Rating: 
Summary: a surprisingly complex story and one of Darkover's best
Review: "Thendara House" is a sequel, of sorts, to the previous Darkover novel "The Shattered Chain." The reason I say "of sorts" is that Bradley has always intended for each Darkover novel to work as standalone novel. The events of "Thendara House" just happen to be set after those in "The Shattered Chain" and continue the story introduced in that novel. This is a novel of the Renunciates, an order of women who have rejected society's role for them and exist as a societal alternative for women. This novel switches between the viewpoints of two characters: Magda Lorne and Jaelle n'ha Melora. Magda, or Margali as she is called by the Darkovan natives, is of Terran heritage (and is an employee of the Terran Empire), but she was raised on Darkover since she was a child. During the events of "The Shattered Chain", Magda took the Oath of the Renunciates under duress when she was trying to rescue her former husband, Peter Haldane. By the end of that novel, she decided to honor that Oath and came to believe in it. Thendara House is the chapterhouse of the Order of the Renunciates and Magda is to spend the next six months in training at Thendara learning the ways of the Renunciates. Jaelle is the Renunciate who took Magda's oath (this is a special relationship). In order for Magda to be able to fulfill her obligations, Jaelle agreed to work at the Terran spaceport for the 6 months that Magda is at Thendara. Magda is also now married to Peter Haldane, Magda's ex-husband. Peter, like Magda, is a Terran citizen who was raised on Darkover and works for the Empire. Neither woman truly belongs where she is. Jaelle feels alienation because she is a Darkovan working at the Spaceport and everything she is experiencing is new and different and strange to her. Her relationship with her husband is also becoming strained as she is still struggling against those gender roles she had thought she left behind when she joined the Renunciates. Magda knows that she can never truly belong to the Renunciates because she is Terran and, at least for a time, she has to hide who she really is to fit in at all. "Thendara House" is a more complex novel than it at first seems to be. Bradley works through the ideas of belonging to a culture and what happens to those cultural transplants which are put into a new and different environment. She works with the friendships between women and the complex relationships that women can have, both casual and intimate. "Thendara House" is the best of the seven Darkover novels that I have read so far and this came as a pleasant surprise to me. -Joe Sherry
Rating:
Summary: a surprisingly complex story and one of Darkover's best
Review: "Thendara House" is a sequel, of sorts, to the previous Darkover novel "The Shattered Chain." The reason I say "of sorts" is that Bradley has always intended for each Darkover novel to work as standalone novel. The events of "Thendara House" just happen to be set after those in "The Shattered Chain" and continue the story introduced in that novel. This is a novel of the Renunciates, an order of women who have rejected society's role for them and exist as a societal alternative for women. This novel switches between the viewpoints of two characters: Magda Lorne and Jaelle n'ha Melora. Magda, or Margali as she is called by the Darkovan natives, is of Terran heritage (and is an employee of the Terran Empire), but she was raised on Darkover since she was a child. During the events of "The Shattered Chain", Magda took the Oath of the Renunciates under duress when she was trying to rescue her former husband, Peter Haldane. By the end of that novel, she decided to honor that Oath and came to believe in it. Thendara House is the chapterhouse of the Order of the Renunciates and Magda is to spend the next six months in training at Thendara learning the ways of the Renunciates. Jaelle is the Renunciate who took Magda's oath (this is a special relationship). In order for Magda to be able to fulfill her obligations, Jaelle agreed to work at the Terran spaceport for the 6 months that Magda is at Thendara. Magda is also now married to Peter Haldane, Magda's ex-husband. Peter, like Magda, is a Terran citizen who was raised on Darkover and works for the Empire. Neither woman truly belongs where she is. Jaelle feels alienation because she is a Darkovan working at the Spaceport and everything she is experiencing is new and different and strange to her. Her relationship with her husband is also becoming strained as she is still struggling against those gender roles she had thought she left behind when she joined the Renunciates. Magda knows that she can never truly belong to the Renunciates because she is Terran and, at least for a time, she has to hide who she really is to fit in at all. "Thendara House" is a more complex novel than it at first seems to be. Bradley works through the ideas of belonging to a culture and what happens to those cultural transplants which are put into a new and different environment. She works with the friendships between women and the complex relationships that women can have, both casual and intimate. "Thendara House" is the best of the seven Darkover novels that I have read so far and this came as a pleasant surprise to me. -Joe Sherry
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: 'Thendara House' follows 'Shattered Chains' in the Darkover series, and continues to focus on the Guild of Renunciates, particularly Magda and Jaelle, as they grow into stronger, more self-aware characters. Both are experiencing growing Psi-powers, and their destinies seem intertwined as they navigate the Terran/Darkover political world, explore the conflicts and pressures of their Oaths, and struggle to figure out exactly who they are, what they stand for, and where they belong. I really enjoyed 'Shattered Chains' and 'Thendara House' gripped me from the very first pages. I read through this novel--longer than 'Chains'--over a weekend, during which I hardly put it down, and never left it behind! I just started 'The City of Sorcery' the next in the Renunciates grouping, and am already totally into it--thank goodness it's friday!
Rating:
Summary: Womanhood
Review: I liked the book because it struck specific cords. It speaks of love in it's many forms, but mainly it speaks of mixed loyalties. Everyone can relate to some of the events on an interpersonal base, but mainly people can go beyond the situations and relate to the feelings. The author has a brilliant writing that vividly evokes the characters feelings. It makes for good reading, especially when the reader can keep an open mind about the particular way in witch human relations are presented, non judgmentally.
Rating:
Summary: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll stay up all night reading!
Review: If you haven't yet read _The Shattered Chain_, I suggest you do so first. Although all of the Darkover books are theoretically standalone, this one is definitely improved by having some background. That said, I love this book. The only minor quibble I have about it is that I get a slightly stronger sense of Magda's character than of Jaelle's, even though the book is supposed to focus equally on both women. One of the best things about this book, to me, is that even the antagonistic characters are not portrayed as evil. Bradley makes excellent use of the shades of gray in every character throughout the book. (Also, it's so nice to have a major character refusing to define herself exclusively as heterosexual or lesbian! Definite yay!)
Rating:
Summary: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll stay up all night reading!
Review: If you haven't yet read _The Shattered Chain_, I suggest you do so first. Although all of the Darkover books are theoretically standalone, this one is definitely improved by having some background. That said, I love this book. The only minor quibble I have about it is that I get a slightly stronger sense of Magda's character than of Jaelle's, even though the book is supposed to focus equally on both women. One of the best things about this book, to me, is that even the antagonistic characters are not portrayed as evil. Bradley makes excellent use of the shades of gray in every character throughout the book. (Also, it's so nice to have a major character refusing to define herself exclusively as heterosexual or lesbian! Definite yay!)
Rating:
Summary: first-rate
Review: interesting story of the conflict between society and the
individual and how equality can be an illusion until the
individual takes a stand and fights for what they want.
Also discusses the different desires of different women --
no all women are alike.
Rating:
Summary: Dare to question conventional thinking...
Review: The second in the series of stories depicting Magdalen Lorne, the Terran struggling to belong to a world in which her people are extremly distrusted, and Jaelle n'ha Melora, the native struggling against her expected duty and place in feminine society. Thrown together in the first novel, Magda and Jaelle become fast friends, the only two who do not belong anywhere and find comfort only in each other. Thendara House is the story of these women, one a native trying to work and leave peacefully with the alien Terrans, and one a Terran trying to pass successfully as a native, who discover that one cannot be what she is not, and one cannot escape that which is destined to be. Struggling to control their untrained laran (ESP), they find peace only in the crux of disaster, and finally learn that they cannot always rely on their own stregnth to survive. A must read for the Darkover fan, and ignorant "Terran" alike
Rating:
Summary: A great sequence to Shattered Chain
Review: This book is a sequence to the Shattered Chain (where we get to know how Jaelle and Margali met each other and how they helped Peter Haldane to scape where he was trapped). Now they show us Jaelle, married with Peter, living with the terrans and her problems to adaptaded herself to new habits and new rules. By the other way Margali is leaving in Thendara House for her 6 month reclusion with the renunciants. She has also many problems in relationship with others darkovans. These two women lives are attached, and they will have new adventures in montains, and survival would depend on this bound
Rating:
Summary: Best in the Trilogy
Review: This was the first Darkover novel I read and since then I've read probably 6 or 8 others. I think I like this one the best, although Hawkmistress and Stormqueen come in close. The conflict between the two societies is enhanced in this novel because of the culture shock Jaelle and Magda go through in each others opposite world.
I would recommend this to everyone.
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