Andre Norton (1912–2005)

I love this book! I’ve never read something like this by Andre Norton before, but man she did a great job on it. It’s aimed at tweens, and the protagonists are two 12-year-olds who are suddenly thrown together to be family with Aunt Elizabeth while their newly married mother and father are off galavanting somewhere. Neither Chris nor Nan are happy about this.

So far so not unexpected. When one of them brings a model of an English inn called The Red Hart into their home they begin having show more connected and compelling dreams that centre around that inn.

Norton’s handling of the story is sure and lively and there was not a moment when I found my thoughts wandering away from the book. But what I like most is her deft and non-intrusive weaving of the dreams' effect on their waking lives and their understanding of themselves and each other. I’m so glad I stumbled across this book. It expands my vision of Andre Norton, whose books like Witch World, Judgement on Janus, and Cat’s-Eye inspired me as a tween and teen show less

Andre Norton (real name Alice North) was a writer I loved as a kid, and this book in particular -- which I think was one of the first, and very likely the first thing of hers I read -- absolutely enthralled me. I think it was one of the books that really cemented my love of science fiction, well before I even understood the concept of a genre at all. And just seeing the title and the cover hit me with an instant and powerful wash of nostalgia when I encountered it at a library sale last show more year. So of course I had to pick it up and revisit it, although I have to say, I was a bit nervous about doing so. I have reread some of Norton's books as an adult, and they were okay, but not all of them hold up super well. It's always a little bit depressing to return to a childhood favorite and discover that it has somehow been "visited by the suck fairy" since the last time you encountered it, to use Jo Walton's evocative phrase. But it's a real delight to do so and find yourself thinking that, hey, child you actually had pretty good taste!

Well, I am very happy to report that this book definitely fell into the latter category. It features a space-going apprentice gem merchant who's inherited a ring with a strange alien stone from his dad, which leads him inadvertently into adventures that include fleeing people who want to make him a human sacrifice, crashlanding on an alien jungle world, encountering the relics of long-dead civilizations, and getting captured by a space cop who's accusing him of things he didn't do, among lots of other stuff. And of course I have to mention the weird telepathic alien mutant cat, which is actually way less cheesy and way more interesting than you'd think. I didn't remember any of the details of the story at all, just some of the very general elements like the ring and the cat, and I found myself surprisingly invested in seeing what would happen next. I sort of expected that, if it ended up still being worth reading at all, I'd feel some pleasant nostalgia as aspects of it started vaguely coming back to me, and that would be the main appeal. Instead, I felt nostalgia of a different, broader, and I think more satisfying kind: nostalgia for the days of my childhood when I could just sink thoroughly into a good old-fashioned adventure yarn. show less

My first ever Andre Norton -- I know, I know, but it won't be my last -- is an interesting time/dimensional travel romp with some psychic power tropes thrown in. And a bit of a manhunt storyline.

Blake Walker, student, has always known he was a little bit different from other people, in that his little premonitions of danger are always correct. What he doesn't know is that he's a latent psychic, and that in the universe next door his ability would make him as common as he is unusual here. show more Hell, he doesn't know there are universe's next door, until his unique ability lands him in a heap of trouble with some agents from that universe, who tell him not only that time travel is possible, but that it is also possible, within a time or "level", to visit all the alternate versions of that time. One where, say, Napoleon won at Waterloo, or one where the petroleum economy got started a few hundred years earlier, or where Abed was the one who had to go downstairs to pay the pizza man -- basically, the many worlds theory with which any science fiction or comic book reader is pretty familiar.

The agents, several men about Blake's own age, are in pursuit of the worst kind of time traveler, one whose psychic abilities are developed to the highest possible degree, but who seems to be a stone cold psychotic megalomaniac, who is shopping for just the right world in which he can exploit his powers, knowledge and lack of scruples to become World Dictator. Hey! This could explain how Arslan got to be Arslan, am I right?

So this is all very well and good but since it's played straight (i.e. no Epicene/Mary Margaret Wildeblood types here) it would all be a bit ho-hum for the modern reader, except for two things: the chase and escape plot, and the protagonist. O, Blake, you orphan with latent powers, you should be dull as ditchwater, but you're just the right combination of intrepid and resourceful without being a complete over-the-top can-do Boy Scout, and I've grown fond of you in that kid brother kind of way.

The chase/escape plot is nicely taut while still giving us a chance to explore some of the radically different worlds (two words: robot dragons) in just enough detail. Norton really let herself go nuts there, with enjoyable results.

Ultimately, though, there isn't quite enough book here. The novel dates from a period when a lot of science fiction/fantasy authors, Norton included, were churning out stories at a fantastic rate. The deadline pressure and the need to keep it short and sweet are both palpable throughout this quick little read. With the luxury of conducting my reading life decades later than this period, I can't help but wonder what might have been if this had been the universe in which Norton got to take her time and spin this out into the epic it clearly wanted to be. And I wonder if that universe might not also have been the one in which Jorge Luis Borges spun out whole novels instead of just his weird little gemlike short stories. But I'll never know, at least until someone invents or discovers the Carrier and lets me visit and see for myself, right?

Until then, I must content myself with its sole sequel, Quest Crosstime, soon. Fortunately, this was an omnibus edition of the pair of them. Thank you, Baen Books! show less

It may not be groundbreaking but I rather liked this quaint old sci-fi yarn featuring an interstellar adventurer and his mutant feline sidekick as they get involved in a dangerous game of hide and seek with cutthroat pirates and overly zealous cops. And at stake is a hoard of magical stones, remnants of a civilization that died out eons ago. Seriously, what's not to like?!