Dread companion Book

There's absolutely no point to this book. Andre Norton's Dread Companion, a pseudo sci-fi novel, has nothing to say. Nothing happens in it that changes anything and the main character is pretty much the same person at the end of the novel that she is at the beginning. No truths were explored, there's no symbolism, just lots of wandering around and magic trees. Gah. This is the last Andre Norton book I own and will (probably) ever read. I am not sad about this.

Kilda c'Rhyn does not want to follow her expected path'stay on her home planet and get married and produce children. Every path she can think of directs her to being a wife and a mother, neither of which interest her. Determined to get off-world, she speaks with one of her teachers, Lazk Volk. He is sympathetic and helps her find a job as a child attendant for a wealthy family. The mother and her two children are leaving Chalox to travel to Dylan, the planet where their father is stationed. Kilda will be in charge of the children during this time. While the young boy, Oomark, is easy to deal with, the same cannot be said for the older (11 yrs?) girl Bartare. She seems to speak as if she is much older and mature and when she behaves like a child, Kilda is very sure it is an act. When they arrive at the planet, they discover that the father has been killed in some kind of accident. However, Bartare wasn't surprised by this and is not sad. While the mother is basically comatose and drugged up to deal with her grief, Kilda takes charge of the children. She learns that Bartare seems to have special abilities and can hurt people who don't do what she wants. One day, while accompanying Bartare and Oomark on a school trip, Kilda notices Bartare behaving oddly. She follows the children and they all end up in some kind of weird alternate universe. Kilda has to find Bartare and Oomark and get them home'before this new world takes over their minds and bodies.

This story started out strong. Kilda wants adventure, wants a challenge, doesn't want to follow the traditional path. She's strong and smart and independent. The mystery of Oomark and Bartare is pretty good and I'm intrigued'what is Bartare up to? Then Norton dumps the reader in this poorly defined weirdo world and that's it. The majority of the novel is Kilda running around trying to find Bartare (who has been taken over by the Lady'some unexplained presence who inhabits this world) and finding and losing Oomark. He is rapidly transforming into one of the Folk, some of the people who live in this world. From what I can infer, they aren't native to the world, but are brought over by the Lady's people (who are the royalty of the Folk???) and transformed into Folk by eating the fruit and drinking the water on the planet. If you try to not be transformed, you are called a "Between" by the Folk which is bad thing'to be neither one thing nor the other, but stuck "between." Then there are the Dark Ones who do bad things…and the hunters who eat you if you aren't in magic circles (but only when the mist comes out). To defeat the hunters and the Lady and stop the transformation there are magic trees called the notus that were planted long ago by other mysterious people who didn't like the Folk (???). As you can see by all of my ????, I find this story just as incoherent as the previous novel of hers I read. None of it makes any damn sense and after over 100 pages of the same kind of nonsense (Kilda wandering about finding and losing Oomark and finally figuring out, duh, eating the native food and drinking from the streams turns you into Folk and hiding from giant killer worms'although, really, the giant killer worm battle was quite exciting, violent and unexpectedly gross'and Kilda looking for the magical awesome notus trees) I was exasperated and ready for the novel to end. The ending is nonsensical as well. The whole middle section was absolutely worthless. What was the point? I thought maybe her teacher Lazk Volk would reappear because he gave her the task of adding to his knowledge of other worlds and I figured she make a nice mind recording for him (because this novel is kind of science fiction-y and she has a device that will record her thoughts) and he'd be impressed and there would be some kind of meaningful discussion about her experiences in this bizarro world, but nope. None of that happens at all. What's ironic is Kilda ends up in the same kind of situation'being pressured to marry and add to the population. But (with a convenient and who the hell didn't see this coming) romance, she and her "oh, I really do kinda like you!" surprise only to Kilda love interest run away in the planet's only working space ship. Awwww.

Yeah, this book was weird and incoherent. Read it just for the weirdness, I guess. Otherwise, don't expect much.