Renunciates of Darkover

Marion Zimmer Bradley is famous for her Avalon books, but what I'm a fan of are her Darkover stories, set in an original world and a blend of science fiction and fantasy. This is one of a series of anthologies that basically are collection of "fan fiction" by other authors based on MZB's Darkover. I was impressed on reread of the first such book, The Keeper's Price. Enough I ranked it just below five stars, and was tempted to give it full marks. Not that I would argue it's deathless literature, but as a Darkover fan I loved it, and was surprised how memorable the various stories were even decades after I first read it--there were some I remembered just from the title, and no story I didn't completely enjoy. The sixth anthology, The show more Other Side of the Mirror, was also a standout, unusual in being a collection of novellas, not short stories, including one almost a novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

The other anthologies though, of which this is marked the ninth on LibraryThing (and eighth on Goodreads). Well, I can't say any one story is a standout. And as with the other anthology devoted to the Renunciates, Free Amazons of Darkover, some of the sexual politics seem a bit fusty. At the time I read the Darkover books as a teen, the inclusion of lesbian characters was near ground-breaking, while now I read this and feel the book suffers from everyone-is-gay syndrome I see so much in amateur fan fiction. But yes, this was one of the more enjoyable anthologies in this anthology series. It was as interesting to see a story from MZB's protege Mercedes Lackey as her soon-to-be-nemesis Jean Lamb. I particularly liked Chel Avery's "Strife," MZB's own "Amazon Excerpt" featuring Camilla and Rafaela, Diana Paxson's "A Butterfly Season" with its unusual aliens and the fairy-tale-like "Summer Fair" by Emily Alward. I don't know that this would be of much interest to those who don't already know and love Darkover--this certainly isn't a good introduction. But for a fan it should provide hours of pleasure. show less

This is an anthology of short stories about the Renunciates, sometimes called the Free Amazons, who have broken away from the subservient role forced upon women in Darkovan society, to join with others in a Guild that enjoys certain rights and obligations. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Bradley wrote numerous novels and short stories about Darkover, a planet where a Terran spaceship was stranded, then developed a feudal culture and was rediscovered by the Terran Empire thousands of years later.)

The first story, ‘Strife’, by Chel Avery concerns a small group of women who are given permission to set up a Guild House in a remote village as they all have laran, the Darkovan name for psychic abilities, and need a quiet place to bond as show more a group. One of them has some experience and is training the rest, but their work is disturbed when they accept the request of their landlord’s mother to take on the training of her grandson, who is developing laran, but whose father refuses to believe in it and is beating him for having nightmares etc. A satisfactory read, but I didn’t find it gripping.

The second story is an extract which Bradley excised from Thendara House and subsequently published in a Darkovan fan magazine. It concerns a major falling out between two of the Renunciate characters who feature in the main trilogy. It is a bit disconcerting because it must be a flashback, since Kindra is still alive and the two characters are referred to as ‘girls’ whereas Camilla for one is middle aged in The Shattered Chain, first in the trilogy. I didn’t feel this extract added anything to our understanding of the characters and for me it served to make Rafaella more annoying than she is in the novels.

‘Broken Vows’ by Annette Rodriguez concerns a young woman who fell in love with a man and ran away to marry him, but changes her mind and returns to throw herself on the mercy of the Guild House, I found it puzzling as she is Kindra’s daughter, yet in a story written by Bradley in The Other Side of the Mirror, another Darkover anthology, Kindra tells Rohana that she had to leave her children behind when she escaped to become a Renuciate and they are now grown up, and her daughters married. She doesn’t mention another daughter born during her time at the Guild, which this girl supposedly was. I also didn’t find the decision the Renunciates come to about the prodigal’s fate particularly convincing.

‘If Only Banshees Could See’ is set ten years after the events in the third volume in the Renunciate trilogy and concerns Magda/Margali and Camilla. It contains a major spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read that volume, which I won’t disclose here, but I didn’t find it convincing as a portrayal of either character. It also fits in with the Forbidden Tower sequence of stories as a couple of characters from that have cameo roles.

‘A Midsummer Night’s Gift’ by Deborah Wheeler is the story of a Renunciate midwife who is attracted to men and finds herself strongly fancying the husband of a woman in labour. Rather conveniently, this happens on Midsummer’s Night when a certain amount of licence is allowed in Darkovan society. The midwife has to decide whether there is truly a conflict between her vows and what the man’s wife asks of her. To say more would give away the whole twist of the story. In some respects I found this a little saccharine, though not the grislier aspects of the difficult birth.

Story number six is ‘The Honor of the Guild’ by Joan Marie Verba, a more interesting tale of what happens when a Renunciate is mentally ill and starts murdering men who ‘deserve it’ for their ill-treatment of non Renunciate women.

‘A Butterfly Season’ by Diana L Paxson is the tale of an encounter when a Renunciate is hired as guide for a non-human race. Quite an interesting story.

I found ‘Misjudged Situations’ by Kelly B Jaggers a little unsatisfying; in real life, injustices are left unpunished, but in fiction it doesn’t really work, and the revenge that the character does manage to inflict doesn’t undo the unfairness of her compatriots’ verdict.

‘Awakening’ by Mary Fenoglio is an interesting tale of a young wife who finds the relationship with her husband deeply unsatisfying. A Renunciate’s arrival seems to point to an obvious way out, but the story is not so predictable in its resolution, and lessons must be learned for the character to grow.

‘Carlina’s Calling’ deals with the original setting up of the Renunciates from the point of view of one of the priestesses of Avarra who helped to form the new order. Similarly, the very short ‘A Beginning’ points to the origin of the Sisterhood of the Sword, the other all-women organisation which later merged with the priestesses of Avarra.

‘Set a Thief’ by Mercedes Lackey is set after the Compact, the oath that all Darkovans took to renounce the distance weapons which were destroying them. The Guild of Renunicates has just been formed and one member, a trained assassin, receives an assignment to protect Varzil the Good, author of the Compact, from an unknown threat. One of the more original stories in the book with an engaging character.

‘Shut In’ by Jean Lamb deals with the abuse some parents were prepared to inflict in order to force the awakening of psychic abilities (laran) against the background of the wars that the Compact ended.

In ‘Danilla’s Song’ by Vera Nazarian, a man has to be escorted to a Tower for psychic healing so his sister engages Renunciates. There’s a mystery about the identity of one of them which the sister uncovers except it is not revealed to the reader. It is probably thought too ‘obvious’ for the readership to not know it, but if you haven’t read all the books or at least not read most of them for years, that’s not the case, so I found this story irritating.

‘A Proper Escort’ by Elizabeth Walters is a fairly light hearted story of how a Renunciate must escort 10-year-old Dyan Ardais home in time to bid farewell to his dying grandmother, Lady Rohana. Apparently Dyan has quite a fan following, but I only know him from cameos in the short stories read either here or in ‘The Other Side of the Mirror’. All I can say is that for someone who apparently grows into a ‘love to hate’ villain, he is a very well behaved and courteous child, nothing like his unpleasant father.

‘Lesson in the Foothills’ by Lynne Armstrong-Jones is a light hearted story of how a Renunciate who usually keeps the account books must try to find a girl lost in the mountains because all the rough tough Amazon guides are out on call.

In ‘Summer Fair’ by Emily Alward, a trader is having a hard time during a recession and having little luck at a fair where she takes a booth until an unusual woman turns up to help; not a customer but something else indeed. I won’t say anything more to ‘spoil’ this story which was more unusual than some of the others in the anthology.

‘Varzil’s Avengers’ by Diann S Partridge deals with the aftermath of the wars ended by the Compact, when some of the combatants are dead and others are elderly and bear the scars of the terrible laran distance weapons. It transpires that deadly energies trapped since that war are now about to get loose unless a group of heroes reunites for one last time.

‘To Touch a Comyn’ is written by Andrew Rey, the only male contributor, and is very different to anything else in the book, but I enjoyed it perhaps because of that. It concerns Rakk, a woman from a high gravity planet who is built like a brick outhouse and has down to earth ways to match, and the fallout when she befriends one of the planetary rulers and is then forbidden to see him again. Nicely original.

‘About Time’ by Patricia B Cirone deals with the frustrations and mutual antagonisms between a group of Renunciates. An interesting story that looks into how people get along or not with realism.
In ‘Family Visit’ by Margaret L Carter, a Renunciate must face the heartache of visiting a pregnant daughter at the family’s request, only to face rejection and hostility despite her badly needed midwifery skills.

‘Dalereuth Guild House’ by Priscilla W Armstrong answers an interesting ‘what-if’. During the wars when laran weapons were used, these were manufactured at Dalereuth. With the peace and the banning of all such wares, the town has fallen on hard times. Two Renunicates from Thendara, sent to see if they can reopen their Guild House, find the townsfolk friendly, but also wary of letting them move back and create competition, now the economy has slumped. A good twist ending and a good note on which to finish the book.

In summary, this collection is a mixture; some of the stories are original whereas others come across as a bit too alike, and the very short ones are over before you can engage with the characters. So despite the gems, I can award only 3 stars. show less

Introduction (Renunciates of Darkover) • essay by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Strife • short story by Chel Avery
Amazon Fragment (Excerpt) • short fiction by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Broken Vows • short story by Annette Rodriguez
If Only Banshees Could See • novelette by Janet R. Rhodes
A Midsummer Night's Gift • short story by Deborah J. Ross [as by Deborah Wheeler ]
The Honor of the Guild • short story by Joan Marie Verba
A Butterfly Season • short story by Diana L. Paxson
Misjudged Situations • short story by Kelly B. Jaggers
Awakening • novelette by Mary Fenoglio
Carlina's Calling • short story by Patricia Duffy Novak
A Beginning • short fiction by Judith Kobylecky
Set a Thief • short story by Mercedes Lackey
Shut-in • short show more story by Jean Lamb
Danila's Song • short story by Vera Nazarian
A Proper Escort • short story by Elisabeth Waters
The Lesson in the Foothills • short story by Lynne Armstrong-Jones
Summer Fair • short story by Emily Alward
Varzil's Avengers • short story by Diann S. Partridge
To Touch a Comyn • novelette by Andrew Rey
About Time • short story by Patricia B. Cirone
Family Visit • short story by Margaret L. Carter
Dalereuth Guild House • short story by Priscilla W. Armstrong show less