No Night Without Stars by Andre Norton YA fantasy book and audiobook reviewsNo Night Without Stars by Andre Norton YA fantasy book and audiobook reviewsNo Night Without Stars by Andre Norton

No Night Without Stars (1975), by Andre Norton, is a post-apocalyptic adventure set in a world where civilization has collapsed, and all that’s left are scavengers and warring factions.

The hero of the story is an ambitious and curious young man named Sander who has left his tribe, where he feels disrespected, to search for lost knowledge from the past. Sander hopes to discover the secrets of creating a particular alloy that smiths used to use. Then he hopes to be welcomed back into his tribe and allowed to pursue the craft of smithing.

Sander has an animal companion with whom he can communicate, and along the way he meets a young woman named Fanyi, who has two communicative animal companions. (I believe that all of Norton’s young heroes have intelligent animal companions). Fanyi is a healer with mysterious abilities who is also on a quest. She’s searching for an ancient weapon with which she will smite her enemies. Together Sander and Fanyi brave several dangers (weather, monsters, bad humans, etc.) in search of wisdom and revenge, respectively.

No Night Without Stars features Norton’s often-used blend of fantasy and science fiction. Among the world’s crumbling architecture our heroes discover bits of leftover technology that hint at a past that would have seemed magical to the world’s current denizens.

No Night Without Stars by Andre Norton YA fantasy book and audiobook reviewsAs for the characters, Sander and Fanyi are likable, but they’re a little formulaic. Sander’s the typical brave-but-naive hero, and Fanyi is the mysterious wise woman with hidden knowledge. They don’t grow much as the story goes on, making it hard to feel completely invested in their journey. As usual, the animal companions are the best characters.

Also as usual, Norton’s pacing is uneven. There are sections, usually involving travel, where not much happens, and it drags. It would have been nice if Norton had used these dull moments for some introspection or philosophy but, instead, they’re mostly used for segues to the next action scene.

In 2003, Baen books packaged the novel No Night Without Stars with the novel Daybreak – 2250 A.D. in an omnibus edition titled Darkness and Dawn. I listened to the audio version of this omnibus, which was published by Tantor Media in 2022. Eva Wilhelm is the narrator, and I thought she mostly did a nice job though I didn’t like her voice for Fanyi in this novel.

Text originally published in 1975. Published, along with the novel Daybreak – 2250 A.D. as an omnibus called Darkness and Dawn in 2003. Darkness and Dawn was published as an audiobook by Tantor Audio in 2022. They possessed the knowledge He sought… But first Sander had to find them. The Before People. The few who had survived earth’s devastation. If he reached them, he could learn the legendary skills that would set him apart, make him powerful. On his search through the desolate land Sander met Fanyi. She, too, was searching for the secret stronghold of the Before People. For her own, very different reasons. Together, they met unimagined terrors and strange perils. And suddenly they discovered themselves in deadly combat with an unexpected evil that threatened their sanity — as well as their lives….

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  • Kat Hooper

    KAT HOOPER, who started this site in June 2007, earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and psychology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and now teaches and conducts brain research at the University of North Florida. When she reads fiction, she wants to encounter new ideas and lots of imagination. She wants to view the world in a different way. She wants to have her mind blown. She loves beautiful language and has no patience for dull prose, vapid romance, or cheesy dialogue. She prefers complex characterization, intriguing plots, and plenty of action. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Richard Matheson, and C.S. Lewis.

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