The Bloody Sun and "to Keep the Oath" (Gregg Press science fiction series) [Hardcover]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Gregg Pr; First revised edition (June 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0839825137
• ISBN-13: 978-0839825135
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,326,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marion Eleanor Zimmer was born in Albany, NY, on June 3, 1930, and married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. Mrs. Bradley received her B.A. in 1964 from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, then did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1965-67.
She was a science fiction/fantasy fan from her middle teens. She had written as long as she could remember, but wrote only for school magazines and fanzines until 1952, when she sold her first professional short story to VORTEX SCIENCE FICTION. She wrote everything from science fiction to Gothics, but is probably best known for her Darkover novels and for her Arthurian novel, THE MISTS OF AVALON.
In addition to her novels, Mrs. Bradley edited magazines, amateur and professional, including Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine, which she started in 1988. She also edited an annual anthology called SWORD AND SORCERESS, which is still published annually under the title MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY'S SWORD AND SORCERESS.
She died in Berkeley, California on September 25, 1999, four days after suffering a major heart attack.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one's a page turner!, September 11, 2000

By 

TaraJacobs "vintage_girl" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bloody Sun and "to Keep the Oath" (Gregg Press science fiction series) (Hardcover)

This is my second Darkover novel, and it's very different from the first one I read ('The Shattered Chain'), but much more gripping--I had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep at 2am (I recommend waiting to start this til the weekend!).

This is the mysterious story of an orphaned boy, raised in a Terran orphanage on Darkover, and shipped off to his Terran grandparents when he's 13. Yet, he can't forget Darkover, and makes his way back to what he feels is his home planet--though he doesn't really feel that he fits in anywhere.

He wears a mysterious jewel, that he secretly hope will unlock his hazy past, reveal his heritage--and maybe even establish him as the long lost heir to a kingdom. Turns out he isn't far from the truth, and as the adventure unfolds the mysteries become increasingly complex.

This novel focuses on the Comyn, the noble caste with psi powers, and their fascinating world. Darkover's rich heritage and hidden powers are revealed in a gripping tale of intrigue, politics, and betrayals.

I am now completely hooked on Darkover and its tales!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not as good as the later Darkover novels., October 11, 2000

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bloody Sun and "to Keep the Oath" (Gregg Press science fiction series) (Hardcover)

I am quite fond of Msrion Zimmer Bradley's world of Darkover, and have read almost all of the books set in it, even including the "Friends of Darkover" fan fiction anthologies edited by Ms. Bradley. It is, however, noticeable that the quality of the writing improved markedly as the series progressed (in real time; the stories were not written chronologically, so many of the earlier-written stories were set later in the history of Darkover). Ms. Bradley learned a great deal about the craft of writing as she matured, and as she wrote. This book is not one of her earliest books, but it isn't one of her latest, either, and so, not surprisingly, the quality of the writing is middling by her standards, which is fairly good by general standards.

One thing that bothered me about the story (which was, in general, a fairly gripping mystery story) was that the love interest, which was central to the plot, was a typical Harlequin-style love interest -- two people, who have absolutely NO reason for falling in love: nothing in common, have barely spoken a civil word to one another, and have very strong taboos AGAINST falling in love, suddenly fall madly in love. Why? Just because. After all, love is irrational, and needs no justification.

Frankly, that is hooey, no matter how popular the notion is, and I find it jarring when as intelligent a woman as Ms. Bradley was falls back on it. I'll chalk it up to immaturity; she generally treats the subject somewhat better in later books, although I have the definite impression that by the time she wrote this book, she OUGHT to have been old enough to know better.