Trey of Swords (Witch World #10) Paperback – January 1, 1978

As ever I find Andre Norton's stories to be thoroughly engrossing, pulling me along for adventures in totally immersive environments that have elements of the magical and mythical woven into the landscape. Trey of Swords does just that - if Estcarp and Escore were actually real, they would be endlessly interesting to explore, though of course, very dangerous if you weren't protected against the evil that resides in those places (particularly Escore where you have to utilise all your wits and then some from the areas of evil). Trey of Swords is told in three parts by Yonan, a not so very good warrior and Crytha, an untrained witch. The first two parts are told by Yonan who finds himself compulsively linked to a long dead warrior named Tolar and through that link to Tolar's weapon Ice Tongue. I won't go into detail about the plot, suffice to say our would-be hero finds himself battling Thas, time travelling back to a Lost Battle fought in Escore and attempting to change the past. The last part of Trey of Swords is told through the eyes of Crytha and her attempt to break the control the witch, Laidan has gained over her. Along the way she is supported and helped by Tsali, a lizard-man and finds herself able to call on one of the Great Ones to aid her in her battle with Laidan. As always, Norton's tales and world building are engrossing; her characters often start out thinking they can't accomplish much, sometimes due to physical or mental weakness, but by the end they find they are more than capable of holding there own against wily opponents - this is one of the things I most like about Norton's writing.

I enjoy this authors writing,and her imagination.

I have been reading Andre Norton's Witch World series for more years than I want to publish here. You can count on a story filled with characters with depth and plots that twist and turn. Although this is part of the Witch World series it can be read as a stand alone.

This story catches the readers attention and make them look into their memories to see if there is something there somethings wrong something mysterious I did so enjoy the book it was fun it was exciting and well written

Andre Norton is the queen of fantasy. It has been years since I read anything by her, but I could not put this trilogy down! I was swept along by the story, and when it was finished I immediately wanted more. It was escapism at its best.

Masterful, interesting, timelessReread, never losses the mystery that is the hallmark of the author.Enjoyable to read on a rainey day

The stories that make up "Trey of Swords" take place in Escore, the weird sister-state of witch-ruled Estcarp that lies to the forbidden East in "trembling balance between the forces of Light and those of the Dark."Each story is roughly sixty pages in length and the first two, "Sword of Ice" and "Sword of Lost Battles" are narrated by Yonan, a border guard of Estcarp who is called to the defense of Escore by Kyllan Tregarth.(Many of the characters in "Trey of Swords" will already be familiar to Witch World readers, most notably the warrior Kyllan Tregarth, and Dahaun, mystical Lady of Green Silences).Yonan, an indifferent warrior at best is injured in a fall in the mountainous heights surrounding Escore's Green Valley. While separated from his patrol by a storm, he discovers the hilt of an ancient sword---an artifact of the vanished Great Adepts of magic.Oh, no! All WW fans know that ancient artifacts are better left untouched. But Yonan feels a compulsion to rescue the sword hilt from its imprisoning stone, and so the original wielder of the Sword of Ice is able to reincarnate himself within Yonan. Yonan-now-Tolar forges a magical blade for his sword, rescues his friend Uruk of the Ax from a pillar of ice, and together they hurtle back through time to refight the Lost Battle of Witch World.Before they bid farewell to the present, Yonan-now-Tolar and Uruk rescue Yonan's childhood companion, the untrained witch, Crytha from the filthy, claustrophobic burrows of the Rasti.Crytha then narrates the third story of the trilogy, "Sword of Shadows."An untrained witch is a very dangerous thing to be in Escore: a vessel waiting to be filled with the wrong kind of magic---which is exactly what happens to Crytha. She is put under a strong compulsion to obey an evil female magician named Laidan, who is plotting to reincarnate her lover, an adept of the darkest shadow who originally perished in the Lost Battle. (Evil females in Norton stories are easily identified by their scarlet lips and wanton behavior.)How Crytha manages to foil the adepts of the Dark, with unexpected assistance from one of the Great Ones who had withdrawn from Witch World after the Lost Battle is the essence of "Sword of Shadows."My only reason for withholding a star from my review is the very loosely constructed plot of "Trey of Swords." I never did quite comprehend why the Lost Battle of Witch World had to be refought. A more favorable outcome to the ancient battle didn't seem to change anything in `modern-day' Escore---at least not by book's end. The blurb on the cover states that "the fate of witch world hangs in the Balance!" but I've read "Trey of Swords" at least twice now and still haven't figured out what sort of awfulness fate had in store, if Yonan and Crytha hadn't done their thing.Read "Trey of Swords" because Norton tells an engrossing story of Good versus Evil magic in fabled Escore.

More classic Andre to enjoy - and important background for later novels in Witch World

Trey of Swords - Andre Norton Kindle EditionWhat can be written about the original Witch World series that has not been said a hundred times. Andre Norton's novels have become classics of the genre.I had not revisited the series for some years and so buying the original novels plus a good number of the subsequent sequels in Kindle format has prompted me to take a trip down momory lane to the early 1970s when they first appeared on the UK bookshelves.The continuing story of Escarp and High Hallack and the dynasty of characters with their interwoven destinies remain as fresh and endearing as when I first read them forty years ago.An absolute must for any fantasy collection