You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Definitely one of the best books in this series!!!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was a reread, though I hadn't read the original since high school. I will say that the story was perhaps less compelling to me than it was then (OOh, sex and rebellion!) but the characters and details are still so richly drawn that it's a good read. I don't think Bradley gets enough credit for the Darkover novels -- it's such a complexly imagined world, and she details it so completely from the history down to the making of bread.
Liked this one. I think I like the older books better than the newer ones. Will probably get there, but am missing some of the history. Will keep reading my collection!
So much MELODRAMA and Fantasy bullshit. Fantasy bullshit is when all of the complications in a story revolve around silly rules and made up politics without any relatable connection. Bradley's grasp on romance has been fairly juvenile in the previous entries in the series, and this is no exception. Except in the other entries, there were other things going on. Here, it's just "we can't be together" and "I did this because you agreed" and "eww gross boy stuff" and "do I love my wife's sister?" It's exhausting. The novel does eventually get around to being okay with homosexuality and polycules, but it takes forever. Honestly, I liked [b:The Spell Sword|1106633|The Spell Sword (Darkover, #11)|Marion Zimmer Bradley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1226463075l/1106633._SY75_.jpg|1650605], but this ground down any enjoyment I had for them.
It's definitely as much pulp fantasy as the title and this garish cover suggest, but if you know that's what you're getting into, this is a pretty great installment. The worldbuilding is intricate and detailed, if intermittently inconsistent (i honestly think MZB was just categorically unwilling to take notes on her own writing decisions and was also too lazy to go back and read her own work in order to make things consistent, and instead she tries to wave off her bad decision with a breezy little paragraph at the front of every Darkover novel about how all 25 or so novels stand alone - they don't - and how, essentially, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds). Regardless, if you're willing to suspend disbelief around persistent internal inaccuracies, they're also really fun. This one is rich with detail on the four protagonists' inner lives, and I have to shout-out the beautifully polyamorous and queer-friendly conclusions the plot comes to.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is going to be a rant.
The summary at the book first of all is just misleading. Everything mentioned there only constitutes 10% of the book and yes it’s conclusion and the ending of the book were interesting, the rest of the book for me was a snooze fest and torturous at times.
The 2 couples becoming one just made me feel like wait this wasn’t what I signed up for when I was reading The Spell Sword.
On the Other hand, Dezi one of the main antagonists was literally made into who he was by the mistakes of our protagonists and while some of them accepted their mistakes not enough characters accepted the fact that it was them who made him into the spiteful person they know him as.
The couples scenes as I mentioned earlier just came out of left field and made me wonder as to what even is going on. The Callista plotline while on paper was interesting, on writing it was truly a bore.
Whereas, The Spell Sword had made me more motivated to read more Darkover Books, this one has made me decide to pause on this reading journey for some time. Though this does not mean I am quitting the Darkover series but a break especially after this is needed.
The summary at the book first of all is just misleading. Everything mentioned there only constitutes 10% of the book and yes it’s conclusion and the ending of the book were interesting, the rest of the book for me was a snooze fest and torturous at times.
The 2 couples becoming one just made me feel like wait this wasn’t what I signed up for when I was reading The Spell Sword.
On the Other hand, Dezi one of the main antagonists was literally made into who he was by the mistakes of our protagonists and while some of them accepted their mistakes not enough characters accepted the fact that it was them who made him into the spiteful person they know him as.
The couples scenes as I mentioned earlier just came out of left field and made me wonder as to what even is going on. The Callista plotline while on paper was interesting, on writing it was truly a bore.
Whereas, The Spell Sword had made me more motivated to read more Darkover Books, this one has made me decide to pause on this reading journey for some time. Though this does not mean I am quitting the Darkover series but a break especially after this is needed.
nemmeno la fanfiction di una 12enne sarebbe una tale MERDA!!!!!
non capisco come si possa pubblicare sta spazzatura
non capisco come si possa pubblicare sta spazzatura
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I'm pretty sure I read this one before, but it came up again in my quest to read all the Darkover books in chronological order. It's not one of my favorite books in the series. It's a continuation of The Spell Sword. Andrew Carr, a Terran, marries Callista, while Damon marries her twin, Ellemir. The book tells the story of their growing bonds as they struggle to repair the damage inflicted on Callista from her training as a Keeper. I loved this part of the book, but there's also a side plot with Desi, the unacknowledged illegitimate son of the women, that bogs down the book, in my opinion.
This book does explain a lot of the work of the Tower as well as the relationships between those attuned to each other in a matrix. On to the next book.
This book does explain a lot of the work of the Tower as well as the relationships between those attuned to each other in a matrix. On to the next book.
Forbidden Tower is the book that started me devouring MZB's Darkover series. The quality of the books varies widely, but this one holds up to rereading.