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The Duke's Ballad (a WitchWorld novel) by Andre Norton and Lynn McConchie
01/08/2005 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: TOR. 318 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30636-0. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
This novel is a collaboration between Andre Norton, the originator of 'Witchworld', and New Zealander Lyn McConchie. This is a land of magic, originally discovered by a man from Earth on the run. This aspect of the story has long been left behind and the world continues with no reference to aliens or others. It's a medieval-type world where certain people are gifted in magic.
Aisling is a witch. She is blessed with power and cursed because her brother Kirion is a wicked sorcerer who will stop at nothing to use her power for evil. Compelled by a spell to return to her native land, she determines to use her power for good and do all she can to destroy her brother's power.
Kirion now works for the Duke Shastro, who rules the country of Kars with fear. Kastro needs Kirion's power to feed his unnatural desires and keep the people in order. Kirion expends a lot of his energies on making females more compliant towards the Duke.
When Aisling joins up with her younger brother and new companion Hadrann, they make a force to be reckoned with. She disguises herself as bland and invisible Cousin Murna but surprisingly becomes the confidante of Duke Shastro. Hiding her powers, Aisling will ultimately need to bring him down despite finding she has some sympathy with this tyrant.
This is a good enough plot but the characters feel one-dimensional. It's good versus bad with a little justification for why Shastro became such a tyrant thrown in but no real depth to anybody. It becomes an exercise in plotting and the end is never really in any doubt. The whole book lacks any 'aah!' moments and Aisling is simply an agent for good magic without having any crisis of her own.
Descriptions of the world are crisp and the world being a recreation of medieval serfdom with an added magical twist is easy to imagine. There just isn't enough heart in the story and it was a matter of indifference to me whether these people live or die. With exposition rather than action, it also becomes dull and the end of the novel was overlong and I just lost interest in the end.
Sue Davies
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