Three Hands for Scorpio

By Andre Norton

Book Overview

Andre Norton, the celebrated author of Witch World and many other fantasy adventures, offers a new novel unique among her works, set in a realm not dissimilar to northern England in the sixteenth century: also, the Dismals of Northern Alabama are the model for part of the exotic setting.Drucilla, Sabina, and Tamara, identical sisters born to Desmond, Earl of Skorpys, understand the price of being princesses in a realm bordered by fractious neighbors. For generations their land has been plagued by incursions, raiding parties, and more serious conflicts with Gurlyon, the land to their North. But when these three plucky young ladies are kidnapped as part of a plot to undermine their father's domain, they are taken to a mysterious realm where they experience terrors unlike anything they could imagine.Their captors, fearing pursuit, thrust the princesses into a deep recess in a bizarre underworld called the Dismals. Once there, they must fend off hideous creatures, and a young man who claims to be lord of this dark, forbidding realm. Not sure whether he is friend or foe, they must depend on their wits, on each other, and on the mind-link that binds them together. Only thus can they escape the bizarre nether-realm they must roam in search of a way home.Their travails test them in ways they cannot foresee, both physically and magically. Powerful forces work against them, but together they may yet escape, and help right the wrong that brought them to the strange realm in the first place.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765304643
• ISBN13: 9780765304643
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.1" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Three Against the Dark

Three Hands for Scorpio (2005) is a standalone Fantasy novel set in an alternate reality much like the 16th century border region of England and Scotland. South of the border is Alsonia, a nation with a monarchy and extensive peerage. North is Gurlyon, a nation of clans allegedly ruled by a king. Raiders frequently crossed this border region in either direction to take cattle and other plunder from the other side. Moreover, reivers -- outlaws and breakswords -- attack crofts and small keeps on both sides. Neither Alsonians nor Gurlys have been able to control their own people in this regard, much less the reivers. This is the tale of three sisters -- Tamora, Sabrina and Drucilla -- born in the same birthing to Altha, the Countess of Verset. Their father was Desmond Scorpy, Earl of Verset, and they were born on the same day as his famous victory at Erseway. They were born with the Talent, receiving their Gifts from their mother, and were well trained in these Gifts by their mother and Wise-wife Duty. In this novel, Earl Scorpy has worked, in his capacity as High Warden, toward a general truce along the border and Clan Chief Starkadder is coming to Grosper to accompany the Earl to truce talks at Losstrait. With Starkadder will come his second son and an emissary of the King of Gurlyon. Alsonians have heard rumors of social changes within Gurlyon. Women were previously allowed a degree of autonomy, but now have been forced into dependent relationships with male Gurlys. Some women have been harshly punished for minor infractions. The King's emissary is a Chosen -- a Gurly priest -- who has publicly whipped a woman who didn't clear out of his path fast enough. The sisters are arrayed with their parents to welcome Starkadder and his company to Grosper. This reception is marred by the rudeness of some members of the Starkadder party. When Clan Chief Starkadder introduces the king's observer, Udo Chosen, the Gurly priest questions whether any gathered there are unbelievers and sneers at the answer. Later, at the feast given for the Starkadder guests, the second son addresses Tam as a bedwarmer; she gives him a cutting reply and the sisters depart for their rooms. Afterward, the sisters stay in their rooms while the Starkadders are visiting and come out only after the guests and their parents leave for the truce talks. When an unusual peddler appears at the gate, the sisters stay out of his sight, but send others to observe and question him. That night, a sleep spell ensorcels the entire household at Grosper and the sisters are kidnapped from their beds. Bina awakens during the abduction, but is unable to move, speak or even mind-touch with her sisters. Later, she is mind-called by Tam and passes on her knowledge, but both fall asleep again. Then Cilla wakes for a while. Tam is awake again when the reiver Maclan gives his name and loads them on a platform to lower them down into the Dismals. In this story, Tam, Bina and Cilla ar

Return of the Master

I have read all of Ms. Norton's books, so I qualify as slightly biased. The plot development, characterizations, and readability of this story make it a joy to all of us who have yearned for a return to her earlier writing style. I was unable to put it down until I had finished it - all in just one day. Not many books command my attention span that dominantly in recent years. The "magic" of old was back...and indeed, welcomed back. If one has never read any of her books, this can easily be a stand-alone read to introduce you to her many, many previous stories. As she described herself, a "Teller of Tales".

Though Ms. Norton has died, still the Grand Dame of fantasy

Princess triplets Drucilla, Sabina, and Tamara of the House of Skorpys share a telepathic connection that has made the three siblings best friends. Their homeland is constantly under threat and assault by feral neighbors wanting to destroy their father the Earl. Especially troublesome is the constant raids from Gurlyon, which this time includes the abduction of the trio. With Skorpys in pursuit to resche his daughter, their abductors decide to dump the women in order to foster their escape. However, they don't discard the females anywhere; they thrust the women inside the Dismals, a deadly underground world filled with dangerous strange creatures and oddly, a large forest. Rather then fold, Drucilla, Sabrina, and Tamara begin their trek out of these badlands starting by allying with a ferocious feline creature, the Climber and next with a human hermit Zolan, who insists there is no way out of the Dismals and that he communicates with the spirits of the former lost tribes that once resided in this wasteland. While the ladies struggle to survive, their home is under siege by a malevolence that once ran rampant in the Dismals. Though triplets sharing so much in common, the three females come across as unique individuals with diverse tastes due to Andre Norton rotating the narration enabling the audience to see the same event from differing perspectives. The story line is action-packed with the alternate Dismal underground realm an interesting locale though the connection to Skorpys is not clear until very late in the tale. Fans of strong female fantasy characters will gain immense pleasure from THREE HANDS FOR SCORPIO as Andre Norton remains the Grand Dame of fantasy. Harriet Klausner

Andre Norton's final fantasy

"Three Hands for Scorpio" is the last fantasy of Lifetime Grand Master of Fantasy, Andre Norton, who passed away on March 17, 2005 after a long and extremely fruitful career. Her first novel, "The Prince Commands" was published in 1934, and this, her last, in 2005. Her magically detailed world-building skills and upright, against-all-odds characters will be sorely missed. Tor rushed a copy of this book into print, so that the 93-year-old author could see it before she died. It is the last manuscript she penned alone, and it is said that she was especially proud of it. ("Return to Quag Keep," a sequel to Norton's "Quag Keep" (1979), will be released as a collaboration in January, 2006.) "Three Hands for Scorpio" has much in common with Norton's famed Witch World novels, in that it features triplets who are able to mind meld, and each of whom possesses a unique supernatural talent. There are also two distant, but powerful parents and an exotic setting which happens not to be Witch World, but another troubled border land, whose inhabitants are constantly at war. The setting might remind you of the Anglo-Scottish border before the accession of the Stuarts, except that the true battle is fought between the Light and the Dark, with an assist from the mundane world's princes and clan chieftains Clan Scorpys nurtures three daughters worthy of its proud name, who came into the warring borderland in a single birthing. "Having no son to 'shield his back,' as the country saying goes" the triplets' father taught them horsemanship and the use of weapons. Their mother tutored them in magic. Tamara, Sabina, and Drucilla must use all the skills they can muster when they are kidnapped by a particularly obnoxious band of reivers in the pay of the Starkadder clan. They are abused almost to the point of death, then left for dead in an underworld called the Dismals when the outlaws learn that the Scorpys clansmen are hot on their trail. The Dismals is a strange, psychedelic version of the upper world with huge spider-like creatures and things resembling praying mantises the size of a horse. The triplets are rescued by an enigmatic man named Zolan who aids them, then attacks them psychically. They repel and almost kill him, then in turn save his life. They believe his attack was some sort of test. We long-time Norton fans know that Zolan can't be a true creature of the dark because his best friend is a cougar-sized cat named Climber. There are many more testings and near-death adventures in the dark caverns of the Dismals, then the triplets and Zolan regain the outer world, only to find that Evil has preceded them to the borderlands, and the King himself has been captured. This is another completely populated mythology, Dark versus Light, by the one of the most underrated fantasy writers of our time. If "Three Hands for Scorpio" cannot quite be cherished as Norton's best fantasy, it will indeed be cherished as her final fantasy.