Andre Norton published four books in her Moon Singer series: "Moon of Three Rings (1966); "Exiles of the Stars (1971); Flight in Yiktor (1986); and "Dare to Go A-Hunting (1989).

"Exiles of the Stars" combines Norton's SF Free Trader and Forerunner themes, with some magic mixed in to add weird undertones. These aren't the stodgy (but wonderful) free traders of her 'Solar Queen' series. The crewmates of the starship 'Lydis' are edgy, shape-shifted mutants with extra-sensory powers. Krip Vorlund, one of the first-person narrators was once human, but got relocated into an alien Thassa body in "Moon of Three Rings." He couldn't go home again, so to speak, because his original body was spaced. The second narrator, the Moon Singer herself (who switched Krip then got switched herself) inhabits a sort of large-clawed, dog shape in 'Exiles,' but retains her intelligence and at least some of her esper powers.

The Forerunner theme weaves into the mix when the 'Lydis' sets down on the planet, Thoth in the Amen-Re system, which happens to be particularly rich in Forerunner artifacts. 'Lydis's officers seal a bargain with Thothian priests to transport some of the alien treasure to the planet Ptah for safekeeping (Thoth is in the midst of a nasty civil war). So far so good. But shortly after lift-off from Thoth, the 'Lydis' has to make an emergency landing on the uninhabited planet, Sekhmet.

Almost as soon as she touches down, the 'Lydis' comes under attack.

Krip Vorlund and the former Moon Singer, Maelen set out on a rescue mission through the ancient, underground ways of Sekhmet, where they encounter jackers (space pirates), Patrolmen, ghosts from their own past, and yet more Forerunner super-technology.

The Moon Singer books are not my favorite Nortons. They are a thematic hodge-podge, and it's hard to love a hero and heroine who inhabit non-cuddly alien bodies with super-human powers. However, if you are already a Norton fan and are particularly fond of her Forerunner novels (I think the very first one was the 'Solar Queen' adventure, "Sargasso of Space"), read "Exiles of the Stars"--but only after you've finished "Moon of Three Rings."

is an excellent read. With this book she continues the story begun in her other book titled: Forerunner. Engaging, and a very good read, Andre Norton keeps the pace up and the reader riveted until the last page. If you like Andre Norton's other works, I suggest purchasing this one too.

There are a couple of plot devices in books I tend to avoid: the amnesiac device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to remember who he or she is; and the mind-swap device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to get back into his or her original body.

Unfortunately for Ramsey Kimble his original body is back on Earth, dead and buried. In the alternate universe that had been troubling his dreams, the body he now inhabits is supposed to be dead, too, but there was a hitch in the plot to murder Kaskar, crown prince of Ulad. Thus Ramsey wakes up on a bier surrounded by flowers, candles, and guards who have been spelled into statues.

There is magic afoot in Ramsey's new world, and plots to murder or manipulate the new Kaskar-returned-from-the-dead. He must quickly sort out his friends from his enemies. His ability to dream true in this new universe makes him the wild card in any scheme to seize the throne of Ulad.

Ramsey-now-Kaskar has become the Knave of Dreams.

Norton tells a rousing, tightly paced adventure. My only problem with "Knave of Dreams" is the reason for the original body-exchange. Instead of swapping Kaskar into Ramsey's body and causing him to die in a car crash, why didn't the plotters just hold a pillow over his face or drown him in a butt of Malmsey?

Mildred Downey Broxon, Lin Carter, Marylois Dunn, George Alec Effinger, Gregory Frost, Joseph Green, Linda Haldeman, R.A. Lafferty, Shariann Lewitt, Brad Linaweaver, A.R. Major, Mary H. Schaub, and Lynn Ward.

For practical purposes, this picks up where _Star Ka'at_ left off. Jim and Elly Mae were adopted by Tiro and Mer, respectively, and rescued from the threat of atomic war on Earth along with refugee cats (descended from Ka'ats who were stranded on Earth thousands of years ago). These two children show potential for learning the abilities of Ka'ats - Elly Mae in particular has a greater talent for mind-send than humans have shown for hundreds of generations.

After being taken to Zimmorrah, the Ka'at homeworld, in suspended animation, they are processed much like the rest of the newcomers. They're decontaminated, given their own quarters, and sent to school. Here the curriculum is centered around learning to use psychic talent, something even Ka'ats have to be taught, and important facts about dangerous animals and the like on Zimmorrah - for instance, the abandoned city of the Hsi, another intelligent species that once shared the planet. Cause of death - xenophobia, which flared up at the discovery that Ka'ats were an intelligent species. All Ka'at technology was originally derived from Hsi technology (any questions about how Ka'ats manage a spacefaring civilization without hands are covered by this volume).

As it turns out, though, the machines that the Ka'ats now operate by thought will not work for the children. They are dependent on the older Ka'ats even for the food they eat. Then Jim has the idea of running away to explore the old Hsi city...

The children's rash decision to try to enter the old city can be explained (considering that they're only about 10 years old), and they quickly discover that it was *not* a good idea. There are other points that can't be explained away quite so easily, though. The senior Ka'ats explained very carefully to Mer and Tiro in _Star Ka'at_ that they would be held responsible for the children's actions, so the conclusion of this book seems too painless, even if you accept how easily some really dangerous situations were resolved. Also (nitpicking, now) why did the ship land, let the kids out, *then* call them back inside and move to the landing facility? Why not just go through decontamination in the first place?

All in all, this is an OK sequel to _Star Ka'at_ (which is the best book in the series to date).

As recounted in _Star Ka'at_, the Ka'ats discovered Earth thousands of years ago as they explored the galaxy. They befriended humanity, some of whom could 'hear' and understand their mindspeech, and some Ka'ats settled on Earth. After many years and wars in which the humans who could communicate with them were killed, the Ka'ats had to abandon Earth in the face of human persecution, stranding some of their own kind in the process.

Upon their cautious, secret re-exploration of Earth in the present, the Ka'ats, alarmed at a human political situation that might lead to nuclear war, began systematically evacuating as many of their people as they could - all the cats whose mindspeech was clear enough to understand the rescue summons. But in the process, two Ka'at scouts - Mer and Tiro - found two human children, Elly Mae and Jim, who had enough innate ability at mindspeech to be capable of full partnership with the Ka'ats, and the scouts adopted the children, insisting that they, too, be rescued. (Both kids were orphaned, one very recently, and without family, so this was OK with them.)

In the other volumes of the series, we've seen some of the trouble that the kids have had adjusting to life on Zimmorah, but, of course, the cats were able to settle down happily with no problems, right?

Wrong. The Elders are alarmed that some cats form a distinct subculture among their people: hunters with a taste for sport in a world where hunting is culturally unthinkable, who refuse to completely abandon the uncivilized ways they needed to survive on Earth. Having had a terrifying reminder, while reconnoitering Earth, of the dangers of factions coming into conflict, the Elders now propose an experiment: that some of the Earth cats should join an expedition to re-establish contact with a long-lost Ka'at colony on another world, where dangerous situations may make their survival skills valuable.

Mer, Elly Mae, Jim, and Tiro accompany the expedition as well, to find a world on which the plant and insect life no longer quite matches their records; the insects are now of gigantic size! (Many of the insects are unimaginatively similar to familiar insects on Earth, making it relatively simple for the explorers to identify dangerous ones and think of ways to cope, at least at first).

The surviving descendants of the Ka'at colony, when found, need help. (They don't want to be evacuated, by the way.) Apparently the Ka'ats weren't the only explorers who thought this world would be a good place to settle...

This volume is narrated by Kemoc Tregarth, for whom Jaelithe asked at his birth that he be a sage. "...Though the thirst for learning has ever been in me...I have done no more than nibble at the edges of knowledge's rich cake, liplicked the goblet rim of true wisdom. But perhaps to know one's limitations is, in itself, a kind of sagecraft." A promising beginning, but Kemoc isn't given as much to work with as I'd like in this story.

Kemoc, the 2nd of the Tregarth triplets, picks up where Kyllan left off in _Three Against the Witch World_, after a brief recap. (The ending of the book, as you might begin to suspect, indicates that Kaththea will conclude the story in _Sorceress of the Witch World_.) Each of these 3 books can stand on its own, since each tells a different story, but this is the weakest of the three, since it not only has to tell its own story, but bridge the gap between Kyllan's story (the cool one about the flight from Estcarp into Escore on the night of the Turning) and Kaththea's (about her recovery from the events in this story).

Just as Kyllan brought in allies from Estcarp in the previous book, Kemoc sets out on a journey to rouse the various peoples of Escore (using the term a bit loosely). Many of the more interesting entries on the map of Escore come from this book - Kemoc meets the Mosswives, who send him to the seer Loskeetha, for instance.

Some interesting tidbits in this book lay the groundwork for other books in the series. We have our first glimpse of Ha-Harc, the ruined city near the Valley of Green Silences, whose story we will hear in _Trey of Swords_, as well as our first meeting with some of the characters who feature in that story.

As it happens, we don't get to see much of any one place on Kemoc's journey; his primary concern is with his sister, Kaththea. She is a particularly tempting target for the forces of darkness, being Witch-trained but not under the final seal of the Jewel Oath. The bad guy who's after her here, unfortunately, carries an aroma of Villains-R-Us - no real personality, and what little we know of his background isn't fleshed out. It's hard to care about him.

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.

I am so used to Andre Norton using just the right amount of details to stimulate my imagination and then leaving it up to me to fill in, that I found this book very draggy. It wants to tell you everything and leaves nothing to the imagination. I have never read anything by Susan Schwartz but if this is her effect on Andre Norton's work I don't think I will. Sorry, I like Andre Norton's style. And, while she collaborates well with some people, I don't feel that this is one of those times.

I think the subject matter is fascinating . However one cannot help but be somewhat disappointed by the amount of time spent describing ....thirst in the desert. I agree that tragedy and suffering are an integral part of this story......but only part. Having suffered through this morbid tale I was forced to finish the story because I purchased the book.

The scenario promised an exciting tale by a master storyteller, unfortunately the delivery was disappointing.

Andre has strayed from her usual space epics and this is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I was unable to put it down and went from cover to cover in a little over three hours.The story is very authentic and adheres to the known history of the roman legions. I felt as though I was another of the warriors in the battles and the camps. I have almost every book that Andre has written and this one was another of her best.

I had just finished Norton's and Lackey's "Elvenborn" when I picked up "Wind in the Stone", so I had high expectations. From the start, I was unimpressed, particularly with the writing style. Probably Norton was attempting to write in a Shakespearean fashion, but it came off seeming awkward and rather detached. Throughout the book, I felt no attachment to the characters and didn't particularly care whether or not the villain triumphed in the end. The plot itself had countless holes where Norton could have expanded upon the story and the characters, but she missed these opportunities time after time. On top of that, the weak plot that was actually present was unable to hold my interest, and I found myself struggling through each paragraph, wishing it were over. By the end, all I was hoping for was a descent conclusion to make amends for the rest of the book, but I was denied even that; the end left me with no sense of satisfaction - except that I had actually struggled through to the finish.
For a seasoned author like Norton, this book came as a tremendous disappointment. The story was ultimately a cheap rip-off of "Elvenborn" with the same plot except written dispassionately and awkwardly. This was the first book I had read that was written solely by Norton, and it will be a long time before I read another.

How I treid to finsh it! I couldn't get past the first 70/80 pages or so. the only part that interested me was Irasmus. I wanted to find out more about him and his thoughts. The narrative is sometimes confusing and it is hard to empathize with the characters. It is very hard to get ino the book

I have read the rest of the reviews impatiently .Wind in the Stone is a perfectly good book.True ,it begins slow ,true Norton did put some pointless stuff in it ,but overall it was good.At first I thought it would be horendous as the previously written book ,Scent of Magic,but it was fine.As I always do when I read one of Norton's best ,I enjoyed the creatures that Norton invented .Especially the Sasqua and the gobbes.Her villain is hateable ,her characters loveable,the plot enchanting .Here is the plot :Irasmus ,the evil magician assaults the valley with his gobbes.The Dark was driven out long ago by the Wind (in this book Wind is a powerful substance)but now it has returned .Irasmus brutally attacks a family with a woman with two twins,one boy one girl .Irasmus catches the boy but not the girl .The girl ,Falice flees into the wood with her Mother .Her Mother dies but she lives and is adopted by the Sasqua,the inhabitants of the wood .When she grows into a young woman ,the Wind tells her that she must overthrow Irasmus and free her brother.