I first read “Witchdame” by Kathleen Sky when it was new in 1985, and I was about 15 years old. I remembered I enjoyed it, so when I saw it available used now for cheap I picked up another copy to reread.

It’s still a pretty good fantasy novel. While taking place in a fantasy version of medieval England and Wales, Sky doesn’t give a huge amount of background about who the Witchlords and Woodwitches are, though eventually it comes out that the Witchlords and Witchdames are the nobility of this version of England, capable of magic, while the Woodwitches are more nature-oriented magic users who were mostly defeated by the Witchlords of prior generations. It’s not hard to pick up that the Witchlords aren’t, in general, friendly with the Woodwitches, however, the Witchlord king of England had married a Woodwitch woman, Dianne and their heir, the main character, Elizabeth, is both.

The novel begins shortly before Princess Elizabeth’s 18th birthday, with her mother dying and her father already having selected his new wife, who intends to give Richard a son to follow him on the throne. It’s clear that Dianne’s existence has been restricted for some time due to her being a Woodwitch in a Witchlord royal court, but she’s passed on a little bit of Woodwitch culture to Elizabeth.

Early in the book there’s tremendous amount of narration about the various women’s clothing. Considering how confusing it was to me now, I can’t remember what I thought of that when I read this the first time when I was only 15.

Sky isn’t very consistent on Richard supporting or hating Woodwitch culture, so that gets a bit confusing.

The main adventure involves the now 18 year old Elizabeth making a journey to the four compass directions of England, the land that she’ll eventually rule over as queen, and resolving a major issue at each of those points.

Sky was more clear on the timeframe of the travel at the beginning of the journey, but after they finished their “west” task, it was confusing how long it took the party to travel to their “north” task. The distance on the map was several times further, but there was nothing about it in the story.

The conclusion was a little disappointing, too much of a deus ex machina sort of thing, especially after Elizabeth went through a lot to become more powerful in her own right. I’d been hoping her victory would be much more her own.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, with the down points not detracting too much. If Kathleen Sky ever wrote a sequel to it, I’d read it. ( )

I adored this book back when I read it in high school and college. All these years later, I admit I see more flaws in it: a narrative that staggers between detailed scenes and rushed endings, an abrupt halt at the end of the book, and characters that could be more fully developed. Still, I found myself wishing, like back in high school, that the author had returned to this world and written more stories in it: the hints of an Elven (Roman) past, the mysteries of Faerie (Ireland), and the unresolved tensions between the woodwitches, witchlords, and humans all left me wanting to know more about Englene and its neighbors. ( )

gangly princess comes into her heritage and gets her man, after trials. detailed medieval language. various magical races, of which our heroine is a mixture, plus angels and demons, but no Christianity. seemingly anachronistic sexual mores (not porn). rites involving incest which are forbidden to mere humans.