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A Taste of Magic
A Taste of Magic
Author: Andre Norton, Jean Rabe
"The Green Ones favored me this day." — Thus begins A Taste of Magic, the latest magical world creation by Andre Norton. — Wisteria is magically attuned to the world around her. Her senses relish the tastes of magic that the wonders of nature offer. But the peacefulness of her backwoods existence is shattered when her village is attacked by...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780765354334
ISBN-10: 0765354330
Publication Date: 8/28/2007
Pages: 304
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 10

3.4 stars, based on 10 ratings
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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reviewed A Taste of Magic on + 1568 more book reviews
This is a YA coming of age/quest novel very much in Andre Norton's classic style. Not too original, but some good plot twists. It definitely can be read on its own, though I suppose technically it follows a couple other volumes, one of which is THE SCENT OF MAGIC.
miss-info avatar reviewed A Taste of Magic on + 386 more book reviews
Andre Norton blocked out the plot for this book, but the writing was done by Jean Rabe. I have not read any other books by Norton, but I have read one other Rabe, and I have decided I just don't like her writing style. The characters irritated me, as did the use of first names in every single sentence, sometimes three times within a paragraph. No one but Horatio Cane uses names like that.

Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.

Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.
althea avatar reviewed A Taste of Magic on + 774 more book reviews
This was Andre Norton's last book. Unfinished at her death, it was completed by Rabe, a friend of Norton's, from her notes. I didn't get the impression that Norton was anywhere close to finishing the book, but that's okay.

Young Wisteria, called Eri, has natural magic, which she is trained in by the witch Nanoo Gafna. One day she is out hunting for the village, and when she returns, it is to a scene of devastation and bloodshed. The only person left alive in the village is the Nanoo's other apprentice, a young girl named Alysen, whom Nanoo put an invisibility spell on to protect. Alysen bitterly tells Eri that it is all Eri's fault that the village was slaughtered, that the armed band of men led by Lord Purvis, were looking for Eri, to kill her because of her magic. Regardless of Alysen's anger, Eri feels the responsibility to bring the younger girl safe to the witches' settlement before going out for revenge.

This setup is fine, if not terribly original, but then, an inordinate amount of the subsequent plot has to do with the girls' dealings with a random supernatural creature that they encounter in the wild, which has not much to do with anything, and doesn't really go anywhere.
miss-info avatar reviewed A Taste of Magic on + 386 more book reviews
Andre Norton blocked out the plot for this book, but the writing was done by Jean Rabe. I have not read any other books by Norton, but I have read one other Rabe, and I have decided I just don't like her writing style. The characters irritated me, as did the use of first names in every single sentence, sometimes three times within a paragraph. No one but Horatio Cane uses names like that.

Beyond that, at the beginning I thought the plot was a simple journey tale where the characters run into trouble way more often than any normal people would, none of it really necessary. I knew plot twists were coming, but I didn't know exactly what they would be.

Perhaps a younger reader would like the book (there was no language, sex, or anything questionable), but this mature reader had to skim a lot just to finish it.


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