Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Darkover Saga

I love fantasy literature, but I'm not very fond of Harry Potter; my true love is Marion Zimmer Bradley'work, particularly Darkover series: any Bradley's fans?

Simona

There are a lot of Bradley's novels I've never tried, but I'm a huge fan of her historical novels - the Arthurian saga, The Mists of Avalon and her take on the Trojan Wars, The Firebrand. And I've just heard that she wrote one on the Robin Hood myth, which I'll definitely be checking out.

LabRat

The Darkover series is wonderful.

I've enjoyed all the books. There are so many different elements to the books. You have the contrasts between a modified fuedal society and the means and methods of a galactic community.

The class system was interesting in that it was more about 'talent' than it was about family, though the two were often closely linked.

It's hard to really describe the world that was created for the series since it was so well drawn and through the many books the complexity grew.

I'd recommend them to anyone.

Tank (who always enjoyed the fact that MZB once said that she envisioned the climate of Darkover as something like northern Minnesota)

Someone said that MZB have abandoned the path of her most "classical" Darkover stories with the Marguerida trilogy; too much romance, I suppose. Do you agree? If yes, do you think it's because of the major influence of other writers?
Here in Italy "Attacco a Darkover" (awful traduction of "Traitor's sun"!) was published only few months ago, so I don't know if someone is willing to take her heritage and go on with the Saga; do you know something about it?

Simona
(who hopes Mrs. Bradley was talking about Arilinn land and not Hellers!)

Yeah, I'm a fan of the Darkover series, as well. Still haven't read all the books, but I pick them up whenever I find one. Been a while, though.

Like Tank, I've been impressed with the range and depth of the books, as well as the epic scale of the developing mythology.

I haven't been quite as fond of her other books, personally, but I think I've enjoyed a few others. Can't remember which ones.

Lately, I've been more into Robin Hobb (catching up there. Sadly, I realized too late that you have to read the three trillogies in order. They're more connected than I'd expected.) and Elizabeth Moon (who writes Sci-fi rather than fantasy). I'm also a fan of Mercedes Lackey.

As for the differing feels of the various Darkover series, I don't think it's a bad thing. Nor would I call it "abandoning" the style. It's just a different series that takes place in the same world in a different time. If her style changed over the years or if she had to use a different style to tell the story, then so be it. I enjoy them all for what they are.

Oh - one other series I've greatly enjoyed is Miles Vorkosgian (the name of the character, not the author. Author's name escapes me at the moment).

Sorry I'm not being clearer. Still kind of half asleep at the moment.

Paul

You might not be aware, Paul, that Robin Hobb wrote some books years back too, under the author name of Megan Lindholm. You might enjoy those too. I found her Windsinger series especially enjoyable and really wish she'd written more about Ki and Vandian, who were wonderful characters with a cute romantic relationship. (I've just finished revisiting those four books and fell in love with Vandian all over again <g>)

I'm a huge fan of this author. I read her Robin Hobb books and didn't realise she was the same author as one of my old favourites until halfway through the Liveship series! LOL. That explained why I was devouring her books so fast and hanging on every word, of course.

LabRat (waiting for Pam - the world's biggest Miles fan - to enlighten Paul as to who wrote those <g> )

I'm not able to answer any specific questions regarding the series since I haven't read anything by MZB is quite some time.

Actually I found that once I got involved in this fandom I have had much less time to read 'other' stuff. So, my outside book reading has gone waaaay down.

More's the pity.

Tank (who has to admit that age has also become a factor... he always used to read in bed but now once in bed... he falls asleep)

OK, Lab, forgive me for I've led you astray <g>.

I have this book about Robin Hood that I thought was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Haven't seen it in quite a while because it was buried beneath three inches of dust and two miles of spiderwebs in our attic - a little lonely lost volume stuck in the wrong box during our last move. Come to find out, it wasn't written by her. The book is "Lady of the Forest: A Novel of Sherwood" by Jennifer Roberson.

I haven't read the book yet so I can't comment on whether or not it is any good. It is very long - like a MZB. And to my defence, the reason that I even associated MZB with it at all is that she has the distinction of having quote on the front cover: "A beautiful synthesis of all the Robin Hood legends and probably the best book I have read all year." - Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Also, this version takes a decidedly female view, showing the Robin Hood legend primarily from the perspective of Lady Marian, much as MZB presented the Authurian legend through the eyes of the women in his life. Thus, another reason I made the connection.

So, sorry for any confusion. Maybe I'll take this one on vacation with me and get back to you if it's worth the effort <g>.

Lynn

Jennifer Roberson wrote a couple of series that I really enjoyed: the Cheysuli/Shapechangers and the Sword-Dancer books. I guess I'm into strong women characters .

~Liz

Aha. See, actually I'd come to suspect this and was about to ask you if this was the case. <g> I kept coming up with this book by JR in every MZB site I looked at, trying to track the Robin Hood book down. No sweat - I'll just add this one to my Amazon wish list instead.

LabRat

And I've added "The Firebrand" to mine.

I'm telling you, wouldn't we do well to have a nice little pipeline running under the Atlantic that we could just shoot books back and forth? Our own little lending library <g>.

Lynn

LOL. It would certainly be cheaper.

And, hey, guess what? A bonus! Thanks to the fact that it was JR who wrote that Robin Hood book and not MZB, we get two books for the price of one. JR wrote a sequel. <G>

LabRat (which has also been added to the wish list...)

I saw that - "Lady of Sherwood."

I'm resisting the urge to zip straight away to Barnes & Noble. Instead I need to read the first one and see if it is sequel-worthy. Also, I do have MZB's "Forest House" and "Lady of Avalon" that I picked up from the used bookstore but haven't yet made it to the top of my TBR pile. I am not allowed to buy any more books until I make a dent in that. I hereby promise...well, maybe. Kids out of town next week. Oodles of book-store browsing time? I think the pile is going to grow a bit <g>.

Lynn

I never quite made it all the way through Mists. I started it during my "two-week retreat" (aka reserve duty), but lost interest once I got home. I keep meaning to pick it up again, but I'd have to start over again.

I am very fond of her Lythande series, though. I picked up that and Thieves World at the public library once, and loved it. I also have one of the Sword and Sorceress books that she put together.

I swear, I have a children's/young adult book by her, but I cannot think of what it was. I'm tempted to say it's about unicorns, but that may have been another author. I wonder if I still have it.

Yesterday "The mist of Avalon" movie was on TV, with Anjelica Huston as Vivian, the lady of the Lake, and Julianna Margulies as Morgana.
Do you know it? Do you know if any other movie from MZB books was made?

Simona

I read quite a few of the Darkover books, as well as Mists of Avalon during my teenage years. They are excellent.

Recently I just finished Stephen King's Song of Susannah, the latest in the Dark Tower series. It's not sword & sorcery fantasy, but it does mix genres from Western to sci-fi & fantasy. He does a remarkably good job.

I also just finished Naked Empire, the most recent Sword of Truth novel, by Terry Goodkind. It's a great fantasy series that doesn't include the usual cliche's, although there is a dragon in one of the books and the hero has a magic sword.

They are not for all ages, but they are good series by great authors. Don't read them if you're easily offended.