The Witches of Karres

Fun space opera romp across the galaxy.

This is based on a novelette written in 1949, which takes up the first two chapters of the book; I read it on its own in my youth and was fond of it. In 1966 the author decided to extend it into a novel, which I discovered later. The novel doesn't quite maintain the charm of the novelette, but it's an acceptable continuation, and readable enough, though none of it is meant to be taken seriously.

The whole thing is a strange mixture of sf and fantasy, spaceships and magic, plus magic-using children as active participants in the plot. There's something rather childish about it. But it makes a pleasant easy read if you have no objection to old-style sf/fantasy with a touch of childishness.

After the initial novelette, in which the young spaceship-piloting Pausert meets three child witches of Karres, the rest of the novel describes his adventures roaming the galaxy in the company of one of them: his magically-talented nine-year-old first cousin once removed, who has already declared her intention of marrying him. A modern author might be nervous about using such a pair as his lead characters, but Schmitz was born in 1911 and handles the situation with casual innocence.