Witch World
core novel 1963 Witch World
Record
| First published | 1963 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.79 (5,199 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780441897087 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Witch World, published in 1963, opens on Earth, where Simon Tregarth, a fugitive with nowhere left to run, is offered an escape through a mysterious portal called a Siege Perilous, which promises to send him to whatever world he needs most. Simon takes the gamble and is pulled into Estcarp, an embattled land ruled by women called witches who draw power from ancient, guarded magic. Arriving as a stranger with no place in Estcarp's rigid order, Simon is drawn into the country's struggle against the neighboring, more conventionally hostile kingdom of Karsten and, more troublingly, against the invading Kolder, an enemy wielding advanced and alien technology that Estcarp's magic struggles to counter. As Simon proves his worth to Estcarp's witches, particularly Jaelithe, he becomes entangled in the war for the country's survival and the mystery of the Kolder's origins and aims.
Where it sits
- Universe: Witch World
- Series: The Estcarp Cycle core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Andre Norton
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1964: nominated
Notes
- From the series record (The Estcarp Cycle): The original Simon Tregarth / Tregarth-family run (1963-1968): a modern-day ex-soldier crosses through the Siege Perilous into the dying, magic-suffused planet Estcarp, followed by his children's own adventures across its successive volumes.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Estcarp Cycle: position 1 of 5: next Web of the Witch World (1964)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Witch World
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_World_(novel)
- The Hugo Awards: 1964 Hugo Awards
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Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.