I’m going to skip those books listed as ‘reading now’ in the last few weeks. Or, at least, I’m just going to comment on them minimally, because I just finished an amazing book.
So here it is:
Shroud for the Archbishop by Peter Tremayne. Peter Tremayne writes non-fiction under the name Peter Berresford Ellis. He is a very well respected authority on the ancient Celts. This is the second book in his series about an Irish nun named Sister Fidelma. The first book, which I read last summer, was pretty good (Absolution by Murder). This second book wasn’t. It was still a good mystery, but the writing was hardley intriguing. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Star of Danger, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Another Darkover novel. One worth reading, as it fills in some of the underlying questions about the First Age (Against the Terrans).
Ghostlight, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. This is the first book in a series of ‘lights’. It was mostly about experiencing life and accepting the actions of those people you have no control over, all within the facade of being a book about magick. I am very excited to read the other books in the series, which include Witchlight and Heartlight.
I also read Journey to America, Fiona McGilray’s Story, A Voyage from Ireland in 1849 by Clare Pastore. It is fairly accurate, but very stereotypical. It is a book that I would give a younger girl to teach her about Ireland and immigration to America (any daughter I have will be learning about it anyway). But as someone interested in Irish immigration (I wrote several History papers on it in college), I did find the book worth reading.

I almost feel like I should read it again. I don’t have the knowledge to comment on it. The Lost World is the sequel to Jurassic Park, and it is about as good as most sequels.
The interesting part of the book takes place on Isla Sorna, ‘Site B’ as it was called by the InGen folks. Ian Malcolm is back with a mostly new cast of incredible characters. The genius kids who sneak along, the incredible engineer who makes dinosaur proof equipment, and the other ‘perfect’ characters make it a very readable book. You don’t spend much time thinking about how stupid the characters are, like you do in many book/movies.
Once again, it is a battle to get off the island alive, except this time, there are no fences, and there are people interested in not disturbing the dinosaur environment. Impossible, right? Right. But once again, there is a lot of good theory. And, it is so different and so much better than the movie, that comparison is pretty much impossible. Crichton could have been a philosopher…though he probably wouldn’t have made as much money. While this is a book worth reading, unlike Jurassic Park, increased vocabulary and maturity didn’t make it any better.

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Excuse my lateness. I finished this book almost a month ago. But a lot has happened! Like…I got a new computer, so my blog actually generates properly in my browser…
So The Fall of Neskaya is longer than most of the Darkover books. It is the story of Coryn, a gifted telepath, and a son of one of the smaller kingdoms. He is given the opportunity to Tower-train, and in trying to save his family and kingdom, battles an evil leroni. While I don’t mind love stories in MZB books, at the end of this book the love that is described between Taniquel and Coryn is sickeningly perfect (but still made me wish my sweetheart was home when I finished the book).
Deborah Ross finished this book after MZB’s death. They had written together previously, and had been working on this book. The Fall of Neskaya is very long compared to most of the Darkover novels, especially the early novels. It took me quite a bit longer to finish it than I thought it would. But a very interesting addition to the Darkover series, and it completes its goal of filing in part of the gap in the Age of Chaos.

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Night’s Daughter is The Magic Flute (Mozart’s Opera), MZB style. It is a fantasy- sorcery, magic, and halflings abound, as well as the struggle between good and evil. Pamina, Tamino, Papagino, and Papagina discover their best selves, and learn to use all they were given to interact with the changing world around them.
I’ve never seen The Magic Flute, so I can’t compare it. Night’s Daughter was hard to get into. It started fairly slow, summing up great periods of time into a very short introduction. But it is soon captivating, and something I plan to read again, because I’m sure I missed so much. It’s a pretty nifty little story
Perhaps the best thing is the author’s note. MZB speaks about the difference between reality, science fiction, and fantasy. The quote in the ‘extended entry’ is from the author’s note, as I thought it was so cool.

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Rediscovery is part of the Darkover Series, by Marian Zimmer Bradley. Terrans (Earth-born humans) searching the universe for a colonizable planet find Darkover, and realize that the people there are from a lost colony of early human space explorers. This is a very important book in the series, as it ties Darkoverans back to their earthy home. For some Terrans, being among the Comyn helps them use and train their laran, which most of them were unaware of possessing. These first interactions sets the stage for future interaction between Terrans that Darkoverans.
It was an interesting book. I’ve gotten used to Darkover novels having no contiuance of character or story other than hereditary struggles or genealogical myth. But in the novels discussing the Free Amazons and the Terrans, there are so many common characters that you get the type of story continuance that I would have loved in the novels about The Founding and The Age of Chaos. It’s a little disconcerting after convincing myself that one story about a person, family, or situation was all I was going to get. Ever.
MZB is one of my favorite authors. This is the first I’ve read of Mercedes Lackey. I do recommend this book, especially if you have interest in reading the Darkover series, though I would start with Darkover Landfall.

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