Heartlight [Mass Market Paperback]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Light | Publication Date: November 17, 2003

Heartlight is the story of Bradley’s greatest champion of good, Colin MacLaren, as he carries the banner of Light through the second half of the twentieth century. Ghostbuster, exorcist, student and teacher of the mystic arts, Colin meets Claire Moffat, who becomes his dearest friend, when he rescues her from a cult bent on human sacrifice.

The leader of that cult, Toller Hasloch, becomes one of Colin’s greatest enemies. Working behind the scenes for the next thirty years, Hasloch subtly manipulates politics and the economy to turn America away from the Light. Colin, busy saving lives and teaching the next generation of psychic warriors, realizes almost too late how Hasloch has warped America’s promise.

Now, Colin MacLaren is the only one who can face Hasloch and the hellhounds the younger man has unleashed. He must fight on, while the fate of America, and perhaps all mankind, hangs in the balance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fourth book in Bradley's "Light" series (Ghostlight, 1995, etc.) follows white magic Adept Colin McLaren from the turmoil of the 1960s and his meeting with darker magicians, such as Thorne Blackburn, to his retirement as the century turns. Throughout, he is aided by his friend, psychic Claire London Moffat, and haunted by his nemesis, Toller Hasloch, magical child of Nazi occultism. Continuing characters unite an otherwise episodic plot, as McLaren tackles one occult enemy after another, from those facing popular occult writer John Cannon (who for once has stumbled across real black magic) to an ancient Lovecraftian cult. Thematic concerns, too, unite the stories, which explore the temptations and burdens of supernatural power, the relationship of adept and apprentice and the constant fight for idealism in a flawed world. The New York and San Francisco settings are well handled and feature barely fictionalized versions of real-life esoteric sites and practitioners; the tone of the 1960s counterculture also rings true. Preachy but not simplistic, the novel mixes adventure with consideration of emotional, ethical and even social issues and so is of particular appeal to those who enjoy supernatural fiction with a message.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Fifteen years after the end of World War II, Colin McLaren, occult warrior in service to the Light, realizes that the dark powers he fought in Europe have resurfaced in an America lulled into complacency by delusions of peace. Veteran fantasy author Bradley (Gravelight, LJ 9/15/97) employs the cultural and political history of America since 1960 as a powerful metaphor for the constant interplay of good and evil. Despite occasional lapses in continuity, this 20th-century Gothic fantasy stands as a tour de force of occult fiction. Recommended for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081257107X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812571073
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,257,784 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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great conclusion to a wonderful series, July 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartlight (Hardcover)

HEARTLIGHT is the fourth occult/gothic novel in Bradley's LIGHT sequence (following GHOSTLIGHT, 1995; WITCHLIGHT, 1996 and last year's GRAVELIGHT. This latest (and obviously) final installment not only picks up characters from these three books, but it also picks up characters and storylines from Bradley's previous gothics DARK SATANIC (1972), THE INHERITOR (1984) and WITCH HILL (1990) and adds new details and new perspectives to the old stories. In HEARTLIGHT Colin McLaren must battle against Toller Hasloch, who tries to destroy the American spirit by means of Black (Nazi) magick in order to establish a Fourth Reich. The book spans four decades from the 1960s to the 1990s and chronicles not only Colin's battle against Hasloch, but also his attempts to rescue people who got in trouble with supernatural and evil powers. I can really recommend this book to every reader who has enjoyed one of Mrs. Bradley's previous gothics. HEARTLIGHT combines strong characterization wit! ! h a moving and involving story (being German Bradley's description of the fall of the Berlin Wall REALLY touched me). And although some stories will be familiar to readers, be sure not to miss this great novel of the eternal fight between LIGHT and DARKNESS. And by the way don't believe everything that you've read in the review from KIRKUS REVIEW. You better find out for yourself.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wrap up of several series..., September 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartlight (Hardcover)

As many have pointed out, this book tours several of MZB's previous series...the Dark Satanic, Inheritor, etc., and the Light series...but the part I truly found best about (both Heartlight and Ghostlight) is that you find out more of the Fate of all the major characters of the Fall of Atlantis (2 books, which I read in a compendium). It was very touching for me to find out what finally became of Riveda....and to know that he became friends with Domaris, if not Deoris.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing . . ., November 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartlight (Hardcover)

Never have I read a work of fiction that actually made me think of a period of our recent history in a new light. Marion works magic by weaving an already compelling storyline of believable rituals and magick into a convincing explanation for and which ties many of the key moments of turmoil of the twentieth century.

Her characters are people anyone can identify with; their lives aren't sickingly happy, nor are they perfect. They have their good times, their sorrows, their hurts, anger, and the guilt of their mistakes. Nor are her antagonists completely bad--there is always room for redemption.

I also enjoyed the way Marion weaved Colin's story to cross those of characters from the three previous novels in the series. It gave us a chance to see these characters from a totally new perspective, and in the cases of Thorne Blackburn and Hunter Greyson, we were given a glimpse into their youth and personalities that we were not shown in _Ghostlight_ and _Witchlight_.

I recommend this book to anyone who has ever asked the question, "Why?"