The Shadow Matrix

Darkover (Publication Order) #33

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

After spending her youth in the Terran Empire, Margaret Alton returns to Darkover, the planet of her birth. There she discovers she has the Alton Gift--forced rapport and compulsion--one of the strongest and most dangerous of the inherited Laran gifts of the telepathic Comyn--the ruling families of Darkover. And even as she struggles to control her newfound powers, Margaret finds herself falling in love with the Regent to the royal Elhalyn Domain, a man she has been forbidden to marry, for their alliance would irrevocably alter the power balance of their planet!

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction

563 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook.

Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.

Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.

Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.

Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.

For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.

Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.

Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.

Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Morgan Dhu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shadow Matrix begins shortly after the conclusion of Exile's Song. Marguerida - as Margaret Alton is now called - is at Arilinn, but her training is not going well. Unable to tolerate the high-level matrices for long periods of time, she is living in a guest-house. An adult of a decidedly independent and questioning nature, she is surrounded by other trainees who mistrust and fear her, and teachers who have no idea of how to deal with her. Thanks to Lew, she is able to go instead to Neskaya, where Istvana, the leronis who helped her during her threshold sickness, is Keeper.

Meanwhile, Mikhail has been sent to test the laran potential of the last of the Elhalyn line; he discovers their mother deranged and in the thrall of an unethical leronis, her children neglected and emotionally damaged. Temporarily enthralled himself, he finally confronts the leronis, freeing the children, although their mother dies. He returns to Thendara with the children, but must report to Regis that none of the boys are capable of assuming the Elhalyn kingship - the two oldest are damaged too severely from their experiences, and Emun, the youngest, is frail and without laran. The girls, however, have better chances for a future, as Valenta has considerable laran, and Miralys has already attracted the attentions of Dani Hastur, Regis' son.

Regis has been matchmaking for political gain - he has invited Lord Damon Aldaran and his daughter Gisela to Thendara, hoping that Mikhail can be persuaded to marry her, an alliance that would bring Aldaran back into the Comyn Domains. Mikhail suggests to Regis that one of his older brothers would be a better match.

Both Mikhail and Marguerida - who have been in frequent telepathic content throughout these events - have been hearing a strange voice calling to them, speaking of Hali and Midwinter, underlying the eerie portent of the time they both saw the Tower of Hali, undamaged, on their journey together from Armida to Thendara.

Marguerida comes to Thendara for Midwinter, and on the night of the Ball in Comyn Castle, the voice commands them to go to Hali immediately, while some unknown force holds the others motionless and unable to prevent their departure. Racing to Hali, they find the Tower seemingly undamaged again, and entering it, are drawn into the past, to the time of Varzil - and Ashara.

Varzil is dying, and he dares not allow his matrix - which is both powerful and enhanced - to fall into Ashara's hands. He has called Marguerida and Mikhail into the past because they are in some way similar to the people who would have been his allies and successors, had they lived. Instead, it is Mikhail who receives Varzil's matrix, in a ceremony in which he and Marguerida are married di catenas.

After the wedding, Varzil vanishes, after giving Mikhail a final message to they must return to the rhu fead, the repository of powerful artefacts at Hali, in forty days. After foiling the plan of a local lord to start a nuclear war with laran-refined uranium, they flee to Hali, plunging into the strange substance that fills the lake there in order to escape pursuit. When they emerge, they find Ashara there, but they enter the rhu fead and return to their own time, to learn that only hours have passed.

With their marriage an established fact - and with Marguerida a month into a pregnancy that did not exist the day before - most of the Comyn eventually accept their account of what happened. When Dani Hastur, Regis' son, declares his love for Miralys and his opposition to being his father's heir, Regis declares him the heir to Elhalyn, and appoints Mikhail his heir. Marguerida renounces her claim to the Alton Domain in favour of her kinsman Gabriel, and it is decided that Istvana of Neskaya will come to Thendara to reform a Keeper's circle there, and to train Marguerida and Mikhail. And using her new understanding of her powers, Marguerida is able to partially cure her step-mother Diotima, giving her parents a few more years together.

And thus the new generation - Mikhail and Marguerida, Dani and Miralys, and other young Comyn - is set in place to begin the next phase of Darkover's history.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really feel like this book should have been a few short stories rather than a single book, because a lot of it felt barely connected to me. One thread is Margaret's attempt to master her laran and avoid getting drawn too much in to the politics of Darkover's families, one thread is Mikhail being sent to determine who the next heir to the Elhalyn throne will be, and one thread is Gabriel Lanart and Javanne Hastur continuing to try to control Mikhail's life. I didn't find any of these threads that interesting other Mikhail dealing with the Elhalyns, and I thought it resolved too quickly and left too much to the imagination to really satisfy me.

The part I really liked was the part at the end, and I would gladly have read an entire book dedicated to Varzil the Good's attempt to solidify his legacy and make sure the Compact held over all of Darkover after he was no longer around to enforce it.

Expand on why exactly Dom Padraig hates the Hasturs so much and why he wants to destroy Thendara. Expand Leonora's character and explain why she's willing to make people into slaves and where the idea to use uranium for weapons in the absence of clingfire and bonewater dust came from. Expand on Amirya and how she came to be Keeper at this ad hoc Tower that Padraig is putting together. And then have Varzil's plan to reach forward and pull back Mikhail and Margaret so that Ashara--who is criminally underutilized here for how important she's supposed to be--can't get her hands on his matrix. The "free-wheeling matrix technology" period of Darkover's history has always been my favorite part, and I would have much rather read a book about that that about the other plot threads here.

You can argue that would have been a different book, and you'd be right. I'd rather have read that book than this one.

It's not as bad as Exile's Song in terms of worldbuilding, though the threat posed to Darkover by the Terran Empire fell a bit flat because I don't know enough about the Empire to know exactly what the Expansionists want to expand into. Mention is made that they haven't fought a war in "generations," but who did they fight with? Is that some curbstomp where Imperial Marines came in and overthrew a planetary government, or are there nonhuman empires out there? Where do these non-Terran-but-human-inhabited planets come from? I don't know, because The Shadow Matrix sure doesn't tell you.

I suppose my major problem is just the character of Margaret. She has the Aldon Gift, which makes sense because she's Lew's daughter, and then we learn that she also has the Aldaran Gift. And since getting the Shadow Matrix, she also develops healing power that let her singlehandedly cure virulent diseases and even travel through time. In addition, she's the daughter of an Imperial senator and the heir to planetary nobility, extremely rich, the most educated woman on Darkover, and the beloved of the heir to the planetary government. Woe is her, indeed. I'd characterize her whining as first world problems if Darkover wasn't a undeveloped frozen hellhole.

The last part that takes place in the Ages of Chaos makes up for some sins, but not all of them, and the ending implies that future books in this series might get back toward the politicking that I like more than Margaret whining that she has too much laran. So maybe I'm giving The Shadow Matrix more credit than it deserves, but I think three stars is enough.

Previous Review: Exile's Song.
Next Review: Traitor's Sun.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading the Darkover books as a child -- Star of Danger &c

I have always enjoyed everyone, and usually have reread each several times.

Exile's Song & The Shadow Matrix are special -- these have become standards to reread at least once every year. IMHO anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley is well worth reading, but the Darkover books especially so. Even those written as young adults, when she was first starting out, were good. And they all teach as well as entertain, although one does not have to learn from them, it is almost unavoidable, as much as it is subtle and non-preachy.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like I said in my review of Exile's Song, the Shadow Matrix was one of my favourite books in high school. I must have read it a dozen times. The plot is haunting and gripping.

I need to read this book again soon.

[Valerie]

I began to suspect a missing episode in this series right from the beginning. I find that I was right--I really need to get hold of a volume called Exile's Song, to get a fuller development of things people keep referring to in the recent past.

There's enough exposition that I can get a moderate idea of what happened--but I still want to see the previous volume.

Especially, I want to get an idea of Margaret Alton's career at University, which I gather is an entire University planet.

There are many familiar characters in this book, and more than a smattering of new ones--including some who must have been around earlier (not only Priscilla Elhalyn, but also Mikhail Lanart-Hastur's sister Liriel, for example).

One basic question that doesn't seem to have been answered is why CAN'T the Elhalyn monarch be a woman? Even if it weren't a purely ceremonial role, what would be the basis for such an argument? It's stated earlier in the series that laran in most Comyn families is fully developed only in the males--but there are so many exceptions to this that the exceptions prove the rule--and prove it mostly untrue.

I note that there are more scholars and archives in this book than in most of the earlier books. I suppose I must attribute this to the coauthor.

I've gotten only about halfway through, and I find that I can only vaguely anticipate what comes next. I'll keep on.

I understand that this essentially becomes the second leg of a trilogy, or rather (since this is a double volume) the middle two volumes of a tetrology in one volume. Since this book was published only 2 years before Bradley's death, I would suspect that this was probably the last subseries in the Darkover series.

I do note some inconsistencies in the characters of some people in the stories. One of them is the supposed character of Derik Elhalyn's ghost. Derik Elhalyn was not merely eccentric--he was downright mentally disabled. He didn't have anything even remotely like a forceful character. And whatever his relationship with his sister (which seems to have been more than a little bit incestuous), he was sincerely attached to his fiance, with whom he died. So where is she in all this?

Maybe it's explained more in the second 'book' in this volume.

No such luck. The sister Priscilla is simply killed off, for no obvious reason, and the children fostered by Mikhail. The second volume ('book') in this (almost) trilogy-in-one-volume has more children in it than most of the rest of the series. They're real children, too, with personalities and biographies, however short they may be by this point. In some ways, indeed, it's easier to tell the children apart than the adults, especially if you haven't read the other books in the Darkover canon.

By this point the Terran 'Empire' of earlier days has become a Federation, and there are elements in the Federation Senate and Representative Council who are trying to eliminate the Protected status of those planets not already forced into full membership. They're also trying to eliminate the humanities and focus the sciences on only militaristic technology. Where have I heard that before?

One point that really irritated me was the consistent confusion between 'council' and 'counsel', which are two ENTIRELY different things, and yet the words are repeatedly used interchangeably, and too often inappropriately. A council can give counsel, and a counselor may be part of a counsel, but the two are NOT identical.

The end of the second book and the beginning of the third is in the form of a summons to Mikhail and Margaret to go to the ruins of Hali tower in order to be transported back into the past. This summons is so powerful that it kills two people (one of whom is identified, and the other never is), and injures quite a few others. I understand the desperation involved, but this sort of 'collateral damage' can NEVER be justified, no matter how great the need. It can only be hoped that Varzil was not aware of what effect his summons would have.

The 'Book 3' in the Ages of Chaos is full of exhortations to ruthlessness, and the protagonists are FAR too receptive to the seductions of arguments as to why one can (and even, it's argued, should) deny one's compassion to others. It's not a matter of what the victims of the protagonists do, or even of how they justify what they do. One of the people who are murdered (and make no mistake, if you abandon a helpless and injured person in a building you're destroying, it IS murder) is a CHILD. Not an 'innocent' child, no. But 'innocence' matters a lot less than people are led to believe. The child in question is a child soldier, as much as the non-leronyn around her. Rescued and properly fostered, she might well have recovered her sanity and humanity, and done as much good in the world as she did harm in the service of her family. But we'll never know now, will we? Because she's abandoned to become just another ghost.

In truth, it's the argument that people CAN forfeit their right to sympathy, humane treatment, and redemption that creates people like the helpless murder victim in the story. And, for that matter, that creates people like the victim's rather less horribly murdered brother. The argument that it's less horrible to kill somebody in 'a fair fight' than (as in the first 'book') to slaughter people essentially paralyzed by an irresistible command is to a certain extent specious. No matter how a death is procured, it's still unrecoverable. But placing people beyond the reach of forgiveness or even sympathy is almost as final, since too often it's used to 'justify' murders.

Despite the above doubts, the resolution of the story is very compelling, and I wouldn't have skipped it. I would, however, have liked to hear a better investigation of what ailed Diotima Ridenow. One of the main problems I have with the concept of non-medical 'healers' is that their treatments are non-exportable. If there could be enough healers to treat everybody, it might not matter. But if the skills needed to heal are not teachable, there's no way of increasing the number of such healers. Maybe that's one of the things programmed into Varzil's ring-matrix. Let's hope so, anyhow.

Having read the prequel (Exile's Song), I'm reading this again. Though I read it less than a fortnight ago, I'm still encountering things I overlooked in the first readthrough. I expected to understand more once I got the first book read, but I'm also noting things that don't depend on knowing what happened in the earlier book, but which I now have time to note because I'm not trying to reconstruct the earlier book using allusions in this volume.

I'll finish the book again, and see if my conclusions change much--and in future, I'll be more careful about not reading the second book in a trilogy first.

Bradley used to say that she tried to write her books so that you didn't have to read them in order. I don't think she always succeeded, but in this trilogy, it's definitely a good idea to read them in order...at least so far.

There are still parts that I find inconsistent with the earlier Darkover books. I do NOT approve of trying to revamp Darkovan society into strict serial monogamy. I also don't like the elements of homophobia. It might be that just the individual characters are personally homophobic--but I still don't like it.

I should point out that the concept that monogamy is more congenial to free choices by women and to individual freedom than formal and/or informal polygamous systems is not consistent with anthropological and ethnographic data. It's not just true polygamy that has legal and social advantages for marriage partners (including, but not limited to, equitable distribution of resources)--the same applies to polyandrous and the much more common polygynous households.

Why? Because the social, legal, and other protections provided to secondary wives (and, less commonly, husbands), concubines (called 'barragana' on Darkover), and other formal or informal non-monogamous relationships are lost when a society begins to de-legitimize these relationships, without any real gain in freedom for either the monogamous partners or those not in relationships.

This is amply documented in studies of societies being forced into monogamy, where both legal wives and husbands lose ground. In 'formerly' polygynous societies, for example, the men don't change their behavior--they still take lovers, particularly if they go into cities to get jobs that pay in cash rather than in kind. But since they're legally forbidden to regularize the situation by marrying their 'mistresses', everybody loses: the legal wives, the mistresses, and the husbands. The legal wives lose not only the material and emotional support they would formerly have been guaranteed (as well as laws, customs, and social mores CAN guarantee good behavior) from husbands, co-wives, and other guarantors in the community. The 'mistresses' lose support also from their lovers, co-wives, family, law, and community; and the husbands lose guarantees in matters like custody of children.

Also, as the Tiv women point out in Laura Bohannon's work, men are generally bigger and stronger than women, so if the women have no co-wives to support them, the men have the potential to become terrible bullies. You'd think that Margaret Alton, who has a background in ethnology (at least to the point of ethnomusicology), would KNOW that sort of thing.

One thing more: I don't agree that empires, federations, etc are inherently unstable. I find predictive models of expansion and decline of large social organizations inherently limited by a very small number of samples. The Terran Federation of the Darkover stories has a little more material, maybe. But it's still not much more than a third again as much as we have in the present day. And for contrast, even by the most conservative estimates of the length of human tenure on Earth, this is STILL less than 20%. Better than an n of 1: but still not big enough to make any deterministic predictions. And this is assuming that deterministic predictions are even POSSIBLE with intelligent beings--and that's arguably a less than probably assumption.

I've acquired the third book in this trilogy (Traitor's Sun, and may I point out from a start that I HATE the title), so I'll get to that and read it in sequence.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeitreisen! Yihaaaaaaaaa. Da das bereits der Klappentext verrät, sehe ich das nicht als Spoiler.
Ich liebe Zeitreisen und finde, es bietet so viele Möglichkeiten für Drama, vor allem wenn die Handlungen quasi einen Kreis bilden und die Vergangenheit schon längst Auswirkungen auf die Zukunft hatte, man sie nur noch nicht verstanden hat (wie Harry Potter Band 3). Das gibt es hier auch, aber leider nimmt es nur einen sehr kleinen Teil des Bandes ein.

Am Anfang geht es vor allem um Mikhail, der die Elhayn-Kinder testen und beschützen soll, und seine Abenteuer im Elhayn-Anwesen, wo die Situation ziemlich angespannt ist und man ihn die ganze Zeit da rausholen will. An sich ein sehr spannender Handlungsstrang, während Marguerida bei ihrer Ausbildung ist (was man hier und da in Kapiteln sieht) und Informationen über die Terraner und die politische Situation in der Förderation aufgegriffen werden. Ja, es wird noch bedeutsam werden, ganz bestimmt, dass es sich da zuspitzt, aber das fühlte sich viel zu sehr nach Vorbereitung für später an als dass es spannend gewesen wäre. Das wurde dann bedeutend besser, sobald die beiden endlich wieder aufeinander getroffen sind - auch wenn es hier ein paar nervige Dinge gab wie Gisela Aldaran, die nur auftaucht, damit Marguerida eifersüchtig wird, was aber sofort wieder aufhört, weil sie Mik ja vertraut und der Gisela auch gar nicht ausstehen kann. Hff, das war etwas anstrengend.

Das letzte Drittel des Buches nimmt dann an Fahrt auf und mit der Zeitreisegeschichte wird es spannend und interessant und toll. Auch hier gab es ein kleines Detail, das mich gestört hat Margueridas Wandel von "körperliche Nähe macht sie unruhig und zwei Bücher lang kann sie sich nicht einmal mit Mik Sex vorstellen" zu "wolllüstig und erfindungsreich und unersättlich" wie Mik sie dann nach der Hochzeitsnacht beschreibt, war etwas too much. Das zeichnet ein sehr seltsames Bild, das mir Unbehagen bereitet, auch wenn ich nicht ganz den Finger darauf legen kann, was es ist.

Insgesamt wieder ein guter Band auf Darkover und ich bin gespannt, wie es nun mit Terra und Marguerida und Mik weitergeht. Vor allem die Nebencharaktere mochte ich wieder sehr und möchte ein paar davon gern wiedersehen, wie die beiden Jungen, die Marguerida ein wenig unter ihre Fittiche genommen hat (Ethan und Donar Alar glaube ich) und Miralys und ihre Schwester Valenta Elhayn.

[Erik Akre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but... this book was... bad... Somehow we travel 480 pages with these characters, and for all that very little happens, even less of it interesting. We travel 480 pages with them, and their relationships and dialogues try to mean things but really don't. The lovey-dovey stuff is under-cooked and unintentionally shallow. Some fantasy authors, I find, have a hard time getting it. It makes it even harder to accept the rest.

I'm going to let Bradley off the hook by saying that I jumped into the series, uh... 25 books (!)... into it. I'm going to let Bradley off the hook by saying that if I had read the 24 (!) books that came before this one, I would have really loved and appreciated The Shadow Matrix. It would have been easier to pick up on all the incomprehensible name-droppings, I guess.

Sorry; I don't have much more to say. After about 100 pages I honestly began to suspect that the book was self-published, but when I looked it up I found that 24 books had been published before it. (!)

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read any other of the books and picked this one up at an used bookstore. I got about halfway through it before I gave up on it. The writing and story wasn’t bad but I couldn’t quite get the connection to care about the protagonists. I still hadn’t gotten to any of the parts that were described by the book’s back cover at halfway point either.

I’m tired of trying to read a book that I’m not invested in. Life’s too short.

[Shannon Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional sequel

I have been reading the Darkover series since the 80's. Really consistent and entertaining series. Recommend these books for the mature science fiction reader.

[Elisabeth Marksteiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this less this time round, more aware of bits were the plot seemed contrived. Saying that, my copy is dog-eared and well-worn as I like to inulge in this romantic fantasy. As an MZB fan, I like that each is a stand along story, but the whole combine to make the world.

[Alan gostaks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally the only explanation I can think of for this book is that mzb got a third of the way through the time travel but, then her editor moved up the deadline and she was like “fuck it, and then they took a nap for the next month”. It’s so abrupt!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read 3 times

[Gwennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

love her books

[Vader · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish

[LittleF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mal wieder Zeitreisen ;-)

[Queen Talk Talk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of adventures.

Distant past character cameos, new types of Laran, and music! I really enjoyed this book. Darkover is entering a new Era.

[Bob Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

[Brenda Bignall ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read often. I glean something new each time I read it. I like the world of Darkover.

[François · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book follows Exile's Song. It is co-written with Friend of Darkover Adrienne Barnes. There is nothing to say about that. But there is something to say about the fact that it is a collection of two novellas, the first of which being unrelated to the ongoing arc -the story of Margaret Alton, aka the new main character of the Darkover series, after several books focusing on Regis Hastur.
The first part of the book ('Book 1') follows Mikhail, Regis's nephew and Margaret's fiancé, drawn into a 200+page sordid story about a family under the influence of a weird leronis and a mysterious guardian. Too long a script to be published in the Friends of Darkover anthology -The Keeper's Price (Darkover Series) etc.) but too short to stand alone as a book.
The third part of the book tells us about Margaret & Mikhail going to an adventure together. And quite an adventure, with some surprises and a great potential, though too short and under-developped for my liking. But at least we have hints about what Mikhail may become in the future.
The second part is artificially linked to the first to make the sum of them look like a real novel of reasonable length.
It is the short interlude in the middle which I enjoyed the most, the one taking place in the Thendara Castle, wich more than its share of romantic and political plot, a pleasant yet instantly forgotten read.
All in all, a strange puzzle probably reaching the appropriate number of words for publishing but not a satisfactory read. Next episode Traitor's Sun is a more classic and homogeneous book and would certainly give more satisfaction to the reader, would the development of the story not favour so much petty elements over the real stakes.

[Jack Vasen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Darkover book completes the story begun in Exile's Song(ES). The two books together make one whole story. This story is part of the broad storyline begun in Heritage of Hastur and will continue loosely through The Children of Kings and all of these part of the even broader Darkover history. These two can stand together without necessarily having to read the others, but the story will be richer by reading at least Heritage of Hastur and Sharra's Exile prior to these.

Taken together, these two books comprise probably my favorite story of the Darkover series. There is adventure, magical wonder and romance. The wonder of Darkover is revealed largely through the eyes of Margaret who considers herself more Terran than Darkovan. Initially, in ES, she doesn't think of herself Darkovan at all. Her character develops before the reader's eyes as she becomes Marguerida. The person who comes to this planet is childlike in many ways, especially her fears which she comes by honestly as described in ES. In that book we see her courage grow so that as we begin this book she needs to learn to master her abilities.

Mikhail also develops both in character and ability, although more of that growth takes place in this book than the previous one. Along with the character development a romance blossoms.

I was glad the political intrigue was not dwelt on as much as in the previous book. It is still there, but it is more artfully spread out.

Margaret still struggles against the people and politics who wish to control her personal life because she is a mere woman, but it is not as oppressive in this book, perhaps because she now has powerful allies. There is still the idea that a woman, even one close to age 30, must have her life dictated by men. I find it interesting that her main enemy in this is also a woman, Javanne. I'm not even sure I understand the significance of that, if any, but I do think it's notable.

Mature themes: any sex is passed over quickly without description. There is some fantasy violence and war violence.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shadow Matrix is the sequel to Exile's Song, and has two very distinct parts. In the first half, which has a pervading feel of a mystery story, the focus is on Mikhail Lanart-Hastur, Marguerida's cousin and love interest. (Yeeeeah, there's a lot of incest of this nature on Darkover.) Mikhail is sent to the house of the Elhalyns, the Darkovan line of kingship, in order to designate an heir to the throne of the planet. While there, he must try to take care of the five children and the grounds, all of which are severely neglected, and embark on a battle of wills against a powerful telepath living in the house and assisting the children's mother. This part ends in a bit of a showdown between Mikhail, the creepy mother, and the mysterious Guardian. In the second half, Mikhail and Marguerida are summoned into the past, where they meet a powerful and legendary telepath named Varzil the Good. Their encounter with him has a profound impact on their own lives, the nature and strength of their laran, and the safety of the whole planet.

While I enjoy the two separate storylines, they really have no business being thrust together into one big novel. They would stand wonderfully on their own as two different books, since they don't really end up working together toward one finale. They also have completely different tones, and it's actually a bit jarring going from one plot to the next so abruptly.

This is another Darkover novel written by Adrienne Martine-Barnes, whose writing I can't stand. See my Exile's Song review for more on that front.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is of as high quality as any other book in the Darkover canon; Margaret has moved to a Tower to try and learn to control her laran, her latent psychic power. In the tower, she has been largely immune to the political machinations that haunt her because of the birth she is unsaware of. She is heir of one of the most powerful kingdoms on the planet, and she is in love with a man who could conceivably inherit the throne. All this is complicated by the fact that the powers she has developed are unlike any every seen on Darover, and you have some great action, some great political intrigue, and a helluva good read.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Exile's Song I was hoping for more about those characters and got it in this one (and, in fact, the next, and final, installment in the Darkover series is about them, too). I did really like this one, but I had been hoping for more of what Exile's Song was, a study in character. This one had more high adventure. I found that part of the book slightly uneven, but there was enough character study for me to overlook that and really enjoy the advancement of the main character's stories. In the end I am looking forward to the next one, but not to the same degree that I had been looking forward to this one.

[Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard · Rating 4 out of 5]

On reading this again, I think it's stronger than Exile's Song, although the overall structure limps a little - the final third could have been expanded, and the center section shortened a little. Character motivations are clearer for the most part, though there are still a few illogical moments and minor inconsistencies. But again, I really like and relate to Margaret/Marguerida, and to Mikhail as well. For all its flaws, (and they are many), this series-within-a-series is my favorite among all the Darkover books... and it wasn't even written by Bradley, but by one of her proteges.

(I may do a full review later.)

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read much of Darkover in the last couple of decades, but since I inherited a box of them, expect some updates

This was a solid add to the Darkover mythos, once again blending a Terran raised Marguirda into the planets male dominated, rigid culture. She brings a classical music education to Darkover, upsets the locals with a surprise elopement, (to her and her intended,) saves the world of the past and upsets quite a few apple carts along the way.

Lew Alton, her father, plays a minor role, but more of a father now than when Marguirda was growing up, taking pride in her accomplishments and amused by the feathers she ruffles.

[Contrarius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more....I really did....but, well, the plot is just too danged silly. Forget Deus Ex Machina -- here we have Ring Ex Machina, Lake Ex Machina, Hand Ex Machina, Crow Ex Machina, Voice Ex Machina, you name the Machina and we've got it. Convenient-Plot-Devices-R-Us. ;)

I still like the characters, for the most part, and I like Darkover as a setting. But the plotting in both the first and second halves of the book (which really should have been published as two separate novellas in any case) leaves a lot to be desired.

[Karel Musil · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Exile's song was mostly about Margaret Alton, The Shadow Matrix switches between her and her lover who is sent to deal with the remaining members of Hasturs of Elhalyn. This family was always a bit mentally unstable, but what Mikhail has to face in the haunted house was expected by nobody. The grand finale what follows takes our almost star-crossed lovers into distant past, more exactly into the darkest period of Ages of Chaos. What can you expect from situation where even Varzil the Good, the most important figure from the history of Darkover must hide...

[Marcello Tarot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Privo di coinvolgimento

Dopo l’ingresso trionfale di Marguerida nel mondo di Darkover (in “La sfida degli Alton”, alla cui recensione rimando), le aspettative per il seguito delle sue vicissitudini sono alte. Ma vengono immancabilmente disattese da un libro privo di mordente, che non coinvolge e che a un certo punto ti fa perfino disinteressare di quello che succede alla protagonista e al suo uomo.
Recensione originariamente pubblicata su http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/ nell’estate del 2010.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marguerida, Lew Alton's daughter, returns to Darkover and a series of events that has been literally paused in time for years begins to snowball--that's what happenned in Exile's Song. This is what came NEXT

She's still a whiny hero-ine, but what's more annoying is how absoutely perfect Mikhail is... oh well.

At least Romas provided a lovely cover.

[Bron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is MZB on form! The first Darkover book I ever read was Sharra's Exile so I really enjoy reading about the exploits of Lew Alton's daughter Margaret - and very glad to see that Lew is still around. In this one, Margaret and her husband to be, Mikhail, are drawn into the far past to receive special powers from the legendary Varzil the Good.