Series: Darkover
by Author Marion Zimmer Bradley
Two to Conquer (1997)
The concept of a Cheryllis double is an interesting one, and would repay thoughtful examination. This ain't it. The assumption seems to be that identity in physical characteristics (down to birthmarks) would result in identity in character, no matter what the circumstances of rearing and adult li...
The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989)
Sort of a 'Corsican Brothers meets fencing off the commons' piece. The Darkovan setting is frankly superfluous. This could easily be set in any European principality during the late Middle Ages. Oh, there are specifically Darkovan details (like raising buildings using laran). But mostly it's ...
Darkover Landfall (1987)
I read the first book in this omnibus, Darkover Landfall in 2008. I'm now continuing with Two to Conquer. I am following my own reading order for the Darkover novels as described on my blog - http://www.brigidsflame.com/feymorgai... - except that I read Darkover Landfall earlier and am reading Tw...
The World Wreckers (1979)
The World Wreckers (pub. 1971) is, in terms of internal chronology, the last book set in post-Contact Darkover written by Bradley alone, without a collaborator. It is a story of catastrophic endings and unlooked-for new beginnings, and is the book that gives us the most information about the orig...
City of Sorcery (1984)
City of Sorcery (pub. 1984), takes place seven years after the events in Thendara House, and there have been changes. Peter Haldane is now Legate, and Renunciates and women of the Terran Service working together have created The Bridge Society, a means for Terran and Darkovan to share knowledge a...
Thendara House (1983)
Careful reading of The Forbidden Tower places the start of this book right in the middle of the former. The end is well after the characters from The Forbidden Tower have returned home to Armida. Overlap doesn't really begin until toward the end.Jaelle has more excuse than Margali for being eth...
The Shadow Matrix (1999)
The Shadow Matrix begins shortly after the conclusion of Exile's Song. Marguerida - as Margaret Alton is now called - is at Arilinn, but her training is not going well. Unable to tolerate the high-level matrices for long periods of time, she is living in a guest-house. An adult of a decidedly ind...
Rediscovery (1993)
That's it? I first read Rediscovery years ago, and all I remembered before I reread it this time was that the Terrans set a whole forest on fire and...no, that was it. I didn't remember any of the characters or anything else that happens, and now that I've reread it, it turns out that's because n...
The Shattered Chain (1977)
This is the edition I have. I find, on checking the publication data, that this is actually the first edition.As is common with much-read books, this one is shopworn. The cover is taped on (I didn't get very far in conservation classes, so I can only use what I've got at hand). The edges of th...
The Heritage of Hastur (1984)
The Heritage of Hastur (pub. 1975) and its immediate sequel, Sharra's Exile (pub. 1981) are in some ways the heart of the Darkovan cycle - they mark the end of the Comyn and the sociopolitical structure of Darkover as it was and, as Regis Hastur comes into his own, the beginnings of a new Darkove...
Stormqueen! (1978)
Stormqueen! is my favorite Darkover book, despite the unfortunate punctuation in the title. It's mostly because it takes place back during the glory days of Darkover, when the Towers were all standing, when laran provided light and heat and transportation and wasn't feared or hated, and when the ...
Hawkmistress! (1982)
Ah... Darkover. After having read eleven Darkover books, reading the next two (Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress! in the omnibus The Ages of Chaos) feels like returning home, albeit to a fantasy home. This was surprising since The Ages of Chaos takes place in early Darkovan chronology, before Darkovan...
The Forbidden Tower (1994)
This edition has the same cover picture as the copy I have: but I'm still not sure it's the edition I have. The copy I have may be a first edition.The dedication is important, as with many books written in collegial genres: "For DIANA PAXSON, who asked the question which directly touched off this...
The Spell Sword (1974)
Bradley rewrote several of her earlier books to bring them more in line with the main sequence. If she did so with this book, I haven't seen a copy.The Spell Sword isn't really enchanted, of course--there's just a matrix attached to enable the injured Dom Esteban to take over the reflexes of his...
Exile's Song (1997)
I'm not sure whether it's this edition or the other nearly identical edition which I own. I have the 1996 edition, which I believe is the 1st edition.I wanted to review this as part of a trilogy, because the comments I have for now refer to the whole trilogy (to varying degrees). The other titl...
Traitor's Sun (2000)
I was all set to give this five stars until the stupid ghost showed up.Traitor's Sun is the culmination of all the plots and schemes found in both Exile's Song and The Shadow Matrix, but is better than both of those put together. Maybe it's the fifteen-year timeskip that does it, since it allows ...
The Children of Kings (2013)
I loved MZB's books as a teenager and 30+ years later. And I was happy that Deborah J Ross was going to continue to write about Darkover. But this book felt more like she was fleshing out the characters than creating a story around the characters. She would no sooner introduce a conflict and w...