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 without much ado it was resolved in 20 pages. The story itself did not keep me on the edge of my seat hurrying to eat the words off the pages. I read it because it was Darkover and MZB's name was on it. Marion Zimmer Bradley died in 1999 yet books are still coming out with her name on them (at least Deborah Ross' name now appears on the covers.) The main character Gareth, is Heir to the throne of the Seven Domains yet can never take the crown as another family has served as Regent for two generations. He has very low self esteem as his family is considered feebleminded or insane. When he overhears rumors of Terran weapons reappearing years after the Federation left the planet of Darkover, he decides to go on an adventure and track them down. This leads him to the Dry Towns, where the authority of the Comyn is not recognized and women are chained. There he finds a renegade Terran ship dealing in weapons and winds up as a translator for both the Terrans and the Dry Town lords. In the process he gains some self respect and finds love. This is better than some of the recent Darkover novels but a far cry from _The Shattered Chain_ which it obviously meant to echo.
This book reminded me of how much I loved the Darkover novels.
—no_pretending
3 1/2 Stars I Liked It/I Really Liked It
—Dolores
3 1/2 STARS I Liked It/I Really Liked It
—Tywilia
