Review: The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Title: The Bloody Sun
Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
Genre: science Fiction
Grade: C+

Plot Summary: Jeff Kerwin arrived on Earth at age 12 after spending his childhood in an orphanage
on Darkover. Now he feels the need to return to Darkover to explore his heritage.

My Thoughts: I’d have loved this book unreservedly at fifteen. There’s a lot of high drama, character emo, forbidden love, etc. And for the most part, I actually did enjoy this book. The problem was that it was extremely easy to put the book down and forget about it. Which I did. Several times.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I hated the romance, which I thought was incredibly forced, not to mention just this side of squicky, and I still think Jeff Kerwin should have wound up with Auster, one of the other major characters, because that would have been a lot more interesting to read about.

That said, the edition of the book I read featured a short story called “To Keep The Oath”, which describes the Renunciates, or Free Amazons, and that short story worked well for me on many different levels.

So, because I loved the concept of the Renunciates and loved the story about them, and because I’m feeling generous today, I’ll give this book a C+ grade. I’ll probably read more Darkover books because Bradley has me intrigued, but I’m definitely going to finish some other stuff first.