Ciara's Song
A novel by Andre Norton & Lyn McConchie. Followed by The Duke's Ballad.
Publishing History
Paperback, Aspect, 245pp., ISBN: 0 446 60644 8, 1998
Timeline Notes1
- p1. Book One "Thrice-Horned to Death and Destruction"
- p3. Horning ordered in Karsten (see Witch World)
- p6. Ciara barely 9 years old
- p13 Trovagh a year older than Ciara
- p29. Yvian is short a bride (Loyse), Estcarp made a foray against the Kolder, Kolder are gone from Kars
- p34. Betrothal of Ciara & Trovagh
- p35. Later that year
- p47. Death of Yvian (see Web of the Witch World)
- p54. Ciara 10 in less than a week
- p60. A year past then another 18 months - Ciara 12 Trovagh 13
- p62. Civil war reaches South
- p67. Clan squabbling for four years
- p70. Ciara 13
- p101. Ciara 17
- p102. Year of the Pronghorn - Ciara 18
- p107. Ciara and Trovagh wed
- p110. Three years pass - a boy is born, four years later a daughter - Pagar begins his rise
- p111. Next two years Pagar strengthens his keep, three years later crowned as Duke. Pagar is 33 when announces a campaign against Verlaine.
- p113. Attack on Kars by Estcarp/Sulcar - revolt by half-brother, three years pass
- p114. Ciara's daughter is 16 - Pagar raids Estcarp over the next few years
- p115. Ciara's daughter dies.
- p118. Another year
- p120. Ciara and Trovagh's son has a son - three years pass, another son
- p121. Pagar harrying Estcarp forces - mention of Facellian
- p128. Alizon will be defeated
- p135. The Turning. (see Three Against the Witch World)
- p137. Book Two "If the Dream Is Worth the Price"
- p139. “Aisling was almost eleven.” (Ciara’s grandaughter)
- p140. “Kirion was now twenty, while Aisling had just celebrated her eleventh name day. Keelan at seventeen was kinder to his younger sister.”
- p164. “She [Aisling] celebrated her twelfth name day with Keelan assisting. His name day would come in early spring. He would be eighteen.” Snow.
- p167. Keelan turns 18.
- p175. “Two years after Keelan had deserted Iren [his mother's keep], Shandro became duke of Kars.”
- p208. Aisling is 17.
- p243. Aisling meets Neevor. (see: The Crystal Gryphon,Gryphon in Glory,Gryphon's Eyrie, The Jargoon Pard, set before The Warding of the Witch World.)
Analysis
There is a major problem with the timing in this novel - from all the other works the time between The Horning and The Turning is "close to 25 years" (see: Three Against the Witch World), which is insufficient time for a 9 year old to become a grandmother. In addition the Year of the Pronghorn is sometime BEFORE The Horning - see Silver May Tarnish. Also, why is Neevor in Escore and what is he doing welcoming strange girls who just came through a magic portal there by himself? The second half takes place between The Turning and The Gate of the Cat.
Notes
- Page numbers refer to paperback edition
page revision: 30, last edited: 28 Mar 2021 05:36
Other than The Horning being way too early, the fit ain't bad. The Turning is too late, but that may be down to miscounting of the years and not knowing exactly when the Year of the Pronghorn was (Lorcan says it was sometime before his birth year of The Year of the Pard) - what it does show is The Duke's Ballad takes place after The Warding of the Witch World. Not sure how that works!
In their own internal logic, placed with Lyn's other two novels, it may work but it still contradicts what we've uncovered of Andre's writings. The Crystal Gryphon places the Fall of Sulcarkeep the year before the Year of the Crowned Swan and implies the destruction of the Kolder Gate takes place sometime in the Year of the Leopard or (possibly even at the end of the Year of the Fire Troll) as the Hounds begin to run out of Kolder tech weapons that year. According to Three Against the Witch World the Turning was "nearly 25 years" after the Horning. I'm afraid Lyn forced her books out of canon. It's possible the events took place in Andre's Witch World as she's described but they did NOT take as long to happen as Lyn has recorded them! For instance, if Ciara was 9 at the time of the Horning and had her son when she was 14 or so and her son had HIS 3 kids when he was 14-16 or so it could have worked within the 25 year time frame.
I propose keeping all the non-Andre written novels as a separate timeline (along with GURPS which is probably what those other authors used as a guide) and only include them into the official timeline if they don't contradict what Andre has established.