The Witchwood Cradle

Twelve Kingdoms #3

by Esther M. Friesner

Basoni and her eleven sisters, try to use their various magical powers to defeat Morgeld, the evil sorcerer.

Genres: Fantasy

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House.

Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.

Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.

"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.

Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each book in the Twelve Kingdoms series has an entirely different cast, minus minor or cameo appearances, so it feels like you start over for each one. The delicious idea is that this story, the menace of Morgeld, is larger than one set of characters and larger than one battle front.

The arc is grand, but each component feels intimate. This is not a conflict of armies, but of heroes and strange, subtle machinations of prophecy, and the unbearably tragic results. Morgeld's game plan is to wreak chaos and despair at a personal level, and Basoni's ultimate solution is both astonishing and appropriate considering that the villain is revealed to be less 'evil' than 'profoundly broken'.

I have no idea where this could possibly go from here.

[M.Marie.S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book in my teens. one of the earliest fantasy books that got me hooked on the genre.

[Lgp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one years ago. I decided to add it to my bookshelf because I plan to read it again. It was one of those books I could never forget, I enjoyed it that much.

I never put too much detail in my reviews because I end up giving too much away. In this case .... I just don't remember the detail except the feeling of sadness when the story ended (as I wandered through the Fantasy section of the book store).

[Eric Bercegeay]

Gave up on this one halfway. I liked her later comedy-centric stuff a LOT better - high fantasy isn't so much my fare, so I won't rate it.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3rd in series.