One of the best of the Darkover series, IMHO. Very gritty tale of early Darkover years and the horrific abuses of laran that occurred, as well as focusing (surprise!) on the generally poor lot of women.
If you like complex characters, and plot along with a fascinating new world then this is the novel for you. Excellent read.
Enjoyed! 4 stars
From the back:
The great epic of the world beneath the Bloody Sun known as Darkover did not begin with the coming of the Terrans. It began far earlier, during the dark ages of the civilization that came to be known as the Ages of Chaos.
For in those years the power of the matrix was first learned - and misused in a power struggle between the rising Domains. That mental-physical force created a technology that threatened to make Darkover into a frightening duplicate of all that was bad in far-off Terra.
STORMQUEEN! is Marion Zimmer Bradley's first novel of the days when the matrix was in the hands of ambitious men, when genetic tampering was producing prodigies and wielders of strange powers, and when the heir of the Hasturs met his destiny in the persons of the witch-woman he loved and the mutant girl-child he had pledged to protect.
From the back:
The great epic of the world beneath the Bloody Sun known as Darkover did not begin with the coming of the Terrans. It began far earlier, during the dark ages of the civilization that came to be known as the Ages of Chaos.
For in those years the power of the matrix was first learned - and misused in a power struggle between the rising Domains. That mental-physical force created a technology that threatened to make Darkover into a frightening duplicate of all that was bad in far-off Terra.
STORMQUEEN! is Marion Zimmer Bradley's first novel of the days when the matrix was in the hands of ambitious men, when genetic tampering was producing prodigies and wielders of strange powers, and when the heir of the Hasturs met his destiny in the persons of the witch-woman he loved and the mutant girl-child he had pledged to protect.
Born in tragedy, Dorilys of Rockraven both commands and is commanded by her ability to call down the lightning. She quickly becomes a pawn in the twin Darkover obsessions of political and psychic power.
