Trey of Swords returns to the original setting of the series: Estcarp and Escore. Prior to the events in this novel, the children of Jaelithe and Simon Tregarth broke the geas which had blinded the Old Race to the existence of their homeland Escore to the East. With the geas broken, however, the Old Race has begun to return. Yonan and Crytha are members of one of these households. The first two sections of this book (“Sword of Ice” and “Sword of Lost Battles”) deal with Yonan’s struggle to control the Sword of Ice and alter the past so that an ancient battle would end in victory for the Light. The third section, “Sword of Shadow” recounts Crytha’s battle against Laidan, a witch who attempts to thwart Yonan.This is another decent entry in the Witch World saga (see my reviews of Year of the Unicorn and Spell of the Witch World), though it still doesn’t recapture the “coolness” of the first book. The first two sections are standard Norton, which – for those who haven’t read my other reviews – feature alienated youths, life quests, and both physical and mental struggles against the Dark. Yonan is a perfectly adequate hero but hardly distinguishable from many of Norton’s other protagonists (especially if you’ve been reading a string of the author’s novels, as I have). What set this particular entry in the series apart from the rest is the resolution of Crytha’s story. Avoiding spoilers, I’ll say that it’s a twist on the traditional Norton ending that I found refreshing.
Recommended for Witch World fans.
