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.

“Never in all his years of Tower work had he experienced a joining to complete, so uncomplicated, without reservation or condition. She held nothing back, matching his passion at the exact instant it arose in him. Time lost all meaning…
Coryn though that if she reached out to him, he would not be able to refuse her and they would both be lost, all duty forsaken. Instead, she lifted her hands to her hair and drew out a copper pin, gracefully curved and topped with a filigree set with tiny sparkling stones…She held it out to him.”