The Forbidden Circle: The Spell Sword / The Forbidden Tower [Mass Market Paperback]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2002

These two classic Darkover novels tell the epic tale of four people who challenged the ancient laws of the matrix towers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marion 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, and made her first sale as an adjunct to an amateur fiction contest in Fantastic/Amazing Stories in 1949. 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.

In addition to her novels, Mrs. Bradley edited many 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 for DAW Books.

Over the years she turned more to fantasy; The House Between the Worlds, although a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, was "fantasy undiluted". She wrote a novel of the women in the Arthurian legends -- Morgan Le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and others -- entitled Mists of Avalon, which made the NY Times best seller list both in hardcover and trade paperback, and she also wrote The Firebrand, a novel about the women of the Trojan War. Her historical fantasy novels, The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, Mists of Avalon are prequels to Priestess of Avalon

She died in Berkeley, California on September 25, 1999, four days after suffering a major heart attack. She was survived by her brother, Leslie Zimmer; her sons, David Bradley and Patrick Breen; her daughter, Moira Stern; and her grandchildren.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: DAW (November 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756400945
• ISBN-13: 978-0756400941
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wondeful compilation!, November 21, 2002

By 

Samanda b Jeude (Canton, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forbidden Circle: The Spell Sword / The Forbidden Tower (Mass Market Paperback)

Putting together -The Spell Sword- and -The Forbidden Tower- was a great idea, & this edition fills the bill. This classic entry in the saga of Darkover -- a lost [in time as well as space] colony of Humans who interbred with the alien cheryi, evolved into a feudal society with the addition of "magic" as laran psi-powers, then were rediscovered by humans from Earth [Terrans] -- is an especially good 'textbook' for people learning to use their own inner strengths.

Watching the almost-typical fairytale romance of Keeper Callista Lanart and Terran spacer Andrew Carr bloom into something else is magical in the best sense of the word. Damon Ridenow -- outcast from his beloved Arilinn Tower because he's actually more than just a Matrix technician -- and his love Ellemir [sister to Callista] are not just pretty people filling a need for extra faces in -The Spell Sword-. The four craft a friendship that becomes more than just friendship ... and will have a crucial effect on Darkovan history.

The action really kicks in as the tale progresses in -The Forbidden Tower-. Callista discovers -- painfully -- that the heritage she thought she had left behind as virginal Keeper of Arilinn Tower is almost more than she can bear to shatter [the fact that it nearly kills Andrew isn't just peripheral, either]. Ellimir discovers that she actually is gifted with the power of laran, and Damon takes centre stage as he discovers that he is a Keeper himself ... Keeper of what leronis Leonie Hastur scornfully calls "the Forbidden Tower". As the four individuals become more than just two married couples, they uncover vital knowledge lost in the millenia known as the Ages of Chaos.

The tragic denoument is kept away, which perhaps is just as well. If you truly want to be depressed, pick up -The Bloody Sun- to learn the fates of the four and their children. Although not quite as tragic as the hinted ending of another group of similar people, hinted at in -Sharra's Exile-, it can be a true 'downer' after the triumphant ending of -The Forbidden Tower-.

At least the knowledge is kept, however. It seems that no one can truly vanquish Varzil the Good! Although even *that* might be up for re-examination with -The Fall of Neskaya-...

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally--A re-release of these hard to find books, May 17, 2004

By 

Tygermoon "-Tyger-" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Forbidden Circle: The Spell Sword / The Forbidden Tower (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are, like me, trying to fill out your Darkover series, then these Omnibus editions are for you. I am SO glad that I picked up the three I needed (Forbidden Circle, Heritage and Exile, and A World Divided). I am sure that the other Omnibus editions are just as wonderful. Make sure that you note which books are included in the omnibus, as it may not be evident from the title. Now that MZB has passed on, getting her books has been difficult.

The stories are well-written, the characters and world well-developed, and the books are hard to put down. You can start with any book in the series, really. But once you've read one, you'll want more!

Now if they will come out with an omnibus with the Hundred Kingdoms novels (Two to Conquer, and Heirs of Hammerfell), my series will be complete! :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars omg, 25 years since I first read this novel, December 4, 2008

By 

Misty Lara Prendville "Misty Maiden" (Long Island, Milky Way) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Forbidden Circle: The Spell Sword / The Forbidden Tower (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm happy to see this novel still available in this 2-in-1 edition. I read it 25 years ago, it was a symbol of my teenage rebellion.

The culture of the early Darkover novels was absorbing and great in that it made you suspend belief, so much so, the culture came alive.

This novel in the series brings a Human from Earth into the culture, giving you the whole fish out-of-water fish-eye view. The character Andrew suffers culture shock due to the fact the two married couples (the wives are sisters), basically; share some intimate quarters. They are also rebels together, going against the ruling parties of Darkover.

Depending where you are in the Chronology of Darkover, sometimes only women can be matrix tower keepers, other time periods, only the men are permitted.

There is some interesting use of Psychic powers that some of the Darkover people have developed, it makes the resistance to Science more easily understandable, especially by the High-born, who rule this medieval like society.

This novel is my favorite in the Darkover series. If you liked this novel, "Stormqueen' is another great Darkover novel. The novels before the 'Terrans' arrived were more fantastic fantasy.