Marion Zimmer Bradley is best known for The Mists of Avalon, which spawned a number of sequels, mostly (if not entirely) by other hands. I don't care for them. Then comes The Fall of Atlantis, two enjoyable if fairly forgettable books posthumously marked as backdrop for the Avalon books. Inexplicably, if I go by Goodreads, her next most popular book is The Firebrand, about the Trojan War, which I found absolutely unreadable. Yet I do consider myself a fan of MZB's but that rests almost entirely on her Darkover books, of which she wrote 18 in her lifetime, although there were some further (some posthumous) collaborations. Darkover is a "lost colony" of Earth that devolved into a medieval society ruled by a psychically talented aristocracy and after centuries is rediscovered by a star-spanning high tech federation, giving the series a feel of both science fiction and fantasy. The series as a whole features strong female characters, but it has enough swashbuckling adventure to draw the male of the species, and indeed this series was recommended to me by a guy (when we were in high school!)

Although some books are loosely connected, having characters in common, they were written to be read independently. Children of Hastur contains two novels, Heritage of Hastur and the sequel Sharra's Exile. Heritage of Hastur makes a fine entry point into the series, and many consider it MZB's finest novel. Certainly Lew Alton, Regis Hastur and Danilo Syrtis are among her most compelling characters. The Darkover books were written out of sequence too, and I don't actually recommend you read them chronologically. The first chronologically, for instance, Darkover Landfall, is more fun if you read other in the series first, then this origins novel to see oh, so that's where that came from! Also, some books early chronologically were early in Bradley's career, when she was still learning her craft, and it shows. In fact, Sharra's Exile is a rewrite of a very early book published in 1962, The Sword of Aldones. She conceived that book in her teens, and as a mature writer felt the theme deserved a better treatment than what she was capable of back then. I've read both versions, and this is definitely the better book, even if I don't think it quite hits the high mark of Heritage of Hastur, but together they certainly make a great read. ( )

My husband gave me this book when he realized I am a witch. I was intrigued enough to read all(?) of the rest of the Darkover books, as sson as I could get hold of them. Excellent world building and wonderfully peopled. The first and only of her books that doesn't rush the ending...one believes this is mostly because there was a contract for a second book that was already being written. Alas. ( )