Customer Reviews

Yurth Burden (Daw science fiction)

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Two races of people share the world of Zacar: a telepathic mountain-dwelling folk called the Yurth; and a farming folk called the Raski who do not possess the Upper Sense that is a Yurth child's gift from birth.

The farmers hate the telepathic mountain-dwellers and blame them for the destruction of a Raski civilization that once flourished on Zacar. Every thousand years or so a Raski warrior king attempts to annihilate the Yurth, but his armies flee back out of the mountains under the spell of Yurth illusions.

The normal state of affairs is a stalemate between a powerless underclass and a race of peaceful supermen who are clueless as to why anyone should hate them---

At least until the Yurth makes his or her journey to the sacred mountain.

Each Yurth child is expected to go on a pilgrimage as a ritual of passage into adulthood. Some do not return from their journey, and the ones who do come back are burdened with a terrible secret.

When Elossa, the heroine of "Yurth Burden" is called to the sacred mountain, her pilgrimage is complicated by a Raski warrior who trails her into near-death, deadly illusion, and beyond.

Together they learn the secret within a secret that fuels the enmity between their people, but not before the Raski warrior, Stans has made several attempts to kill Elossa.

Read "Yurth Burden" for Norton's eerie descriptions of the Dark king whose hatred long survived the accidental destruction of his people.

Another fine story by Norton, with telepathy again the feature, but this time it is human to human. Animals and aliens are not to be found, and the tale doesn't suffer a bit. This one involves a Yurth girl named Elossa, who has grown up on the planet Zacar, where her people have self-exiled from their forgotten home planet among the stars. A tragic accident wreaked havoc on a large city of Zacar many generations ago, killing many of its native inhabitants, and forever fostering hatred between the Yurth and the native Raski people. A consequence of the accident was the developed ability by the Yurth for the "Upper Sense". Their telepathic ability is not shared by the Raski, who view them as inherently evil. The Raski are viewed as barabarians by the Yurth. And underneath it all are little understood feelings and emotions that are keeping the two races apart, and keeping them locked in a developmental standstill.

A fascinating story unfolds as Elossa makes a solitary ritualistic journey to some mountains, where dangerous mysteries exist. There is also a surprising development which occurs, surrounding the mystery of the accident from so long ago. Elossa's adventure is fast-paced, and many excellent scenes unfold in the heart of the mysterious mountain. Elossa encounters a wandering Raski on the mountain, who is at once thrown into a struggle for survival with her. He seems to be prepared to set his hatred aside for awhile, but can he be trusted? The tension of the uneasy alliance is maintained until the end, and the outcome of their shared search for discovery may clear the way for future hope, or hopelessness for the two races. Norton's writing is predictably good, and her imagination is on full display. This one is short, fast and layered. It was an unexpected pleasure to read, and I enjoyed it as well as any Norton title I have read so far.