Deborah J. Ross and Marion Zimmer Bradley: Thunderlord

[bibliogramma]

Deborah J. Ross, authorised by the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Trust, and guided by notes and conversations held when Bradley was still alive, has written a number of books set in the world of Darkover. Thunderlord is the latest of these.

Set during the Ages of Chaos, long before the events surrounding the return of the Terrans to Darkover that have been the subject of many of the Darkover books, Thunderlord is a sequel to Bradley's novel Stormqueen, although there is enough backstory included that the books can be read independently.

While Thunderlord has its share of excitement - bandits, banshees, dangerous journeys through the forbidding mountain passes of the Hellers - it is primarily about family, love, building trust and turning vengeance and suspicion into peace.

The main characters, Rockraven sisters Kyria and Alaya, find themselves in the centre of the long but currently dormant feud between Scathfell and Alderan, and must find a way to keep the cycle of bloodshed from rising again.

I always enjoy going back to Darkover, and I like what Deborah Ross has brought to the stories of Darkover. I enjoy reading about the small domestic details and the developing relationships as much as I do adventures and the great deeds of the laran-gifted. I enjoyed Thunderlord.

Comments

[wild_irises]

As for so many others, Darkover was always problematic for me, and has been made more so by recent discussions of MZB as shared by her daughter. I knew MZB, slightly more than casually but never well. I also know Deborah Ross, though I see her rarely.

Along with the problems, I have many fond memories of Darkover, and still love her mainstream circus novel, The Catch Trap.

All of which is in service of thanking you for saying positive things about Darkover.

[bibliogramma]

It is a difficult path to navigate. But her writing was important, especially as her presentation of feminism matured, and the world of Darkover spoke and still speaks to so many things that were and are important to me. I can't unmake the influence her work had on me, or deny how much it meant to me.