Witch World is a science fantasy novel by American writer Andre Norton, published as a paperback original by Ace Books in 1963.

[1] The first hardcover edition was published by Gregg Press of Boston in 1977 as #1 in a set of seven called "The Witch World Novels of Andre Norton".

[1] During World War II, Simon Tregarth rose from a common soldier in the U.S. Army to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He arrives in a nearly empty countryside, just in time to witness a savage hunt: a lone woman being chased down by hounds followed by two horsemen.

The group reaches the island fortress of Sulcarkeep, but most of the Sulcarmen are away in the season of trading, and an attack including troops coming from the air overwhelms the few defenders.

Tregarth organizes a guerrilla force, drawing on his military experience, but is caught and shipped to Gorm to be turned into a mindless slave, like those encountered on the way to Sulcarkeep.

When Tregarth fights and kills the enemy leader, during the intense struggle, he inadvertently achieves a mental rapport with his opponent and learns that the people of Kolder are like him in some respects; they are a small number of soldiers, refugees from another universe, though one with a higher level of technology than Earth.