Decent story, I liked that the young warrior character is female, but the ending was unsatisfying. ( )

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. ( )

The companion to Scent of Magic follows the fortunes of Wisteria, who returns home from hunting, only to find bodies and blood everywhere. With the exception of 10-year-old Alysen, who was warded by one of the fen witches, everyone in the village is dead. The two youngsters set out on a perilous journey in search of the noble who sanctioned the carnage. ( )