The Shattered Chain (Hardcover)

The novel is broken out into three sections, each focusing on a different character, though the same cast of characters moves in and out of the stories being told in each section. The first section focuses on the lady Rohana Ardais. Before the novel begins, Lady Rohana is given information that a kinswoman who had been kidnapped more than a decade ago is still alive and that she wants to be rescued for the sake of her children. Rohana defies convention, hires out a team of Free Amazons, and sets out to rescue Melora from the Dry Towns. This rescue results in Melora's daughter, Jaelle, being fostered by the Free Amazons. There is a twelve year interval between section one and section two.

Section two focuses on a Terran named Magda Lorne, and again, there is someone who needs rescuing. This time it is her former husband, also a Terran. Both are Terran agents working out of the spaceport at Thendara. Since they were raised in a Darkovan city, they are able to work undercover, learning the languages and the changes in language and style and culture to better assist the Terrans to interact with the natives of Darkover. Magda's ex-husband, Peter, seems to look identical to a relative of Rohana's, and with Rohana's suggestion, Magda disguises herself as a Free Amazon to negotiate the release of Peter.

Section three features a grown Jaelle. Jaelle met up with Magda during section two, and is a leader of a small band of Free Amazons. But she is still young, and has not yet known love and does have the experience to know if she will regret her decision to become a Free Amazon. This becomes the central conflict of the third section, after the action of section two.

Ultimately, this is a novel that looks at the gender roles in Darkovan society and how there is one segment of society that works outside the typical roles of women. The Free Amazons will also be a very important society in the relations between Darkover and the Terran Empire.

This is one of the better Darkover novels. With the three section structure, Bradley was able to pack the detail and story and emotion into a tighter form, and the novel is stronger because of that. Each of the three women (Rohana, Magda, and Jaelle) are characters that I want to know more about, they are well written and interesting, and this is an excellent chapter in the world of Darkover.

The novel starts with a daring rescue of a kidnapped, enchained, and very pregnant Comyn Lady from the barbaric Dry Towns chief who has kept her his prisoner/wife for over a decade. We meet the Free Amazons, the women who are hired as mercenaries to handle the rescue, as well as the Comyn Lady who hired them to rescue her imprisoned cousin and her young daughter.

The story returns to the Free Amazons and the Comyn Lady years later when a Terran woman needs their help to save one of her own. Their stories are linked in a series of adventures that establish Darkover as an irresistable world.