kill her, and all will be lost. He already knows she's in the country, and his spies abound.

Of course, we get to meet all of our old friends in Aiskeep, a very welcome reunion. But much of the action takes place at the ducal palace in Kars, the capital city. There's plenty of intrigue to go around as the protagonists seek their enemies' downfall. Indeed, just about the time it all starts to wear a little thin, our heroes get away from the city for a bit of a breather -- but nothing ever goes according to plan.

Of the two main villains, Duke Shastro is by far the more complex of the two. Kirion is just plain evil, and utterly beyond redemption. But what of the Duke? He's a tormented soul, with ugly, nasty appetites, true -- but he can also be very generous to his friends, including Aisling (in disguise). Not only that, but he likes cats. Is there some way Aisling can save him when the inevitable showdown comes? Only time will tell.

Just as the title "Ciara's Song" isn't explained until the very end of the book, so it is with "The Duke's Ballad".

Of course, given Andre Norton's extremely advanced age (she was born in 1912), most of her recent works have been collaborations. It is probably not a coincidence that "Ciara's Song" and "The Duke's Ballad", along with "The Key of the Keplian" (also set in Karsten and Escore) and the two latest "Beast Master" novels, have all been co-authored with Lyn McConchie, and most of these also rank in the top ten of my list of Norton favorites.

In fact, based on what I've learned over the past couple of years, I suspect that McConchie is doing most or all of the writing, merely borrowing from Norton's universe with her blessing. That's fine with me. I'm looking forward to anything else she writes or co-authors, especially in the "Ciara/Aisling" story line.

While "The Duke's Ballad" fairly neatly ties the ends of the story together, there is always room for sequels. I'm hoping more will be coming.

In the meantime, I will continue to read "Ciara's Song" and "The Duke's Ballad" over and over, savoring every word.

The writing was not what I expect of Andre Norton. Too many gaps and information that is disjointed. Whether this is a consequence of collaboration I don't know. I felt this should have had a strong editor to point out where things should be tightened. For example - at the start we know Kirion has sent people to capture his sister. The book covers over 2 years, but you hardly hear of this again. I cannot imagine the sorcerer would just have let it drop.
I am a long-time fan and retired children's librarian. Sic Fi & fantasy is my favorite genre, but this one I had to push to finish. Unsatisfying.

I've read all of the Witch World books, including Ciara's Song, and was looking forward to the finish of the story about Ciara's grandchildren. What a disappointment! The entire story is flat and uninteresting for the most part, and the few points that could have been fascinating were not well-developed, e.g. Aisling's relationship with Shastro, and the development of her romantic relationship with 'Rann. Kirion is two-dimensional-totally evil without any qualities the reader might want to explore, and even though he is her brother, Aisling writes him off in the beginning of the story- there is never any real struggle with having to destroy a sibling.

There are also two or three almost inexplicable chapters in the middle of the book that really don't advance the plot at all- regarding the winter rescue mission at Aiskeep. Quite a lot of time and elaborate writing was done to take us through that, but I kept asking myself- What in the world did that have to do with anything that happened before or after? It was like reading: "What I did on my winter vacation".

Many of the difficulties that the main characters must surmount are treated too superficially, so one gets the feeling of having a 'taste' but not being satisfied by the full feast that Witch World should be.

Three years before, Aisling had fled Kars and her evil brother, Kirion--who sought to drain her power for his own purposes. Now, she is a trained mage and ready to return. As she re-enters Kars, a geas overtakes her--she must somehow rid her nation of her evil sorceror-brother and the Duke whom Kiron has put in place and sustains with his magic. Along with a second brother, a family friend, and a cat, Aisling comes in disguise to the Duke's court where she waits her chance to confront her brother and end his evil.

Fortunately, Kirion and the Duke are prepared to cause plenty of troubles for themselves. The Duke demands that Kirion charm multiple women to fall for him--and then discards them. It's bad enough when the women are poor or foreign, but when he starts seducing the daughters of the great nobles, their reaction requires the use of more of Kirion's magic. Over time, both the Duke and Kirion come to wonder whether the bargain that holds them together might be more costly than it is worth.

Set in Andre Norton's Witch World universe, THE DUKE'S BALLAD remains loyal to this tradition--and the traditional emnity of Escarp's surrounding nations with their hatred of any holding the old blood and witch powers.

Author Andre Norton is a longtime SF master. Her Witch World series remains among the most popular and best of the SF from the 1960s and 1970s. Norton now teams with Lyn McConchie to extend this franchise.

THE DUKE'S BALLAD certainly does not live up to the standards set in the best of Norton's Witch World series (in my opinion these are the original Witch World and the Three Against Witch World trilogy), but it is not the worst either. If readers can outlast a relatively slow start--with characters who tend to repeat themselves, they are treated to a solid fantasy in a fascinating world. Sure it's basic good vs. evil stuff, but Norton/McConchie do introduce some ambivalence and at least hint at the horrors of siege and warfare.

The Duke's Ballad (2005) is a Fantasy novel in the Witch World Chronicles series, following Ciara's Song. In the previous volume, Aisling escaped Lord Ruart with the help of Temon and fled across the mountains to Escore. On the way, she was wounded by a walking boulder and needs the healing mud of the Green Valley.

In this novel, Aisling has visionary dreams of returning to Karsten to protect the duchy from her brother Kirion. She has learned as much as she can from the adept Hilarion and is ready to return. Even Wind Dancer is homesick for his mother Shosho.

Hilarion declares that she has a geas to remove the magical influence of the blood-sorcerer Kirion. He sends word to his agents in Karsten to bring horses for her journey. Aisling packs and departs the Green Valley with Hilarion and other escorts. On the way to Karsten, they purge a new outbreak of the Dark Powers and then ride for the border.

After leaving her escorts, Aisling walks onward until she finds two men waiting for her. When they give the wrong countersign, she attacks them and binds them securely. Then she searches for the true agents.

When she finds the thoroughly bound Hadrann in a half-cave, she tries the password again and gets the correct response. He tells her that the other two had ambushed him and his companion. Hit with a slung stone, he had lost consciousness. When he regained his senses, his enemies were torturing his companion, who told almost all except the correct countersign.

Aisling interrogates the two enemy agents and learns that they are working for Kirion. Since they know too much, Rann slits their throats and digs a grave. Placing them into the grave, Aisling and Rann cover them in bedding and pile rocks and soil over them. While Wind Dancer had detected a "here I am" spell on one of them, Kirion will see only darkness through his eyes.

Aisling and Rann travel cautiously to Aiskeep, disguising their horses and themselves. Even Wind Dancer looks like a common cat. As they approach the keep from the backside, Aisling is seized by a man and held fiercely. Rann prepares for battle as he moves toward them, but is dissuaded by Aisling's declaration that this is her brother Keelan.

This novel tells of Aisling's efforts to undermine the influence of her brother Kirion and his puppet Duke. Disguised as Hadrann's cousin Murna, Aisling moves into the Duke's palace and becomes a member of his court. Although plain looking and a better rider that the Duke, he comes to like her for the common sense manner that she displays in thought and speech.

Meanwhile, Kirion is having troubles of various sorts. For one thing, he is running out of people with magical talents to drain for his own use. Another problem is the activities of the coastal clans; they are upset with the magical conversion of their women into Duke Shastro's ardent lovers as well as the deadly coincidences that are killing off their leaders.

Highly recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of magic, intrigue and loyalty.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Kirion as sorcerer to the ruling Duke Shastro insures that his liege gets what he wants. When he "pimped" girls from the old city using his ability to make his victims believe they love and in turn are loved by the Duke, no one in power cared, but when Shastro turned to the young at court trouble is brewing.

Meanwhile Kirion's sister Aisling comes home after a three year self imposed exile to elude her sibling while learning under the tutelage of an Adept to use her talent. Besides dreams that insist she must return to Kars, she feels she must do what is right to rid her homeland of her brother and his unfit ruler. Before she and her companion, the telepathic steed Wind Dancer, arrives at her home, Kirion takes their kingdom to war against their neighbor. As a stark winter makes matters worse, Aisling and another brother manage to gain entry into the court. As Kirion abuses his power and position leaving the people in dire straits, Aisling realizes she needs an ally, but no one except perhaps the perverted Shastro is in a position to help.

THE DUKE'S BALLAD is a typical Andre Norton fantasy thriller that is fun, exciting yet paints a good vs. evil canvas in which Aisling is pure heroic angel while Kirion is malevolent incarnate. The support cast adds interest to the tale especially Wind Dancer and Shastro as two unique characters. The story line is fast-paced and filled with adventure so that Ms. Norton's Witch World fans will enjoy this collaboration with Lyn McConchie that returns fans to this mystical plane for the first time in several years.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up this book before I realized that it was part of a series. Although the books stands okay alone, I feel that others rated it highly because they were already attached to the characters. I was not, and while reading, did not become attached to any of the characters. The romantic (if you could call it that) relationships were contrived and without a spark of passion. Aisling could have been a great character, but she was underdeveloped. Kirion was also too flat, and his actions were unbelievable. To think that he did not get suspicious of "Murna" and Rann hanging around Keelan all the time? Or their influence upon the duke? or his missing sister? if he was a great and powerful sorcerer couldn't he also feel the geas? This book felt like it was written in a rush. There were places in the story that i believe were only inserted into the story to make it full length (the ratsi scene, the particulars about the cottage that was rented). Perhaps what was most irritating were the blatant errors that occured through the book. In one seen, "Keelan" was referred to as "Kirion" - a pretty dramatic mess up since one character is good and the other evil. "Wind Dancer" was also referred to as "Mind Dancer." Regardless, the cat was not a compelling character either in my eyes. All in all this "epic" fantasy was only epic in proportions of boredom and confusion. There was real potential, however, this attempt fell quite short of a good read.

I love Andre Norton, and have read several of her books. This book can not possibly have been written by her. It is a dissapointing failure. The characters did not inspire any feeling from me. About 80% of the book is about the three main characters, Keelen, Hadrann, and Aisling, sitting around talking about what they needed to do and what they had done. The action was skipped over. The other 20% contained three action sequences. Two of them had nothing to do with the plot and could have been left out alltogether. The third was the ending which took up 10 pages of a 318 page novel. The action scenes were interesting and well written. If only the whole novel had been written that way.

I hate having to leave a bad review for an Andre Norton novel. But, truely, this is horrible. I didn't read the first novel in the series, Ciara's Song, maybe the two novels should have been combined into one. If you are an Andre Norton fan, you may want to skip this one and read another... any other.

Certainly the first page had me tempted to throw the book into the nearest recycle bin! Only trash begins with 'The girl sat mesmerized by fear in the big chair. Please does that interest you in the character? Oh and fear lit her face, excuse me, fear never lights up a face, it drains it of color, makes it ridged, stretches the skin taut against fragile bones. Has this writer ever seen true fear on someone's face? The antagonist calls her a silly child, then launches into a moronic monologue. How corny and melodramatic. All these offenses to the storyteller's art in less than a page! Did Norton truly edit,look or even glance at that first limp opener? I've read better lines in a first grade primer! If I could do so with out causing copyright infringement problems, I would take every page and rewrite the entire thing. Unbelievable what tripe is published now.
Please tell me, in all seriousness, it was just a matter of wanting the royalties from the use of the famous name on the cover. For using a challenging fantasy world created by that well known writer. I could forgive that. I can not if anyone truly thought there was even a hint that this other individual could write anything more engaging than a toilet roll wrapper.
An award winner? It must have been a very low turn out of talent that week. I will not pick up another book by this 'other' writer again. I've read the works of great writers and fair, but this was inexcusable!

This was a good book, not great but worth the money. It has gotten obvious over the last few books that Ms. Norton is not the primary writer, This is unfortunate, but at least it keeps the books coming.