Lost Lands of Witch World

This review was first published on Kurt’s Frontier

Synopsis:

Three Against Witch World:

Simon Tregarth (a man from our world) and his wife Jaelithe (former Witch of Escarp) have had many adventures. Now begins the adventures of their children, the triplets Kyllan, Kemoc, and Kaththea. After their parents disappear when they were young, the Witches of Escarp take Kaththea to train her as a witch. The witches harsh training regime will destroy their unique bond. Her brothers must bide their time. Escarp’s southern neighbor Karsten threatens the border and even with the witches’ power, they don’t have the strength to stand off a full-fledged invasion. The witches are left with no choice but to summon dangerous powers. Meanwhile Kyllan and Kemoc discover a possible escape route—the east. They notice that people in Escarp have trouble thinking of things to the east of the great mountain range. They use the distraction of the witches’ attack on the southern border to free their sister and flee east.

Once over the mountains, they discover the strange land of Escore where legends of their childhood stories walk. A land blasted by ancient magic and with its own problems.

Warlock of Witch World:

Enemies are on the move in Escore, and the people of the Green Valley have summoned their allies. At the council comes Dinzil, a chieftain of the highland people. Kaththea is quite taken with him, but one of her brothers, Kemoc, can’t stand him. He knows of no reason he should dislike this person but can’t shake the feeling something doesn’t ring true.

He serves an emissary to the water people, the Krogan. On his return trip to the Valley, enemies attack Kemoc and his ambassador. He uses a power he didn’t know he had to ward off the attack. Upon his return to the Valley he goes the western border to retrieve more refugees from Escarp. When he gets back to the Valley, he finds that Kaththea has gone with Dinzil. Fearing treachery, he goes off in pursuit with the aid of a Krogan girl, Orsya, and faces dark powers and dark treachery from one most dear to him.

Sorceress of Witch World:

After nearly being snared by the dark warlock Dinzil, Kaththea was saved from her brother, but at the cost of her power. Fearing that she will be a weak point in the defenses of the Valley, and a danger to her two brothers, she sets out on a quest to regain her magic. She finds Utta the wise woman of the Vupsall clan. Utta trains her to be a seer for the clan and binds the unwilling Kaththea to the clan. Upon Utta’s death, Kaththea works with her awakening powers to undo the magical bonds that hold her to the clan.

When raiders attack the clan, she frees herself and escapes through a gate to another world. It is a world unlike the one she knows, and she must use her abilities to free the captives from her world from a new kind of power.

Review:

Anyone who reads my reviews, knows I have a special fondness for Andre Norton. The Witch World series is among my favorites. Lost Lands of Witch World contains three novels, Three Against the Witch World, Warlock of the Witch World, and Sorceress of the Witch World. It follows the adventures of the children of the famous Simon Tregarth and his witch wife, Jaelithe: Kyllan, Kemoc, and Kaththea. They were born of a single birth and shared a unique telepathic bond with each other. The bond is threatened by the witches of Escarp, who want to train Kaththea as a witch. To escape, the three must go where the witches cannot follow—east. It is a direction no one in Escarp can even think about. In the east, they find the land of Escore.

What follows is a series of adventures by each of the triplets told in the unique style of the late Grand Dam of Science Fiction, Andre Norton. The series is a must for any who love high fantasy.

Science fiction doesn't get any better than this!