tonylowe

Continuing my Marmion Zimmer Bradley kick. She, by the way, created the0s world of Darkover while living in Abilene, Texas, a place where I also lived for 15 years. She is reputed to have maintained that living in Abilene was enough to make nearly anyone make up a preferable world to live in. This is another of the early 70s books that's half SF half fantasy; a mysterious woman named Andrea has been hired to "world wreck," a highly illegal activity that involves creating instability on a planet so that it will be open to acquisition/takeover by the corporate interests that hired Andrea in the first place. Darkover, a sort of F/SF version of the Amish, has modern technology and lives in a feudal/medieval state. The reason for this seems to be that a certain class of Darkovians have phenomenal psychic power, and these powers, in conjunction with modern technology, created incredibly destructive wars that nearly destroyed Darkover. Central to the culture is the idea that one cannot wield any weapon that can kill anyone more than an arm's length away. Technology has been limited to limit warfare. Although psychic powers are still present among the Comyn (the telepath class)but, after centuries of no real war, psi powers are not what they once were. Like other early 70s Darkover novels, this novel has a half Earth, half Darkover cast; Regis Hastur, the head of the Comyn, is the last of the Hasturs, a powerful and influential family of telepaths. He senses that the string of deaths of telepath children, crop failures, and forest fires that are causing society to crumble are not accidental, and the novel traces his attempts to thwart Andrea and her attempts to thwart him. Pretty good book, actually. Interesting exploration of sexuality and what gender means . . .

2022-11-14 13:43