The cross-currents of two cultures, one male-dominated, one egalitarian, combined with the human problems of two who switched allegiances, brings into focus all the deepest questions of love and marriage, justice and injustice. THENDARA HOUSE is a novel of speculation which has become a classic masterwork on the role of women on any world, past, present, or future.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
About the Author
Marion Zimmer Bradley was born in Albany, NY and lived for many years in Berkeley, CA. Best known as a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and romantic occult fiction, Bradley was also the editor of "Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine" and many anthologies. Her most famous works include the "Darkover" series of science fiction novels and the "New York Times" bestselling "The Mists of Avalon," Bradley's romantic, magical, contemporary novels for Tor include T"he Inheritor, Heartlight, Ghostlight, "and" Witch Hill," Marion Zimmer Bradley died in 1999.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Joe Sherry
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Thendara House" is a sequel, of sorts, to the previous Darkover novel "The Shattered Chain." The reason I say "of sorts" is that Bradley has always intended for each Darkover novel to work as standalone novel. The events of "Thendara House" just happen to be set after those in "The Shattered Chain" and continue the story introduced in that novel. This is a novel of the Renunciates, an order of women who have rejected society's role for them and exist as a societal alternative for women.
This novel switches between the viewpoints of two characters: Magda Lorne and Jaelle n'ha Melora. Magda, or Margali as she is called by the Darkovan natives, is of Terran heritage (and is an employee of the Terran Empire), but she was raised on Darkover since she was a child. During the events of "The Shattered Chain", Magda took the Oath of the Renunciates under duress when she was trying to rescue her former husband, Peter Haldane. By the end of that novel, she decided to honor that Oath and came to believe in it. Thendara House is the chapterhouse of the Order of the Renunciates and Magda is to spend the next six months in training at Thendara learning the ways of the Renunciates. Jaelle is the Renunciate who took Magda's oath (this is a special relationship). In order for Magda to be able to fulfill her obligations, Jaelle agreed to work at the Terran spaceport for the 6 months that Magda is at Thendara. Magda is also now married to Peter Haldane, Magda's ex-husband. Peter, like Magda, is a Terran citizen who was raised on Darkover and works for the Empire.
Neither woman truly belongs where she is. Jaelle feels alienation because she is a Darkovan working at the Spaceport and everything she is experiencing is new and different and strange to her. Her relationship with her husband is also becoming strained as she is still struggling against those gender roles she had thought she left behind when she joined the Renunciates. Magda knows that she can never truly belong to the Renunciates because she is Terran and, at least for a time, she has to hide who she really is to fit in at all.
"Thendara House" is a more complex novel than it at first seems to be. Bradley works through the ideas of belonging to a culture and what happens to those cultural transplants which are put into a new and different environment. She works with the friendships between women and the complex relationships that women can have, both casual and intimate. "Thendara House" is the best of the seven Darkover novels that I have read so far and this came as a pleasant surprise to me.
-Joe Sherry
By Jovita
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I liked the book because it struck specific cords. It speaks of love in it's many forms, but mainly it speaks of mixed loyalties. Everyone can relate to some of the events on an interpersonal base, but mainly people can go beyond the situations and relate to the feelings. The author has a brilliant writing that vividly evokes the characters feelings. It makes for good reading, especially when the reader can keep an open mind about the particular way in witch human relations are presented, non judgmentally.
By J. Flores
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This was the first Darkover novel I read and since then I've read probably 6 or 8 others. I think I like this one the best, although Hawkmistress and Stormqueen come in close. The conflict between the two societies is enhanced in this novel because of the culture shock Jaelle and Magda go through in each others opposite world.
I would recommend this to everyone.
I would recommend this to everyone.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
'Thendara House' follows 'Shattered Chains' in the Darkover series, and continues to focus on the Guild of Renunciates, particularly Magda and Jaelle, as they grow into stronger,... Read more
Published on Oct 13 2000 by TaraJacobs
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two different worlds ...
Two different worlds have conflicting problems. One of the major ones is that the two worlds are trapped on one, together. Read more
Published on Aug 26 2000 by "valai"
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great sequence to Shattered Chain
This book is a sequence to the Shattered Chain (where we get to know how Jaelle and Margali met each other and how they helped Peter Haldane to scape where he was trapped). Read more
Published on July 20 2000 by "ferrazalves"
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll stay up all night reading!
If you haven't yet read _The Shattered Chain_, I suggest you do so first. Although all of the Darkover books are theoretically standalone, this one is definitely improved by... Read more
Published on May 11 2000 by A.J. Chodan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dare to question conventional thinking...
The second in the series of stories depicting Magdalen Lorne, the Terran struggling to belong to a world in which her people are extremly distrusted, and Jaelle n'ha Melora, the... Read more
Published on April 23 1997
5.0 out of 5 stars
If this is your first Darkover book...It won't be your last!
Years have passed since I read Thendara House for the first time.
I have read it at least five times since. Read more
I have read it at least five times since. Read more
Published on Sep 14 1996
5.0 out of 5 stars
first-rate
interesting story of the conflict between society and the
individual and how equality can be an illusion until the
individual takes a stand and fights for what they... Read more
individual and how equality can be an illusion until the
individual takes a stand and fights for what they... Read more
Published on Sep 13 1995
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
