The first Witch World story
Simon Tregarth is a man on the run and is facing certain death. So when a fellow offers him a one-way route to a new life, but with no return, Tregarth accepts.
The man leads him to a strange stone gateway that leads to a different world, a world, the man promises, "in which his spirit, his mind—his soul if you wish to call it that—is at home. " But the catch is, "there is no return—and only a desperate man chooses an irrevocable future."
Once through the doorway, Tregarth does find himself in a strange new world. Escaping from being hunted himself, he is catapulted into another hunt. The hunted is not Tregarth, but is a woman dressed in rags and being trailed by men on horseback.
Tregarth, who has a handgun, helps the woman escape her hunters. The woman was on a spy mission and she takes Tregarth back to her home country and introduces him to the leaders of her country, Estcarp.
The woman, who will not give her name, is a witch as are the leaders of her country. They are all women and they are all witches. They govern by consensus and by magic. They all keep their names secret, it is part of their belief that knowing someone's name gives them power over the named person.
The witches are worried. Something is rotten in the world of Estcarp and it has all started in the land of Kolder. Kolder, which has technology strange to the other lands of Witch World. Kolder, which has the ability to turn enemies into weapons to use against their homelands. Kolder, who will find in Simon Tregarth an outworlder who is able to stand against their technological "magic."
This is the first book of Norton's Witch World series. In Witch World, the women of Estcarp are the bearers of magic. To keep their magic abilities, they must remain virgins, because they believe once a woman is deflowered, she loses her powers. Their technology is mainly medieval, with strange exceptions (excluding the technology of their enemy, Kolder).
This was an OK read. The story centers around Tregarth, who was a soldier and a mercenary back home, and who continues that roll on Witch World. The story mainly follows him on his campaigns as he fights for Estcarp.
It's a fun introduction to Norton's style of storytelling and contains many of her trademark themes: ancient alien tech; mysterious ruins that reek of evil; strange, magical abilities; seemingly ordinary people who are not ordinary; creepy, dangerous, evil creatures; foggy marshes and moor; underground installations of unknown origin containing peculiar machines; and loners fighting against the status quo.
Simon Tregarth is a man on the run and is facing certain death. So when a fellow offers him a one-way route to a new life, but with no return, Tregarth accepts.
The man leads him to a strange stone gateway that leads to a different world, a world, the man promises, "in which his spirit, his mind—his soul if you wish to call it that—is at home. " But the catch is, "there is no return—and only a desperate man chooses an irrevocable future."
Once through the doorway, Tregarth does find himself in a strange new world. Escaping from being hunted himself, he is catapulted into another hunt. The hunted is not Tregarth, but is a woman dressed in rags and being trailed by men on horseback.
Tregarth, who has a handgun, helps the woman escape her hunters. The woman was on a spy mission and she takes Tregarth back to her home country and introduces him to the leaders of her country, Estcarp.
The woman, who will not give her name, is a witch as are the leaders of her country. They are all women and they are all witches. They govern by consensus and by magic. They all keep their names secret, it is part of their belief that knowing someone's name gives them power over the named person.
The witches are worried. Something is rotten in the world of Estcarp and it has all started in the land of Kolder. Kolder, which has technology strange to the other lands of Witch World. Kolder, which has the ability to turn enemies into weapons to use against their homelands. Kolder, who will find in Simon Tregarth an outworlder who is able to stand against their technological "magic."
This is the first book of Norton's Witch World series. In Witch World, the women of Estcarp are the bearers of magic. To keep their magic abilities, they must remain virgins, because they believe once a woman is deflowered, she loses her powers. Their technology is mainly medieval, with strange exceptions (excluding the technology of their enemy, Kolder).
This was an OK read. The story centers around Tregarth, who was a soldier and a mercenary back home, and who continues that roll on Witch World. The story mainly follows him on his campaigns as he fights for Estcarp.
It's a fun introduction to Norton's style of storytelling and contains many of her trademark themes: ancient alien tech; mysterious ruins that reek of evil; strange, magical abilities; seemingly ordinary people who are not ordinary; creepy, dangerous, evil creatures; foggy marshes and moor; underground installations of unknown origin containing peculiar machines; and loners fighting against the status quo.
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