L'épée enchantée

Darkover (Publication Order) #8

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Andrew Carr rêvait de trouver un monde où quelqu'un l'attendrait. C'est sur Ténébreuse qu'il entend l'appel, qu'il voit l'image de cette fille aux cheveux de feu : Callista. Elle-même es
enfermée dans un lieu obscur. Où ? Elle n'en sait rien. Elle a lancé l'appel, et c'est Andrew qui l'a reçu. Leurs esprits s'unissent dans un déferlement d'intime tendresse. Alors il part en quête de la prisonnière - infiniment lointaine, infiniment proche de lui. Un jour, il retrouve ses parents : ils la cherchent à tous les niveaux de réalité, impuissants à rentrer en contact avec son esprit malgré leurs pouvoirs psi. Surpris qu'un Terrien ait reçu son appel, ils choisissent de lui faire confiance. Ensemble, ils affronteront l'invasion des cruels hommes-chats, experts à lacérer les âmes. Mais qui trouvera l'abîme où est plongée Callista la très belle

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Romance, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook.

Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.

Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.

Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.

Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.

For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.

Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.

Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.

Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #119

Cover Artist: George Barr

Name: Bradley, Marion Eleanor Zimmer, Birthplace: Albany, New York, USA, (3 June 1930 -25 September 1999)

Alternate Names: Lee Chapman, John Dexter, Miriam Gardner, Morgan Ives, Marlene Longman, Astra of the Spheres, Marion Zimmer, Marion E. Zimmer, Marion Eleanor Zimmer.

Although Darkover was a world inhabited by humans as well as semi-humans, it was primarily forbidden ground to the Terran traders. Most of the planet's wild terrain was unexplored... and many of its peoples seclusive and secretive.

Andrew Carr there was an attraction he could not evade. Darkover drew him, Darkover haunted him and when his mapping plane crashed in unknown heights, Darkover prepared to destroy him.

Until the planet's magic asserted itself and his destiny began to unfold along lines predicted only by phantoms and wonder workers of the kind Terran science could never acknowledge.


Darkover Series:

1. Darkover Landfall (1972)
2. Stormqueen! (1978) (with Paul Edwin Zimmer)
3. The Fall of Neskaya (2001) (with Deborah J Ross)
4. Zandru's Forge (2003) (with Deborah J Ross)
5. A Flame in Hali (2004) (with Deborah J Ross)
6. Hawkmistress! (1982)
7. Two to Conquer (1980)
8. The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989)
9. The Spell Sword (1974)
10. The Shattered Chain (1976)
11. Rediscovery (1993) (with Mercedes Lackey)
12. The Forbidden Tower (1977)
13. Thendara House (1983)
14. City of Sorcery (1984)
15. Star of Danger (1965)
16. Winds of Darkover (1970)
17. Thunderlord (2016) (with Deborah J Ross)
18. The Heritage of Hastur (1975)
19. The Planet Savers (1962)
20. The Sword of Aldones (1962)
21. Sharra's Exile (1981)
22. The World Wreckers (1971)

Written by others:

Hastur Lord (2010) (with Deborah J Ross)
24. Exile's Song (1996) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
25. The Shadow Matrix (1997) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
26. Traitor's Sun (1999) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
27. The Alton Gift (2007) (with Deborah J Ross)
28. The Children of Kings (2013) (with Deborah J Ross)
29. The Bloody Sun (1964) A novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

[Beatriz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Como entrega de la serie Darkover, deja bastante que desear comparada con otros libros de la saga. Aquí nos encontramos con una historia simple, plana, una aventura épica sin ninguna pretensión y con un final absolutamente predecible. Por su parte, los personajes son igual de simples y planos.

Si a todo esto le sumamos que muchas situaciones y acontecimientos se repiten y se repiten, dando la sensación de que la autora no sabía cómo engrosar un poco más el libro, finalmente nos encontramos con un producto literario bastante aburrido.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Earthman, Andrew Carr, crash lands on an alien planet while pursuing a girl he has only seen in his dreams. After the crash, Andrew stumbles through a blizzard, but the girl guides him along, appearing to him as a ghostly apparition like Obi Wan Kenobi on the planet Hoth. With her help, he makes his way to a hut where he takes shelter. Soon we learn the mysterious girl’s name is Callista, and that she herself is in trouble. She has disappeared, doesn’t know where she is, can see only darkness, and does not understand how she formed a psychic link with a human from another world. The book grips us early, with a few well-worn but still effective mysteries: who is this mysterious girl? Where has she disappeared to? Why is so much of science fiction occupied by mysterious girls? Does her disappearance have anything to do with the darkened lands, a blasted area everyone is warned to avoid, a place of withered gardens and evil men, from whom all wanderers return babbling mad? I would never dream of spoiling the answer to that last question, but I’ll let you make an educated guess.

As Andrew wanders through the snow guided by the ghostly Callista, we are introduced to the other point-of-view character, a local man named Damon, who is having his own problems with the blizzard. As he and his men travel home, they are attacked in ambush by bodiless swords that slash at their throats. Damon abandons his men to their deaths (an act the book doesn’t know what to do with, and so largely ignores for the remainder) and makes his way through the raging snow to the home of his betrothed, who is Callista’s sister. There, he discovers that Callista’s guardian has been found dead with her eyes torn out, and Callista is gone.

So - we have two men, one a visitor to this planet and one a native, each with a connection to the missing girl, each pushing through the storm, each a stranger to the other but edging inexorably towards a rendezvous at that house, and when they meet, we can be sure, each to be recruited to the rescue of this same damsel-in-distress. This first third of the novel is quite evocative. Bradley maintains a skillful balance between science fiction, fantasy, and horror tropes, and also an enticing tone that is moody and forlorn - weather inhospitable, things abandoned, people lost, darkness spreading, crops dying, lonely girls in dreams calling for help. There is a touching scene in the hut Andrew takes shelter in, where the man from Earth shares the night with the phantom of his dream woman. They cannot touch, neither even knows where she is, but they lie beside each other in the darkness, providing for the other whatever comfort they can. Damon, meanwhile, has psychic abilities (all scientifically explained by “matrix technology,” of course), and there are some lovely descriptions of his out-of-body experiences in the “overworld,” an abstract plane of darkness and dim outlines and the vague presence of disembodied strangers, as he tries to locate Callista. He can't seem to find her.

Bizarrely, when Andrew arrives at the house and meets Damon, the narrative abruptly grinds to a halt. It feels like a train making an emergency stop. And then it stays stopped. The vast bulk of the rest of the novel takes place in this house, almost like a stage play, except without the urgency and subtext of great theatre. Instead, there is lots of talk….sitting around in the cottage as the blizzard rages outside, discussing what they know, exchanging opinions about the likely whereabouts of Callista, and whether she’s probably still alive or not, and who probably took her, and why they probably took her, and why that’s not a convincing reason but this other reason is probably a more convincing reason, recounting events to each other that we as readers have already witnessed in the previous chapters, explaining how matrix technology works, explaining what the overworld is, chest-thumping over who has the greater right to rescue Callista, etc etc etc. They spend pages planning their rescue: can the matrix stones be used to locate Callista? Can they match their psychic whatsit through the matrix doodads to Callista’s psychic whatsit in order to trace her? They talk and talk. It’s all so belabored. In the middle of all this, we learn, to our dismay, that Andrew’s characterization is the standard nonsense - he used to enjoy girls at every port, never getting attached, and now suddenly, with this dream girl, he is awakening to the desire to know her, to understand her, to be with her forever; he is discovering the real meaning of love. At the same time, through sheer force of talk, all the mysteries are solved: she has been kidnapped by the cat-people (yes, you heard that right - the cat-people.) The cat-people are responsible for the darkened lands. She is being kept somewhere in a cave in the middle of the darkened lands. Thus, their mission is: Go to the darkened lands. Kill the cat-people. Rescue the damsel.

In preparation for their rescue mission, they work on their psychic connection, using the stones as some kind of focus. Through this process, Damon discovers his feminine side (being a psychic is usually reserved for virgin women), and Andrew discovers his homosexual side (his psychic links with Damon feel sexual, which both “warms and disturbs” him.) It’s nice that these two men can learn to be more feminine and homosexual and all, but can’t they have done it while enacting a plot of some kind? A story? Some sort of movement? The static nature of this long 2nd act is baffling. It takes up 70% of the book. Also baffling is the relationship that Bradley allows to build between Andrew and his dream girl, Callista. Through their psychic link, he has fallen in love with his damsel-in-distress, and lo! she has fallen back in love with her rescuer-to-be, too. Bradley treats this unhealthy and unequal power differential as if it is deeply romantic, or as if the book were written for 11 year-old girls who are waiting for their prince to come. But this can’t have been written for kids. There are too many slashed throats and gouged-out eyeballs, and in one scene, someone’s skull is bashed in and his brains are strewn over the ground. And yet, the characters follow the classic Disney Sleeping Beauty arc. Before they even meet in the flesh, Andrew is referring to the helpless Callista as “beloved,” and she responds in kind. It's sort of icky. At the very least, some irony would have been welcome.

Once they leave that damned house and the rescue actually begins (and it really does feel like Act 3: The Rescue), the pace quickens. There is some nicely staged action, a cool fight against the shadowy cat-people as our heroes enter the blasted area. The final scenes are atmospheric, even a little tense. There is some great imagery of a decrepit village in the heart of the darkened lands, insane villagers staring dull-eyed out of cracked windows, cat-people stalking from behind, concealing themselves somewhere, back there, off in the mist. It’s all very effective. The climactic rescue itself, though, is predictable and comforting in a Young Adult sort of way. Damon learns he can fight! He’s got the stuff! And the damsel is rescued with a few easy sword fights and a quick defeat of the Great Cat, who for the life of me felt like the Main Boss in a Final Fantasy game. As Callista is taken to freedom, she sobs and clings to her rescuer like a grateful damsel, and Andrew swears to marry her and love her forever. I know this isn’t meant to be creepy, but thoughts of the Florence Nightingale effect inevitably come to mind.

In the end, the stakes in this mini-adventure feel oddly small. An alien and a native man meet, grow to trust each other, teach each other some cool psychic talents, and rescue a girl. I imagine Bradley's primary interest here is the growing trust between the two men, representative of their two cultures, but it's all rather simple and straightforward. The settings are very limited, as if Bradley had to save on the budget. None of the characters come particularly alive, but the first and third acts contain some authentically involving atmospherics, and the world of Darkover itself is an inviting place, one I feel I would like to come back to. Perhaps the sequel, The Forbidden Tower, contains more depth. Certainly, a reader of the whole Darkover series will no doubt read this one, and it will likely please them. For the rest of us, there may be better, more ambitious places to start.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly short book about the coming to the feudal-style planet Darkover of Andrew Carr, a Terran who has been rootless since leaving Earth. The story is told in alternating viewpoints to begin with, as we switch between Andrew and a Darkovan nobleman, Damon Ridenow.

At a fortune teller’s stall, Andrew sees a vision of a beautiful young woman in the fortune teller's crystal, and forms an instant obsession with her, arranging a transfer from his existing job to work on Darkover in the Mapping and Exploration team. When the plane he is onboard flies over the Kilghard Hills, it is caught in a snow storm and crashes, killing the rest of the crew. With little food scavenged from the wreckage, his chances of survival appear slim, until the ghostly figure of the woman he saw in the crystal appears to him and guides him to a waystation. Her name is Callista. She is imprisoned by unknown enemies and is being kept in a dark place where she cannot telepathically contact her family, but for some reason is able to find Andrew.

Meanwhile, Damon has been summoned by his twenty-year-old cousin Ellemir because her twin sister Callista, Keeper in training at the Tower at Arilinn, was abducted from her bed while on a visit, and the women’s father is absent at the Comyn Council. A darkness has fallen on nearby countryside, the people are suffering, and it seems an enemy has obtained one of the crystals used by telepaths on Darkover and is using it against them. Damon must contend with his own sense of inferiority, derived from being exiled from Arilinn and having to drift from one role to another ever since.

Gradually these two men with a lack of purpose in their lives are drawn together, and form romantic bonds with the two sisters. The story is a fairly well-paced action adventure, with psychic elements. It forms a prequel to ‘The Forbidden Tower’ and also to the cameo appearance of these characters in the later ‘Thendara House’ novel about the Renuniciates/Free Amazons.

The main flaws for me are firstly the infantilising of the women: despite Ellemir, for example, being in charge of the estate in the absence of her menfolk, she is continually called ‘child’ by Damon, even when he is supposed to be falling in love with her. Both women tend to burst into tears fairly easily, yet Callista is a highly skilled telepathic worker who has gone through strict conditioning against her own emotions, in order to understudy the aging Keeper at Arilinn. The author seems more comfortable in writing from the men’s point of view in this novel.

The other problem is that the use of laran, the psychic abilities of Darkovans, which Andrew discovers he shares, seems very malleable – near the end of the book, Andrew is able to do something which would surely draw surprised comment - he teleports twice - yet this is never referred to or explained and, as I’ve now discovered from reading the sequel, he never performs this feat again.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the biggest problem that brings down any of the Darkover books is Bradley's reluctance to ever definitively nail down what exactly laran can and cannot do. I read this as part of an omnibus with The Forbidden Tower, and there's a note from the author in the beginning where she mentions that she doesn't really care that much about chronology when it would get in the way of a good story. And I can respect that viewpoint, even if world-building is my primary interest in fiction so inconsistencies get in the way of that, but here it leads to a lot of problems.

So the cat-people are invading, right? Okay, that's the basis of a good plot. Why are they here? Were they driven from their homelands by a harsh winter? Are they taking revenge on the humans for some imagined or real slight? Why did they kidnap a Keeper, and what do they need laran for?

Nah, none of that is important, because they're orcs who must be exterminated.

I get the desire to make aliens to be inscrutable and mysterious, especially since Darkover is theoretically set in a science fiction universe rather than a fantasy one. The cat-people aren't just cat people despite their appearance, they're of alien sapience and their appearance may or may not reflect on their behavior. But that's totally undermined by continued reference to behavior similar to Earth cats and by the fact that Damon is a Ridenow and can thus psychically communicate with nonhuman intelligences. He even brings it up multiple times during the narrative, but he never tries to use it. The cat-people are just fundamentally unknowable and therefore slaughter is justified.

I mean, from the cat-people's perspective, the humans are the aliens who showed up on their planet, drove them out of all the good hunting lands into caves on the fringes of habitable territory, and consider them little better than animals. I got really annoyed when the Dry-Towners showed up as the apparent masterminds behind the invasion, because it turns the cat-people into just idiot pawns rather than an aggrieved indigenous species seeking to reclaim what had been lost to them.

As another inconsistency, which may come from The Spell Sword being written relatively early, I thought Keepers were supposed to have an unconscious, reflexive defensive mechanism to prevent them from being touched unwillingly. Rediscovery even has a Keeper burn someone else to death that she was in laran contact with as part of the backlash of her defenses, but here the cat-people steal Callista from her bed with no problems whatsoever. One of the interesting parts of fantasy is how society deals with people who have strong innate personal power--for example, the ability to set people on fire with your mind--and how that changes the way society relates to each other. Darkover's answer is usually "personal power cannot overcome human prejudice, so women still have narrow societal roles that they must decide between" and just adds "can set fire to people with her brain" as a possible female-oriented job.

I think there's actually a lot that could be done with that message, and how Darkover keeps the old female choice between work or family since Keepers cannot have relationships at all while they're working the relays--literally, since they're trained to not feel desire. In the hands of someone like Ursula Le Guin, that might have actually been an issue The Spell Sword touched on, but as it is, how Callista seizes on Andrew as her savior and what she feels for him is just taken as given and good luck trying to explain it.

So why did this get two stars if it's full of so much inconsistency and doesn't touch on the parts that I would have found most interesting? I'd like to say that there's some major redeeming features that I haven't mentioned yet that pulled it out of the abyss, but I'd be lying. The truth is that I thought the romance between Callista and Andrew was touching. Yes, it makes no sense in context of the world, and yes, Andrew should have burst into flames the first time he actually touched her, to say nothing of trying to use her matrix. But I liked the relationship and the way it developed mostly at a distance, and so I'll give it small praise for that.

One star for cuteness, and one star because it's the minimum that Goodreads allows for a book. I wouldn't recommend it even for Darkover fans, as if you're interested in romance there are far better books to read and if you're interested in Darkover there are far better books to read. Give this one a miss.

Next Review: The Forbidden Tower.

[Valerie]

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 less-gifted
son-in-law-to-be.

The Catmen of Darkover are almost never really introduced anywhere in the series. They're offstage shadows, mostly, blamed for breakdowns and attacks that could as easily have been left to human bandits. There's no real analysis of their motives and culture. It wouldn't be surprising if (say) the Ya-Men (who never really appear at all except when driven out of hiding by a Ghost Wind), or the timid Trail-Men, or the Forge-Folk (Who may be mutated humans) would resent the takeover of their world by Earth-humans. But the Cat-Men have no real obvious motive for moving in on Alton lands, or other lands into the Hellers, UNLESS human incursions into territories they once considered exclusively theirs had become insufferable over time. But in that case, why would they wait for a charismatic leader? Unless, of course, they're really too individualistic to be realistically effective as soldiers.

Worse, there's no real ATTEMPT to get to know them. Several people (most notably Damon Ridenow, whose GIFT is communicating with nonhumans), simply dismiss them as unknowable. The only meeting that's accepted is fighting. No other communication is even offered, though it's evidently possible for humans to communicate with the cat-folk. If the Dry-Towners (not noted for their empathy) are able to trade with them, why can't a Ridenow? And I don't mean the Great Cat, either. He's evidently an aberration, and seems quite likely to have been insane. What about the ordinary cat-folk?

Take one example. The 'darkened lands' are said to be darkened because the nocturnal cat-folk find sunlight painful. I can definitely relate: so do I. But why do the cat-people feel they HAVE to go out in the daytime? If they're nocturnal, why not remain so? And why would they have fled their native lands (IF they have--we only have the word or humans that they have) unless they were driven? You can't dismiss them as motiveless demons. The desperation that led the Great Cat to experiment with an unmonitored matrix screen may have been simple madness--but the ordinary cat-folk chose to follow him. And though mention is made of the females, there's no real encounter with any in our field of view.

As for the abuses they're accused of, there's no real evidence that the cat-folk have any tradition of keeping prisoners or pets. They may literally not know the first thing about it. If humans find THEIR motives inexplicable, may the reverse not be true? The Great Cat argues that he knows nothing of rights, only of power, and he will use his power to defend his territory. This may be what he really meant--or it may not. Maybe he's as reluctant to grant rights to those not members of his own species as the humans are.

But we'll likely never know, will we? Because the response of the humans isn't to try to communicate, but rather to try to exterminate. Once the cat-men are no longer in 'human' territory, nobody, apparently, takes any further interest in them--not even to see if there's a way to stop these episodic incursions by removing the drivers. Cat-men before? No interest. Cat-folk invading? Kill or expel them. Cat-people after? No interest. It's a cycle that's bound to be repeated, until the last of the cat-folk dies, or SOMEBODY starts taking an interest.

The general problem of bandit fortresses is rather better handled in the Darkover books than in many others. Bandits tend to attract the disaffected: but these are rarely engineers or builders. The Caves of Corresanti in this book were evidently a human laboratory in the past (maybe a chieri one, but I doubt it). During the Ages of Chaos there were such laboratories outside the Towers. Part of the Compact involved the abandonment of such laboratories, even (to a large degree) inside the Towers. But some of the equipment evidently was too difficult to dispose of properly, or nobody made a serious effort to do so.

A dangerous oversight, as proven in this case, and later nearly devastating for Darkovan society. If you don't dismantle your matrix screens, they're there for the using, for whoever chooses not to abide by the Compact.

Technical note: this book ends with a note on chronology by the author.

In other books from this time (notably Thendara House), there's a comment that the Terran Empire ought to have intervened to mediate between the humans and catmen, and to prevent a near-genocide. Well, YEAH! The question is, why didn't they? The evidence is that they didn't because they weren't notified that it was happening. It's unlikely that they wouldn't have failed to intervene out of concern for Terran-Darkovan diplomacy: this is too important to let pass.

I find on rereading the review that I've left the foreground story almost out of the review. The story of the formation of what became the Forbidden Tower is interesting in itself, but it's not necessary to read it to understand how the relationships began. I'd thought it might be, and so I went back to get the book. It's not anything like as well-written as the later books, but it has its points. For one thing, it has a fairly well-developed discussion of Darkovan countryside society, as seen from the perspective of an outworlder. It also has a few illustrations (well, the cover picture and one line drawing). And it has a dedication (some Darkover books do, and others don't), which reads "This one is for CARADOC." But it's not really necessary to read this one to understand the later books, though remembering it might have helped the characters figure out how the conditioning Callista and others like her underwent might be unraveled, I could see this volume being written by the characters themselves as a form of therapy, in fact.

As an adventure story, it's fairly light stuff. The ghostly visitant leading the wayfarer to shelter is a little unusual, but not as much as the wayfarer himself seems to think--he must not have read much fantastic literature himself. Which makes me wonder what sort of fantastic literature exists in the Terran Empire of the series. There must be some--and it seems unlikely that people who weren't homebodies wouldn't have read ANY of it.

The spell sword in the title is really not particularly important. Its function is to get the poor swordsman Damon (relatively) safely to the Caves. But if it hadn't existed, there would undoubtably have been another way found. Andrew Carr (somewhat astoundingly, to himself and others) finds a way. And the insecure and fearful Damon, if he'd had more confidence, wouldn't have been in the position he was or doing what he was doing if he hadn't been so fearful (he'd still have been at a Tower, likely, though probably not, given the circumstances, Arilinn). But there are many ways he could have used his powers to sneak into (and probably out of) the territory claimed by the catmen, with or without the help of Andrew and the Altons.

It's more or less a matter of happenstance that Damon comes to realize that the methods of training and using telepaths on Darkover is very wrong and abusive. It's also a matter of mischance that the famed swordsman Dom Esteban suffers a spinal injury which renders him paralyzed from the waist down, making him unable to lead the rescuers of his daughter, the Keeper. Not that Damon wouldn't have had to come along, as a guide, at least, because it's argued that Andrew couldn't have made his way through an unfamiliar area even with an escort, and therefore somebody in rapport with Andrew had to go along.

The spell sword is actually a form of skyhook, it develops. The uncoordinated Damon always did understand what he was taught intellectually--he just couldn't put it into practice without viscerally experiencing it. But this is not clear to anyone until the end--and Damon's ability to cede control of his muscles and reflexes to Dom Esteban's control is necessary to provide the needed training.

This raises an interesting question, however. It's established in this book that the majority of Darkovans are left-handed (genetic drift?). Damon is right-handed, which makes him awkward in a society where the majority of tools, weapons and processes would be designed for the left hand. But Dom Esteban is, presumably, left-handed, though he seems to have been at least partly ambidextrous. So which hand did he take control of? And would Damon have been able to make the shift? At one point, there's an encounter with Dry-Towners, who use different weapons and techniques. Dom Esteban had had encounters with Dry-Towners before, and automatically alters his technique--but this would have to be mirrored, surely, to work in a righthander?

[slp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved these books as a kid, never read these last ones tho. I'm hoping what worked about Rediscovery was not solely due to the collab with Mercedes Lackey, as this one feels rushed, and questionable in various ways.

[Jan Niblock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was the 11th book in chronological and 8th book in publication order but the Terrans and Natives of Darkover are still strangers in many ways.

Andrew Carr, a Terran, finds himself the only person alive in a crash of the mapping ship in the Hellers. He seems to keep seeing this “ghost woman” who helps him avoid death. Callista, the “ghost woman” is really a Keeper who has been kidnapped and being held in a place where she cannot seem to reach any of her kin. On Darkover, the ability of having laren allows for one to travel in the overworld and communicate over long distances. But she only seems to be able to reach Andrew. He for one knows nothing about the psi-powers that those on this planet have and cannot really understand want is going on. But he is determined that he will find her and save her.

It is strange that it has not been that many years since the Keepers were only men like Varzil the Good, and they felt no woman could handle that role. Now they are saying just the opposite. I wonder how that came about and why no one remembers the old days. I really feel for Damon being told that if he were a woman he would be a Keeper. That way of thinking really put Damon in a very insecure place in his mind. It takes the fact that he has to play the role of a Keeper to help Andrew with a starstone that helps him.

Loved this story it is one of those that grabs you and keeps you reading. I had not read it in a very long time and the rereading of it was just like the first time, exciting.

[La licorne bibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

Andrew Carr a eu une vision de la belle Callista sur Ténébreuse, l'ayant décidé à rester sur cette planète. Suite à un crash d'avion, il découvrira que Callista est prisonnière des hommes-chats.

Eh bien... Un 2,5 probablement mais ramené plutôt sur le 2 pour sanctionner le vide du roman.

Ce nouveau cycle de Ténébreuse s'avérait pourtant sympathique puisque me plongeant dans un nouvel âge durant lequel la planète a été redécouverte par les Terriens. De ce point de vue, le livre n'est pas inintéressant, proposant de voir la rencontre entre Andrew et des habitants de Ténébreuse. C'est d'ailleurs amusant de les voir se demander s'ils sont compatibles.

Malheureusement, l'histoire est en soi très banale, une jeune fille à sauver, les ennemis sont... ce qu'ils sont... Je n'ai personnellement pas réussi à prendre au sérieux ces hommes-chats à cause de la couverture extrêmement kitsch.

Le plus gros reproche cependant est qu'il ne se passe quasiment rien durant ces 200 pages et quelques niveau action mis à part sur la fin. L'explication en est simple en lisant le résumé du tome suivant : ce livre semble n'être qu'une espèce d'introduction découpée à part. Un choix que je trouve peu pertinent. Sauf s'il s'agit bien sûr de vendre plus de livres...

[Saturn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esploro sempre con piacere il mondo di Darkover. Anche quando la storia non regge perfettamente come avviene in questo libro, la scrittura di MZB cattura e affascina. Ogni lettura del ciclo è come il pezzettino di un puzzle che si aggiunge al disegno generale. Nell'incontro tra darkoviani e terrestri ciò che a questi ultimi sembra magia/superstizione per i nativi è tecnologia. Se questo libro poteva dirci qualcosa di più su uno dei popoli autoctoni del pianeta, questa aspettativa viene purtroppo delusa. Infatti se l'incontro tra darkoviani e terrestri risulta possibile grazie alle origini comuni, tra umani e uomini-felini c'è solo scontro, lotta e incomprensione. In ogni caso, non posso che fare i complimenti a questa autrice per aver costruito un mondo così particolareggiato e complesso.

[Haiden Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book and Probaly the entire dark over world is very similar to Ursula Le Guin’s Hainish cycle but it only take place on one planet. I have been looking for a long series that is in the cheesy golden age of sci fi for a while and I thought I had found it. It’s like an old cartoon or twilight zone episode, easy to consume, based on a simple but crazily elaborated premise, and lives in the world of early sci fi. However, I can’t read this series because the author is a pedophile and that is quite upsetting and definitely detracts from the enjoyment of reading this book and I did not find that until I was more than 90% done with the book. So if Bradley wasn’t a pedophile I would recommend this book, I would have given it 4 stars and would have tried to read more in the over 40 book world of dark over.

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Darkover books but this one is probably the weakest of the series. While introducing us to Terran Andrew Carr who, while lost in the treacherous Hellers after a plane crash, finds himself being rescued by a woman he thinks is a ghost. What he finds out is that his rescuer, Callista, is being held by the matrix-wielding cat-men. We also meet Damon Ridenow, unsure of his place as former Tower technician and Ellemir, Callista's much more opinionated twin sister.

This short novel sets up The Forbidden Tower which is the much richer story. Moreover, we never truly learn just who the 'Great Cat' was or how they managed to get a hold of a powerful matrix that even the powerful Tower-trained technicians could not combat or just why they kidnapped Callista in the first place. That was actually one of the series' shortcomings--that we never truly spent time with the Dry Towners, the Ghost Men, the chieri or the Cat-Men. Their cultures would've made for interesting juxtaposition with that of the rest of the Darkovans.

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cat people on Darkover have created a darkened land and kidnapped the Keeper Callista. Callista hasn't been able to telepathically contact any of her kinsfolk, not even her twin sister Ellemir, she could only contact Andrew Carr, a Terran.

Andrew on a mapping mission with the Terran Empire Service crash lands in the mountains. The pilot and the rest of the crew die. It is a struggle but the ghostly projection of Callista helps Andrew survive and find shelter, and finally make it to her kin.

Ellemir sends an urgent message to Damon and to her father saying there is trouble. Damon's party is ambushed on their way and only he survives the trip. While Damon and Ellemir are contemplating how to rescue Callista, Andrew shows up, and later so does Dom Esteban and his wounded band of guardsmen. They were also ambushed.

With everybody assembled they now work on figuring out what has happened to Callista, so they can make a plan to rescue her.

This was a very quick read. Enjoyable. Didn't bog down. The point of view was from the perspective of Damon or Andrew the cat people remained mysterious.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduces Damien, Ann'dra, Ellemir and Callista for the first time. Can be read as just an adventure story but placed in the greater context of the Darkover greater story the grounds are laid for the complex social and psychic changes caused by this group. Fast read. I always enjoyed Ellemir and Damien's relationship though it usually takes a backseat to the other relationship dynamics.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good action and adventure on Darkover.

[Mid-Sized SeDan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book that I definitely picked up on the cover alone. That, and I like the sound of the title; when I play RPGs I tend to gravitate towards some kind of melee-and-magic combo, so this sounded like my kind of fantasy. It was only when I was twenty pages away from the end of the novel — and profoundly bored and dissatisfied — than I learned that Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of the most well-regarded and influential speculative fiction authors of the past century.

At least, she was well-regarded, until it came out that she was sexually abusive to her daughter, and assisted her husband in his own sex crimes.

It's hard to divorce that from how I feel about the novel, not only because of how heinous that is, but because one of the main problems I had with this book is the gross sexual politics. I'm used to a certain amount of sexism and weird social mores in older fiction, but I already found the amount of infantilization of the love interests, the paternalism of the leading men towards them, the deeply ingrained misogyny reflected in this world and how the female characters were treated, incredibly off-putting. Knowing the author's crimes makes it even more repugnant, none of it was accidental.

Even beyond that, it's incredible how little actually happens here. The entire plot could be summed in a paragraph, or a particularly long sentence. Once all three of the main characters get together, the rest of the novel is repeating to each the rules this universe has for psychic stuff, what they need to do to rescue the damsel in distress, and it's not until the last twenty or so pages that the rescue actually happens. I'm all for worldbuilding, but when that consists of really ugly characters standing around reiterating things the reader has already heard explained through internal monologue, it gets really old really fast.

If I have anything nice to say, it's that the bones of this world are actually kind of interesting. The planet of this series is basically reflective of medieval Europe (in a way that I suspect I'd find racist if I continued to read these, which I won't), with the added twist of special jewels that allow for psychic abilities. The way those psychic powers are portrayed are interesting, and one can imagine the possibilities that the constraints on them allow for. Shame they amount to so little, and that the horrid unpleasantness runs throughout the book.

I actually really enjoy the fantasy of planetary romance, but I'm getting very tired of reading through this stuff and having to remind myself that the kinds of dweebs who would write stuff like this fifty or a hundred years ago are not going to reflect my own modern sense of morality. This is a particularly egregious example, as the author is a confirmed monster, but my God I would love to find a story like this that doesn't make my skin crawl.

[Jack Vasen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Darkover book tells a complete story and could stand alone. It is part of the ongoing history of the planet Darkover, also called Cotman IV. This book lays the foundation for the book Forbidden Tower with the main characters being the same.

Darkover is a guilty pleasure for me. It is 20th century Fantasy/Sci-Fi at its best. Fantasy in that era had not yet attained to all the sadism and graphic torture which became famous with Game of Thrones. MZB has crafted a world of magical wonder yet with the Sci-Fi aspect of other worlds in space. MZB, throughout the series, seems to do a pretty good job of sticking to the rules she has established for the workings of matrix technology, which is basically Fantasy magic. She has laid out a history that makes sense. It's easy to identify with the inhabitants who want to protect their culture. Even so there are inconsistences among over 40 books.

This story was published somewhat early in the development of the series where readers are still getting settled into the lore of Darkover. Andrew Carr is not from this world and as such acts as the vehicle to introduce new readers to the customs and capabilities of the locals. Some of the earlier books do the same, but in this book we get more familiar with how things worked before the Terrans rediscovered the planet, especially Towers and the overworld. It's only a beginning in that sense and more will come with The Forbidden Tower.

It is confusing for the reader well into the 21st century because many books written later actually deal with so much that chronologically happened earlier. For someone who wants to appreciate the development of MZB and her style, publication order might make sense. I think more people will find chronological order more satisfying, but a certain amount of jumping around doesn't hurt.

This story, which is very short for a novel, and perhaps on the long side of a novella, moves quickly. A lot happens and there is plenty of action. There is some insight into the thoughts of the characters, especially the two men, but it does tend more toward action. There are two romance stories.

I never really understood the purpose for kidnapping Callista without harming her. The story seems to indicate it is to keep her from interfering with the nefarious scheme, but when examined closely, it doesn't make sense.

Mature themes: There is a fair amount of sword fighting, mostly with non-human creatures. In 2021, it is quite mild, but there is some blood. There is no sex, but there are some passages discussing sexual attraction. A woman is held captive against her will, but the story makes it clear that she isn't mistreated except for isolation.

[Alejandro Orradre · Rating 4 out of 5]

La mezcla de géneros siempre ha proporcionado extraños resultados, muchas veces de una calidad dudosa y que no han conseguido el efecto deseado. Sin embargo, La Espada Encantada aúna con éxito la ciencia-ficción y la fantasía en una novela que en realidad forma parte de una extensa saga. La encargada de dar vida a dicha saga fue Marion Zimmer Bradley, que a través de más de una docena de libros -que por cierto, pueden leerse de forma independiente- moldea un mundo llamado Darkover, escenario en el que transcurre toda la saga.

El argumento de esta parte en particular recuerda a La mano izquierda de la oscuridad (K. Le Guin) en tanto que se nos presenta un mundo futuro en el que existen humanos (y que vienen de un pasado común con la Tierra) pero que sin embargo viven en una sociedad medieval. En el mundo de Darkover, además, existe la magia, centro de la trama de La Espada Encantada -de hecho el título ya da pistas claras- y motor que hace mover la narración.

Un hallazgo literario más que positivo y que, seguro, hará que lea más novelas de esta saga que os animo a descubrir.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soooo... this was on my Among Others reading list. I remember trying to read The Mists of Avalon in high school or college and not getting very far, and that is my only other experience with MZB's writing. I knew there was some kind of controversy around her and I sure got a shock reading up on her. Well, this book was 156 pages long and I figured I'd give it a whirl.

First off, this is a very.... generic storyline. I mean, there was a point where tons of this "Earth people visit new planets" thing was hugely popular, so it's not really that surprising. What killed me was, MZB is said to deal with feminist issues etc. and I would 100% have guessed this book was written by a man, thanks to its frequent obsession with talking about sex and the portrayal of the female characters. There was some hefty eye-rolling going on over here.

The most interesting part to me was the concept of the spell sword itself, allowing one man to channel the swordfighting/physical abilities of another. Even so, it got me through this story but it did not make me care to read any of the other Darkover books.

[Erik the Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marion Zimmer Bradley, and her literary work, must be viewed through two, often competing, lenses.

First, she was writing stories with strong, relatable female protagonists battling male oppression at a time when very few other authors were prepared to do so. Many modern readers cannot conceive of a time when women were not allowed to have a credit card in their own name, which was but one of the policies Bradley was dealing with in her time. She was a feminist long before it became fashionable. She was one of a very few voices that spoke powerfully to young women about their own worth. Much of her writing, read today, can be seen as trite, obvious, or overbearing, but it must be remembered that it was none of those things at the time it was written. This was a woman who co-founded, and named, the Society for Creative Anachronism, who championed pagan rights when the mainstream saw them as satanic, and who encouraged and published unknown female authors like Mercedes Lackey. Viewed through this lens, Bradley was a progressive woman to be lauded, as she was, posthumously, when she received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2000.

Second, and hideously, Bradley was a pedophile, who molested her own children. She also procured and groomed children for her husband, Walter Breen, to assault. She admitted to knowing what he was doing to these children, but refused to stop helping him, much less report him or interfere with his desires. Her own daughter was her accuser, so we can be assured this is not a "he said, she said" situation. Viewed through this lens, then, her life and work become irredeemably tainted.

We are, perhaps, used to evaluating art for art's sake, commenting on Ender's Game, or Harry Potter, as though their authors' views, hateful as they are, should not condemn the output of their minds and hands. Perhaps we are right to do so; after all, these views are only beliefs and words, no matter how widespread a bully pulpit their famous speakers are able to command. However, when beliefs and words turn into actions, we must draw the line. Since 2014, when definitive proof finally came to light, I have found myself unable to recommend anything written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I remain so appalled by her actions that I can never give more than one star to anything she has written, no matter how groundbreaking, how heartfelt, how astounding it may be. I urge everyone reading this to join me in boycotting her work forever.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* (extremely rare) There is something very wrong with this book &/or this author; never again.
** (seldom) Has flaws, or I just couldn’t get into it; no thanks.
*** (usual) Not great, not bad; no need to return to it.
**** (often) Better than average; I’d read it again.
***** (rare) A superb example of the genre, &/or an incredible piece of art; I re-read it often.

[Jeanette C. Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Darkover novel was published in 1974 but that doesn't detract from MZB's fantastic writing and story telling. Andrew Carr, a Terran is lost in the Darkover wilderness after the mapping plane crashed and the rest of the crew is killed. A phantom of a beautiful woman leads him through a blizzard to a shepherd's hut and then to her home of Armida. He learns her name is Callista and she is no ghost but a powerful telepath who has been kidnapped. She is unable to communicate with anyone but Andrew. A second story line follows Callista's distant cousin, Damon, also powerful in Darkover's magic. Andrew and Damon must overcome their prejudice and mistrust of each other to overcome the powerful dark force that holds Callista captive. A short but very enjoyable addition to the Darkover 'First Age' series.

[Line Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 tiene sus cosas buenas definitivamente como la presentación de mundo, aunque cae en el mundo de fantasía estándar con toques de ciencia ficción, la magia con la descripción de su uso y el acto final me tuvo en un hilo para ver cómo terminaría la historia, pero la mayor parte del tiempo fue un desarrollo plano con pocas páginas para desarrollar la propuesta, creó que el mejor personaje es Damon y el peor Andrew.

Es un libro extraño en el sentido que parece una precuela para un evento mayor en la saga para mero boceto de presentación de personajes, quiero leer su secuela La Torre Prohibida y ver si esto va por buen puerto.

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the earlier entries in Bradley's "Darkover" series, and as such it is somewhat less maturely written than her later books. The plot is good, but some of the plot devices are a bit trite, and the idea of the "psychic connection" between total strangers who are just destined to be lovers is very childish. But overall the book is well-written, and it stands up surprisingly well to close scrutiny 30 years or more after it was written. That fact that her later books are better is NOT a severe criticism.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. Media de los 18 libros leídos de la autora : 8/10

En su día estaba colgadito de su saga de Darkover (Fantasía). Hace no mucho re-leí parte de uno de estos libros y me resultó simplón, pero como estoy manteniendo la nota que les puse en su día, pues queda la autora con una media fantástica de "8".

La saga artúrica Las nieblas de Avalon tb está muy bien, es una novelación distinta pero bien escrita. Lo de siempre pero con otro toque, vamos. Y sus incursiones en CF tampoco defraudan.

[Kevin Knapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, quick read. Character development is well-done, as are the action sequences. Few can match MZB's ability to craft a compelling story arc, though sometimes details can be a bit uneven.

In this case, I docked a star for an apparent 'continuity hole': Andrew's apparent psychic teleportation, far beyond the mere telepathic powers of his companions, is not described as remarkable or even discussed at all! Did I miss something?

[stormhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of action in this volume of the Darkover novels. Andrew Carr, arrived from Earth to Darkover for the first time visits a fortune teller and learns of a woman in his future. He chooses to stay on Darkover as a member of a mapping and survey team, but that first foray into the unknown world has some unexpected consequences. He discovers a psychic connection to this unknown woman, and his adventures proceed apace.

[N.W. Moors · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short novella about Andrew Carr, the Terran we met briefly in an earlier book. His mapping plane crashes in a storm, and he survives only by using laran with the help of a young girl. The cat people have taken the girl, so in turn, he goes to rescue her. It's a further look at one of the indigenous species of Darkover as well as the integration of the Terrans with Darkover's people, but it's too short to go into depth.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read and loved Mists of Avalon more than 20 years ago I thought I would try a Darkover novel to check out the world building. Disappointing, though I accept this is more of a standalone book and may not be typical of her series. It reads like a poorly written, dated romance. Female character’s swoon and cry a lot and the sex scenes feel suspect having read more about Marion Zimmer Bradley and her daughter’s revelation of child abuse. I won’t be trying any more.

[Mareli · Rating 3 out of 5]

mmmm It was a bit boring. Little action and mostly on the overworld. Callista, a quasi-keeper has been abducted and the only person who can contact her is a Terranian ;) A man of the Earth, despised by Darkovans, is the only one who can breach the darkness around her.

I didn't remember this story at all. It was a bit short and sort of boring but it put some other brick on Darkover world.

[Melissa Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leads in to the Forbidden Tower

Requires no prior knowledge of the Darkover series. Not as complex or enthralling as standouts like Heritage of Hastur or The Shattered chain, it is a straightforward adventure story with two male protagonists ( Damon Ridenow and newly landed Terran Andrew Carr) and a simple romance between Andrew and Callista Alton.