THE HEIRS OF HAMMERFELL [Paperback]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Daw Books (1989)
• ASIN: B0016ARKV0
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,825,332 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

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight story., October 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heirs of Hammerfell (Darkover) (Paperback)

This books feels like the author might even have been thinking of writing a Darkover children's book. There is almost no conflict. What should have been a tense story of twin brothers separated from infancy, each of whom thinks he is the sole heir of the kingdom, works out far too neatly and with unrealistically little fuss. The main reason to get this book would be to complete a Darkover collection. I wouldn't seek it out otherwise.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weak? Yes. Terrible? No. Enjoyable? I thought so., October 4, 2000

By 

A.J. Chodan - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heirs of Hammerfell (Darkover) (Hardcover)

The story is more simplistic than Bradley's best work, yes.

It is not the best Darkover story, and not one I'd advise starting off with.

However, for those familiar with the setting, it's an enjoyable tale, perhaps on par with _Star of Danger_: fun, light reading in a familiar world.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars one of the weaker Darkover novels, December 11, 2003

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heirs of Hammerfell (Darkover) (Paperback)

The Heirs of Hammerfell is a Darkover novel set in the time of the Hundred Kingdoms. Like the other Darkover novels, this book can stand on its own with no need of having read the preceding books in the series. At the time this book was published, it was the first Darkover novel to have been released in Hardcover and it was the first new Darkover novel in a five year period. Unfortunately, this is not among the best of Marion Zimmer Bradley's work.

This novel is the story of the duchy of Hammerfell and the result of its ancient blood feud with neighboring Storn. The novel opens with the aging (40 something) Duke of Hammerfell taking Ermine as a wife. She gives birth to twin boys. When they are perhaps a year old, there is an attack by Ardrin of Storn. Their home is destroyed, and their father murdered. Ermine escapes, but gets separated from the man carrying the younger son, Conn. Each boy is raised believing that they are the only surviving heir to Hammerfell. Alastair is raised by his mother in the Hastur capital city of Thendara. Conn is raised by Markos, a family retainer, in the mountains of Hammerfell.

This is the story of twins, separated at a young age, and their attempt to regain the duchy of Hammerfell from their ancient enemy of Storn. The two are reunited eighteen years later, and what could have/should have been a major conflict in the book is shuffled to the side with minimal contention between Conn and Alastair. This book is as much of a romance as the adventure that it hinted at being.

I like the Darkover series, but this is perhaps the worst of the books that I have read so far. There is very little actual conflict (even though it had such a great set-up), and what conflict there was got resolved with so little fuss that it hardly seemed worth it. I would recommend this book only if you were looking to read all of the Darkover novels. As each book stands on its own, there is no reason to read this to complete your understanding of the story, and this should certainly not be the first book you read if you are starting the series. It's just not that good.