Rating: 
Summary: A sweet, fun read.
Review: This was an intriguing book that caught me up unexpectedly. I shouldn't be surprised; Andre Norton is an amazing writer. The characters were a bit obvious, but were different enough that what each one did was not so obvious. It is hard to decide who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. The Queen who is rotten to the core still was chosen by the Four Rings. As I said, intriguing. With two girls who wish they could be princesses, it is just as fun for me to read about a girl who does become a princess. I look forward to the rest of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Mutable Time & Geography
Review: This was the first Andre Norton book I had read in many years and I was very disappointed in it. I had much higher expectations.
What really annoyed me about it was the highly mutable geography and timeline. The map was nothing like the geography described in text. The Bog was north, west, or south of the kingdom depending on what paragraph was being read. A teenage girl could cautiously walk through the dangerous bog in a few hours but it took a week for sea rovers to sail around the edge. The antagonist could magically scry upon the protagonist, spend several days doing other things then scry again and only a few hours would have passed in the life of the protagonist. There was no thought, logic, or consistency to matters of time, travel time, and geography; and I found that very aggravating.
Rating:
Summary: Mutable Time & Geography
Review: This was the first Andre Norton book I had read in many years and I was very disappointed in it. I had much higher expectations.
What really annoyed me about it was the highly mutable geography and timeline. The map was nothing like the geography described in text. The Bog was north, west, or south of the kingdom depending on what paragraph was being read. A teenage girl could cautiously walk through the dangerous bog in a few hours but it took a week for sea rovers to sail around the edge. The antagonist could magically scry upon the protagonist, spend several days doing other things then scry again and only a few hours would have passed in the life of the protagonist. There was no thought, logic, or consistency to matters of time, travel time, and geography; and I found that very aggravating.
Rating: 
Summary: A Time of Decline
Review: To the King a Daughter is the first volume in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan trilogy. This new fantasy series describes the history of Rendel during the period after the strike of the great thunder-star has freed the Great Foulness. Once there were four great powers in the world -- Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan -- but time and war have reduced these powers to shadows of their former glory. The King of Oak is a drunken lout, the Queen of Yew is a magical schemer, and Ash and Rowan are nearly dead. In this novel, a woman pregnant with the King's daughter, and Ash's heir, flees to the Bale Bog, there to give birth and die. The newborn is named Ashen Deathdaughter by Zazar, the Wysen-wyf who delivers her. Ashen is raised as Zazar's apprentice, doing lessons and chores and running through the boglands. Since she is an Outlander, the bog-folk would, by custom, have tossed her into the nearest bog, but Zazar protects her. As she grows older, the young men are somewhat ambivalent about her, both attracted and repelled. The soldiers of the Yew who have followed Ashen's mother's party believe that the pregnant woman has been lost in the mire, which would surely please the Queen, for now there would be no others to dispute her son's right to the throne. Of course, the young prince is only concerned at this time with bargaining for a pony of his own and, as he grows older, he learns that visits to his ill father are worth plum pudding for desert. So like his father, Queen Ysa thinks, but there is still time to train him to loftier pursuits. In the far north, the only city of the Sea-Rovers has been destroyed by the tsunami following the thunder-star strike. The surviving ships rendezvous with their High Chief, Snorri, in the land of the Nordens, but then sail on to establish a new city on some hospitable shore; to repay the kindness shown them, the Sea-Rovers transport a Norden emissary, Count Bjauden, to Rendel. Unfortunately, after near three years of battles, the Sea-Rovers are driven out of their new lands by a enemy from the northern ice regions and they have to flee again, this time to the Ashenhold in Rendel. Snorri's son, Obern, is sent ahead to scout and to find a safe harbor. In Rendel, Queen Ysa spins her webs and, after she gains the four great rings of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan, uses their magic to forward her plots. She has virtual control of everyone in Rendel...except her own son. Indeed, the young Prince, out of spite, commissions one of the house servants to assassinate Count Bjauden and leave his body in a ruined city in the Bog. This series is based on an archetype in many religions, the weavers of lifelines, who have been known in various times and places as the Fates, the Norns, Brigit, and other names. Certain trees are significant to most of the Western European religions, but the mythos of the Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan is specific to the old religions of the British Isles and France, particularly to what is now known as Wicca. Thus, the background of this story is drawn from the mythology of Pre-Christian Europe that has figured so prominently in other Norton stories. However, the story overlays this religious context on the architecture, dress, customs and mores of Western Europe of about the 14th century CE, yet with neither the influence of Rome nor the competition between England and France. Sasha Miller has previously contributed a story to Norton's On the Wings of Magic anthology in The Turning series of Witch World related writings. She has also written Ladylord, a fantasy novel similar in plot, but not treatment, to Moore's Jirel of Joiry. Insofar as I am aware, this is the first novel that she has co-authored with Norton. Recommended for Norton fans and anyone who enjoys war, magic and feudal politics in a fantasy setting.
Rating:
Summary: A Time of Decline
Review: To the King a Daughter is the first volume in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan trilogy. This new fantasy series describes the history of Rendel during the period after the strike of the great thunder-star has freed the Great Foulness. Once there were four great powers in the world -- Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan -- but time and war have reduced these powers to shadows of their former glory. The King of Oak is a drunken lout, the Queen of Yew is a magical schemer, and Ash and Rowan are nearly dead. In this novel, a woman pregnant with the King's daughter, and Ash's heir, flees to the Bale Bog, there to give birth and die. The newborn is named Ashen Deathdaughter by Zazar, the Wysen-wyf who delivers her. Ashen is raised as Zazar's apprentice, doing lessons and chores and running through the boglands. Since she is an Outlander, the bog-folk would, by custom, have tossed her into the nearest bog, but Zazar protects her. As she grows older, the young men are somewhat ambivalent about her, both attracted and repelled. The soldiers of the Yew who have followed Ashen's mother's party believe that the pregnant woman has been lost in the mire, which would surely please the Queen, for now there would be no others to dispute her son's right to the throne. Of course, the young prince is only concerned at this time with bargaining for a pony of his own and, as he grows older, he learns that visits to his ill father are worth plum pudding for desert. So like his father, Queen Ysa thinks, but there is still time to train him to loftier pursuits. In the far north, the only city of the Sea-Rovers has been destroyed by the tsunami following the thunder-star strike. The surviving ships rendezvous with their High Chief, Snorri, in the land of the Nordens, but then sail on to establish a new city on some hospitable shore; to repay the kindness shown them, the Sea-Rovers transport a Norden emissary, Count Bjauden, to Rendel. Unfortunately, after near three years of battles, the Sea-Rovers are driven out of their new lands by a enemy from the northern ice regions and they have to flee again, this time to the Ashenhold in Rendel. Snorri's son, Obern, is sent ahead to scout and to find a safe harbor. In Rendel, Queen Ysa spins her webs and, after she gains the four great rings of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan, uses their magic to forward her plots. She has virtual control of everyone in Rendel...except her own son. Indeed, the young Prince, out of spite, commissions one of the house servants to assassinate Count Bjauden and leave his body in a ruined city in the Bog. This series is based on an archetype in many religions, the weavers of lifelines, who have been known in various times and places as the Fates, the Norns, Brigit, and other names. Certain trees are significant to most of the Western European religions, but the mythos of the Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan is specific to the old religions of the British Isles and France, particularly to what is now known as Wicca. Thus, the background of this story is drawn from the mythology of Pre-Christian Europe that has figured so prominently in other Norton stories. However, the story overlays this religious context on the architecture, dress, customs and mores of Western Europe of about the 14th century CE, yet with neither the influence of Rome nor the competition between England and France. Sasha Miller has previously contributed a story to Norton's On the Wings of Magic anthology in The Turning series of Witch World related writings. She has also written Ladylord, a fantasy novel similar in plot, but not treatment, to Moore's Jirel of Joiry. Insofar as I am aware, this is the first novel that she has co-authored with Norton. Recommended for Norton fans and anyone who enjoys war, magic and feudal politics in a fantasy setting.
Rating:
Summary: shallow readers beware
Review: When reading an Andre Norton book, never expect it to be an easy read. In with the writing of many great authors, it takes a good reader to truly appreciate Norton's writing. "To the King a Daughter" is no exception. If you do not read closely, you will miss out on crucial details, ending up lost and confused. When I found this book, I almost didn't read it because I knew it would be an agonizingly long wait for the second one to be published (and I was right). Since my local library has been undergoing renovation for half a year, I still haven't been able to read the second book. I repeat, Norton's books are not for the uncomprehensive reader. Be prepared to appreciate the complexity of her characters as well as the interweaving plot.
Rating:
Summary: shallow readers beware
Review: When reading an Andre Norton book, never expect it to be an easy read. In with the writing of many great authors, it takes a good reader to truly appreciate Norton's writing. "To the King a Daughter" is no exception. If you do not read closely, you will miss out on crucial details, ending up lost and confused. When I found this book, I almost didn't read it because I knew it would be an agonizingly long wait for the second one to be published (and I was right). Since my local library has been undergoing renovation for half a year, I still haven't been able to read the second book. I repeat, Norton's books are not for the uncomprehensive reader. Be prepared to appreciate the complexity of her characters as well as the interweaving plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disjointed and incomplete
Review: While the story is interesting and the characters are well developed, the story skips about between characters and scenes, and goes forward and backward in time. It would have been helpful if the action had been in a continuous chronology. It can become a little confusing as to exactly where you are in the story. The story ends abruptly on page 320 without coming to a real conclusion. The book seems to have been written to develop the scene and the characters for a later sequel.
|
