Customer Reviews

Lost Lands of Witch World

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"Lost Lands of the Witch World" is a reissue of the very fine Escore trilogy, featuring the adventures of Kemoc, Kyllan, and Kaththea, the three children of Earth-born warrior, Simon Tregarth and his witch-wife, Jaelithe. The three novels combined in this volume are "Three Against the Witch World"(1965), "Warlock of the Witch World" (1967), and "Sorceress of the Witch World" (1968).

Kaththea Tregarth, born one of three triplets, could link telepathically with her birth-brothers, Kyllan and Kemoc. At an early age, she was forcibly separated from her brothers and taken to the Place of Silence to be trained in magic by Wise Women of Estcarp.

In "Three Against the Witch World" narrated by Kyllan, the warrior brother, the triplets escape from witch-ruled Estcarp to the magical land of Escore. There, they accidentally destroy the false peace that had long abided between the great powers of Light and Dark. "Things awoke and gathered, and the land was troubled..." and the three learn that they must fight with the forces of Light, or be utterly annihilated by the Dark.

Unfortunately, in "Warlock of the Witch World" narrated by Kemoc, the wizard brother, Kaththea is wooed by the fair-seeming Dinzil, who is actually a creature of the Great Dark Ones.

Kemoc sets out to win allies against the Dark among the Krogan, who made their homes in the lakes, rivers, and waterways of Escore. When he returns from this failed mission, there are many other battles to be fought in the now-troubled land. During one such engagement, Kemoc is wounded and is almost captured by minions of the Dark, but is saved by the Krogan maid, Orsya. When Kemoc finally returns to the safety of the Valley of Green Silences, he discovers that his birth-sister Kaththea has ridden off to the stronghold of an apparent ally, Dinzil.

Off he goes on another quest into the magic-troubled land, where he meets with the gnarled Moss Wives, and Loskeetha of the Garden of Stones, Reader of Sands. Loskeetha shows Kemoc three separate futures--all which end in the death of his birth-sister, Kaththea, twice by his own hand!

Finally, she who was once a powerful witch is rescued by her brother, Kemoc, but because of her near-alliance with the Dark, Kaththea is stripped of her magic. No longer can she communicate mind-to-mind with her brothers, nor perform the simplest spell of healing.

A witch without her magic is a very dangerous thing to be in Escore: a vessel waiting to be filled by the Dark. In "Sorceress of the Witch World" narrated by Kaththea, the witch sister attempts to return over-mountain to Estcarp to seek help from the Wise Women, but is caught in an avalanche and then captured by a tribe of nomadic hunters.

Andre Norton is a scholar of Amerindian history and lore, and has incorporated her knowledge in many of her novels, e.g. "Sioux Spacemen" (1960), and "The Beast Master" (1959). The dog-sleds and temporary dwellings of the Vupsall, the people who capture Kaththea, are yet another example of Norton's borrowings from history and anthropology, although this particular Escorian tribe also works metal (maybe a touch of Finno-Ugric, rather than Amerindian).

At any rate, this author's careful attention to detail will bring to life the dimly-lit interior of Utta, the Wisewoman's tent where Kaththea begins to reacquire the magic that was her birthright.

The Dark receives a very satisfying thumping at the end of this fine fantasy trilogy, which does not suffer in comparison with Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books. In fact, my own personal preference is for Norton's Witch World.

As series are finding their way to the Kindle market, Witch World was one that I really hoped would make it. As of this writing, the first three books "Witch World," "Web of Witch World" and "Year of the Unicorn" have not shown up in Kindle editions.

But the second part of that series, featuring the children of Simon Tregarth and Jaelithe is available both as separate stories and as a single file trilogy. "Three Against the Witch World," "Warlock of the Witch World" and "Sorceress of the Witch World" as a collection in "Lost Lands of Witch World" in the Kindle edition is what I am reviewing.

Andre Norton leaves hard core science fiction behind in this trilogy and moves into Science Fantasy. Gone are the space ships and any trappings that might have held the first three books to the science fiction genre. Ms. Norton goes completely into fantasy - as was made popular in the mid to late 60s. But this does not distract from the stories or the works themselves. They were fresh then, and the quality of storytelling has not lost its luster over time.

Ms. Norton created a very unique world in Estcarp. I have always found her ability to write descriptive fiction wonderful and deliberate, moving the reader along in her worlds comfortably. What seems alien at the start becomes a delight to the mind's eye and comfortably familiar. Her characters are well developed, each having a personality we can identify with, drawing us into the story, yet always retaining the adventure that science fiction fans crave. And I love the use of language in her stories - rather archaic but still easy to understand. This strategy for creating an alien world lends flavor to her world through her use of an unusual blending of words and phrases that seem to roll off the characters tongues and has a strange sound to our minds.

And there is plenty of adventure here. We follow the lives of the three children of Simon Tregarth as they grow up after he has disappeared and their mother leaves them to find him. The three children are left to find their own way in the world of Estcarp. They are very special, each having their own unique powers but all bound together. And their future abilities have been pre-determined by their mother.

They eventually have to flee from Estcarp because of their uniqueness and enter into the magical and mystical world of Escore, just over the mountains and through the spell barrier that kept the two parts of the same planet apart. And we find ourselves amongst enchanted creatures, magical beings and a world trying to maintain its balance against the forces of evil.

This is a low tech society, as is common among many of the science fiction writers of that time. We see the battle here becomes swords and magic - technology has but a brief mention in the blasters that are left behind in favor of swords.

The books follow how the magic brought by the three offspring effects the new land, and how they grow, change and fight their way through their new world. There is adventure, romance, magic, and war; just what every science fiction or fantasy fan looks for. Ms. Norton proves she is a weaver of tales in this series - which is why her writings have endured.

There are other books to the series besides the six mentioned, a few of them are available on Kindle. So it looks promising that more of her work will make it to Kindle eventually. The version that I have is free from the plague of spelling errors that appear in many of the science fiction works that were rushed to the kindle market. That I paid for it rather than it being a free version probably has a lot to do with it, but the price is very reasonable for this three book collection.

If you are a fan of Andre Norton and probably read the Witch World series when you were younger, you deserve to treat yourself to a revisit of this world and it's very special magic. If you have never encountered Witch World or Andre Norton, grab a copy and settle in for an adventure you will never forget by a writer who really knows how to weave a story. boudica

Some of Norton's best. Omnibus of the 3 follow-up books on each of Simon & Jaelithe's children from the original 2 Witchworld books. Well written & engrossing. Highly recommend!