The Shadow Matrix (Darkover)
This direct successor toExile's Songreally ought to be read in conjunction with that book, but in any event, it is a high-class addition to Bradley's Darkover saga. Margaret Alton is trying to master her gifts and the Shadow Matrix; Mikhail Lanart-Hastur, her lover, is on a wild-goose chase, courtesy of his uncle, Lord Regis Hastur; Mikhail's mother is fussing; and the lovers are trying to overcome political and family objections to their marriage. Just as they are up to their hindquarters in alligators, they are flung back to the Age of Chaos, in which Varzil the Good acts as a sort of deus ex machina to tie up several loose ends and generate others. The whole plot has a certain melodramatic, even operatic, quality, but the pacing is brisk, the setting is well handled, and the book succeeds at the most basic level of keeping the reader--particularly the hard-core Darkover reader--turning the pages. The characters sometimes indulge in illogical angst, and the Terran Empire, showing its invincible stupidity in handling Darkover, remains something of a straw villain. Bradley's saga is clearly showing some signs of age, but Darkover remains a monumental achievement, one that seems likely to spur more than a few additional good tales from its creator.Roland Green--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.