itch World, the first in a series of more than 20 novels, introduces a planet that hosts civilizations far older than those of Earth, a planet perhaps not even of the same universe. Nevertheless, the story begins in mid-20th-century America, where Simon Tregarth has been on the run for days. After his military discharge, Simon found others willing to buy his services. Now, after a job gone wrong, someone wants him to pay. About to give up hope, he finds himself gazing through a portal to another reality.
With the wind of an undeniable otherwhere blowing through his hair, his incredulity is replaced by a powerful compulsion. He steps into a world that, according to the gatekeeper, has been chosen above all others as the place where he will be most at home.
Simon falls face-first into a land at war, where the rulers of Estcarp--an ancient matriarchal society--struggle to comprehend the rapid expansion of the empire of the enigmatic Kolder invaders from overseas. The women of Estcarp have intermittent access to what is simply called "the power," which can enable them to project visions, to glimpse the future, even to raise storms by will alone. But all their attempts to study the Kolder from afar have been thwarted. They and their Guardsmen must engage this unknown enemy in defense of longtime ally Sulcarkeep, a cause that Simon readily adopts as his own. He soon realizes that in this world his expert marksmanship with a dart gun (which compensates for his complete ineptitude with a sword) might not be the only skill he has to offer--even though he is a man.
Oven-fresh antiquity
Norton sets this series in a reality that contains metaphysical connections with other places, relics of the Old Ones and foreboding Places of Power--things that those with the right sort of vision go out of their way to avoid. These mystical elements are all present in this first book, but Norton doesn't use them too liberally; she adds each as a subtle spice, creating an air of ancient majesty.
Norton also deals in contrasts and contradictions: neighboring societies embody opposite cultural views, such as the Estcarp matriarchy bordering on the territory of the Falconers, an order of fighting men who only acknowledge the existence of women for procreative purposes. Random bursts of technology in an otherwise medieval-style world result in paradoxes such as powerful energy sources that heat entire cities--but no motor-driven land or water vehicles. Is the science behind such devices simply impractical for other uses? Is it the only knowledge retained from extinct high-tech civilizations that previously flourished there? Or did the secrets of its construction arrive with someone like Simon, someone whose area of expertise lay in the making of massive power generators but who had no clue as to the function of a spark plug?
It is this hodgepodge aspect of the world, without apology or explanation, that makes the story and its universe so enthralling. There's no handholding or speeding toward revelations that can be addressed with entire books later on. It all adds to the charm and mystery--a captivating backdrop for a tale of military, political and magical intrigue.
