Synopses & Reviews
The Duke's Ballad is the tale of Aisling, a young witch from a family gifted with a magical power that she must protect from her brother, Kirion, who wields magic unlike the rest of the family's. He gains power only by a terrible means: by killing others who wield magic.
Years ago, Aisling fled her native Kars when Kirion, working for the Duke of Kars, tried to kill her. Since Aisling's departure, Kirion has tightened his insidious hold on Duke Shastro. The malevolent sorcerer's dark influence works through Shastro to cast a deadly pall over all of Kars. A fatal chain of events is triggered when Kirion pitches the people of Kars into a war with a neighboring clan.
Aisling recruits her younger brother Keelan and returns in disguise, determined to undermine Kirion's power and unseat his evil pawn from the throne. Accompanied also by a catlike telepathic beast, Aisling becomes part of Shastro's court. But even as she begins to learn the ways of court power, a brutally cold winter besieges the land, testing the endurance of the people of Kars, who have little cheer in that darkest season.
As Kars and its people contend with Kirion's depredations, the warring clan's raids, and the devastating winter, Aisling and Keelan must somehow, through guile, persistence and ingenuity, find a way to avoid the attention of their dangerous older brother, and save the people from his murderous sorcery. Only if they can survive Kirion's terrible power can they deliver the dukedom into the peace and prosperity it once knew.
Review
“A straightforward fantasy about the power of courage and hope and the redeeming value of love.”
--Romantic Times on The Dukes Ballad
“The latest enjoyable entry in Nortons durable Witch World series”
--Publishers Weekly on The Dukes Ballad
"This is one of the better SF series going, with Norton using stripped prose to put her stereotypes through their foredestined rounds. Neat, swift, and strongly detailed. Old fans will dance and howl for more."
--Kirkus on Beast Master's Ark
"One of the most distinguished living SF and fantasy writers."
--Booklist on Andre Norton
Review
"A straightforward fantasy about the power of courage and hope and the redeeming value of love." Romantic Times
Review
"The latest enjoyable entry in Norton's durable Witch World series" Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
"The Duke's Ballad is the tale of Aisling, a young witch from a family gifted with a magical power that she must protect from her brother, Kirion, who wields magic unlike the rest of the family's. He gains power only by a terrible means: by killing others who wield magic.
Years ago, Aisling fled her native Kars when Kirion, working for the Duke of Kars, tried to kill her. Since Aisling's departure, Kirion has tightened his insidious hold on Duke Shastro. The malevolent sorcerer's dark influence works through Shastro to cast a deadly pall over all of Kars. A fatal chain of events is triggered when Kirion pitches the people of Kars into a war with a neighboring clan.
Aisling recruits her younger brother Keelan and returns in disguise, determined to undermine Kirion's power and unseat his evil pawn from the throne. Accompanied also by a catlike telepathic beast, Aisling becomes part of Shastro's court. But even as she begins to learn the ways of court power, a brutally cold winter besieges the land, testing the endurance of the people of Kars, who have little cheer in that darkest season.
As Kars and its people contend with Kirion's depredations, the warring clan's raids, and the devastating winter, Aisling and Keelan must somehow, through guile, persistence and ingenuity, find a way to avoid the attention of their dangerous older brother, and save the people from his murderous sorcery. Only if they can survive Kirion's terrible power can they deliver the dukedom into the peace and prosperity it once knew.
Synopsis
A new novel of the
Witch World Witch World is the most popular and enduring series written by Science
Fiction Grand Master and World Fantasy Life Achievement Award-winner Andre Norton. Since the 1960s, the novels of Witch World have enthralled millions of readers worldwide.
Now Miss Norton has collaborated with Lyn McConchie to write the first new
Witch World novel in more than a decade. The Duke's Ballad is the exciting story of a young sorceress and her friends who struggle, with courage and resourcefulness, against a corrupt and evil lord and his powerful and deadly wizard, to reclaim their native land of Kars.
"A superb storyteller with a narrative pace all her own."
--The New York Times
"Andre Norton is a superb storyteller."
--Chicago Tribune
"One of the most popular authors of our time."
--Publishers Weekly
"One of the most distinguished living SF and fantasy writers."
--Booklist
"This is one of the better SF series going, with Norton using stripped prose to put her stereotypes through their foredestined rounds. Neat, swift, and strongly detailed. Old fans will dance and howl for more."
--Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
The first new novel in the popular "Witch World" series in nearly ten years is set in the land of Kars where a powerful young witch, Aisling, must thwart the duke, a man with evil goals, and his powerful sorcerer.
Synopsis
Andre Norton's
Witch World is the most enduring and beloved fantasy creation by this Grand Master of SF and Fantasy.
The Duke's Ballad is the first new novel in the popular
Witch World series in nearly ten years. In the land of Kars, a powerful young witch, Aisling, returns after several years honing her talent in a neighboring land. The duke, a man with evil goals, is in league with his powerful sorcerer, whom Aisling must thwart if she is to bring their evil reign to an end. Magic, action and intrigue combine for a rousing fantasy adventure.
Synopsis
A Magical New Witch World Novel
Synopsis
Dueling Magics
Born into a family with magical powers, Aisling is a young witch who fights to protect her homeland of Kars. Unfortunately, the biggest threat to Kars is her older brother, Kirion, who has chosen to use his powers for evil, and years ago forced Aisling into exile.
Since Aislings departure, Kirion has tightened his hold on Shastro, the Duke of Kars. Through Shastro, Kirions dark influence works to subjugate the entire realm.
With her younger brother Keelan helping her, Aisling returns, in disguise, to undermine Kirions power and defeat the evil duke. But as Aisling gets closer to Shastro, the Duke takes a liking to her, and she finds herself questioning her mission. But when a neighboring clan lays siege to Kars, Aisling and Keelan realize they must act, lest Kirion bring even more death and suffering to Kars loyal subjects than he has already caused.
Using all the magic, persistence and ingenuity she can summon, Aisling must somehow find a way to avoid the attention of her dangerous older brother, save the people from his murderous sorcery, and return to their Dukedom the peace and prosperity it once knew.
A main selection of the Science Fiction Bookclub
About the Author
One of the most famous science fiction and fantasy authors of all time,
Andre Norton, who passed away in March 2005, was awarded a Life Achievement World Fantasy Award and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She wrote over a hundred novels, including novels in her Witch World, Beast Master, Solar Queen, and the Time Traders series. Her books sold millions of copies worldwide.
Lyn McConchie has written many novels, as well as books about trolls. Her collaborations with Andre Norton include Key to the Keplian, and Silver May Tarnish, Witch World novels and Beast Master's Ark and Beast Masters Circus, SF novels in the Hosteen Storm series. She lives in New Zealand, where she writes --and runs a farm.