Ms. Weinstein does a very good, concise job of explaining the rudiments of Dianic Wicca and its use of witchcraft. She does not pretty up her words, although she relies a bit too much on "Words of Power" for my tastes, though that is only my Personal preference. Also, if you are NOT Dianic, this may not be as useful a text as a more generalized book on Wicca such as those by Cunningham. Finally, when she tries to explain the metaphysics of magick and such, I tended to get lost. But that's waayyyyy in the back, and the rest of the book was an enjoyable, informative read, even if it is not of my particular tradition :) Good reference book :)

Despite being written mainly for Dianic Wiccans, this book is an invaluable text. If you can translate the little nuances to your own tradition, you have a book that not only gives good methods of contacing Deity, and even a section on the rarely covered topic of psychic attack, but is also a good all-around reference for research.

I bought my first copy of Earth Magic in 1989, and bought the latest version this year. This book has been a fabulous resource that I've read and re-read several times.

Marion Weinstein has become known as the "Ethics Witch" and for good reason. Her focus on Positive Magic for the transformation of the Witch, and the world is extremely uplifting and inspirational. In addition to providing information on basic techniques and tools, she also provides information on Advanced Manifestation.

This is a book that is really meant to be read along with her previous book Positive Magic: Occult Craft. It was the first book on the Craft that I ever read, and I found it to be invaluable as well.

Alama, Pauline J.: "Raven-Wings on the Snow" A dark variation on Andersen's "The Wild Swans", providing a vile motive for the king's desire for a daughter.

Combs, Jan: The bardic narrator and her juggler partner borrow "Kendat's Ax", the town relic, to deal with a none-too-bright ogre. (A good archer would have worked just as well.)

Corwin, Richard: "The Glass Sword" continues Corwin's storyline from S&S #4 and _Spells of Wonder_. Kali has asked a boon: a mortal lifetime before she must return to Nirvana to weave the spell that in time will end the new age now dawning.

Dougherty-Carthum, Kati: Queen Dylas' closest friend has tried to teach her to think straight under pressure (so summarized because the specifics of self-defense obviously aren't the title's "Lessons Learned"). Capture by bandits puts Dylas to the test.

Edghill, India: "Tiger's Eye" Ratrichaya has been imprisoned to serve as her brother's Pavilion witch, in this alternate India in the time of Alexander's attempted conquest.

Edghill, Rosemary: "Little Rogue Riding Hood" grew into the novel _The Warslayer_.

Heald, Denise Lopes: The narrator, unable to master her father's power stones to help in his war against the magickers, became a thief to seek "The Needed Stone" from their very fortress.

Heydt, Dorothy J.: Like Linville's "Light", "In the Sacred Places of the Earth" concerns a woman seeking to retrieve a loved one perceived as 'virtue walking' - here her husband - from death, although this story involves the Eleusinian mysteries of Greece rather than ancient Egypt, and a task for Cynthia rather than simple directions. See S&S #19 for more of Cynthia: "I have been an impious woman in my day, and done several goddesses an injury and well they deserved it." :)

Holman, Howard: "The Tower of Song", font of magic, tests candidates for the position of Royal Bard, but none have survived in over a century, and "the Darkness with its Dark Things" is coming. Sketchy world-building, real story is the unnecessarily secret nature of the test.

Johnson, Michael Chesley: King Brald suffers from a curse he can't break alone; none of "The Stone Wives" - his 31 previous brides, now part of an incomplete chess set - conceived even once within her allotted year. But Tiwa of Elaan (#32), despite her resentment of imprisonment, is also a sorceress.

Lee, Mary Soon: "The Fall of the Kingdom" had its genesis with the birth and death of children: the narrator, who nursed the White Lady (not explicitly identified as Guenevere) after her own infant son's death, and her Lady's neglect of duty after the loss of her own child at birth.

Linville, Susan Urbanek: Nekhti's elder sister Ameni was her "Light", but at 15 has been killed by a runaway cart in Abydos; Nekhti is determined to restore her to life, but doesn't know the cost. (Her journey isn't easy, but neither is it realistically difficult.)

Manison, Pete D.: "Magic Threads" Kyreen the Weaver produces magical garments for many occasions, frequently to reinforce various mental states in the wearer, from passion to confidence.

Paxson, Diana L.: "A Passage of Power" features the wisewoman Bera. Shaky start with a muddle of vision/dream and waking, not clearly relevant to the bulk of the story. Plot: Since Bera's old teacher is dying (Bera's coping) and Halvor is dead, Halvor's children by a thrall have no protection from his widow's malice.

Perkins, Gerald: "The Queen in Yellow" - Katane of the Finger Lands - faces a forced marriage to the son of a conquering mage-queen, who cast an enchantment that reflects any of Katane's own magic back at her. (Don't confuse with Robert Chambers' _The King in Yellow_.)

Schmeidler, Lucy Cohen: Gavriella won the "Sword of Peace" as part of her battle spoils: an enchanted sword that resists shedding blood, having a mind of its own.

Silverthorne, Lisa: Sauchony's the only warrior left in the temple while the other sisters are on retreat; having paid more attention to sword-wielding than prophecy, she wouldn't even have known that "Armageddon" was coming this weekend, when she's drawn temple fire duty. (Yelling to four horsemen riding up: "Wait! Apocalypse is the next village over!") :)

Smeds, Dave: "The Land of Graves" The sorceress Tecia's excavation isn't pure archaeology, but intended to restore an ancient water system and reclaim a stretch of swampland - very practical. When she's summoned to come *at once* to deal with a revenant released by a tomb robber, she does *not* charge off like a fool to deal with something that won't come out again until twilight. :) Excellent story.

Waters, Elisabeth: "Bed of Roses" (Waters also performed the final assembly on the entire anthology after MZB's death.) Rosa rejected her suitor Dathan to join the Order of the Holy City - a fighting order whose members always work in trios from the 3 faiths involved. Rosa and her superiors suspect Dathan of engineering the kidnapping of Rosa's little brother that he's offered to "help" her with for a night in her bed.

Watt-Evans, Lawrence: "Arms and the Woman" Siria is actually a camp-follower, who attached herself to the expedition against the Undead Lord since, after all, the prophecy's very clear how simple it is to send him back to the grave for another 400 years, so it shouldn't be too dangerous. But given that the Council nearly didn't send the expedition in time after too much politicking, would they have made *all* the arrangements properly?

i absolutely love the "sword and the sorceress" series for their innovative stories with imaginative plots and innovative stories that are the trade mark of short stories. when i saw this on the book shelf i eargerly snapped it up, thinking i had found another treasure to add to my burgeoning collection but alas that wasn't exactly the case. while mrs. waters did an incredible job of picking up where such a notable author left off i couldn't help feeling this book just didn't rise up to the standards of the rest of the series.

many of the stories were written in unimaginative almost base ways. only a few stories really stuck out in my mind. "little rouge riding hood" which struck me as an inventive rip off of xena with the main character playing a t.v. herione who wears leather and does flips and such. it was clever but more a modern day fantasy which are usually left out.

the other story that held my attention was "the needed stone."
it tells the story of a girl who acquires stones in the hope that she can unlock the magic from one of them to help her ailing father and meets stone. he desperately needs her help to rescue his sister from the sorceress compound where she will be made into a thrall. it's not master literature but it is an entertaining story. also as others have reviews "a passage of power" is wonderful, but readers who haven't read the other stories from "sword and the sorceress 15" of bera may find themselve in the dark since the story in referenced quite a bit.
if you can stand about two pages i suggest you read "armagddeon" it a witty farce that made me laugh.

a few gems stand out in this book but not enough to make it worth buying. many of the stories are lack luster and after i read them i could only go "ok and what exactly was the point." the stories like "lesson learned" which has little to no real plot and "the stone wives" which seemed like the retelling of a fable, made me wonder what mrs. waters was thinking when she added them to the line up. if you run across this book in a library with a few hours to kill i would say go for it but i wouldn't pay that much for it.

The "Sword And Sorceress" series is a series of collections of short stories set in the "Sword and Sorcery" genre, except that in this series, all the protagonists are female. This is because, as Marion Zimmer Bradley has always explained in her introductions, historically in the "Sword and Sorcery" genre, the only female characters were "Bad conduct prizes" for the heros. This series as a whole is very good, although some volumes were stronger than others; I'm very fond of volumes 17, 16, and 15, as well as several of the earlier ones. This volume doesn't quite live up to the high standards of its three most recent predecessors, but it is probably as good as any volume in the series earlier than that.

There are only two stories in this volume that are continuations of the adventures of characters met in previous anthologies: "A Passage Of Power", a story of Diana Paxson's Bera, the Norse wisewoman, and "In The Sacred Places Of The Earth", about Dorothy Heydt's Cynthia, the Witch Of Syracuse. I will say that there were fewer typos and general copyediting mistakes in this book than there have been in some of the earlier ones; whether this was due to Elisabeth Waters paying more attention to such minutinae than Ms. Bradley did or not I can only guess. (Note to Rosemary Edghill, author of "Little Rogue Riding Hood", however: the singular of "staves" is not "stave", it is "staff".) My primary complaint about this book is that it seems to be awefully heavy on the "Sorcery", and awefully light on the "Sword"; I think that the aforementioned "Little Rogue Riding Hood" is the only true "swordswoman" story, with perhaps "Arms and the Woman" coming close. Almost all the rest center around mages of one stripe or another.

My second (minor) quibble is that "Raven Wings On The Snow", by Pauline Alama, while a well-written story, is really just a retelling of a fairy tale, something that Ms. Bradley had always maintained was not allowed, and while I know that she always said that any of her rules could be broken if the story was good enough, I didn't think that this one was; it was good, but not THAT exceptional.

I am told, (by someone who should know, one of the authors) that there are plans for two more "Sword and Sorceress" collections. Hopefully, that information is correct; I'll be looking foreward to them.

I enjoy Marion Chesney's works and highly suggest them to anyone who is just beginning to start reading in this genre. They are all humorous and lively, with just a touch of romance. Back in Society is a fitting end to the sextet The Poor Relation. I found that it was probably ranked third best of this sextet. I preferred Vol.no.3 and Vol.no.1. Volume 6 refines on Lady Fortesque's character and brings out Miss Tonks, who had otherwise been a Nobody in the previous volumes. The humour is definitely provided and the romance is very sweet, as it is in all of her books. However, like most of Marion Chesney's books, this one is missing that certain something. The something that only experienced readers of this genre could find important. I began my reading in the genre with Volume Number 3 of this series, so I must confirm that Marion Chesney is a wonderful author to begin romance with.

Marion Chesney's books are very entertaining if you are only going to read two or three of them, or else you would feel like you've read this before.

Marion Chesney continues to delight most with her unusual romp into the strangest arenas! Where does she find her inspiration? REMARKABLE! This final episode is typically full of surprises and hidden romance. Almost driven to suicide by her cruel father, horrid governess and an old geezer suitor, she's saved by the owners of the "Poor Relation Hotel". They take her under their wings and come up with a crazy idea to bring her out for the Season, as a country miss, right under her awful father's nose! She trys to fall in love; misses, but proceeds to save the life of the handsome but naughty Comte de Mornay. This is the craziest of the Poor Relation series, and extremely excellent!

A tribute to the influence of Marion Zimmer Bradley, Return to Avalon is a collection of short stories devoted to the fantasy genre. Authors include Melanie Rawn, Diana L. Paxton, Laura Resnick, Dave Wolverton, Katharine Kerr, Adrienne Martine-Barnes and others. I mostly enjoyed the book, but felt the publicity was misleading. It was not any sort of continuation of MZB's Avalon stories, nor were most of them connected to Avalon's legend in any way. The main focus in each story was finding strength within, communicating with the Goddess, and early Christians confronting the Old Religion. I feel that some of the authors did not have signficant talent relaying their creative ideas on paper.

It's difficult to tell what these stories have to do with Bradley's work, or what most of them have to do with any conception of Avalon. A handful are interesting, but most are simplistic or muddled--and few show real skill with words. They could easily have been collected under a different title, suggesting that the titular link to Bradley is more a marketing ploy than a developmental reality. I really don't recommend it.

I think that this book was a very good idea, but it is nothing like The Mists of Avalon, the book it was a tribute to. It was, however, a worthy achievement of those authors who contributed to the book. Some of the stories will be forever memorable in my mind. I loved this book, and I hope that all fantasy fans at least give it credit for effort!

A six for a better than average historical account. This book strips away the mystery of the Salem witch trials and reveals a very human source of the hysteria. The possibilities of another "witch scare" exist still today. Understandable and insightful, it should be of interest to historians and to anyone who find this spotlight of American history intriguing.

I really enjoyed Starkey's version of the trials. One complaint I have seen is the inaccuracy of this book, however, I have seen many inaccuracies in many things. Truth beknown, a lot of "theory" is out there, from a time that there are scads of missing records from. Look at how many theories abound on the reason behind the hysteria itself. I very much enjoyed this book, and reccomend adding this to your Salem library.

I first read, "The Devil in Massachusetts" in the late1960s as part of a colonial history course. Having also an interest in psychology at that time, I was impressed with the story of the mass-hysteria and the book made a lasting impression on me.

I re-read the book following a visit to Salem, Massachusetts this summer. I had noticed the same mass-hysteria involving false charges of child-sexual abuse along with the recovered memory movement during the 1980s an 1990s. Although Starkey necessarily presents her tale against a background of religion and religious delusions, the contempory mass-hysteria has no apparent connection to religion but the reactions of the public (society) shows a distrubing duplication of the process of hysterical contagion.

Once a "cause", whether it be sexual abuse, gun control or other "hot-button" issue, is pushed into the limelight and kept there by fanatics of whatever stripe, abetted and given publicity by the media, the society (public) has almost a religious need to curtail critical thinking, accept accusation as proven fact, believe stories of impossible events and destroy their fellow citizens without compunction.

And that is the horror that is demonstrated by Starkey's work; and the naivete of the old, standby reassurances, "It couldn't happen in this day and age", "It could never happen here".

Idella Bodie's book on the Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, has several shortcomings. The book is small in size, only slightly larger than the jewel box case for a compact disc, and has about 66 pages of text in large print. These in themselves are not shortcomings, however, the book contains several typographical errors... The book also contains factual errors regarding swamps. The author states that the swamps of South Carolina smell bad. This is not true. I have spent at least fifty weekends exploring the swamps of that State, including the Congaree Swamp and the Four Holes Swamp. Swamps do not smell bad. I would be surprised if the author even spent one day visiting and marveling at the shimmering beauty and fairy-tale mysteries of the swamps of South Carolina. Another shortcoming is the poor writing. The narratives are fragmentary and relatively undeveloped. The episode regarding the Native American (page 23) is a bit far fetched -- I think that Idella Bodie has been watching too many Robin Hood cartoon movies. The study section on pages 79 to 81 are boring, and is sure to frighten most children away from this book. Is there anything good about Idella Bodie's book? Yes. The drawings are excellent. Unfortunately, the artist responsible for the exquisite pen-and-ink drawnigs was not credited. The map on pages 70-71 is a good idea. The book deserves at least one star, because it covers one of my favorite things, namely the South Carolina swamps. On the other hand, the writing is immature and resembles that of an ambitious high school student, at best.

Since I have known Mrs. Bodie since I was six (suffice it to say, over 30 years), I admit prejudice in her favor. However, one must agree, that she is a thorough and meticulous researcher. A school teacher for over 30 years, her first love has always been to encourage young people to be curious about history. So, if this book seems a bit juvenile to your sophisticated senses, give it to your child who will thoroughly enjoy it!

As the author of THE REVOLUTIONARY SWAMP FOX, I would like to make clear that this small volume is one of the series, HEROES AND HEROINES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. In my visitations to speak to elementary and middle school students, teachers have told me they needed supplementary material in the teaching of this period of U.S. history. Consequently, I am endeavoring to complete 12 volumes of persons, black and white, who distinguished themselves during the War of Independence. The books are not intended for indepth study of the war or hero. Rather,emphasis is placed on the youth of the subjects-as far as research allows-anecdotal material of interest, and the qualties that made them role models. Each volume includes a glossary, sources used, and a section on "Things To Do and Think About." Thus, they are geared toward being used in the classroom. Other volumes already released include Thomas Sumter, THE FIGHTING GAMECOCK; Sgt. William Jasper, THE MAN WHO LOVED THE FLAG; Emily Geiger, THE SECRET MESSAGE; and Laodicea(Dicey)Langston, SPUNKY REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROINE. Rebecca Motte, THE PATRIOTIC WIDOW, will be released in April 2001 and Nathanael Greene, THE QUAKER COMMANDER, in fall 2001.All are published by Sandlapper Publishing, Inc., in Orangeburg,SC, and are available through amazon.com.

The book is nice for people who would like to know a bit more on diamonds in general. If, however, you would like to have in-depth details of this fabulous gem, then there are much better quality books, like "Diamonds", second edition by Eric Bruton, or the GIA provides some nice books; Lord Ian Balfour has written an outstanding work on "Famous Diamonds". All in all, "Diamonds: a Century of Spectacular Jewels" is a nice coffeetable book, but then, if its just the pictures you like, why not buy a copy of "Magnificent Jewels" by Christie's, these sales are held twice a year, both in New York as well as in Geneva (Switzerland); and the photos (not to mention the prices - before AND after the sales!!) will take your breath away!

The highlight of this book, strangely enough, is the text. It explains how jewelry styles changed throughout the century in an interesting way. Unfortunately, the photographs weren't as good; they didn't accentuate the jewels very well and were sometimes slightly out of focus and grainy. In the chapter on pink diamonds, many of the photographs make the diamonds look gray. Throughout the book, diamonds described as canary yellow look like white diamonds. In general, the beauty of the gems were not captured.

Penny Proddow and Marion Fasel have done it again! "Diamonds" is a spectacular overview of some of the most famous, infamous, and downright jaw-dropping diamond jewelry ever made. Those who are interested in a gemological history may be disappointed, as Proddow and Fasel concentrate solely on mostly modern diamonds set into jewelry--but those who salivate over the treasures of luminaries from Queen Elizabeth to Elizabeth Taylor will be delighted with this book.

Proddow and Fasel have done their homework and provide the reader with a lengthy history of the diamond and its stature in the jewelry world. From the beginning, it was considered rare, unusual and much to be treasured--and its status as such ensured that it would be used in only the most elegant, important, and imaginative jewelry. We learn of the origins of the famed Tiffany setting for diamonds. This was a prong structure which supplanted the formerly popular bezel setting by exposing the pavilion (bottom) of the stone itself, thereby allowing more interplay of light and sparkle. This seemingly simple approach ended up establishing Tiffany as one of the world's premier jewelers. We learn about the freedom jewelers felt during the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods--the freedom to approach jewelry as art and not just dull commissioned pieces from nobility. We learn about the way Jackie Kennedy wore several diamond pins in her hair during a 1960s trip to Paris to SUGGEST the appearance of a tiara--without the royal associations of an actual tiara.

Proddow and Fasel have done their homework in providing splendid photographs of both well-known and rarely-seen diamond pieces. The book is particularly strong in showcasing nature-oriented jeweled pieces. Particular stand-outs include:

- An astonishingly beautiful butterfly brooch from the 1890s, in which the butterfly's body is made of a diamond and a ruby and the winds are enormous carved and etched diamonds (p. 20), not to mention a diamond and platinum butterfly brooch in which actual butterfly wings are encased in rock crystal (p. 32);

- An actual lion's paw seashell in which diamond tentacles climb the shell's grooves and set off the gleaming coral color (p. 87);

- An enormous Cartier snake necklace commissioned by Mexican actress Maria Felix in 1968 and featuring over 2,400 diamonds on one side. The other side was done completely in colored enamels, making the necklace reversible (p. 112);

- A tortoise compact made from a real tortoise shell and pavé diamond head, feet, and tail (p. 130).

This book is an invaluable and instructive guide for anyone who loves diamond jewelry and appreciates the imaginative flights of fancy it inspires in its creators. Highly recommended!

Basicly, this book is an account by Marion Mainwaring about the research she did to write it. She goes to the south of France, she reads some old letters, she talks to some people who knew Morton Fullerton late in life. Etc. etc. Along the way she gives a somewhat confused account of the slanging match she got into with Wharton's official biographer (about how she did all the research for his book but got no credit, blah blah blah). All of it's pretty tiring and you get the feeling that Mainwaring is desperately trying to pad out an already thin book.
Having said that, Fullerton led a fascinating life, something straight out of a Henry James novel. To anyone interested in Edith Wharton or even about expatriate life in early 20th century Europe, this book is a must read.

This is both the story of Elizabeth Wharton's cad of a lover, and the earnest researcher exploited and spurned by the Scholar in the Field, who she won't even deign to name! Hot stuff, to those who care about such things.

The scholar-cad dismissed her earlier cries de coeur as attempts to elicit publicity for this work, but you have to have read the LRB review to know this.

Literary hearts are broken all around. If you understand this for what it is, it's one of the best books ever, but a bit of an objet trouvee, if you know what I mean.

I greatly enjoyed this book after I realized it was not a quick read of connecting the dots/facts and racing to a conclusion. The joy of this book is that it offers the reader the chance to join Mainwaring as she roams through Paris seeking out the truths of rogue M. Fullerton's life. I loved the descriptions of Paris, the street scenes and the old buildings with their old bureacrats serving as gatekeepers to the dusty stacks of information in the registries of births, deaths and marriages. In her quest for the facts she encounters characters ranging from counts to charwomen and her style, humor and voice make me feel there with her, mulling the facts and planning the next step in the detective work.If you need a vacation from your life, read this book. I now open it to any page and just dive in and quickly become captivated again. Mainwaring is an artist in her impeccable choice of words. Enjoy the process of her quest, indulge yourself and you will find that you will forget about the mundane matters of your life. An instant vacation, what a relief!

This isn't up to MZB's usual level of writing, but it's decent for a quick read (it was an airplane flight read for me). It suffers from being a bit preachy at times, from the 'good guys' being overly trusting and unable to look about critically, and from being somewhat unoriginal (too many 'alternate earth' books out there these days). On the positive side, the story moves along smoothly and the imagery and types of magic used/described are fairly original. -omar

This book was fairly good. The action was appealing and the characters were pretty well-developed. But I have to say that if you hadn't read "Glenraven" first you would have been lost. This book deals with two seperate worlds: the one we're used to, and Glenraven. Glenraven is a little province in Italy that hasn't advanced along with the rest of the world- in fact, Glenraven appears to have hidden in a fold of time. Somehow creatures from Glenraven escape into the real world. They wreak havoc upon the already upside down world of Kate Beacham, an alleged witch. And everything turns into a whirlwind from there. The plot is pretty well-laid, and there are some intriguing tensions between characters that enhance the quality of the book. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

The only majorly disappointing thing I found in this book was the fact that MZB didn't really bring in characters from "Glenraven." She had developed some really strong personalities in JayJay and Matthiall. MZB only mentioned those two about two times, maybe three, in "In the Rift."

If you read "In the Rift" before "Glenraven" you should take the time to read "Glenraven." It'll clear up a lot of misconceptions you might have.

Sorry if I was confusing to you. "In the Rift" is a very good book. I just think maybe MZB should have tied in the characters more.

I enjoyed this book and breezed through it rather quickly. If you are looking for something in depth, try somewhere else. But if you're looking for something fun and light-hearted pick up this book. The main character, Kate Beacham, is a Wiccan who is being harassed and threatened by close-minded people in her small town. She was assaulted in the alley behind her work by three masked men, and when she came home she found her horse dead in the drive with a note through his head saying that she would be next. When she loaded her shotgun and went to bed, she found a Fodor's guide book to a place called Glenraven on her nightstand that she was positive she had not seen before. When she opened the book to take a look at it, words magically appeared in it telling her to get out of the house fast. Being a practitioner of magick, she obeyed the book and went outside just in time to see a large hole open in the air and group of people on horseback gallop out being pursued by a monster. After killing the thing with her shotgun, Kate finds these strangers in her yard and in her house without a way home. The book tells her that she has to help them, otherwise both their worlds are in jeopardy. She has to learn to trust and be trusted by these strangers from another world in order to save them all.

I thought this was a good book and the characters were well portrayed but I liked the second part better.

The ship with all of it's people have crashed and soon they are rediscovering Darkover and making their own connections. Several of the Terrans have a little laran in them while the others seem to have none. What does that mean? Also things are happening between the Terrans and the Darkovans that they don't especially want ...

I think anyone would enjoy this book and if you get stuck just keep on going because it definitley has it's good parts.

I truly enjoyed this book. Being the first of Marion Zimmer Bradley's that I read, it is the one that hooked me on Darkover. I would say that, not only do we get a glimpse into a differnt family (the Aldarans) and meet Margaret's mother, but we get to learn in detail about one of the most signifigant events in Darkoverian history. The characters are well portrayed, and your heart alternately breaks and leaps with joy as the characters cross hurdles. My favorite character was Ysaye. This book makes a powerful statement about abortion and the differnce between love and lust. I would recommend it to anyone...

it starts out with a ship from earth sending a team down to darkover for exploration. this shuttle crashes and ends up standed in the middle of a blizzard. an interesting subplot also
tells the story of a young leonie hastur and her first trip to
a tower for training of her laran. this i find slightlty more
interesting becasue most darkover novels potray her in later life
as a very unapproacable keeper and this book shows a more softer
human side. anyway one of the people on the shuttle is also telepathic and her and leonie develop a friendship that is forbidden. the outcome of all of this is just superb and well worth reading.