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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Was slightly disappointed in this book because I saw the resolution in the middle of the book. The plot was very obvious, but the story telling was good.
Failure. Zimmer and her estate entrusted Ross to write more books. Bad decision.
Kyria and Alayna are on the way to the former's wedding to a lord she hasn't met. After a meet cute with the lord she will marry, she's abducted, he rescues her, then they disappear from the story until the author wants to use them for the plot. Almost all the rest focuses on Alayna in far too detailed a way, a dull way. It should have switched between the two.
The characters and plot are far too standard and Alayna's story is too dull to hold the interest it is forced to try to hold. Not good.
Kyria and Alayna are on the way to the former's wedding to a lord she hasn't met. After a meet cute with the lord she will marry, she's abducted, he rescues her, then they disappear from the story until the author wants to use them for the plot. Almost all the rest focuses on Alayna in far too detailed a way, a dull way. It should have switched between the two.
The characters and plot are far too standard and Alayna's story is too dull to hold the interest it is forced to try to hold. Not good.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book is disjointed, with a change in the focus of character that felt like it would be alternating, but we got stuck innthe second narrative. The beggining is basically scoring the checklist of a standard Darkover novel, and the end is unsurprising, apart fro how quick the characters seems to go with it.
Back in the seventies, the Darkover series was important to so many of us. It was a series in which the agency of the female characters mattered; there were wars, yes, as in so many fantasies, but the psi connections, and the Free Amazons, etc, paralleled our own struggles to break the pink curtain between competent heroes with agency and female "problems" or prizes .
Deborah Ross has inherited the series, and I think she does a superlative job. For one thing, I think her prose is better than Marion's, and also her characters a bit more complex. And yet she perfectly captures the Darkover 'feel' in this volume, featuring two very close sisters who travel over the mountains so that one can marry the Scathfell Lord--feuding enemy of the Aldarans--which marriage will basically save the Rockraven family, who has been on hard times every since the Stormqueen days.
But fierce weather and then a bandit raid interrupt, and the plans are thrown into chaos. The loyalty of the sisters, the questions of laran and genetics, the feud and its expectations, all gallop toward a tense climax. The sisters find their own way to resolution, completing a very satisfactory tale. It's lovely to revisit Darkover with these new stories--I can't wait to see what Ross does next.
Deborah Ross has inherited the series, and I think she does a superlative job. For one thing, I think her prose is better than Marion's, and also her characters a bit more complex. And yet she perfectly captures the Darkover 'feel' in this volume, featuring two very close sisters who travel over the mountains so that one can marry the Scathfell Lord--feuding enemy of the Aldarans--which marriage will basically save the Rockraven family, who has been on hard times every since the Stormqueen days.
But fierce weather and then a bandit raid interrupt, and the plans are thrown into chaos. The loyalty of the sisters, the questions of laran and genetics, the feud and its expectations, all gallop toward a tense climax. The sisters find their own way to resolution, completing a very satisfactory tale. It's lovely to revisit Darkover with these new stories--I can't wait to see what Ross does next.
Ugh, this book was predictable to anyone with a passing familiarity with Darkover. That wouldn't be so bad, but it depended on the characters making stupid decisions to move the plot forward. Lord Scathfell is afraid of losing another war to Lord Aldaran? Lord Aldaran marrying Lord Scathfell's promised bride (who faked her death) should solve everything! It did not solve anything, but no one seems to understand why Lord Scathfell might be angry about being deceived -- he got to marry the loving younger sister, so who cares that his lifelong rival stole his original fiancee?
If Lord Aldaran had simply rescued Kyria and brought her safely to Scathfell, the alliance he claimed to want could have happened naturally and without bloodshed.
I did enjoy the follow-up to Stormqueen though; it's always fun to see the consequences play out a generation later.
If Lord Aldaran had simply rescued Kyria and brought her safely to Scathfell, the alliance he claimed to want could have happened naturally and without bloodshed.
I did enjoy the follow-up to Stormqueen though; it's always fun to see the consequences play out a generation later.
Lovely to return to this part of Darkover's history again. It doesn't have quite the same depth as Stormqueen which is one of my all time favourites but a great read nonetheless. I'm not sure that it would be a good start for someone new to the series though.
Such fun. Far too romantic, much too neatly tied up at the end, I could see it coming from a mile away.
But oh, how wonderful to finally be back on Darkover again. Stormqueen was one of my favorites, the Ages of Chaos may be my favorite period in her history, so I didn't mine my eyerolling one bit.
But oh, how wonderful to finally be back on Darkover again. Stormqueen was one of my favorites, the Ages of Chaos may be my favorite period in her history, so I didn't mine my eyerolling one bit.
This book continues the story begun in StormQueen with Edric, Donal and Renata's child, having the Rockraven storm ability. Gywnn-Alar, Lord Scarthfell, conceives the idea to wed a Rockraven woman in order to have the storm laran in his family and protect against Aldaran. He betroths Kyria but she is kidnapped by bandits, so he ends up wedding her sister Alayna instead. Meanwhile, Edric rescues Kyria but they decide to let it be known that she died. This leads to misunderstandings and confrontations between the two lords and their people that echo the first book.
It's not the best Darkover book, but it's pretty good. It's nice to be back in this world with a new (to me) book. I got to see Allart and Cassandra again in a visit to Thendara which is always nice to see how their lives have continued after StormQueen.
It's not the best Darkover book, but it's pretty good. It's nice to be back in this world with a new (to me) book. I got to see Allart and Cassandra again in a visit to Thendara which is always nice to see how their lives have continued after StormQueen.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes