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Moon Magic #3-4
Moonsinger's Quest
Two outstanding and moving novels concluding Andre Norton’s legendary Moonsinger series together in one volume. In Flight to Yiktor, Farree is a hunchback orphan in the slum of a tough, lawless world on the edge of the known galaxy. His only friend? A war-beast rescued from starvation and the fighting pits with whom he has a telepathic connection.
In Dare to Go A-Hunting, Farree has discovered a portion of his true heritage as one of the ancient Little People, the Faery Folk, of legend—but so far as he knows, he is the only one of his kind to survive. Then his compatriots, star-traveler Krip Vorlund and psychic sorceress Lady Maelen, run across wings for sale in the market on a distant frontier outpost world—wings that have obviously been cut from the backs of creatures similar to Farree. The origin of the wings points to location of Farree’s birthplace. But others have an acute interesting in locating that place, as well. And those others do not mean the inhabitants well. Now Farree must find and defend a family and people he does not remember, but who hold the key to his own strange destiny.
This volume, #2 in the series, completes Andre Norton’s legendary Moonsinger saga.
About Moonsinger’s Quest:
“Norton. . .takes these mythical people to the edge of extinction in the far future, where she allows her engaging hero to find his destiny.”—Publishers Weekly
About Andre Norton:
“The Grand Dame of Science Fiction…”—Time
“One of the all-time masters.”—Peter Straub
“Andre Norton is a superb storyteller whose skill draws the reader completely into a fantastic other world…”—Chicago Tribune
“Norton's renowned story-telling magic is present in abundance . . .”—Future Retrospective
- GenresFantasyScience Fiction
432 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
29 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
695 books1,386 followersAndre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 23, 2017
Moonsinger's Quest suffers a bit from false advertising. The title led me to believe that it was about Maelen and her companion, Krip Vorlund, from the first Moonsinger book. Although the Moonsinger, Maelen, is a major character (more in the first novella than the second), the "hunchback" Farree is the central character in both Flight in Yiktor and Dare to Go A-Hunting.
Frankly, I just couldn't get interested in Farree's story, thus the three stars.
One minor quibble: In Flight in Yiktor, Farree's companion was a smux named Toggor. In Dare to Go A-Hunting, written a few years later, the smux's name is ToggER. Continuity check!
Frankly, I just couldn't get interested in Farree's story, thus the three stars.
One minor quibble: In Flight in Yiktor, Farree's companion was a smux named Toggor. In Dare to Go A-Hunting, written a few years later, the smux's name is ToggER. Continuity check!
January 16, 2020
Well done good story
Wonderful, good story and I found it very consistent with the earlier book. Others have disliked the shift from Maelen & Vorlund to Farree but I thought the story flowed into his story quite well.
Wonderful, good story and I found it very consistent with the earlier book. Others have disliked the shift from Maelen & Vorlund to Farree but I thought the story flowed into his story quite well.
April 25, 2021
Same as it always has been
Andre Norton has always been the Grand Dame of both fantasy and science fiction and the blending together of the 2. The books and stories that she wrote have been and always will be true masterpieces of the craft.
Andre Norton has always been the Grand Dame of both fantasy and science fiction and the blending together of the 2. The books and stories that she wrote have been and always will be true masterpieces of the craft.
November 20, 2021
Good
Story interesting. Likeable characters. Good to know more about their lives and history. A good series of four books. Glad it comes with audio.
Story interesting. Likeable characters. Good to know more about their lives and history. A good series of four books. Glad it comes with audio.
July 4, 2022
fond memories
Andre Norton had a real gift so many things she wrote about that didn’t exist then but do now, makes me wonder how many more will become true as time passes by.
Andre Norton had a real gift so many things she wrote about that didn’t exist then but do now, makes me wonder how many more will become true as time passes by.
July 12, 2015
Not great, but a solid story blending the Thassa with Terran Faries.
November 15, 2015
This book was interesting but slow reading.
Read
March 27, 2018This is a combined edition, containing Flight in Yiktor and Dare to Go A'Hunting. The combined edition is given the title Moonsinger's Quest. This would imply that the most important character in this duo of books is Maelen. The series title (Moon Magic), also implies this.
In fact, those who have read the entire series beginning with Moon of Three Rings will know that while Maelen and Krip Vorlund are important characters in the latter two books, the most important character is Farree. Farree is the viewpoint character in both books. Maelen and Krip Vorlund are important characters, but mostly as chorus and dei ex machina--they provide an exit from an abusive situation for Farree (and, not incidentally, his only friend in the Limits, Toggor). They even give him a mission in life, and raise him in his own estimation. And they do have their own quest--in Flight in Yiktor. But by the end of that volume, they become secondary characters, along with their animal companions, Yazz & Bojor, and even the Zacathan, Zoror. There are long passages in these books in which the ONLY continuing characters are Farree & (mostly) Toggor. Sometimes even Krip and Maelen are in the offing, contacted only intermittently. And a few times, Farree leaves even Toggor behind, for a time.
I have to assume that if there is a volume that contains the texts of Flight in Yiktor and Dare to Go A'Hunting, there must also be another volume, containing Moon of Three Rings & Exiles of The Stars. I can't find out what title this was published under, however. I'll just have to keep an eye out in the used bookstores.
The success of this sort of reprinting in different form (in this case, combining two books originally printed as separate volumes) is not ensured. When I saw a volume whose name I didn't recognize, I picked it up and examined it. I decided to get and read it for the same reason I picked up the Janus duology--it was in good condition, and I felt the need for extra copies.
When I read it, however, I found that weaknesses which I had found distracting, but ignorable in the originals became downright annoying. The texts are reproduced exactly, errors and all. Not exactly an ideal formula. Thus the species name 'Zacathan' was repeatedly misspelled 'ZacaNthan' in Dare to Go A'Hunting. This error should have been corrected. Granted, these bargain editions do tend to have lousy proofreading (I've been meaning to establish errata slips for many of them. This especially applies to what I call 'spellchecker errors' (perfectly good words, just wrong in context)). Often it's possible to figure out the correct form FROM context--but it's still distracting. Other times, as in this volume, the errors are especially glaring. In Flight in Yiktor, Farree's companion is clearly named ToggOr. In Dare to Go A'Hunting, this name is inexplicably changed to ToggEr.
This is just annoying. But changing the name of the Thassan divinity Molastor to Molester is downright offensive--and is done throughout these two books.
The cover picture on Moonsinger's Quest is also annoying. In one of her earliest books (Ralestone Luck), Norton included a sympathetic portrayal of an illustrator (of historical romances, I gather). I've never heard (or heard of) Norton complaining about illustrators. But I do. I think that an illustrator ought to at least READ the book. The anonymous illustrator of the cover of this volume presents a scene that does not occur in either volume. It's apparently meant to depict the first emergence of Farree's wings. But it includes Zoror, whom Farree had yet to meet. There's a depiction which is apparently meant to represent Maelen--but it looks NOTHING like descriptions of Maelen in earlier books, even after she acquired her new body (which happened in Exiles of The Stars). She's wearing an outfit she'd scoff at--neither practical nor decorative (though Thassa take little accounting of decorative clothing).
The depiction of Farree is also ludicrous. Yes, his skin is green. GREEN. NOT yellow-green. Further, the wings look NOTHING like how they're described in the text(s).
As for the quality of the books joined herein, in comparison with the first two volumes (particularly Moon of Three Rings, which is a classic), there's a distinct dropoff. Both Moon of Three Rings and Exiles of The Stars experimented (pretty successfully) with alternating narrators. This is an interesting technique, which enables the reader to get a more accurate understanding of situations, because the same events may seem quite different viewed from people of different cultures, backgrounds, etc. By the time Flight in Yiktor was published, this approach seems to've been abandoned. Pity. It was the basis of some of Norton's more successful works.
The current volumes are still good stories--but they're not up to Norton's best writing.
In fact, those who have read the entire series beginning with Moon of Three Rings will know that while Maelen and Krip Vorlund are important characters in the latter two books, the most important character is Farree. Farree is the viewpoint character in both books. Maelen and Krip Vorlund are important characters, but mostly as chorus and dei ex machina--they provide an exit from an abusive situation for Farree (and, not incidentally, his only friend in the Limits, Toggor). They even give him a mission in life, and raise him in his own estimation. And they do have their own quest--in Flight in Yiktor. But by the end of that volume, they become secondary characters, along with their animal companions, Yazz & Bojor, and even the Zacathan, Zoror. There are long passages in these books in which the ONLY continuing characters are Farree & (mostly) Toggor. Sometimes even Krip and Maelen are in the offing, contacted only intermittently. And a few times, Farree leaves even Toggor behind, for a time.
I have to assume that if there is a volume that contains the texts of Flight in Yiktor and Dare to Go A'Hunting, there must also be another volume, containing Moon of Three Rings & Exiles of The Stars. I can't find out what title this was published under, however. I'll just have to keep an eye out in the used bookstores.
The success of this sort of reprinting in different form (in this case, combining two books originally printed as separate volumes) is not ensured. When I saw a volume whose name I didn't recognize, I picked it up and examined it. I decided to get and read it for the same reason I picked up the Janus duology--it was in good condition, and I felt the need for extra copies.
When I read it, however, I found that weaknesses which I had found distracting, but ignorable in the originals became downright annoying. The texts are reproduced exactly, errors and all. Not exactly an ideal formula. Thus the species name 'Zacathan' was repeatedly misspelled 'ZacaNthan' in Dare to Go A'Hunting. This error should have been corrected. Granted, these bargain editions do tend to have lousy proofreading (I've been meaning to establish errata slips for many of them. This especially applies to what I call 'spellchecker errors' (perfectly good words, just wrong in context)). Often it's possible to figure out the correct form FROM context--but it's still distracting. Other times, as in this volume, the errors are especially glaring. In Flight in Yiktor, Farree's companion is clearly named ToggOr. In Dare to Go A'Hunting, this name is inexplicably changed to ToggEr.
This is just annoying. But changing the name of the Thassan divinity Molastor to Molester is downright offensive--and is done throughout these two books.
The cover picture on Moonsinger's Quest is also annoying. In one of her earliest books (Ralestone Luck), Norton included a sympathetic portrayal of an illustrator (of historical romances, I gather). I've never heard (or heard of) Norton complaining about illustrators. But I do. I think that an illustrator ought to at least READ the book. The anonymous illustrator of the cover of this volume presents a scene that does not occur in either volume. It's apparently meant to depict the first emergence of Farree's wings. But it includes Zoror, whom Farree had yet to meet. There's a depiction which is apparently meant to represent Maelen--but it looks NOTHING like descriptions of Maelen in earlier books, even after she acquired her new body (which happened in Exiles of The Stars). She's wearing an outfit she'd scoff at--neither practical nor decorative (though Thassa take little accounting of decorative clothing).
The depiction of Farree is also ludicrous. Yes, his skin is green. GREEN. NOT yellow-green. Further, the wings look NOTHING like how they're described in the text(s).
As for the quality of the books joined herein, in comparison with the first two volumes (particularly Moon of Three Rings, which is a classic), there's a distinct dropoff. Both Moon of Three Rings and Exiles of The Stars experimented (pretty successfully) with alternating narrators. This is an interesting technique, which enables the reader to get a more accurate understanding of situations, because the same events may seem quite different viewed from people of different cultures, backgrounds, etc. By the time Flight in Yiktor was published, this approach seems to've been abandoned. Pity. It was the basis of some of Norton's more successful works.
The current volumes are still good stories--but they're not up to Norton's best writing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews