So I re-read The Forbidden Tower a few weeks ago and thought, this is great, maybe I should read more Darkover. With hindsight, that may have been a mistake. The Forbidden Tower is the best Darkover book by a fair margin. The Fall of Neskaya, on the other hand - well, let's just say that I'd read it before I couldn't remember a thing, and that was probably a blessing.

The writing is bad - not in the typical Marion Zimmer Bradley "struggling with the grammar of the English language" sort of way, more in a "This sounds like it was written by a 14-year-old girl sort of way. I couldn't bring myself to actually care for any of the characters (with the possible exception of Marguerida when she went off to join the Sisterhood of the Sword). The description of use of nuclear weapons was quite good (though doesn't come anywhere near Charlie Stross's take on this theme in Merchant Princes 5 and 6). Beyond that, the book has no redeeming features, and it's no surprise it took me a month to read. Towards the end I was skipping whole pages.

Difficult decision ahead: do I go on to read books 2 and 3 of the Clingfire Trilogy or do I just drop it? ( )

Hmm. OK, still reasonably amusing. I did not buy the bit at the beginning where Ross wrote about how MZB had told her the story of what was to happen in these books, and I doubt anyone else will. It was quite unnecessary, and rather patronizing: she's dead! Of course she didn't write the damn book! ( )

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

Let me start by saying that I'm a little burned out on the Darkover books. I've read maybe a dozen and I think I'm sated. So, maybe that's why I didn't really enjoy this book, or maybe it's just the new author. It's set in my favorite era of the world (the Ages of Chaos) and I expected to to like it but it felt over-long and the voice of the author was enough different from MZB to be noticeable. I don't think I'll bother with the two others in the trilogy. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R34PXX2Q... ( )