Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross: Hastur Lord

[bibliogramma]

Hastur Lord (pub. 2010) credited to both Bradley and Deborah J. Ross, but published a decade after Bradley's death, is one of the weakest of all the Darkover novels, at least in my opinion. Ross has said that she worked from a disorganised draft Bradley had produced after suffering several strokes, and that she believed Bradley had intended it as a rewrite of The World Wreckers. Certainly, after the sense of a new age coming that Ross gave us with the Alton Gift, it was rather disappointing to go back to a time well before those events, for no discernible reason.

It introduces (retroactively) a few new characters who will be important in the novels set during the era of Mikhail Lanart-Hastur's term as Regent - notably Francisco Ridenow and Kierestelli Storn - and sets up the beginning of the next major conflict between Terrans and Darkovans, but the main plotline is totally unnecessary, and relies on a great deal of out-of character behaviour on the part of both Regis Hastur and Danilo Syrtis.

First, the important stuff. It's set about ten years after the events of The World Wreckers, and about fifteen years before the events of Exile's Song. The Terran Empire is going through a major sea change in structure, leadership and philosophy. Now called the Terran Federation, it seeks to end the days of protected planets. As Lew Alton, still the Darkovan Senator, says in a message to Regis:

You will undoubtedly hear propaganda about how the new Federation will extend autonomy to all member worlds, increase interstellar cooperation, and promote free trade—all the persuasive phrases that people want to hear. Even people on Darkover. Don't fall for it, Regis. This whole process is a power grab by the Expansionist party. They want free access to developing worlds, and they've as much as admitted that their goal is to bring an end to what they call special privileges and protected status.

The political situation on Darkover is not promising. Between Sharra and the World Wreckers, the Comyn are nearly leaderless; those who survive are divided between those who want to become full members of the Terran Federation - led by Valdir Ridenow - and those who want as little contact as possible. The Telepath Council set up by Regis is unable to function as a governing body. If there is any real governing authority anywhere on Darkover, it is Regis himself.

On to the plot. The dying Danvan Hastur reveals that Regis has an older, illegitimate brother named Rinaldo who was shipped off to the Nevarsin monks at the age of three. Regis visits him, and despite the fact that Rinaldo is clearly the most unctuous and hypocritical creature you can imagine, oozing with jealousy and envy and spite, brings him home to Thendara and has him legitimated. Valdir Ridenow sees in Rinaldo an opportunity to mold Darkover's future. Believing that he will be able to manipulate Rinaldo, Valdir plots with him to force Regis to abdicate by holding Danilo and Mikhail - Regis' nephew and designated heir - hostage. Regis agrees, and Mikhail is freed, but Danilo remains a prisoner.

Valdir has misjudged his pawn, however. Rinaldo, seeing in his sudden accession to power the hand of God, embarks on a plan to purge sin and impurity from all of Darkover. Forming an alliance with Terran Legate Dan Lawton's wife Tiphani, a fanatical devotee of a religious group with links to the same church that was the foundation of the cristoforos, Rinaldo begins to enforce his own religious beliefs across the Domains.

He forces Regis to marry Linnea Storn - the mother of his daughter Kierestelli (who has been sent off to live with the chieri for her safety) and his unborn son Danilo - by threatening to have Danilo Syrtis killed. As his fanaticism increases, he has Comyn children taken from their families to be raised in the "true" faith. Regis finds and releases the children - a situation complicated by the arrival of Terran Spaceforce soldiers seeking to free Dan Lawton's son Felix, who has been taken from the Terran Zone by Tiphani.

Returning to Comyn Castle, he gathers whatever members of the Comyn he can find and challenges Rinaldo's kingship, but before anything can be decided, Tiphani tries to assassinate Regis and Rinaldo sacrifices his own life to save his brother. End of silly plot, press reset button but political situation remains dire.

What annoyed me the most about Hastur Lord was the total inability of all these telepaths to communicate. Regis and Danilo have spent at least 20 years together as friends and lovers, but they still doubt each other's love and haven't really talked about the fact that some day Regis must marry, and it must be someone he cares about or it's going to be pointless? Danilo still doesn't know he'll always be the one? And how is it that Regis is so blind to his brother's faults - and discounts Danilo's warnings as mere jealousy? How do they not trust each other completely after being open to each other, mind to mind, all these years? And then there's Regis' blunders with Linnea, who he's been in a relationship with before. None of this works, and that makes the book a grave disappointment, despite its solid pro-diversity stance.