Rating: 
Summary: Good story, altho somewhat awkward at times.
Review: I have loved every one of the Darkover novels I have read, including this one, but it seemed to me that the death of as major of a character as Regis was brushed off. Perhaps some other author will be able to pick up where Bradley has so tragically left off, as well as fill in the missing 15 years between this novel and its predecessor. It is very sad to think that this wonderful series will end after so many years.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my favourite
Review: I have read all the Darkover novels as they have been issued and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. However, I have to say that I was disappointed in this book and even more saddened to think that this could be the end of the series as I felt it and the two previous books just were not up to the standard of the earlier books in the series. Please don't think I don't feel the book is worth reading it is but like other reviewers I felt it was not as polished or as carefully thought out as I would have hoped. Personally, I did not think Marguerida was a strong enough character to be the focal point of three books. We were only able to get this book in Australia this year although I understand that it was published a couple of years ago. I was sorry to see what I feel is the end of an era.
Rating: 
Summary: The very best in the series
Review: I love the Darkover books, but this one is the best I've read so far. I think it's the last one, though ... so sad. I really want to find out what happened next.This book is just so sophisticated in its character development! I love the way MZB looks at interpersonal relationships. What makes a person turn bitter, negative and destructive -- and how can she escape from that? What makes another person become dominant and powerful? How can a woman who is under the domination of a male chauvinist society nevertheless manage to have a meaningful life? How do children evolve in their thinking as they become teenagers and separate from their parents? What happens when a large number of strong personalities are confined together in a huge castle for years? These are the kinds of issues that are dealt with in this book. I particularly like the way this elaborate character development is combined with the sci fi/fantasy aspects. How does a primitive world of telepaths retain its cultural integrity in the face of a much larger and more powerful galactic technoculture? How does telepathy influence human relationships? What kind of adjustments does a society of telepaths have to make to avoid going crazy? I love how this series and particuarly this book deal with all that. And, of course, there is the wonderful, continuing romance of Mikhail and Marguerida, which has matured so heartwarmingly along with them. It's so rare to see a novel that takes a romance into adulthood. Most romance novels end with marriage. This novel accepts the challenge of addressing a romance that continues. OK, maybe this is the most fantastical element of the book, but I liked it anyway. I recommend this book most heartily.
Rating:
Summary: The very best in the series
Review: I love the Darkover books, but this one is the best I've read so far. I think it's the last one, though ... so sad. I really want to find out what happened next. This book is just so sophisticated in its character development! I love the way MZB looks at interpersonal relationships. What makes a person turn bitter, negative and destructive -- and how can she escape from that? What makes another person become dominant and powerful? How can a woman who is under the domination of a male chauvinist society nevertheless manage to have a meaningful life? How do children evolve in their thinking as they become teenagers and separate from their parents? What happens when a large number of strong personalities are confined together in a huge castle for years? These are the kinds of issues that are dealt with in this book. I particularly like the way this elaborate character development is combined with the sci fi/fantasy aspects. How does a primitive world of telepaths retain its cultural integrity in the face of a much larger and more powerful galactic technoculture? How does telepathy influence human relationships? What kind of adjustments does a society of telepaths have to make to avoid going crazy? I love how this series and particuarly this book deal with all that. And, of course, there is the wonderful, continuing romance of Mikhail and Marguerida, which has matured so heartwarmingly along with them. It's so rare to see a novel that takes a romance into adulthood. Most romance novels end with marriage. This novel accepts the challenge of addressing a romance that continues. OK, maybe this is the most fantastical element of the book, but I liked it anyway. I recommend this book most heartily.
Rating:
Summary: Too long
Review: I love the Darkover series & I will probably read it until she stops writing them. Having said that - I find her latest books to be way too long. She repeats and repeats and repeats herself. We have to have the same thing explained to us by 3 different people every time - I got it the first time! And has anybody noticed how everybody's always tired & they have to eat and bathe before they can do anything? I never noticed these things in her earlier books - when I read those I was fascinated. Now I keep noticing the writing & it takes me out of the story. I wish she'd stick with just 1 or 2 characters & tell us what they think - not 4 or 5. Of course, if you want to know what happens in the Darkover saga, you have to read the book. I wouldn't not read it - I just wish someone would tell MZB that she's repeating herself too much. It always amazes me on how the guys are always noticing how the clothes look on the women, too. I don't know too many men who are thinking stuff like "that goes with her coloring". It seems to me like she's just writing the same character 5 times & changing the sex - not really creating anyone original. And we just have to have the offworlder who comes to Darkover so we can explain how cool it is to them (Katherine, this time). I'd love to see a Darkover story that gets out of the politics & back into the country - more action, less talk!
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the next one
Review: I really enjoyed reading this new Darkover novel, I have been waiting for it for so long! It was worth it. The only complaints I would have is that I'm a little tired of the Hasturs and Altons, could we please hear more abouth the other Comyn. Hermes Aldaran was an excellent character and I really felt like kicking him sometimes. The tqo characters of Gisela and Katherine were great. But who was the Traitor? I thought perhaps it might be Alanna Alar but her character was undevolped. Perhaps the next novel?
Rating:
Summary: The Hardcover and Paperback editions are different!
Review: I really liked this book when I read it from the library (hardcover edition), but not having the $35.00+tax it cost in hardcover, I waited for the paperback. However the paperback editions had the priests from the chapel edited out, and the funeral service at the Castle also. They removed that passage entirely and edited the actual burial scene to remove the priests. The ending read as though they had pasted in the burial from Forbidden Tower. These were 2 of my favourite passages and if I had known they were gone, I would have bought the hardcover.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!! IT BLEW MY MIND!!!
Review: I was a bit skeptical when I first purchased this book. In order for me to read science fiction, the storyline has to grab me. Well, this book definitely grabbed my attention. In the TRAITOR'S SUN, Regis Hastur has passed away, leaving Mikhail Hastur, his heir, as the new regent of Darkover. Mikhail must once again face opposition from some of the members of the domains and go against a new threat from the Terran Federation. We learn about other characters aswell, especially about Marguerida and Mikhail's oldest son, Domenic. Because I wanted to learn more about the Darkover series, I also purchased the two books before this one, EXILE'S SONG which took place fifteen years earlier and introduced us to an adult Marguerida Alton and Mikhail Hastur and THE SHADOW MATRIX in which Marguerida and Mikhail go back in time and Mikhail inherits a great power. These are also fantastic books. I cannot wait for the next addition to this amazing saga. TRAITOR'S SUN is filled with sci-fi action and with enough of a romantic twist to keep you enthralled. I recommend this book and it's predecessors. You'll love it. Trust me!
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad
Review: I've enjoyed MZB's work over the last 30 or 40 years, however I didn't know till after I finished Traitor's Sun (about an hour ago) that MZB had died. However the book's writing made me uncomfortable. Even though there was no other credited author on the cover it didn't feel as rich as her work. The last twenty or so pages convinced me. They have two glaring errors MZB wouldn't have made. Herm Aldaran is in two places at once, sent back to Thendara with the wounded, and at Regis's funeral. Lake Hali is stated as being just an hour's ride away from Comym Castle even though it took the funeral procession a couple of days to ride to Hali from Comym. The errors were the last straw, I decided to do some research. A recheck of the paperback showed Adrienne Martine-Barnes on the copyright and a net search led me to her coauthorship of several Darkover novels and of MZB's death. I mourn her loss. Perhaps we have sloppy editors to blame for the errors. Finduilas, in an earlier Amazon review pointed out that the hardcover and paperback editions are different. I haven't read the hardcover edition, so I do not know if the errors occur there too. I hope DAW will correct the errors in later printings.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy Editing!
Review: I've enjoyed MZB's work over the last 30 or 40 years, however I didn't know till after I finished Traitor's Sun (about an hour ago) that MZB had died. However the book's writing made me uncomfortable. Even though there was no other credited author on the cover it didn't feel as rich as her work. The last twenty or so pages convinced me. They have two glaring errors MZB wouldn't have made. Herm Aldaran is in two places at once, sent back to Thendara with the wounded, and at Regis's funeral. Lake Hali is stated as being just an hour's ride away from Comym Castle even though it took the funeral procession a couple of days to ride to Hali from Comym. The errors were the last straw, I decided to do some research. A recheck of the paperback showed Adrienne Martine-Barnes on the copyright and a net search led me to her coauthorship of several Darkover novels and of MZB's death. I mourn her loss. Perhaps we have sloppy editors to blame for the errors. Finduilas, in an earlier Amazon review pointed out that the hardcover and paperback editions are different. I haven't read the hardcover edition, so I do not know if the errors occur there too. I hope DAW will correct the errors in later printings.
| 
