Andre Norton

All Cats Are Gray (2000)

A short, in fact it qualifies more as a short story than most anything else, quick read. Interestingly enough, the fact that all Cats are gray has nothing to do with the color of the cat, but the fact that they see in gray scale. Still it was a wonderfully fun read and is going to lead me to read...

Three Hands for Scorpio (2007)

I have to admit that I really didn't like this book.The idea sounded really cool. I hadn't read any Andre Norton before, but since she's one of the preeminent fantasy writers of all time, I wanted to give her a try. However, it turns out Three Hands for Scorpio was her final book, written when sh...

Red Hart Magic (1982)

I accidentally read this last book in the series before the other two (gasp!) but I don't think it makes a difference since they don't seem to have any discernible connection running through them in terms of continuity.Once again, the magic in this book is ...inscrutable. Norton doesn't bother to...

Gates to Tomorrow: An Introduction to Science Fiction (1973)

Catseye (1984)

Troy Horan lives in the Dipple, where the refugees of the war were dumped -- and left when the peace treaty signed away their worlds. His father had enlisted in the war, and his mother died when the Big Cough struck. Troy is still trying to eke out a living as casual labor, rather than sign a c...

Fur Magic (2006)

This is typical Andre Norton’s coming of age Science Fiction Books. It is about a young boy named Cory, who has left the state of Florida When his dad goes to the air rescue unit in Vietnam, and his aunt Lucy went to assist her grandmother recover from her operation in San Francisco. Rather than ...

Star Born (2007)

Star Born is the exciting sequel to The Star Are Ours. After a nuclear was, a small band of Free Scientists breaks free of the Dark Age being imposed on the shattered Earth by Pax. In a sleeper starship some fity humans escape across space to a world they name Astra to disappear from the pages ...

The Warding of Witch World (1998)

Wow, Andre hauled out all the old stories and characters from Estcarp, Escore, the Dales, High Hallack, and Arvon for this book. It's really like three individual shorter stories with a framework to hold them all together.Am also going to have to go back and read the first two books of the Secret...

Elvenborn (2003)

Star Soldiers (2002)

I enjoyed this book and found it to be a relatively fast read. Star Soldiers is actually an omnibus of two books set in the same universe -- Star Guard and Star Rangers. The first book is set some time after Earth has ventured into space and made contact with the rest of the galaxy. It turns ou...

Wraiths of Time (1992)

This book is one of the reasons I kept reading Norton even after I began to realize her (not particularly thickly disguised) cruelty.I had never heard of Meroe before I read this book, and it led me to further research on the subject. I've always had great respect for Norton's knowledge of the b...

The Time Traders (2012)

The first of a series, Time Traders feels like two novellas forced into one package. The first "novella" features the protagonist's induction into a covert operation into humankind's early history in order to discover artifacts left by aliens in a van Daniken-like scenario. There is a cold war ov...

Spell of the Witch World (1977)

The cover blurb of my copy of Spell of the Witch World is deceptive. After three paragraphs of effusive – but general – praise and comparison to Tolkien, the final one explains “[h]ere you will meet the twins, Elys, the witch-sister, and Elyn, the warrior-brother – and the pact that drew both int...

Star Hunter (2006)

This is an interesting story which could be developed much better. As it is, the ending feels too abrupt and the whole story rushed. A hotshot pilot turned star hunter (think safari guide on inter-planet scale) holds a grudge against a wealthy family whose representative crippled him as a result ...

The Crystal Gryphon (1985)

The Crystal Gryphon is the story of Kerovan, heir to the throne of Ulmsdale, who, thanks to the circumstances and result of his birth, is set apart from the regular folk in the Dales. When Kerovan’s mother gave birth to him she did so sheltered in a ruin of the ‘Old Ones’, mysterious folk who onc...

Uncharted Stars (1983)

Uncharted Stars by Andre Norton Un charted Stars is the superior sequel to the Zero Stone and continues the adventures of Murdoc Jern, itinerant jewel dealer and his companion, Eet the mysterious mutant born from a ship’s cat. Eet is not merely a mutant but is the reincarnation of an alien from...

Return to Quag Keep (2006)

Year of the Unicorn (1977)

I'm going back and reviewing the actual editions I have. I'm pretty sure this is the first edition (at least the first Ace paperback edition). The cover art and internal art are credited to Jack Gaughan, who illustrated other books by Norton.My copy is in very poor shape--which is not uncommon ...

Sword In Sheath (1985)

Lavender-Green Magic (1975)

This book held true to the magic and wonder I remember from reading it as a child. Now revisiting it as an adult I am no less impressed and enchanted than I was as a child. Andre Norton is an excellent story teller, and although her writing reflects popular usages of the time, now, 40 years later...

The Prince Commands (1983)

Ten Mile Treasure (1981)

The Shadow of Albion (1999)

Gryphon in Glory (1983)

Not bad. Of course there's a lot of romance-novel stuff which I ate up as a youngster, but it's got a nice variety of plot elements.Joisan and Kerovan are supposed to be married; but Kerovan has rejected her in order to protect her from the fate following his magic-imbued birth defect. Joisian ca...

Leopard In Exile (2002)

Scarface (1948)

Snow Shadow (1979)

The Jekyll Legacy (1991)

This novel gets off to a bit of a slow start, all over-long scene-setting sentences marching in a row in a rather self-conscious manner, but it soon hits its stride. Young Hester Lane, transplanted from Canada to England, finds herself face-to-face to with moral corruption and a troubling legacy....

Yurth Burden (1978)

This book evidently started out as a short story. Arguably, it should've remained a short story. The second part is effectively unrelated. It might as well have had different characters.The ghosts in this story are products of a terrible accident. Their disquietude is as irrational as the att...

Time Traders II: The Defiant Agents / Key Out of Time (2001)

Wheel of Stars (1991)

If I've read this before, I have no recollection of it. I hope the blurb copy is as inaccurate as such descriptions often are.Well, yes and no. This book combines a fairly detailed and interesting description of winter in New England with a totally unnecessary superimposed (ancient) disaster/re...

Time Traders III: Echoes In Time / Atlantis Endgame (2002)

Android at Arms (1987)

While flawed in many ways, this book moves from a slow start to a compelling ending.This is a story in two halves. The first half involves a disparate group of prisoners, coming to their senses on an abandoned, automated facility where it appears they've been kept so that they can be replaced by...

Moon Mirror (1989)

Breed to Come (1973)

This book was the first Sci-Fi book I ever read, and it hooked me on the genre. This book starts with a being searching for game, and finding evidence of an invader. He makes his way back to the caves of his clan, where he reports on the trouble. Unfortunately, this also happens to be the time of...

Horn Crown (1981)

Fulsome (and inaccurate) blurbs to the contrary, this is definitely not one of Norton's better books. Many of her books recycle common settings, themes, etc--this is one. That said, it's the only real novel set during the settlement of the Dales of High Hallack, and provides necessary prequel i...

Warlock of the Witch World (1978)

I toyed with giving Warlock of the Witch World (henceforth, WotWW) two stars because, compared to its predecessors, I didn’t enjoy reading it as much but the last third of the book and a conceit that I realized while writing this review redeemed it somewhat.Three Against the Witch World, the imme...

Octagon Magic (2005)

Came across this in the bunch of books from Half Price books that were donated for my students' summer reading. Lorrie comes to the US from Canada to live with her aunt when her grandmother becomes ill. Her aunt is a busy career woman, so leaves her to her own devices or, worse, to the care of a ...

Lost Lands of Witch World (2004)

Elvenblood (1996)

The second book in the Half-Blood chronicles begins slowly. It is a year after the revolt and we begin in a new location with new characters getting ready for a fete. If I heard anymore about choosing a dress for a function by an elven lady I may just have whipped that CD in the audio-book out th...

The Elvenbane (1993)

When I was a pre-teen I loved the book, now I recently re-read it and was a little disappointed. The world that the authors created is fascinating and although a lot of people complain about the intimate details about small and inconsequential things I am a glutton for description and world-build...

Imperial Lady (1990)

This is a fantasy that takes place during the Han dynasty in China, detailing the story of a young woman who must present herself to the Emperor as a potential wife-to-be and gets lost in the shuffle of Palace politics. She ends up traveling much further than she ever intended or wanted, but for ...

The Key of the Keplian (2001)

Iron Butterflies (1980)

Ride Proud, Rebel! (1981)

The Gate of the Cat (1988)

Merlin's Mirror (1975)

I felt bad for Merlin by the end of this book, all he wants is advancement for the human race (which had happened before his time) and to reach for the stars. The question between Merlin (Sky Lord) and Nimue (Dark One) is if humanity is ready to do so and stand on their own. The answer is obviou...

Wizards' Worlds (1989)

The Zero Stone (1985)

Talk about opening in medias res. Jern appears fleeing for his life from the killers of his mentor -- a cult called the Green Robes, which usually avoided off-worlders, this time selected "randomly" for human sacrifice two of them, a gemologist and his apprentice Jern.Jern's father had been deep...

Rebel Spurs (2007)

The Civil War over, the South defeated, Confederate scout Drew Rennie leaves Kentucky for the small frontier town of Tubacca, Arizona, in search of the father who he has never seen and thought was dead. Hunt Rennie, known as Don Cazar, runs a thriving ranch, despite the attentions of Apaches, ban...

The Jargoon Pard (1983)

I'm writing reviews to the precise editions I have, because exact content varies between editions: not always the front cover picture, but also supplemental material, maps, etc.The 1974 edition is presumably the 1st paperback edition, and the reverse of the title page follows the title with (in ...

Trey of Swords (1979)

Trey of Swords returns to the original setting of the series: Estcarp and Escore. Prior to the events in this novel, the children of Jaelithe and Simon Tregarth broke the geas which had blinded the Old Race to the existence of their homeland Escore to the East. With the geas broken, however, the ...

White Jade Fox (1975)

I know I've read this before, but I retain very few memories of it. About all I can say right now is that Norton must at one point have been to the port at Baltimore (and/or museums pertaining thereto), since it features in several of her books (usually as no more than a transit point).There's s...

Velvet Shadows (1980)