This book is a sequel to the two books in the "Beast Master" series (NO resemblence to the movie/TV version, which is good) about the discharged stellar commando Hosteen Storm. As with many other recent books by Norton, she has a co-author here, who probably wrote most or all of the book.
In general the style of Miss Norton's old SF novels is kept too, but the writing seems a little different, and the dialogue less natural.
The attempt to update the technology with lasers instead of blasters does not work for me, sticking with the original would have been better. Similarly, the discussion of how Earth was "burned off" makes no sense.
The other break from the original is that the Xiks are back as a power, albeit a constrained one. I got the impression the Xik worlds were destroyed from the originals. In the final fight with the Xik "aper" in the first book Storm distracts him by taunting him that he is alone, his home destroyed. But I guess that wouldn't be PC these days.
Overall a decent read, but not as good as the original.

After my experience with other Norton series resuming with a co-author (Solar Queen's new books I read and quickly shelved to gather dust; Time Agents I enjoyed and re-read) I was a little concerned when I saw a new Beast Master book due out. Could they recapture what I loved in my all time favorite of Norton's SF?

They did. Yes, there is a new character, a female character, and a beastmaster herself. But she's not just a female version of Hosteen Storm. Tani is a well-developed independant character, with her own distinct personality and past. Everything fits in with the pevious books. And the danger is suspenseful and well handled.

I would have enjoyed this book even if it was not part of a series, but to see Storm, Logan, Brad; Surra, Baku, and Hing; all of my favorites - portrayed as I remembered them and in a story that kept me interested to the end was wonderful. And we even got to see more about the planet and its natives;and a bit more on the history that brought things to where they are.

There's another book in the series coming, and I eagerly await it. It's very hard for a writer to bring in a new partner and resume an old series. But Norton and McConchie pulled it off in grand style with this one. Bravo!

One of the very first Andre Norton titles I ever read, more than 25 years ago as a 7th grader, was a science fiction story titled "Lord of Thunder", featuring Beast Master Hosteen Storm and his furred or feathered companions Baku the eagle, Surra the dune cat and Hing the meerkat. It was set on a desert planet called Arzor peopled with a fascinating mixture of humans and horned natives called Norbies, along with their wilder, more formidable cousins the Nitra. I became hooked on Ms. Norton's writings, and have been a major fan of hers ever since. In fact, I just did an inventory of her books on my shelves, and counted exactly 100 of them. This includes "The Beast Master", the first of the Hosteen Storm series.

For those who do not know her work, Ms. Norton is positively legendary in the sci-fi/fantasy field. Born in 1912 as Alice Mary Norton, her first published work was (I think) in 1939. In those days, it was not considered proper for women to write science fiction, so she took on the pseudonym Andrew North and, later on, Andre Norton. Here we are now, some 64 years later, and she is still writing, at the age of 91. This in itself is most remarkable. True, her recent works tend to have co-authors, but this is true of younger writers as well. Anne McCaffrey, another of my favorites, comes immediately to mind.

Unlike some other reviewers on this page, I do not in any way believe Ms. Norton's mental abilities have declined one whit with age. With my brand-new paperback copy of "Beast Master's Ark" in hand, I began a marathon session, rereading the first two books of the series, then plunging directly into the new one. One thing that struck me at once was the stylistic continuity. I know Ms. Norton's voice very well, and it rang true. Co-author Lyn McConchie may have helped out, but I don't see how she could have done the bulk of the work. Not unless she's an excellent mimic.

Granted, given the forty years since "Lord of Thunder" came out, there have been some changes in the terminology used. None of the writers of the '50's and '60's, it seems, could have dreamed of the tremendous advances in computer technology and genetics which have developed in recent years. These, extrapolated into the future, play an important role in this new story. And "lasers" have replaced "slicers", but what of it?

One thing which has always struck me about Ms. Norton's work has been her emphasis on tolerance and harmony, both between the races of humanity and between humans and the other intelligent beings in the galaxy. She has to have been one of the very first writers in her field to delve into the (still very relevant today) themes of overcoming prejudices. Hosteen Storm is a full-blooded Navajo, and other major characters are also of Navajo or Cheyenne extraction. This plays an important role in all three of the "Beast Master" novels, as in how Native American spiritual values mesh with those of the Norbies. I cannot say for certain how accurate Ms. Norton's portrayal of these beliefs are; I can, however, say that she has always treated them with the utmost respect.

And what of Tani, the new female character introduced in "Beast Master's Ark"? I have no objections to her at all. She was completely believable and sympathetic. Both Storm and Tani have similar issues: they are in a sense incomplete. Both have their animal companions, but Storm has a problem: what to do about mates for Baku, Surra and Hing? Terra (Earth), their homeworld, has been fried to a cinder by the evil Xiks. Beast Masters have very close bonds with their companions. What will happen when these grow old and die, or meet with an untimely accident? This has happened already with Hing's mate, Ho. And Storm himself is a bit of a loner. Where will he find his counterpart?

Tani, on the other hand, is an orphan. Her father was a Cheyenne Beast Master, killed in the war against the Xiks, while her mother, of Irish extraction, driven past the bounds of sanity in her grief, has filled Tani with a hatred of all other Beast Masters, believing that they treat life callously, all too willing to throw it away for all the wrong reasons. Tani's aunt and uncle, master geneticists, have given her a home on the spaceship known as Beast Master's Ark, a vast, traveling repository of genetic material rescued from Earth just before its destruction. But they are absorbed in their work, and do not give her all the attention she needs.

Naturally, a crisis erupts on Arzor which will throw Storm and Tani together. Somehow they will have to overcome their differences, identify the nature of the inimical Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night, and neutralize it. The idea for this ruthless killer, and the driving force behind it, is quite clever. But, as any veteran of 100 Andre Norton novels can testify, the ending in many ways is quite predictable. Still, it left me feeling good, and looking forward to the next installment in the series, "Beast Master's Circus".

In fact, I'm so taken by these characters that I may very well buy "Circus" in hardback, something I very seldom do.

My only regret is that the publishers haven't yet reissued the first two books of the series. For those who can't wait, there are always the used book stores.

I just didn't GET this book...the three ladies who wrote it are, as far as I'm concerned, three of the most important female fantasy writers of all time. Yet I simply couldn't get into this book. The writing styles were just too different, and the story moved too slowly...this is a danger of multiple perspectives: the authors must backtrack to catch "their" character up to the others, and the reader is left slogging through a 400-page mess. I think that if this book had been a little better organized (and the characters a bit more believable) I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it just left me with this vauge headache and the need to go back, re-read certain passages, and finall, put the book down and not come back to it.

this book had me bored to tears. i literally threw this book down a few times wondering when things were going to culminate? everything is tediously described three times by three different characters. three generations of a royal family are seen through three women of this royal house; the old queen, the middle aged heir and the young princess. in that it's pretty standard but instead of moving this story, which at its heart is wonderful, every scene is retold through each character's eyes with barely any variance.

this story of a kingdom threatened by an invading emperor who lusts for conquest sounded pretty interesting to me. his son, who the reader finds quickly is really loving and wishes for peace, is in this kingdom to help conqueror it. the three main characters, through who the story is told, are the queen, the heir and the young princess. the queen is aging and must pass on the throne but cannot when they are all forced to flee into hiding by the invaders. this summary is brief but the story is closely connected with the characters and i don't want to hand out to many teasers.

at the begginning of the book i was intrigued by the idea of this mystical kingdom with hidden secrets and mysterious rituals but by the third chapter i was wondering when something was going to happen to already. "tiger burning bright" hints that angels may play a very important role but then abruptly ignores the subject leaving the reader wondering why the lengthy description if they play no real role?

chapter after chapter is devoted to what every character is thinking, feeling, wearing and what they plan to do but never actually do. build up is all well and go and i am a never ending fan of suspense, holding it as critical part of a story but between three authors one would think that all this suspense was leading somewhere.

the long awaited ending was something i wouldn't call overly original, reading instead like some trashy romance novel. i knew who would end up with who by the fifth chapter and kept wondering when it would happen already. though many like the story line and i found i liked certain scenes or detail/ideas in the book overall i found it a dissappointing if not completely tiresome read.

Once again, three of the leading science fiction/fantasy authors have shown their mettle. The characters in this book are both believable and riveting. It is so refreshing to see strong women in leading roles in a story which does not depend on their gender to move the story. I would hardily reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys books about intrigue, fantasy, adventure or human relationships for it contains elements of all these. I read the book in one night because I literally could not put it down without having the urge to pick it back up

Now when I spotted this book, I thought it would actually be worth reading. Yeah, right. I hate Simon. I hate him with a passion. He was a lackluster character made by a ghetto character designer trying to sell the character for a rock. I did like 'Albino Chick' as I affectionately dubbed her who was a really good character unlike some people. Mainly because she acted like a real person. This author doesn't write in an interesting fashion and it's really really sad when you skip through all the parts just to find parts with 'Albino Chick.' The plot idea was okay but you'll probably fall asleep before you finish reading it.

The first Witch World novel was published in 1963 so this book almost marks the 40th anniversary.

In her Introduction, C. J. Cherryh refers to Norton's Witch World novels as "the good stuff". She is right. I am so pleased to have this omnibus collection of the three seminal Witch World novels although it can never replace my tattered old Ace paperbacks with the Jack Gaughin covers. It even felt a little odd to be reading clear text (minus some of the typos that Ace was notorious for) on a white page instead of the yellowing pages of the acidic paper of these old books.

However, I found myself just as caught up in the story of Simon Tregarth, the tarnished war hero who stepped through a gate ahead of an assassin into the world of Jaelithe, the Witch of Escarp, as I have ever been. The story of these two who fight, along with Koris of Gorm and Loyse of Verlaine, to try to preserve the ancient world of Escarp from the advance of the Kolder, is played out against a vivid background of cultures such as the Falconers, who value their hawks far more than their women; the Sulcar, valient seagoers; and last but not least the matriachal Witches who rule the land of Escarp through the power of the jewels and their minds.

The third book is Year of the Unicorn. It is set in High Hallack, a land of dales and small holdings. High Hallack has been torn by war with Alizon from overseas. This story is set after the war has been won when the Dalesmen are faced with meeting a bargain they made during their most desperate hours with a people they feared, the Were riders.

The premise is the barter of 13 brides for the services of the Were Riders against the hounds of Alizon. The heoine is Gillian, who also came from overseas on an Alizon ship as a child, but not of Alizon. The hero is Herrel who does not fit into the mould of his kinsmen and thus has suffered all his life as an outsider in a very close knit group.

Published in the 60's these books have not aged a bit and are as fresh as the first time I picked them up.

"Witch World". Of Cornish descent, court-martialed former US Army Colonel Simon Tregarth seems on a path to certain death due to his recent activities when he meets Dr. Petronius. The odd doctor introduces the desperate American to the world of his Cornish ancestors, which enable Simon to escape his earthly fate through the gate to Witch World. However, Simon quickly lands in a war against the powerful Kolder, who makes the Nazis look like pre-school children.

"Web of the Witch World". The Kolder continues to menace Simon and the witches he has vowed to keep safe, but the coven he wants to protect seems reluctant to accept him. To save his brave new world, Simon and a witch must journey to their enemy's stronghold and accomplish the impossible by defeating the Kolder in their home turf.

"Year of the Unicorn". In far removed from the war Norsdale, a bored Gillan obtains what she always desired, but soon learns that wishes that come true might not be what one really wants in life. Now she is embroiled in an adventure of a lifetime that probably means certain death for her unless she can enable the power within her to come alive.

THE GATES TO WITCH WORLD is a compilation of three of the best science fiction novels of the twentieth century. These books deservedly made Andre Norton a household name in the early sixties and yet the tales retain the freshness that enthralled readers then and will fascinate a new audience with its exciting plots and engaging characters.

Harriet Klausner

The characters and settings were a bit simplistic making the novel more suited to the junior reader. Ethnic characterizations however, are the weak point of the novel and some readers might find them politically incorrect.

When their father is reported missing in action in Viet Nam, Holly, Judy and Crock find their entire world changed. Their mother is forced to take a job where she cannot keep them with her and they are sent off to stay with their grandparents in a small New England village.

Near their grandparent's home is an overgrown garden shaped into a maze. Compelled to explore, they discover that it is a door into a bubble in time.

While Norton's books for younger readers tend to be more didactic than her books for young (and old!) adults, she makes an effort to include touches that her older readers would appreciate and enjoy. In this book which deals with magic, mystery and time travel, she tucks in a message about tolerance and accepting responsibility for one's actions. She also does not provide a pat happy ending (which children often see through and reject in books meant for them) but she does offer hope to her young characters that their situation would improve.

FROM THE COVER: A World of witches, rare herbs, and a curse are quickly discovered by Holly and the twins, Judy and Crock, when they move away from their comfortable home in Boston to live with their grandparents at the rural, rundown "Dimsdale place".... Inspired by a dream - or was it some kind of supernatural command?-the three children set out to explore the neglected, overgrown garden at the edge of the property, where they find and enter a secret house - and another century!!!...

I don't think so. Andre Norton's Witch World books got me hooked on the genre so many years ago. It's hard to believe that she has lent her name to this poorly written book.

The premise was promising, and I had high hopes after the first book that the characters would take on a life of their own, and pull me into their world. Sadly, that didn't happen. Norton and Miller can't seem to decide who their protaganist is, or even who major characters in the story are. Are we supposed to like or dislike the queen? We know Ashen is important, but why should we care about her? She is supremely uninteresting. Much time is spent explaining why characters do the things they do (a hallmark of poor writing) because no development has taken place that would allow the reader to infer motivations, or even personalities.

It's a shame. In the write hands, I do believe this could have been an interesting story, with characters who live and breathe, and make you care about what will happen to them next.

Knight or Knave is the second novel in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan series. In the previous volume, Ysa's magic has brought Zazar, Ashen, and herself together for introductions. The Sea-Rovers have settled New Vold in Ashenhold lands. Ashen Deathdaughter and Obern have been brought to Cragden Keep by Count Harous, who gives Ashen gifts and hints of her mother. The Bog-folk have begun to attack Rendelian lands. King Boroth has died, after claiming Ashen as his daughter.

In this volume, Florian has become the King, succeeding his father, and, under pressure of his mother and various nobles of the court, has married Rannore, whom he has made pregnant. Ashen meets Queen Ysa and moves into Rendelsham Castle. Ysa sends a messenger to New Vold to inform Snorri know of her son's wedding, to let him that his son, Obern, is alive, and to invite him to visit her at a later date. In the unseasonable cold, the Bog-folk have taken to attacking New Vold for food.

Ashen has met a priest in the Great Fane of the Glowing, who informed Obern and herself of the history of Rendel. Meeting again in the fane, the priest, Esander, shows her a great library hidden deep under Rendelsham which contains many volumes of magical lore. As directed by Zazar, she does not yet attempt any of the magics, although she studies the lore diligently.

Snorri arrives in time for Florian's wedding and, after the ceremony, he tells Obern of the death of his wife, Naeve. Upon discovering that Ashen has been abducted, Obern mounts a rescue effort and then asks for her hand in marriage; his request is granted. After the wedding, Ashen meets the new emissary of the Nordens, Gaurin, son of Count Bjauden, who tells her that his father has never returned from his mission to Rendel and that she wears his father's bracelet, which she had found on a skeleton in some ruins within the boglands. He takes the bracelet, breathes on it -- which causes it to glow briefly -- and returns it, telling her to put it on and think of him if she is ever in need on anything. Obern and Ashen travel to New Vold, where she meets his son, Rohan.

In the northlands, ominous forces are gathering. The Foul One is preparing for the invasion of Rendel.

Some reviewers seem disappointed that this series is not like the Witch World or Time Traders series. Yet those series were intended as juveniles for the most part, whereas this series is for more mature readers. Those series were mostly focused on singleton or paired characters, whereas this series deals with a larger cast of interacting protagonists. Hints of this series can be seen in the tales of Escore, High Hallek, and the Dales, and especially in the Gryphon stories. Indeed, Shadow Hawk, one of Norton's earliest stories, is a tale of courtly intrigue.

Recommended for Norton and Miller fans and anyone who enjoys court intrigue in a fantasy setting.

Make sure read the first book first or you will be lost.
Pay attention or you will be lost.
If you do all of the above this book will be the best, most enjoyable book you've ever read!

A good book but not as good as others in her Witch World series. An easier read than many of the books in the series and is true to her style of good conquering evil but the stories are a little too mellow from the Norton I first read years ago. The suspense is much shorter lived than in many of her earlier works. Evil never really seems on the verge of triumphing as it always did, you just seem to know that everything is going to be all right in the end. Add to this the fact that there are too many characters instead of the concentration on one or two that was characteristic of the Norton of old and you have a very tame book. There is no empathy because you never really get to know the players in the game. Still, a lesser book by Andre Norton is better than many an author's best effor

To critique an Andre Norton book, one must critique Ms. Norton. She is a most remarkable and compassionate woman, the very finast of story tellers ( every sentence and page are action-filled with no "apologetic"explanmatory paragraphs that insult the reader's intelligence and delay the plot; every page continues the plot with no meandering and, Ms. Norton knows how to end a story. It crescendos to the end; it does not dribble. She, and the 100+ books she has solo-authored aremagnificent.Ward of the Witch World continues this tradition. Most all the characters and locations from other epics are brought together, and there are at least three separate tales combined; a feast for the Witch-World lover. The characters are well vexposed, internally and externally. Thwew is perhaps more "spirituality" accorded to them but it does not slow the plot pace. Each sentence is so packed with the explanmatory verbs, adjectives and gerunds. New is the flavor of romanmce between several of her characters; not awkwardly as some of her co-authors have attempted, but "neatly". Also, there are still threads left untied, hopefully allowing for further Witch Word stories.

The reason I adored this book is that Mrs. Norton answered all of my questions from every short story, novella, and novel that I have read of the witch world. The characters are already friends of mine from the short stories I have read. When I read SAND SISTER I wondered if I would ever know what happened to them. Well here they are again! It is wonderful to get closure on all of my friends. I wondered what happened to Hillarion and Kathrea it is great to know they are still alive and the timeline is finally evident to us. The sulcar and the falconers are some of my favorite characters and they are here!!!! Good luck, Good reading, and God bless!!

Elaine McTyer

I had high expectations of this book, as I've read a lot of Robert Bloch's work and enjoyed it. The book is very well-written, but a bit slow. Jekyll's niece, Hester, doesn't recieve her inheritance until after more than half of the book has passed. It is interesting to see what happens to the original book's surviving characters, such as Poole and Utterson. But simply too much time is taken up by Hester getting upset over slum conditions and (after getting rich) buying herself new dresses. And the ending was a big disappointment, too simple and totally unbelievable.

This books suffers in comparison with the literary giant it spawns from, but Norton and Bloch manage to create an entertaining murder mystery that also happens to examine how little times have really changed since Victorian England and Mr. Hyde's unfortunate appearence.

This is a collection of short stories. They each have a different theme but the common thread of the book is that what starts out to be a disaster or problem ends up being the best thing to happen to that person. This is a good book for the young adult but as an older person I found it a bit boring.

Just so you know: this short story collection is no relation to _Moon Called_, _Moon of Three Rings_, _Mirror of Destiny_, or even the Janus series' Mirror of Thanth.

"Desirable Lakeside Residence" - So says the sign beside the lake: one of the few remaining on the continent, where people need breathers to venture outside on the streets of cities. But something strange has been happening to it, ever since a geologist's rock collection - including lunar samples - was dumped in.

"How Many Miles to Babylon?" - A girl in our world, after suffering an apparent mild concussion in an accident with her boyfriend's motorcycle, might be developing some form of ESP.

"Moon Mirror" - Set in a world not seen before or since. This one isn't quite satisfying, although it's well written; it leads to the attempted opening of a gate, but the finale isn't really an ending. To my knowledge, the missing continuation of this story hasn't been provided in any other story to date.

"One Spell Wizard" - The only Witch World story in this book, and with a much more humorous note to it than many of its companion stories. Saystrap isn't a total failure as a wizard, but he simply can't cast a spell that will last longer than a day or so. But he's fed up with living in a cave, and takes on an apprentice to better his lot. Not for more serious spell casting, but for a sideline in fraudulent horse-trading that requires an accomplice. :) Alas, even apprentices develop minds of their own...

"Outside" - See also the earlier, shorter version "London Bridge" in _The Book of Andre Norton_. This novella-length revision tells the tale from the viewpoint of the little sister rather than the tough older brother, in a world of domed cities, walled off from the pollution and desolation outside, where the adults were lost years before to plague. As I said for "London Bridge", check out _The Girl Who Owned a City_ if the basic storyline interests you.

"Teddi" - The narrator and his little brother Joboy, two of the ever-rarer 'Nats' in a world of Littles, have been trapped, as Joboy dropped Teddi in a field during a scavenging trip out in the fields, and went back at the wrong moment to get him. The 'Nats' (naturals) are the original unaltered human stock, after laws were passed that everyone had to go through genetic alteration to become 'Littles' (a draconian solution that helped ease some of the problems of limited living space and resources). The Littles, it turns out, want slave labour - Nat children being easier to transport and direct than heavy machinery on the new planet they're colonizing. The Littles failed to take all the facts into account, though...

"Through the Needle's Eye" - Also appears in _High Sorcery_ (see my review for details).

"The Toymaker's Snuffbox" - The toymaker in question was content with his lot, and when he found a small elf woman weeping within one of his dollhouses, he insisted that it must be a dream. But he helped her out of kindness (a witch had stripped her of her hair just before a great ball, and the toymaker was quite capable of making a wig to suit). Not satisfied with his reply that he wanted no payment, she left him a gold snuffbox; and when war came and he lost his business, it proved to be more than met the eye. This really ought to be a well-known classic fairy tale, but it hasn't been anthologized much to date.

For those who have read and enjoyed the early Time Trader books (The Time Traders, Galactic Derelict, The Defiant Agents, and Key Out of Time), this book will be an enjoyable extension, with just enough difference in emphasis to remind the reader that this is no longer Ms. Norton writing alone.

After some (somewhat slow) preliminaries that help re-establish this series into a somewhat more modern time frame of post-Cold War, the story picks up the loose ends left by Galactic Derelict, with a new expedition to the final destination of that book. Although their ostensible mission is to find the missing members of an earlier Russian exploration team, the book quickly turns to unraveling the mystery of how and why all the current time denizens of the planet appear to be devolved representatives of earlier highly civilized species.

The is the best aspect of this book, as in working out the mystery, there are some fascinating portrayals of multiple different species working within an overall society that may be the ultimate in enforced harmony. There is far more emphasis here on the real sciences of the cultural, anthropological, linguistic and biological variety than was present in the original books, and the basic plot provides for quite a bit of suspense and surprise, invigorating this tale with page-turning expectations. The mind-twisting consequences of time travel are reasonably worked out here, although without really answering the basic paradox inherent in time travel capabilities.

What isn't quite as good is the basic characterizations, usually one of Norton's stronger points. Ross Murdock and Gordon Ashe don't quite seem to be the people they were in the earlier books, and most of the Russian contingent seem very sketchily drawn. Murdock's relationship with his new wife Eveleen seems very artificial. However, Saba, a new character for this book, is very competently drawn, and she pretty much carries the book.

Stylistically, this book tends to more complex vocabulary and sentence structure than Ms. Norton normally uses, which I have to attribute to her collaborator. This added complexity seems to help add some muscle and a believable tone to the story.

A competent tale and a worthy new entry to the Time Trader series, a series that helped establish Norton as one of the premier writers in the SF field long before women writers became fashionable.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Time Agents Ross Murdoch and Eveleen Riorden are enjoying their honeymoon at the home of fellow agent Gordon Ashe in Safe Harbor, Maine when the emergency call came. The next day a helicopter arrives to take them back to the Project Star Center.

When the newlyweds arrive at the home base, they are introduced to Colonel Zinaida Vasilyeva of the rival Russians. Zinaida explains that a scientific team jumped back in time on the planet Yilayil and vanished. A combined American-Russian team will be sent back to land one century past the date the Russian scientists leaped. Ross, Eveleen, Ashe, and the Russian are to learn what happened and whether the malevolent Baldies are involved in radically changing this planet.

Andre Norton & Sherwood Smith continue to revive Ms. Norton's classic science fiction series. The duo successfully "modernized" the Solar Queen novels and now turns to the Time Traders books. ECHOES OF TIME is an entertaining tale that stays with the essence of the original series, but updates the Cold War rivalry into a more nineties perspective. Though needed, this technique slows the tale down a bit until the time travelers begin their journey into the past as the plot turns into a science fiction mystery. At that point in time, the novel turns into an exciting adventure that will electrify fans of the grandmaster Ms. Norton and have new readers search for some of the original tales.

Harriet Klausner

Around scifi conventions I've heard FIREHAND referred to as so godawful it's the perfect example of why not to buy a collaboration, and after looking at its cliche romance, its pointless plot and stupid villains, I had to agree, so I avoided these collaborations until I was given this one.

I really like how the authors have upgraded the fifties science of the old ones, and given the characters some complexity. Even the bad contributions from Griffin were included and given some life. I hope there will be more.

I really wanted to like this book.The problem is ,I didn't.It was just so terrible.It didn't get anywhere,the characters were impossible to understand,and it was so filled with pointless stuff,so that by the end when they faced the bad-guyes,there was virtually no room left.
God knows why I finished this book.I suppose it was because Norton is one of my all-time favorites.But she really blew off on this one,god knows why she thought we care about Mahart;or Willadene.If you actually want Norton books that are good,read Wind in the Stone,Breed to Come,or the Elvenbane.This book is a waste.

Andre Norton is one of those rare authors who can continue to create new characters and settings in well developed plots. The present book introduces Willadene, a bedraggled waif fostered to a distant cousin to work as a scullery maid in the cousin's inn. Her future prospects are scant, with the cousin wanting to give her in marriage to a bloated drunkard of evil character who frequents the inn - a typical medieval notion of an arranged marriage. But Willadene's sensitivity, which makes her ill working in a tavern kitchen, turns out to be an asset to a dealer in herbs and cosmetics, and even more of an asset to the Duke's household.

Events carry Willadene into a grand and dangerous adventure. The Duchy is infested with evil which must be rooted out. She becomes involved with the Duke's daughter, the chancellor, a visiting prince, and "the bat," as the story moves forward to an action filled climax. The story seems to jump forward in a few spots, and switches between actions of different characters, but overall it's a good tale.

This was my first Andre Norton book and I must say I liked it very much. Scent of Magic is a return to classic high fantasy-- with an interesting premise of people having the power to smell evil. Young scullery maid Willadene is elevated into the highest society of court for her special powers...but she is caught in court intrigues that go deeper than just evil. When the high lady Mahart is taken, Willadene sets out on a journey with the spy Nicolas to rescue her. Through all is woven scentes, both evil and good, and a story of a miraculously scented flower.

The court intrigue was done quite well, though I felt that Sherwood Smith's Court Duel did a better job. The only major quibble I had with the story was the flat characterizations. Willadene and Mahart were not very well developed at all, and I would really liked to have seen more of the elusive and enigmatic Nicolas. Still, the plot is almost enough to make up for that lack. If you like the genre of high fantasy, you will find Scent of Magic enjoyable.