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Forerunner #1-3 B
Warlock
In a sweeping generational saga, the story of Warlock is told by three
Shann Lontee was the lowest-ranking member of an exploration team sent to the newly discovered planet Warlock. When the insectile Throgs attacked the base, only he and two trained wolverines escaped. Hunted by the Throgs, he and the wolverines had to survive without technology on an alien world. Then he discovered the Wyvern, who were his only hope - if they weren't an even more deadly menace than the Throgs.
Charis Nordholm was sold into slavery by the outlaw colony on the planet Demeter. The trader, Jogon, who holds her contract, was on his way to Warlock to trade with the Wyvern. But the alien witches had ominous plans of their own, and both Charis and Shann Lantee found themselves fighting for their lives.
Ziantho's mental powers had made her a valuable asset to the interstellar criminals she worked for. Then she encountered a gem of ancient power and stole it. Pursued both by the stone's owners and the agents of the Patrol, she fled across the galaxy and encountered Ris Lantee who alone could solve the powerful gem's mystery.
Shann Lontee was the lowest-ranking member of an exploration team sent to the newly discovered planet Warlock. When the insectile Throgs attacked the base, only he and two trained wolverines escaped. Hunted by the Throgs, he and the wolverines had to survive without technology on an alien world. Then he discovered the Wyvern, who were his only hope - if they weren't an even more deadly menace than the Throgs.
Charis Nordholm was sold into slavery by the outlaw colony on the planet Demeter. The trader, Jogon, who holds her contract, was on his way to Warlock to trade with the Wyvern. But the alien witches had ominous plans of their own, and both Charis and Shann Lantee found themselves fighting for their lives.
Ziantho's mental powers had made her a valuable asset to the interstellar criminals she worked for. Then she encountered a gem of ancient power and stole it. Pursued both by the stone's owners and the agents of the Patrol, she fled across the galaxy and encountered Ris Lantee who alone could solve the powerful gem's mystery.
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First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Andre Norton
697 books1,398 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 3, 2026
A collection of the first three of Norton's Forerunner novels: Storm Over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere and Forerunner Foray.
In Storm over Warlock, our protagonist is one Shan Landee, who is part of a Survey expedition to the planet Warlock. Because he happens to have snuck out, he barely avoids being killed when the Terran base is destroyed by implacable alien insects called, I kid you not, the Throg. So he spends the first part of the story (with his pet wolverines) narrowly evading capture, hooking up with the other human survivor, and eventually discovering that Warlock actually has intelligent inhabitants -- the matriarchal Wyverns, a race of sort of lizard people who are also powerfully psychic (this book coming from that era where people were sure that we were going to confirm the existence of psychic powers Any Minute Now) and really not happy with either of the interloping races.
Ordeal in Otherwhere follows a young woman named Charis who had come with her father to the relatively primitive (and not well-disposed to outsiders) world of Demeter to help keep them in line; but her father (and the rest of the offworlders, and a number of the natives) succumbed to a novel plague and now Charis is fleeing from the locals who intend her nothing good. But she is, alas!, captured and sold to a Free Trader (well, she is "persuaded" to sign a contract of indefinite servitude) who needs someone of her talents (well-educated, multilingual and, as it happens, female) to try to trade with, you guessed it, the matriarchal Wyverns of Warlock.
And, of course, complications ensue, she escapes on Warlock and eventually ends up meeting one, you guessed it, Shan Landee, who is again a refugee caught between the human interlopers and the Wyverns who are really ready to be done with these alien incursions.
Finally, we have Forerunner Foray, which doesn't go anywhere near the planet Warlock, although that planet is name-dropped at one point and there's an eventual, subtle connection to the preceding volumes. This time, our protagonist is Ziantha, a skilled and psychically-gifted thief living on a much more civilized and cosmopolitan planet who, while using her abilities to pull a job, finds herself unaccountably attracted to a random, old artifact, which ends up coming home to live with her -- one of Ziantha's abilities being psychometry, or the ability to read impressions of an item's history. And this particular artifact seems to have a linkage to the Forerunners, a legendary, long-extinct species (or maybe there were multiple Forerunner races?), and may be a key to other ancient treasure, so Ziantha will find herself dispatched on an expedition to a now-dead planet to find the secrets of the artifact, and then (because psychic) find herself thrown back through time into the body of the artifact's original possessor (well, one of them, anyway) and forced to navigate an alien, long-dead civilization as she tries to figure out how to find the relics that will let her return her consciousness to her present-day self.
And I found all three of the constituent volumes here fine (I believe they were aimed at a younger audience -- not what we'd today call YA (because it didn't exist at the time), but something closer to Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novels). Well, to be more precise, the first two volumes were reasonably entertaining but nothing too special, I thought, but the third one (which was the only one I know I read back when I was young) was the highlight of the book and had some scenes that have lived rent-free in my head for ... 45 years? Something depressingly close to that. And I was glad to revisit the book and at some point I'll have to read more of Norton's SF of the era.
(The scenes that stuck with me over the years, although I had gotten fuzzy on the details: So you can see how that would leave an impression.
In Storm over Warlock, our protagonist is one Shan Landee, who is part of a Survey expedition to the planet Warlock. Because he happens to have snuck out, he barely avoids being killed when the Terran base is destroyed by implacable alien insects called, I kid you not, the Throg. So he spends the first part of the story (with his pet wolverines) narrowly evading capture, hooking up with the other human survivor, and eventually discovering that Warlock actually has intelligent inhabitants -- the matriarchal Wyverns, a race of sort of lizard people who are also powerfully psychic (this book coming from that era where people were sure that we were going to confirm the existence of psychic powers Any Minute Now) and really not happy with either of the interloping races.
Ordeal in Otherwhere follows a young woman named Charis who had come with her father to the relatively primitive (and not well-disposed to outsiders) world of Demeter to help keep them in line; but her father (and the rest of the offworlders, and a number of the natives) succumbed to a novel plague and now Charis is fleeing from the locals who intend her nothing good. But she is, alas!, captured and sold to a Free Trader (well, she is "persuaded" to sign a contract of indefinite servitude) who needs someone of her talents (well-educated, multilingual and, as it happens, female) to try to trade with, you guessed it, the matriarchal Wyverns of Warlock.
And, of course, complications ensue, she escapes on Warlock and eventually ends up meeting one, you guessed it, Shan Landee, who is again a refugee caught between the human interlopers and the Wyverns who are really ready to be done with these alien incursions.
Finally, we have Forerunner Foray, which doesn't go anywhere near the planet Warlock, although that planet is name-dropped at one point and there's an eventual, subtle connection to the preceding volumes. This time, our protagonist is Ziantha, a skilled and psychically-gifted thief living on a much more civilized and cosmopolitan planet who, while using her abilities to pull a job, finds herself unaccountably attracted to a random, old artifact, which ends up coming home to live with her -- one of Ziantha's abilities being psychometry, or the ability to read impressions of an item's history. And this particular artifact seems to have a linkage to the Forerunners, a legendary, long-extinct species (or maybe there were multiple Forerunner races?), and may be a key to other ancient treasure, so Ziantha will find herself dispatched on an expedition to a now-dead planet to find the secrets of the artifact, and then (because psychic) find herself thrown back through time into the body of the artifact's original possessor (well, one of them, anyway) and forced to navigate an alien, long-dead civilization as she tries to figure out how to find the relics that will let her return her consciousness to her present-day self.
And I found all three of the constituent volumes here fine (I believe they were aimed at a younger audience -- not what we'd today call YA (because it didn't exist at the time), but something closer to Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novels). Well, to be more precise, the first two volumes were reasonably entertaining but nothing too special, I thought, but the third one (which was the only one I know I read back when I was young) was the highlight of the book and had some scenes that have lived rent-free in my head for ... 45 years? Something depressingly close to that. And I was glad to revisit the book and at some point I'll have to read more of Norton's SF of the era.
(The scenes that stuck with me over the years, although I had gotten fuzzy on the details: So you can see how that would leave an impression.
January 21, 2009
One doesn’t read Andre Norton to explore the deeper questions of existence; one reads her because they want to read a solidly written adventure, fast-paced and satisfying. With Norton, this is usually guaranteed. At least with her earlier stuff. Some of the collaborations she embarked on before her death leave much to be desired. Fortunately, with these stories, we have Norton at her best.
Warlock is actually an omnibus edition of three novels: Storm Over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere and Forerunner Foray. The first two are natural siblings, one following immediately after the other in time and both having many of the same characters. Except for the passing fact that one of the characters in the third is the son of the protagonists from the first two books, Forerunner Foray really has no relationship to the other two. Perhaps it was a publisher’s decision.
All three are classic Norton, however: The heroes are young outcasts who must discover who they are and make a place for themselves in the world, animals play a significant role in that quest, and there’s the usual exploration of the use and misuse of psychic powers.
I like Norton. She was one of my favorite authors when I was young. She can be formulaic and, like all authors, she can pen the occasional “stinker” but she was a deeper writer than one might suspect. Without beating her audience about the head, all of her heroes are self-reliant, often young, men and women who succeed through loyalty to their friends, using their heads, and following the better impulses to be found in the human animal.
I don’t know that I would recommend Norton to older adults who haven’t already read her but I would recommend these novels to fans of Norton and to the child or young adult interested in speculative fiction but unsure where to begin (actually, before these, I would recommend Witch World, the Solar Queen series or The Zero Stone but in their absence, the present tomes aren’t bad places to begin).
Warlock is actually an omnibus edition of three novels: Storm Over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere and Forerunner Foray. The first two are natural siblings, one following immediately after the other in time and both having many of the same characters. Except for the passing fact that one of the characters in the third is the son of the protagonists from the first two books, Forerunner Foray really has no relationship to the other two. Perhaps it was a publisher’s decision.
All three are classic Norton, however: The heroes are young outcasts who must discover who they are and make a place for themselves in the world, animals play a significant role in that quest, and there’s the usual exploration of the use and misuse of psychic powers.
I like Norton. She was one of my favorite authors when I was young. She can be formulaic and, like all authors, she can pen the occasional “stinker” but she was a deeper writer than one might suspect. Without beating her audience about the head, all of her heroes are self-reliant, often young, men and women who succeed through loyalty to their friends, using their heads, and following the better impulses to be found in the human animal.
I don’t know that I would recommend Norton to older adults who haven’t already read her but I would recommend these novels to fans of Norton and to the child or young adult interested in speculative fiction but unsure where to begin (actually, before these, I would recommend Witch World, the Solar Queen series or The Zero Stone but in their absence, the present tomes aren’t bad places to begin).
June 8, 2015
(Science Fiction 2002) Delightful 3-in-one book by Andre Norton, one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors. Warlock is a planet assumed to be without intelligent life and the attempt to annex it to the System. The book begins with "Storm over Warlock", about a low-ranking explorer, two wolverines, and a somewhat crazed captain who survive an attack by other aliens and the finding of a race of indigent people with unexpected powers. Next are ""Ordeal in Otherwhere" and "Forerunner Foray," both which continue the would-be settlers and the native peoples. I enjoyed reading these books.
October 16, 2024
Two stories set on the planet Warlock, and one with a tangential connection to it. All in all, I enjoyed the stories, but didn't find anything that elicited strong impressions good or bad. I did find the dialogue stilted, but that is almost certainly due to the original novels being published in the 60's & 70's. It isn't a huge problem, but at times it was jarring enough that it made it more difficult to relate to the characters.
January 12, 2022
Fun, but too much drama.
The idea of a future where paranormal abilities are as prized as space travel is very enticing. But here we spend way too much time reading about the main characters' doubts and insecurities and too little time reading about the universe they inhabit.
It was a fun if somewhat unsatisfying read.
The idea of a future where paranormal abilities are as prized as space travel is very enticing. But here we spend way too much time reading about the main characters' doubts and insecurities and too little time reading about the universe they inhabit.
It was a fun if somewhat unsatisfying read.
May 4, 2023
A good read - entertaining, with thoughts about psionics and mind powers.
For an RPGer like me, this had lots of ideas; at the same time, I had trouble envisioning the scenes that the author was trying to describe.
Nevertheless an entertaining read!
For an RPGer like me, this had lots of ideas; at the same time, I had trouble envisioning the scenes that the author was trying to describe.
Nevertheless an entertaining read!
August 19, 2010
I wouldn't normally have read this one, but it was the monthly selection in one of the book clubs I am in. I did finish it, and it was ok. Liked the wolverines. I think young adult readers (especially boys) would appreciate it more than I did.
I learned some interesting facts about the author (who I hadn't heard of): 1. Andre Norton is a woman. 2.She legally changed her name to Andre Norton. 3. She was from Cleveland 4. She worked for Cleveland Public Library System. 5. She wrote over 300 books. 6. She lived to the age of 93.
I learned some interesting facts about the author (who I hadn't heard of): 1. Andre Norton is a woman. 2.She legally changed her name to Andre Norton. 3. She was from Cleveland 4. She worked for Cleveland Public Library System. 5. She wrote over 300 books. 6. She lived to the age of 93.
March 1, 2015
Kind of disappointing overall, especially for the first three books in a series. It's best not to think of this as a trilogy or series as much as books in a shared universe that happen in an order.
Not exactly tightly plotted across them and it does tend to meander a bit. I'll be holding off reading the other collection of the remaining volumes and try to withhold full judgment until then. But not rushing to read them either....
Not exactly tightly plotted across them and it does tend to meander a bit. I'll be holding off reading the other collection of the remaining volumes and try to withhold full judgment until then. But not rushing to read them either....
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews