The Saga of the Renunciates (The Shattered Chain, Thendara House, City of Sorcery) (Darkover) [Mass Market Paperback]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author), Romas Kukalis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2002

Long out of print, these three Darkover books tell the tale of two Free Amazon women whose lives are irrevocably entwined.

"Literate and exciting." (The New York Times Book Review)

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: 1120 pages
• Publisher: DAW (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756400929
• ISBN-13: 978-0756400927
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,245 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

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars strong women's story, September 2, 2002

By 

Kathleen Cobcroft (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Saga of the Renunciates (The Shattered Chain, Thendara House, City of Sorcery) (Darkover) (Mass Market Paperback)

The saga of the renunciates is an omnibus of MZB's three "Darkover" novels that deal with the Renunciate's Guild - a group within Darkovan society that allows women to free themselves from the oppressive rules of their world. At this point of Darkovan history, the planet (a lost colony of Earth) has been rediscovered by the Terran Empire. It works well as a single volume, as it's the three-part story of a "Terran" woman (Margali) who becomes involved in the guild by accident, and her personal growth as a result.

Personally, I find the third story rather tedious - it is a quest story in which a group of women go searching for a mythical or secret Women's City, involving a lot of walking through frozen mountains and (I thought) a fairly anticlimactic ending.

Some of the Terran gender relations in the book seem somewhat dated, reading like a reflection of the late 70s-early 80s period when the stories were written, although the alien Darkovan version seems much less so.

In general, a rewarding book, which should appeal to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction with strong feminist characters.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong novels, June 7, 2004

By 

"naturegirl22" (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Saga of the Renunciates (The Shattered Chain, Thendara House, City of Sorcery) (Darkover) (Mass Market Paperback)

I disagree with the last review. I have been collecting all the Darkover novels, which has been difficult considering how most of them are out of print since the 70s. The Age of Chaos omnibus and the Saga of the Renunciates are some of my favorite Darkover books. I like the fact the MZB is not afraid to portray her female characters as strong, intelligent women. The stories in this omnibus are not "women against men" at all. There are strong male characters in all three books, and wonderful relationships between both male and female characters. The world of Darkover is one of women taking a submissive and passive role of keeping hearth and home and bearing children. The Renunciates are a totally different aspect of that world, one that is often disapproved of and shunned by the other part. While other novels have touched on the Renunciates in passing, none have given any of those women a chance to tell their stories of how and why they came to the Guild. These books are the stories of women, their lives, their relationships with men, and their friendships with one another. I would not call these books feminist at all. Unless you call well developed, realistic female characters in a story a feminist movement. I call it good writing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better on rereading, December 31, 2004

By 

dandysmom "dandysmom" (washington, dc United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Saga of the Renunciates (The Shattered Chain, Thendara House, City of Sorcery) (Darkover) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read these 3 novels in the late 70's-early 80's and loved them...recently found the 3 novel compendium and enjoyed it more the second time around. What a wonderfully imagined world!! How I wish we had something like the Guild here on Earth! As an old feminist in my 70's, I cannot recommend them more highly...READ!!