I see why this one of Andre Norton’s numerous collaborative novels is so dear to so many. It’s just about pure fan-service, and reads as if written by a devoted fan. It revisits one of her all-time favorite worlds, the Witch World, and uses one of her favorite narrative devices, the Earth person passing through a portal into an alien universe. That Earth person is Native American, which was Norton’s favorite non-generic-white-American ethnicity. There’s war and wandering and horrible monsters and subterranean adventures and ancient ruins with their equally ancient and still functioning inhabitants and, of course, the great battle between Light and Dark.
And, which is particularly relevant to my interests, there are animal companions. Wonderful ones. Better yet, they’re creatures who in Norton’s solo novels are completely of the Dark, the terrible and beautiful horselike Keplians. Here however, we’re shown that Keplians weren’t originally designed to be evil. We learn their real history and their real purpose.
I have a considerable soft spot for works that rehabilitate incorrigible bad guys. Make them horses, at least in form, and I’m pretty well sold.
I did have to make a few accommodations in order to get through the book without a writer/editor/copyeditor meltdown. The craft is journeyman level with occasional flares of almost-mastery. There are tics and slips that minus the Keplians would have bounced me straight out.
McConchie cannot pace a story. Her timeline stretches interminably, dragging out through months and years, except in places where it jumps through whole chunks of plot and character in a handful of disorganized sentences. Events and revelations take an artificially long time to happen, mostly in order to overcome problems with basic plotting: Earth person needs to learn languages and history of Witch World, Keplian foals need to grow up enough to be ridden. Poor Romar spends years in durance vile while Eleeri putters around and rambles and noodles takes her sweet time making up her mind to, like, you know. Rescue him.
It doesn’t help that there is some awareness of this, whether on her part or on the part of an editor who might have had questions. The result is frequently a rumination—often in the middle of a desperate action scene—on all the ramifications of whatever is happening, topping off with a shrug or a giggle or a chuckle and “No point in worrying about it now,” or worse, “Oh, well, it doesn’t matter anyway.” Somewhat less frequently but not seldom, the character may even pull themself up short, or be pulled up short, and reminded that, hello, desperate straits here, stop thinking and start acting.
Buy the Book
All the Horses of Iceland
What saves it for me is that, for all her weaknesses of craft and skill, McConchie put her heart and soul into the Keplians. Her writing reaches its greatest heights when she focuses on them. She may ramble off on tangents or repeat herself in multiple scenes, but she loves these creatures, and she wants us to love them, too.
I see Norton’s influence in the alienness of their minds, as well as in Eleeri’s ability to look deep into them without recoiling in horror. Norton did not herself do much with redemption for beings of the Dark, but I can see her approving of the way McConchie transformed the nature and the destiny of the Keplians. The way it happens, and the bond they form with humans, owes more than a little to the works of Lackey and McCaffrey, but its roots are solid Norton: the telepathic connection, the strong collaboration against terrible enemies. The amulet Eleeri carries, the sapphire-eyed Keplian that transforms at need into a live stallion, echoes the likes of the Crystal Gryphon and the Jargoon Pard.
The social lives of Keplians are written from a place of knowledge about horses. The killer rapist stallions reflect all too many horse people’s view of horse stallions, and the terribly abused mares and the endangered foals come from the same harrowing place. They’re an exaggeration of the worst of Earth horsekeeping. That’s the work of the Dark, we’re shown. The Light is far gentler, with far more choice and volition for the mares, and safety and love for the foals, which shifts them away from the Dark and into the Light.
The one thing that I would wish is that McConchie had given actual horses more of the love she gave the Keplians. As with the first Dragonriders in McCaffrey, once the fancy shiny new alien creatures come on the scene, horses get short shrift. Eleeri, to be fair, appreciates the pony she rides through anything and everything, and he’s presented as loyal and hardworking and brave, but there’s no actual mental bond with him and he’s not very intelligent. He’s just an animal, as opposed to the Keplians, who are glorious superior beings.
As a dedicated horse person, I beg to differ. My mares are just as imperious as Keplian mares and queen dragons, and my stallions have been just as lovely as Hylan is raised to be. There is nothing dull or slow-witted about horses, even if they don’t have sapphire eyes or silver hooves or dragon scales.
So there.
Still. I’m glad I read this last of this long Reread. It represents one of the truly wonderful things about Andre Norton: her great generosity in sharing her worlds and characters. She loved and appreciated all her fans, and she served as mentor and guide to many younger writers.
The Key of the Keplian at its heart is fan fiction, and that’s how, in the end, I opted to read it. Fanfic can be beautifully and skillfully written, but that’s not what it’s really about. It exists to pay homage to the original, to build on it, to add the writer’s own vision to the existing text. Much of what’s written here is pastiche of Norton scenes and situations and characters, strung together into a narrative that gives us a new insight into Keplians and revisits a favorite theme, the adept held in prison by the Dark and rescued by their one true love.
As a novel it’s lacking a good bit of craft. As fic it works, and is beloved, because it captures the heart of its subject. We’re not here for the deft plotting or the brisk pacing. We want, and get, our feisty orphan of Native American heritage, our scions of the Old Race after the Turning of the Witch World, our kickass animal companions. We get to revisit a favorite world, engage in a familiar battle with a satisfying conclusion, and know that this is good; Norton herself gave it her blessing.
I’ll be back one last time with a summing up of the Reread. I hope you’ll join me in talking about your favorites (and not so favorites), and share your thoughts about Norton’s writing and her legacy.
One last time then, next time.
Judith Tarr has written historicals and historical fantasies and epic fantasies and space operas, many of which have been published as ebooks. She has won the Crawford Award, and been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and the Locus Award. She lives in Arizona with an assortment of cats, a blue-eyed dog, and a herd of Lipizzan horses.
As a fellow horse lover, I repeat in solidarity, “So there!” I remember the Keplian but nothing else of this novel. The bad writing is probably why.
It’s hard to believe this column has lasted so long or is ending. Norton was one heck of a prolific writer. She is missed, and this column will be, too. I’ve enjoyed every article.
Holy Carp, I wondered if the reread would ever cover this one. I’ve read a few Andre Norton stories, but this is the only one I remember more than a smidge about, and the only one I loved. I was unaffected by some of its flaws, as I generally don’t care about plot pacing and am not particularly interested in horses more than other animals. But I’ve always been a conplete pushover for monster/villain redemption stories, especially those catalyzed by a girl or woman. So I was thrilled to read a story centered on a species of creatures who are deemed “monsters” and sometimes act monstrous, but — thanks to one woman — turn out to be nuanced, misunderstood, and capable of becoming “good.” Mind you, I also adore some stories where the monsters stay monstrous and the heroine loves them anyway. I’m an unrepentant Suethor on the subject. (I’m not saying Eleeri is a Sue, but I wrote monster-loving heroines who were.)
Have you read The Last Planet aka Star Rangers? I can’t find it in the reread. It holds a special place in my heart as one of THE books when I was growing up EDIT: Never mind, I found the post! I hadn’t realized how many pages there were in the Andre Norton Reread :)
@1 Aww, thank you so much.
@2 That’s it exactly. I had to shut off my writer and editor receptors and just let the fan service flow. Writing craft is not what this is about. It’s something quite different.
@3 Oh good, I’m glad you found it. I don’t think I missed any of her solo novels except for one very obscure and very early novel that, when I was looking, was essentially unobtainable.
@@.-@ I can do a check this weekend and let you know here if you missed any others (if you’re interested).
@5 Thank you so much! I am done except for the wrap post, but if you find anything else, I’m sure the followers of this series will be interested to know.
@@.-@: I didn’t see that part of the plot as deliberate fanservice when I read the book, as I thought I was the only person in the world who badly wanted to see that kind of story. I suppose a desired effect of narrative fanservice is giving a reader the feeling that the author somehow wrote the story just for them, and this one succeeds at that.
You only missed 4 solo novels: Follow the Drum (1942) [you mentioned already], The Mark of the Cat (1992) [also available in omnibus with sequel story Year of the Rat], Golden Trillium (1993) [her solo sequel to Black Trillium- a novel she co-wrote with MZB & Julian May] and The Monster’s Legacy (1996).
Technically she also wrote another solo Witch World novel (Port of Dead Ships) but it was only available in the Witch World the Turning Book 1: Storms of Victory (1991) omnibus with Pauline M. Griffin’s story Seakeep. I’d also recommend her collections of short stories/novelettes/novellas of course but that’s outside the remit of your reread.
The rest of the “co-written” works are a mix:
Bertie and May (1969) an (auto)biographical novel by her mother Bertha Stemm Norton that she edited/finished.
Maid at Arms (1981) & Caroline (1983) co-written with Enid Cushing. (I believe these are romances?)
House of Shadows (1984) & Ride the Green Dragon (1985) w/Phyllis Miller.
Empire of the Eagle (1993) [a semi-sequel to her novel Imperial Lady] w/Susan Schwartz.
Leopard in Exile (2001) [a sequel to The Shadow of Albion] w/Rosemary Edghill.
Black Trillium (1990) w/MZB & Julian May [mentioned earlier].
Tiger Burning Bright (1995) w/MZB & Mercedes Lackey.
“The Halfblood Chronicles” [sequels to Elvenbane]: Elvenblood (1995) & Elvenborn (2002) w/ Mercedes Lackey.
The Cycle of Ash, Oak, Yew, and Rowan series [sequels to To the King a Daughter]: Knight or Knave (2001), A Crown Disowned (2002), Dragon Blade (2005), & The Knight of the Red Beard (2008) w/Sasha Miller.
Solar Queen series: Redline the Stars (1993) [book 5] w/Pauline M. Griffin & A Mind for Trade (1997) [book 7] w/Sherwood Smith.
Time Traders series: Echoes in Time (1999) [book 6] w/Sherwood Smith.
The Beast Master sequels: Beast Master’s Ark (2002) [book 3] & Beast Master’s Quest (2006) [book 5], both w/Lyn McConchie.
Dragon Mage (2008) [a sequel to Dragon Magic] w/Jean Rabe.
And the final Witch World novels:
Witch World- The Turning trilogy: Book 2 Flight of Vengeance (1992) [includes framing bits by Andre, Exile by Mary H. Schaub & Falcon Hope by Pauline M. Griffin], Book 3 On Wings of Magic (1994) [includes framing bits by Andre, Falcon Magic by Sasha Miller & We, the Women by Patricia Mathews].
The Magestone (1996) w/Mary H. Schaub [which is the middle book of the Secrets of the Witch World trilogy with The Key of the Keplian & The Warding of Witch World].
The Duke’s Ballad (2005) [sequel to Ciara’s Song] & Silver May Tarnish [a stand alone story set in High Hallack] (2005) w/Lyn McConshie.
There are the Tales from the Witch World short story collections: 1 (1987), 2 (1988), 3 (1989) and of course the most important: Four from the Witch World (1989)!
@7 Yes! Exactly.
@8 Brilliant, thank you. I have actually read The Mark of the Cat and must have blanked on picking it up for this series. As I recall, I didn’t think it was her best work.
This is going to drive sound rather more sour than I mean it, but I’m glad I’m apparently not alone in my impression that McConchie was a not-great writer during these collabs.
I respect anyone who can crank out a novel’s worth of writing – I’ve managed maybe a third of one once, as a dreaded fanfic writer (not of Norton’s works). But I’m not so much a fan of “feel the thickness” without much else positive in the writing style.
Norton could almost always write “ripping yarns” and some of these collabs undermined that. Others, like the Sherwood Smith Solar Queen adventures were great. Although I seem to have subconsciously head-canoned most of the crew as gay and/or asexual (boys’ own adventures!), so Jellicoe’s late-blooming romance sat a bit oddly, despite how much I enjoyed his love interest as a new character in herself.
Also, count me in as someone who is quite pleased you haven’t given the MZB collabs any air, despite the completest urges of other commenters.
And since the comments on the final piece in this series were closed before I picked it up again, I’d just like to reiterate my appreciation for this labour of love, including and must especially for the contemporary lens you’ve focused on these works. With the more recent repubs, I was wondering whether to pick up some former faves, and this has helped me decide against a few of them that seem to have been blitzed by the Suck Fairy.
I also appreciate the editor’s eye and the look at Norton’s tropes and quirks. I never studied English lit (since the Literary Canon interests me almost not at all), so I appreciate this light and approachable deconstruction of her writing style. Even when they’re are certain faults, some might bother us less than others. So it’s good to have insight into the “blam! It ends!” phenomenon, which isn’t too bad in general for me, versus the few occasions where it is detrimental to the story’s resolution. And when the characterisation is even thinner than usual, etc etc.
So, thank you!