Adventure. Understand why these are part of the Appendix N reads.

This is a deep prequel, describing the coming of the dalemen to an abandoned High Hallack. This is a fairly cool theme and the development we do get of it is good, even if that is only the first 20% or so of the book.

The other 80% is given to the Quest With Supernatural Aid part of the story, about which I have mostly good things to say. This is I think the longest sustained such quest in Norton's Witch World stories that I've read. It's remarkably good (she's written enough of them at this point to know her way about), but its length does make it take on a few extra convolutions. It does more mythology building than any other story and unlike other stories about conflicts between Powers, their relationships (rather than the unexpected appearance of one or the other) are key in resolving it.

Seeing Gathea from Elron's perspective, only, but with knowledge from the way the rest of the stories treat wise women, is interesting. he both totally relies on her and also she is wrong about so much. I wish Elron had more (any?) moments of realizing things to respect about her before the conclusion. And I have (spoilery) thoughts about that conclusion.

Honestly, if the text were not insisting on it being Gathea's free choice to be accept multiple times, in multiple different ways, it's hard not to read Elron's entering the Moon Shrine to propose marriage to her while she is in the midst of her dedication to the virgin aspect of the moon goddess...as a rape? Textually it is not, but their marriage is the imposition of his own values onto her life to the repudiation or her own.

These two have had so few moments of mutual recognition that this story would honestly be stronger if it ended with them recognizing the value of the other's seeking and going their separate ways.