Rating: 
Summary: This book is amazing...
Review: and uncanny at times ! While I had only read the first of this series (Ghostlight) I easily picked up who the characters were and enjoyed getting to know each of them, especially 'meeting' Thorne Blackburn (from Ghostlight) in the time set before the novel in which he was the focus. This book is not one to pick up and set down, but one that will captivate and enthrall you, as well as expand your thinking about the scope of good and evil in the world.
Rating:
Summary: A wrap up of several series...
Review: 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.
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Summary: MZB is pure magic which she shares with lucky readers
Review: During World War II, Colin MacLaren fought for the Americans against the Nazis. Specifically, his battles raged on a more esoteric plane as the soldier of the light fights his Black magick counterparts. When the war successfully ended on all the fronts, Colin continues to battle against evil doers. His chief adversaryis Toller Hasloch, trying to form a fourth Reich using the powers of the arcane. Over the next four decades, Colin teaches the safe use of magic to adepts in order to keep them from going to the wrong side even as he heads towards a final confrontation with his malevolent counterpart. At the same, Colin continues to seek his own replacement because the war between good and evil is eternal. HEARTLIGHT should have been called deja vu as Marion Zimmer Bradley has taken the background and a secondary player from the three previous "Light" tales and propelled the scenery and the individual into the forefront. Fans of the four books will love t! his brilliant maneuver, which the author effortlessly turns into a well-written story line. However, the outcome (at least for those who have read GHOSTLIGHT, WITCHLIGHT, and GRAVELIGHT) is pre-ordained, leaving some readers knowing whether the light can triumph over the dark. Additionally, Colin is so heavenly angelic, he loses reader support. Still, this novel and Ms. Bradley's previous three books are divinely scribed occult tales that will please fans of the sub-genre. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great conclusion to a wonderful series
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: Heartlight tells the story of the last half of Colin McLaren's life. An adept committed to working within the light, McLaren must fight evil on all fronts - the resurgence of Nazi black magick, Satanists using the rituals of the Church of the Antique Rite, and individuals turning from light to black. Throughout it all, McLaren must confront his own individual problems, particularly that of using his power as it is not meant to be. The book is interesting, but might be confusing for someone (like me) who is not altogether familiar with the occult phenomena that the story is about. I would have preferred a book that went more deeply into some of the individual battles that McLaren undertook, rather than glancing over so many of them. That said, the book is meant to be a broad overview of the life of one champion of the light, and at that it is quite successful.
Rating: 
Summary: Colin McLaren
Review: Heartlight tells the story of the last half of Colin McLaren's life. An adept committed to working within the light, McLaren must fight evil on all fronts - the resurgence of Nazi black magick, Satanists using the rituals of the Church of the Antique Rite, and individuals turning from light to black. Throughout it all, McLaren must confront his own individual problems, particularly that of using his power as it is not meant to be. The book is interesting, but might be confusing for someone (like me) who is not altogether familiar with the occult phenomena that the story is about. I would have preferred a book that went more deeply into some of the individual battles that McLaren undertook, rather than glancing over so many of them. That said, the book is meant to be a broad overview of the life of one champion of the light, and at that it is quite successful.
Rating:
Summary: The best in a great series.
Review: Heartlight was the best of a great series. I had a hard time putting it down and was sorry when I finished it. Ms. Bradley creates characters that earn readers' support and empathy.
Rating: 
Summary: quite disappointed
Review: I bought this book because I have read and much liked other books written by MZB. This one was such a drag to read - literally- in dragged on and on. The characters are one dimensional and seem stagnant in their development. There were times when I wanted to scream at Colin McLaren, not to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
I was actually glad when I finished with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible!
Review: I bought this book despite the seriously cheesy cover (my paperback edition had romance novel type cover art with a blond woman being bent over backwards by a studly man - although here of course the man had evil in mind) because I had read The Inheritor a long time ago and recalled enjoying it. But unfortunately, this book was nothing like The Inheritor. Many of the same events are rehashed from a different point of view, but this book really overdid the "telling, not showing" problem authors can sometimes have. Usually, MZB doesn't have that problem, so I'm not sure what happened here. I haven't read any of the other "Light" books, so don't know if they suffer from the same problem. Basically, there is absolutely no suspense built up at any point, and you never feel at all invested in anything that's happening, because everything is seen from a distance and matter of factly described. The characters are absolutely cardboard in this book (again, don't know if these same characters were better-written in others of her books), dialogue is flat, the random historical happenings thrown in to mark Colin passing through the 20th century seem forced in sometimes, the villains are 2-dimensional and never seem threatening...very disappointing book, I forced myself to finish it but was sad I had wasted money buying it. Won't buy any others in this series (e.g., Gravelight, etc.). Will go back to rereading all the Darkovan novels...and maybe The Inheritor.
Rating:
Summary: dreadful
Review: I don't write this lightly, but this book may be one of the worst books I've ever read. The plot, the characters, and the writing are simply infantile. The style, plotting, and character creation are so awful that the book can't even be read as "so bad, it's good" camp. The publisher should be ashamed. Reader, the book ain't worth the money. If you must read it, check it out of a library -- when you cringe, at least you won't feel robbed.
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