Rating: 
Summary: Great book on a girl trying to make it in a man's world.
Review: I really loved this book. It shows how the girls of Darkover are oppressed and sometimes forced to marry to preserve their telepathic powers. The book shows how one girl will renounce her family name just to be free. If you haven't read it, do.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite Darkover book
Review: One of Marion Zimmer Bradley's best books.
Rating:
Summary: A Perpetual Favorite
Review: Romilly MacAran is hitting puberty. Not only does that mean the usual mood swings and hormone surges, but also the surges of Romilly?s awakening laran. Romilly has the MacAran gift of rapport with animals in full measure. Her overbearing father, Dom Mikhail, loves her as his favorite, but will not bend in his views of what is right in their society; that women should stay at home and embroider while men work with hawks and hounds. Mikhail also does not believe in tower training to control laran, and Romilly?s beloved older brother, Ruyven, also strongly gifted with laran, fled home to take a place as laranzu in Tramontana tower against his father?s wishes.
Romilly is unhappy under her father?s autocratic rule, (as is her other older brother who is ironically berated for not having the family laran) but is hopeful until her father gives away her prized hawk and pledges her hand in marriage to a fat, greasy, older lord who has already lost multiple wives in childbirth. Romilly cuts her hair, puts on boy?s clothes, and takes to the forest. She has many adventures and gets embroiled in the battle to restore the rightful Hastur King to the throne of Darkover, a battle in which she unsurprisingly plays a major part.
Romilly is very like Menolly from Anne McCaffrey?s DRAGONSONG books. She is very sensitive and talented, subjected to emotional abuse (and a little physical abuse by her family-especially her father) and she suffers from low self-esteem. Her feelings of injustice are keenly felt and heart-rending. She grows and matures as she comes into her talent and is instrumental in helping a respected surrogate father figure. I first read this book as a teen, and found the angst and righteous indignation of Romilly tore at my heart. It still does. Would highly recommend this, especially to teen girls.
Rating:
Summary: another excellent Darkover novel
Review: This book is set in one of the earlier time periods of Darkover: The Ages of Chaos. The heroine of this novel is a girl named Romilly. Romilly MacAran is the daughter of an important family. She has her family's gift of laran: the ability to intuitively feel what animals are feeling, thus making it easier to work with them. In particular, this laran is used with hawks and horses (her family is known for the MacAran gift with hawks). Because of the strained family dynamic, more pressure is put in Romilly than otherwise might have been. The eldest son left home to train his laran in a Tower, and this enraged Mikhail MacAran (so much so that mention of laran or the eldest son's name was forbidden). The heir was a disappointment to Mikhail and he wished that Romilly was a man. Mikhail tried to push Romilly into a marriage with someone that she found disgusting and unacceptable. Instead of accepting the marriage, she ran away from home. Romilly disguises herself as a man. This era of Darkover is extremely patriarchal and women have few rights in society. Romilly meets up with Dom Carlo and his exile band who are joining the army of the exiled King Carolin. Though her travels she is learning who she is and who she wants to be. Romilly also gets to experience some of the prejudice Darkover society presents women. For a brief while, she also joins the Sisterhood of the Sword, a female/warrior society. Even while we learn about Romilly we also see more of Darkover and what the society is like. This is a feminist novel in the characterization of Romilly and how she reacts to the men (and world) of Darkover. It is also a very good novel. It goes in a different direction from Stormqueen (another novel set in the Ages of Chaos), but is just as rich and just as good. Darkover is one of the better fanstay worlds and Marion Zimmer Bradley is an excellent writer. Most, if not all, of the Darkover novels are self-contained, so it is not necessary to read them in any particular order. Just pick one up and give it a try. I haven't been disappointed by this series yet.
Rating:
Summary: another excellent Darkover novel
Review: This book is set in one of the earlier time periods of Darkover: The Ages of Chaos. The heroine of this novel is a girl named Romilly. Romilly MacAran is the daughter of an important family. She has her family's gift of laran: the ability to intuitively feel what animals are feeling, thus making it easier to work with them. In particular, this laran is used with hawks and horses (her family is known for the MacAran gift with hawks). Because of the strained family dynamic, more pressure is put in Romilly than otherwise might have been. The eldest son left home to train his laran in a Tower, and this enraged Mikhail MacAran (so much so that mention of laran or the eldest son's name was forbidden). The heir was a disappointment to Mikhail and he wished that Romilly was a man. Mikhail tried to push Romilly into a marriage with someone that she found disgusting and unacceptable. Instead of accepting the marriage, she ran away from home. Romilly disguises herself as a man. This era of Darkover is extremely patriarchal and women have few rights in society. Romilly meets up with Dom Carlo and his exile band who are joining the army of the exiled King Carolin. Though her travels she is learning who she is and who she wants to be. Romilly also gets to experience some of the prejudice Darkover society presents women. For a brief while, she also joins the Sisterhood of the Sword, a female/warrior society. Even while we learn about Romilly we also see more of Darkover and what the society is like. This is a feminist novel in the characterization of Romilly and how she reacts to the men (and world) of Darkover. It is also a very good novel. It goes in a different direction from Stormqueen (another novel set in the Ages of Chaos), but is just as rich and just as good. Darkover is one of the better fanstay worlds and Marion Zimmer Bradley is an excellent writer. Most, if not all, of the Darkover novels are self-contained, so it is not necessary to read them in any particular order. Just pick one up and give it a try. I haven't been disappointed by this series yet.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book!
Review: This darkover novel is my personal favourite in the entire darkover series, it involves a daughter of the MacArran clan, who has the laran of the MacArran clan as a help or hindrance on her adventure. Her father refuses to send her to a tower to have her laran trained, and then tries to marry her against her will. Read the book to find out more! It's a good read
Rating: 
Summary: Sweeping tale for teen girls
Review: This is a real page turner, aimed at a teen girl readership, full of easy enthousiasms. A great pity about the last chapter which seemingly was tacked on as an afterthought, and which not only is way over the top, but also is in direct contradiction to the rest of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This was a great book to read, and i enjoyed every moment of it. Romily is a person I can admire. I would reccomend this book to anyone.
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