Rating: 
Summary: Not easy reading
Review: This is not one of Andre Norton's best novels. The dialogue goes into long speeches in a style that loses your attention. The story appears to start in the middle of something, and gives the readers a feeling that they may have missed a previous book. It is a complex fantasy that skips back and forth between characters, and there is one large jump forward in time. Overall, it is a somewhat interesting tale of an evil mage aspiring to power, but the story drags, and it is hard to identify a central character.
Rating:
Summary: Not easy reading
Review: This is not one of Andre Norton's best novels. The dialogue goes into long speeches in a style that loses your attention. The story appears to start in the middle of something, and gives the readers a feeling that they may have missed a previous book. It is a complex fantasy that skips back and forth between characters, and there is one large jump forward in time. Overall, it is a somewhat interesting tale of an evil mage aspiring to power, but the story drags, and it is hard to identify a central character.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: Though this is the third book I've read by Norton, I do agree that it could have used a little help. It did start off slow and there were times when you were totally confused. However, Norton redeems herself as the book progress by the sheer imagination that exist inside of her. The characters were a little hard to understand at first. That's in part one of the book but in part two, they all seem to come together. Whereas I am a loyal fan to Norton, I would still read all of her books and feel lucky to be part of that crowd that knows good fiction when she's see it.
Rating:
Summary: Not terribly impressive
Review: Wind in the Stone is a fairly typical high fantasy with Norton's usual strengths and weaknesses. It pales beside her earlier and much more distinguished Scent of Magic. As far as strengths go, Wind in the Stone has an unusual premise; however, the enigmatic Wind and Sasqua could have used a bit more explanation. It also had an interesting contrast between the two settings-- the wild forest and a farming village. And lastly, it has a gorgeous Kinuko Craft cover. On the down side, the characters (which are never Norton's strong point) are extremely sketchy and are only given the briefest of motives. The reader never really connects with any of them, and most of them are present for only about half of an already short book. The story started out reminding me a little of Patricia A. McKillip's The Book of Atrix Wolfe, but went downhill quickly. It's unpleasantly and unnecessarily dark, and altogether not very fun to read. The cover's not quite the best thing about it, but it comes close. Read Scent of Magic, The Shadow of Albion, or The Book of Atrix Wolfe before this one.
Rating:
Summary: Not terribly impressive
Review: Wind in the Stone is a fairly typical high fantasy with Norton's usual strengths and weaknesses. It pales beside her earlier and much more distinguished Scent of Magic. As far as strengths go, Wind in the Stone has an unusual premise; however, the enigmatic Wind and Sasqua could have used a bit more explanation. It also had an interesting contrast between the two settings-- the wild forest and a farming village. And lastly, it has a gorgeous Kinuko Craft cover. On the down side, the characters (which are never Norton's strong point) are extremely sketchy and are only given the briefest of motives. The reader never really connects with any of them, and most of them are present for only about half of an already short book. The story started out reminding me a little of Patricia A. McKillip's The Book of Atrix Wolfe, but went downhill quickly. It's unpleasantly and unnecessarily dark, and altogether not very fun to read. The cover's not quite the best thing about it, but it comes close. Read Scent of Magic, The Shadow of Albion, or The Book of Atrix Wolfe before this one.
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