This is a YA coming of age/quest novel very much in Andre Norton's classic style. Not too original, but some good plot twists. It definitely can be read on its own, though I suppose technically it follows a couple other volumes, one of which is THE SCENT OF MAGIC.
Andre Norton blocked out the plot for this book, but the writing was done by Jean Rabe. I have not read any other books by Norton, but I have read one other Rabe, and I have decided I just don't like her writing style. The characters irritated me, as did the use of first names in every single sentence, sometimes three times within a paragraph. No one but Horatio Cane uses names like that.
Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.
Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.
Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.
Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.
This was Andre Norton's last book. Unfinished at her death, it was completed by Rabe, a friend of Norton's, from her notes. I didn't get the impression that Norton was anywhere close to finishing the book, but that's okay.
Young Wisteria, called Eri, has natural magic, which she is trained in by the witch Nanoo Gafna. One day she is out hunting for the village, and when she returns, it is to a scene of devastation and bloodshed. The only person left alive in the village is the Nanoo's other apprentice, a young girl named Alysen, whom Nanoo put an invisibility spell on to protect. Alysen bitterly tells Eri that it is all Eri's fault that the village was slaughtered, that the armed band of men led by Lord Purvis, were looking for Eri, to kill her because of her magic. Regardless of Alysen's anger, Eri feels the responsibility to bring the younger girl safe to the witches' settlement before going out for revenge.
This setup is fine, if not terribly original, but then, an inordinate amount of the subsequent plot has to do with the girls' dealings with a random supernatural creature that they encounter in the wild, which has not much to do with anything, and doesn't really go anywhere.
Young Wisteria, called Eri, has natural magic, which she is trained in by the witch Nanoo Gafna. One day she is out hunting for the village, and when she returns, it is to a scene of devastation and bloodshed. The only person left alive in the village is the Nanoo's other apprentice, a young girl named Alysen, whom Nanoo put an invisibility spell on to protect. Alysen bitterly tells Eri that it is all Eri's fault that the village was slaughtered, that the armed band of men led by Lord Purvis, were looking for Eri, to kill her because of her magic. Regardless of Alysen's anger, Eri feels the responsibility to bring the younger girl safe to the witches' settlement before going out for revenge.
This setup is fine, if not terribly original, but then, an inordinate amount of the subsequent plot has to do with the girls' dealings with a random supernatural creature that they encounter in the wild, which has not much to do with anything, and doesn't really go anywhere.
Andre Norton blocked out the plot for this book, but the writing was done by Jean Rabe. I have not read any other books by Norton, but I have read one other Rabe, and I have decided I just don't like her writing style. The characters irritated me, as did the use of first names in every single sentence, sometimes three times within a paragraph. No one but Horatio Cane uses names like that.
Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.
Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.
Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.
Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.
