Heritage of Hastur is excellent science fiction with a fantasy feel. Sharra's Exile is much weaker, overreliant on dialogue, histrionics, and predictable plot twists. ( )

(Original Review, 1980-10-22)

Boy, are you going to get answers to this/ query! (Darkover tends to arouse very strong opinions). The Darkover stories comprise about a dozen novels and a few shorts by Marion Zimmer Bradley, plus a lot of (fortunately) mostly unobtainable fan fiction. Darkover is a harsh world with a few cities and a basically feudal/manorial social structure complicated by the presence of psionic faculties ("laran") in most of the aristocracy and many of the commoners. (Bastardy is common not much thought of, especially since there are two Saturnalia-like festivals, at midsummer and midwinter, so the abilities get well spread but are frequently unrecognized or untrained.) Much of the tension of the stories comes from the fact that laran and sexual energy derive their power from the same inner resources; this means that use of laran is bound up with a variety of social codes and patterns of behavior --- Darkovans are a long way from Campbell's wise psionic supermen. The driving force in most of the plots is the conflict between Darkovans (who, Bradley has decided, were shipwrecked from a Terran colonial vessel some 2000 years before most of the stories and crossbred intermittently with the elusive natives) and the Terrans who have established a foothold on Darkover; frequently a Terran is called upon to bridge the gap of bilateral ignorance and misunderstanding. There are also tensions within Darkovan society, which is visibly evolving; the mysticism and strict codes surrounding laran are gradually disintegrating and the bloodlines of several of the aristocratic families are thinning.

There is also a wild card: the comii'letziya ("Free Companions" (feminine form), vulgarly called Amazons), who are self-sustaining feminists. A large number of readers of uncertain stability find this world attractive (especially for this last feature) and do their best to live in it.
Bradley puts a great deal of herself into all of the books, and her improvement over the 20+ years she's been writing them is visible. Several of the later ones (HERITAGE OF HASTUR, THE FORBIDDEN TOWER, THE SHATTERED CHAIN, TWO TO CONQUER) are well worth reading.

Notes:

- Darkover isn't really a series. No book depends upon your knowing the others, and characters and/or features of Darkover change between books;

- It is harder than it sounds to tell what books are part of Darkover and what aren't. Pieces of her SF that have no apparent connection with Darkover still use Darkovan mythology as the basis for their idioms (most commonly Zandru's nine hells). And one novel ("Door Through Space"?) took place on a planet that was essentially Darkover (complete with the "dry-towns" and their characteristic attitude towards women), but the planet was called something else (Wolf, I think);

- Bradley has a preoccupation with sex (most of it unconventional, e.g. explicit sex scenes between human and alien, group sex, and homosexuality). I find it all tasteful, and I am a Puritan (in the technical sense - Calvinist theology and traditional Christian catholic ethics). But if you are very sensitive about these issues you may consider some of it pornographic. (But if you are looking for traditional Christian views in science fiction you unfortunately will have a very short reading list.

If you like her writing (as opposed to liking it because of its science fiction aspects), you might also want to look for "The Catch Trap" which is a long novel about two male homosexual trapeze artists during the 1940's and 1950's. Presumably it will not be filed in the science fiction section of your friendly bookstore. (Indeed my usual local US import bookstore didn't have it at all.)

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.] ( )

Fantasy, Comyn, Terrans ( )

Set in an alien and cold world where the relationship between the Terrans and Darkover’s original colonists treads a delicate balance of co-existence, Heritage centres on those who seek to bring the planet out of its anachronistic existence and put it on an equal footing with the Terran words. While the people of Darkover reject the advances of Terran science they have developed their own special abilities, namely their mental powers of telepathy and their ability to control the matrix. At the core of the story are Lew Alton, caught between the aggressive young idealists looking to the future and his loyalty to the Comyn; and Regis, the very young potential Regent-heir of Hastur.

The story is a fine interweaving of the complex plot and the personal lives of the many characters. The Comyn people’s beliefs rooted in a society where loyalty and honour reign above all else means that even the darker characters have their standards. But among the many individuals both Lew and Regis are particularly appealing characters. Regis especially as he struggles with his own desires; in his early teens and with the longing to travel off world (something denied him) he is a reluctant heir, he is hampered too in having the potential for telepathic powers but seemingly unable to realise them; and he begins to recognises in himself a desire to reach out to other men or youths. Particularly heart-warming is the relationship which develops between Regis his fellow cadet Danilo, a youngster of high moral standards who becomes devoted to Regis.

The Heritage of Hastur is an intense, compelling and intricate epic, but what make it especially appealing is that at its root is the people, the individual and varied characters who populate the story.

Sharas Exile

Note: Swords of Aldones was conceived when the author was just fifteen years old, before Heritage and Exile. Having subsequently written Heritage Marion Zimmer Bradley then considered Swords less than satisfactory and eventually decided that while Swords was basically a good idea it was written when she had neither the skill nor the maturity to handle it; she decided not to rewrite it but to write an entirely new book based on events in the same time frame as Swords; that book is Sharra’s Exile.

Chronologically in Darkover’s history Sharra’s Exile follows on from Heritage and Exile after a gap of just a few years. Lew is living off world with his father seeking to save his damaged hand, he also has with him for the safety of Darkover the powerful Shara Matrix. On Darkover Regis is coming to terms with his role as his grandfather’s eventual successor. We also learn very soon that his relationship with Danilo has progressed beyond the latter being sworn paxman, and with great subtly on the author’s part we realise they are now also lovers. When Lew returns from exile to stand for his rights as Lord of his Domain, he inevitably brings with him the Shara Matrix, unleashing series of events that will threaten the very existence of Darkover.

Told as was Heritage and Exile, in alternate chapters in third person narrative and then narrated by Lew in the first person, Shara’s Exile is a complex and involving story, full of political intrigue, drama and love as the Comyn struggle for their own survival, an anachronism in the time of an interstellar empire; events which will ultimately demonstrate that love conquers all. It is on the whole a gripping read; it does at times get bogged down and suffer occasionally from repetition of certain points, but other than that the writing is first rate, one feels absolutely confident the author’s hands. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/dec08.html#bradleyd ( )