In this, Bradley's latest, the many colorful threads
of that part-human, part-alien world are rewoven into
a strikingly different literary tapestry.
One such thread could be called the Heritage of
Ardais, for the heir to the Ardais Domain has vanished
and must be found.
The major thread and pattern concerns the role of women. While only women can command the power
of the matrix and the secret sciences which keep
Darkover from Terran hands, in most respects they are
still chattel —indeed in some barbaric parts even
kept enchained. Yet there are the strange bands of
pledged women known as the Free Amazons, equal to
men and outside the laws that keep the rest of their
sex subservient.
And it is the Free Amazons who provide the key both
to the Ardais mystery and the Terran-Darkover
dilemma.
In THE SHATTERED CHAIN, Marion Zimmer Bradley has
produced another great novel to stand alongside
THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR.
-A DAW BOOKS ORIGINAL-