I read the original books in the Darkover series as they came out. Now I'm rereading them in chronological order with the addition of the ones co-authored with Deborah Ross and enjoying them greatly. Zandru's Forge is the story of Carolin Hastur and Varzil the Good, one I've long wished I knew more about. I remember bits from the earlier readings, but it's nice to get a fuller picture in the Clingfire Trilogy.
I do love the lore and worldbuilding in Darkover, and this book adds a lot to it. I got to see the first female acting as a Keeper here, something unique at this time though it becomes the norm in later times. The conflict of the Towers in becoming involved in the wars of kings as well as the terrible finality of laran weapons is well-written and believable in our own nuclear age.
So, now I'm on to Hawkmistress, a re-read that is somewhat concurrent with this book before I finish the Clingfire trilogy. I'm really enjoying my foray back into this fabulous world. ( )

Not a re-read . Much detail, packed with excitement. Characters involving and you care about them. Some tidbits of info that I would have liked followed-up. A good read. Engrossing but not enough to keep me up past my bedtime. ( )

The second book in the last Darkover trilogy is cowritten with a former Darkover fanfiction writer, and it shows.
The story takes place in the time of the hundred kingdoms, where the magic can still provide air travel and weapons of mass destruction, but a lot has been lost in the time of chaos and ordinary living is reduced to preindustrial scrabbling in the dirt.
The first half of the book is the dense tapestry of characters and stories of most of the Darkover novels, but the second half loses coherency and becomes disjointed in its effort to span such a long period, with too many characters and plot lines.
The main villain of the story is sold hard all through the novel, only to slip out early, and the readers are then offered an unimaginative and non cathartic battle with the non-entity villain. His weak presence makes for a very unengaged and unsatisfying ending to the story, almost a non-end.

The last part of the book is revisiting the events of Hawkmistress from the point of view of the deposed king in a singularly inept fashion. This part of the book reads so much like bad fanfiction, I am almost grateful that the usual grammar atrocities are not present.

As is very obvious from all en 'un's and 'non's attached to the adjectives, I was not at all happy with the story. Unless you are feeling particularly nostalgic for this time on the Darkover history, I would not recommend it, and even then, it would be better to stop after the first half of the book.

Having read The Shadow Matrix several times, the most interesting part of this story was that it took place at the time that Margaret and Michail visited while time traveling, and telling the story of some of the people they met. ( )

I love this entire series, but especially love the more fantasy-related books prior to "Rediscovery." ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2J... ( )