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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Love of Power or the Power of Love?, October 1, 2000
Like The Heritage of Hastur, Sharra's Exile is told in chapters that alternate between the first-person narrative of Lew Alton, and the third-person focus on other characters (Diotima Ridenow and Regis Hastur, in particular). It takes up where the previous book left off, where struggles between birth family and chosen family are concerned. On a larger scale, there is also the battle between those who want to preserve the traditional culture of Darkover "by any means necessary" (including use of the Sharra Matrix, which is definitely against the Compact), and those who wish to become part of the Terran Empire. The central characters become caught up in this struggle, while also dealing with the conflicting loyalties in their personal lives. Regis Hastur has to face his grandfather's disapproval of his lover Danilo, Lew Alton is haunted by the last words of his dead father, and Diotima Ridenow has to sort through her feelings for Lew when their marriage ends in disaster following the premature birth of their horribly deformed son. Those who were touched by the madness of the Sharra Circle are drawn back to it, and the attempts to harness Sharra's power could easily spell disaster for Darkover.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very fine sequel to "Heritage of Hasteur", April 8, 2009
One of the earliest novels to appear in Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" universe was "Sword of Aldones"; this novel was written before Bradley truly learned her craft. Later, she wrote the prequel to it, "Heritage of Hasteur". Eventually, she came back to the original story concept, and completely reworked it. This book is the result of that reworking, which she refused to call a "rewriting" because the changes were more extensive than that. Here is what she had to say on the subject in an introductory note:
"Like all previous Darkover novels, this story is complete in itself and does not depend on knowledge of any other. More than any other Darkover novel, however, this one was written by popular demand.
One result of writing novels as they occurred to me, instead of following strict chronological order, was that I began with an attempt to solve the final problems of the society; each novel thus suggested one laid in an earlier time, in an attempt to explain how the society had reached that point. Unfortunately, that meant that relatively mature novels, early in the chronology of Darkover, were followed by books written when I was much younger and relatively less skilled at storytelling; and of all these, the least satisfactory was "The Sword of Aldones", perhaps because this book was, in essence, dreamed up at the age of fifteen.
In 1975 I made a landmark decision; that in writing "The Heritage of Hasteur", I would not be locked into the basically immature concepts set forth in "Sword", even at the sacrifice of consistency in the series. After "Heritage" appeared in print, "Sword of Aldones" seemed even less satisfactory -- for years, it seemed that everyone I met asked me when I was going to rewrite it. For years I replied "Never," or "I don't want to go back to it." But I finally decided that I had, in "Sword of Aldones", developed a basically good idea, without the skill or maturity to handle it as well as it deserved; and that the characters deserved serious treatment by a matured writer. I decided not to rewrite, but to write an entirely new book based on events in the same time frame as "Sword". The present book is the result."
This book is, in fact, one of Bradley's many fine Darkover novels. I highly recommend it. I do NOT recommend reading "Sword of Aldones", unless it is as a curiosity after having read this one, to see what the differences are, and to see for yourself how much of a difference twenty years of writing experience (give or take) will make to a writer.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a solid Darkover offering, August 30, 2006
This Darkover novel written by Marion Zimmer Bradley begins a couple of years after the events of The Heritage of Hastur. Lew Alton, now somewhat disfigured because of his use of the Sharra Matrix, is recovering offworld with his father and is a bitter young man. Everything that he cared about was taken from him, including his wife and unborn child, and he is partially responsible for the destruction of a city by the Sharra Matrix. The Sharra Matrix is a focus for incredible and ancient power and has been used as a nearly uncontrollable weapon in the past. Lew is one of the handful of men and women who rediscovered the matrix and through betrayals sought to use it, though with one final betrayal he helped to stop the destruction. Sharra's Exile covers several years that Lew spent off world in possession of the Matrix (he is so strongly linked to the Matrix that if he gets too far from it he may die), and then covers the events that follows his return to Darkover carrying the forbidden Matrix.
Sharra's Exile is told in alternating chapters between the first person perspective of Lew Alton and the third person perspective dealing with other characters, mostly Regis Hastur. This is a novel rife with conflict. Lew is emotionally a wreck and has a very difficult time controlling his emotions after the Sharra incident and because he is a telepath in a caste of telepaths, he is unintentionally broadcasting his pain to anyone nearby. Lew is also half Terran, so there are some in the Comyn ruling class who look down on Lew and his family even though he is the heir to his family's Domain. This is another conflict. Yet another has to do with the Sharra Matrix. In the Regis chapters there are conflicts regarding his views about Terran Culture and that Regis is far more progressive than his grandfather as well as most of the Comyn.
Sharra's Exile is a complete rewrite of one of Bradley's earliest novels The Sword of Aldones and while I haven't read that first book I thought this was a very solid entry into the Darkover Chronology. Bradley has multiple conflicts and plot points going and there is plenty of intrigue and even some action. The novel flows well and because of all of the conflict, Darkover is a conflicted society, there was plenty to hold my interest as she moved the primary story along of the re-emergence and fear of the Sharra Matrix. There is a bit of absurdity (The Sword of Aldones, the Terran woman) and Bradley has recycled a couple of story techniques she has used in the past but this time it is more dues ex machina than necessary plotting, but overall Sharra's Exile is a good Darkover story and an entertaining read. That's all I really ask for out of a book.
-Joe Sherry
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