Dare to Go A-Hunting

~ 4th Novel in the Moon Magic Series by Andre Norton

(Series aka) Free Traders or Moon Singer

dare to go a hunting

 

Synopsis ~

Write-up from the front flap of the 1989 dustjacket ~

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men...

Throughout the civilized galaxy, in spacers' ports on the most far-flung worlds, an ancient Terran legend echoes...about a race of magical beings called the Little People or the Fairy Folk. Some tales say they live in fabulous halls beneath the earth. Others describe them soaring through the air on shimmering wings. Many tales say they fled mankind — from the despoiling of the land, and the touch of cold iron.
What if there is some truth behind the legends? What if such a race really exists, fleeing from world to world one step ahead of man’s spaceships and machines? Faree has to know; his earliest memories are of a life of near-slavery in a squalid port town — but he knows he was not born in that town, and the wings on his back are proof that the People may be more than mere legend. He has never seen another of his kind, but if they exist, he means to find them.
Yet there are others equally determined to find the home of the People, others with more sinister reasons to go a-hunting...
Tor Books presents a brand-new novel by the master of adventure, about the most curious trio of friends in the civilized galaxy; Krip Voreland, interplanetary Free Trader; Maelen, sorceress of the Moon of Three Rings, and Farree, the orphan boy with the mysterious, iridescent wings.

 

Write-up from the back of paperback edition ~

Trough out the civilized galaxy, in spacers’ ports on the most far-flung worlds, an ancient Terran legend echoes… about a race of magical beings called the Little People or the Fairy Folk. What if there is truth behind the old stories and songs? What if such a race really exists, fleeing from world to world one step ahead of mankind’s ships?
Farree has to know. Orphaned as a child, his earliest memories are a life of near-slavery in a squalid port town - but he knows he was not born on that world, and the wings on his back are proof that the People may be more than mere legend. He has never seen another of his kind, but if they exist, he means to find them.
Yet there are others equally determined to find the home of the People, others with more sinister reasons to go a-hunting...

 

Write-ups from fans ~

Last book in the Moonsinger series. To share the further adventures of Maelen, Krip and Faree we add Grand Hist-Techneer Zoror, a Zacanthan. He has been studying legends of the "little folk" throughout known space. Our heroes discover that some shady merchants are selling material that looks like Faree's wings. After some confrontations, they get a clue to the origin of this highly illegal contraband. They take off and land on Elothian. Faree hears a telepathic call for help and takes off to find the source. He gets attacked but gets away and sees all kinds of things that bring back memories. They discover that several species of the fairy folk live here and there is a Guild ship here to harvest the wing material and look for "treasure" that fairies are reputed to possess. Our group joins forces with the fairies to fight the bad guys. ~ PG

 

Sequel to FLIGHT IN YIKTOR.  Faree, the winged outcast boy Maelen and Krip Vorlund rescued leads them on a quest to find his home planet, which he remembers but dimly.  What he does remember sounds very much like the old human tales of the Little People or Fairy Folk.  The legend intrigues a Zacathan Hist-Tech, who joins their quest.  The four of them take off in their spaceship, navigating on a journey tape, and arrive at a planet where Jacks have been hunting and killing Faree's people for the skins of their wings.  Vorlund brings their ship down in a small valley filled with strange mounds surrounded by underground burrows.  For some reason the mounds begin to glow with crowns of lights, which entice Faree to leaves the ship to explore.  He discovers a large building set on a cliff, and enters it, only to be trapped by the inhabitant, a tall female humanoid.  She uses Faree to help her, and her sometimes-reluctant allies, to free one of Faree's people who has been being used by the Jacks to lure others into their trap, so they may take their wings.  Later, Vorlund rigs an explosive device which Faree manages to plant on the Jack's spaceship, thereby destroying it and making the planet safe for Faree's people, and the other "fairy tale" inhabitants.  - SL

 

Reviews ~

Kirkus Reviews ~ Issue: 1989
Sequel to the frail, frothy Flight in Yiktor (1986), another foolish and unconvincing fantasy/science-fiction hybrid. Young, winged sprite Farree has been mind-blocked from remembering the whereabouts of his race's home planet. Then his companions--the Moon Singer Maelen; interplanetary free-trader Krip Vorlund; and the reptilian-alien Zacanthan, Zoror--come across some beautiful skins whose source clearly are wings like Farree's. Who would do such a dastardly deed? Well, slaver and bad-guy middleman Xexepan would--and from him the companions learn of the remote world where the skins were obtained. But when Farree's expedition finally reaches the planet, they must face various formidable antagonists before discovering the truth of a complicated situation: Farree's folk, descendants of Earthly Little People, have been enslaved by interstellar pirates despite elaborate mental planetary defenses. Elves and sprites with spaceships and laser beams. Yech. 

 

Review by Publishers Weekly ~ Jan. 01, 1990

Farree, the misshapen orphan rescued from the slums of the Limits who discovered his wings in Flight in Yiktor , now seeks his own kind, known only from distant legends associated with a fabled Terran past. With Free Trader Krip Vorlund and the sorceress Maelen, his friends and protectors who have found wings such as his for sale in a market, he begins a journey to his birth planet. There Winglings, Hodlins, Darda and others battle men who would enslave them and steal the treasures long associated with the Little People, whose efforts to save themselves are hampered by treason, internecine warfare and their inability to touch iron. Norton, who wrote about the Faerie in Huon of Horn , takes these mythical people to the edge of extinction in the far future, where she allows her engaging hero to find his destiny.

 

Various reviews ~ For more info and other listings see Articles Over the Years

1990 by Carolyn Cushman in Locus #348, January
2015 by Patrick Reardon
2021 By Judith Tarr

 

Dedications and Acknowledgements ~

 For Ingrid who wanted a story of the People -

 

Bibliography of English Editions ~

  • (1989) Published by TOR, HC, 0-312-85012-3, 978-0-312-85012-8, LCCN 89039877, $17.95, 248pg ~ cover by Victoria Poyser {Black Paper Boards, ISBN on Front & Rear Flap}
  • (1990) Published by TOR, PB, 0-812-54712-8, 978-0-812-54712-2, LCCN 89-39877, $3.95 US $4.95 Canadian, 248pg ~ cover by Victoria Poyser
  • Moonsinger's Quest (2011) Published by BAEN, PB, 1-451-63756-X, $13.00, 612pg ~ cover by unknown ~ Omnibus containing Flight in Yiktor (1986) & Dare To Go A-Hunting (1989)

 

Non-English Editions ~

  • (2001) Published in Poznań, Poland; by Zysk i S-Ka, 83-715-0900-6, 230pg ~ translation by Dorota Żywno ~ cover by Dariusz Jasiczak ~ Polish title Na łów nie pójdziemy [On the hunt does not go]

 

Russian Omnibus Editions ~

  • (1993) Published in Zelenograd, by Zelenogradskaya Books, 5-863-14022-4, HC, 384pg ~ cover by D. Avvakumov ~ Russian title Лунная магия [Moon Magic]

Contains:

    • "Flight in Yiktor" as "Flight to the Yictor" ~ translation by L. Gridneva, pp. 3-196
    • "Dare To Go A-Hunting" as "Dare to go hunting" ~ translation by L. Gridneva, pp. 197-381

 

  • (2005) Published in Moscow, by Eksmo, 5-699-13246-5, HC, 400pg ~ cover by D. Dzhankol ~ Russian title Опасная охота [Dangerous hunt] ~ Limited to 5100 copies

Contains:

    • "Flight in Yiktor" as "Flight to the Yictor" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 5-204
    • "Dare To Go A-Hunting" as "Dangerous Hunt" ~ translation by O. Kolesnikov, pp. 205-395

View the Original contract

View the original Copyright app. 

View an Outline for Dare to Go A-Hunting as typed by Andre

See Also: Timeline 1 - Andre's Universe entry for this title.

View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://andre-norton.com/works-of-a-master/series-of-a-master/the-moon-magic-series/294-dare-to-go-a-hunting#sigProIde115806a51

 

 

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