Este livro é a continuação da saga dos Musgraves. Desta vez, Wycherly Ridenow Musgrave deixa de ser apenas mais um membro da sua confusa família para tornar-se provavelmente o único do clã com algum valor. E não precisamos esperar para descobrir o que ele procura. Wycherly tem mesmo uma boa razão para odiar a si mesmo, mas será que ele vai descobrir a verdade e ficar livre? O filho bon vivant de Winter Musgrave tenta fugir de vários problemas - de sua família, da suspeita de ser culpado da morte da namorada e da própria consciência. Só que não pode escapar do passado ou dele mesmo...
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook.
Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.
Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.
Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.
Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.
For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.
Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.
Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.
Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.
This book is like every single contemporary fantasy cliche rolled into one. John and I were walking home from dinner listing them all, just like a bad fantasy novel bingo card. Recovering alcoholic! Searching for answers about the past! Relationship conflict! TERRIBLE fantasy names! Fae blood! Witch blood! Black mass! Possession! Visions! Reading minds! Acquiring and/or losing mysterious powers! Human sacrifice! Creepy setting (general: rural Appalachia)! Creepy setting (particular: ruins, hospital, hidden basements, derelict cabin no one's lived in for years)! Water! Fire! (Not heart, though.) Weird locals! Mystic gate to another dimension! Creepy grimoires! Magic(k)al powers run amok! Frenzied sex while possessed on the satanic altar in the basement of the ruined sanatorium!
"Tormented by past" is the free space.
It's bad. I don't know if I want to finish.
(OMG, even better: It's like Stefon were writing a contemporary fantasy novel. "This place has everything--")
Gravelight is uneven at best, but not as bad as it might be. There's some poorly-handled personality-change whiplash (which may or may not be due to dodgy authorship - see below,) Truth's relationship skills are facepalmingly annoying, and the plot is not particularly tightly woven, but some of the characterizations (particularly in the early part of the book) are entertaining, and there's a strong sense of place that grounds the book far better than the cackling villany or unimpressive romances.
(It is worth noting that this book, and the rest of the series, were published years after MZB's death, and are in fact copyrighted to Rosemary Edghill, who is a consistent if second-rate purveyor of what I fondly call "mall-elf fiction." I strongly suspect that Bradley herself had minimal involvement with this series. I'm not entirely thrilled by the deception.)
This is a cycle apparently, but I never knew that until late. So I read book 2 first, then book 1 and now book 3. Good thing is, although it's a cycle, the books can be read separately without any loss for the stories. From the 3 I've read, I think this one is the best. Marion Zimmer Bradley is an excellent writer and this Portuguese translation does her justice.
This novel was not at all what I expected. It took me half way through the book before the characters began to pull me in. One of the things I noticed immediately, were the strange names almost all the characters had. Dylan, the professor of parapsychology, was the only one with a normal name. One of them had the name "Wych". Made me wonder if that was meant to connect with the word "witch"?
There were frequent segments in the chapters in italics that I think the author meant to draw the reader in with, but for the most part, they left me mystified until much later in the book. The letter "h" looked more like a "b" which made me stop to ponder what the sentence was saying.
The last 75 pages really went fast, but were not good enough to make me want to keep the book. Her series on Darkover was much better.
In the third book of the Light series, we will learn about two important characters: Sinah and Wycherly Musgrave. Wycherly is the Winter's brother, and his past is haunting him which drives him to Morton Fork's little town, where he meets Sinah, a famous hollywood actress, that is came to the town to find out her origins. Both meet Dylan and Truth, when they get tangled into a series of disappearances caused by an unguarded Gate.
The last part in the "light" series. Just like the first part, this one didn't really got me. For me, it was "just" a fantasy novel. Not bad, not good either. After i red all the Avalon books, these books where flawless.
It was alright, the storytelling got a little weird. Pacing was slow and stayed consistently slow throughout. There wasn’t really anything likable or relatable about the characters either so I wasn’t sorry to turn the last page.
Very 'meh' on this one from Marion Zimmer Bradley. Having said that I did not know this was part of a series, so I felt the story came from and went nowhere.
Well, this book was better than the first in the series, but still not that great. As the third book in the "Light" series, it doesn't necessarily have to be read in order, but it does help with some of the background.
Sinah has come back to where she was born to try to rediscover some of her past. The problem is, the townsfolk vehemently deny that she belongs there or that her relatives have ever lived there. Wycherly too is there, trying to escape nightmares and slowly drowning himself in alcohol. And Truth and a gang of people from the Bidney Institute that researches the paranormal are also in town. And there's something aside from the location that connects them altogether. A powerful magic, one that's out of control, and that's slowly claiming the lives around it.
Truth is usually a good character. But she was just different in this book. Colder in some ways and more prone to temper in others. Her fiance Dylan, I absolutely detested in this book. He was nothing like he was in the previous two books and it seemed that the author just randomly changed his personality to cause some strife in the book even if it wasn't the way he would have normally acted. Sinah I didn't really care for either. She was too weak a character and despite this, used entirely too much. And then there's Wycherly. Aside from wondering what the heck was going on with his name (as a first name it is just not working), he was a constant stream of drunkeness and bad decisions and his redeemable qualities just weren't authentic.
For a plot there wasn't a bad one. Untapped magic, evil powers, people trying to get on with their lives despite conflict; there's enough here to make it interesting. But because of the less than stellar characters it just didn't make it into that realm of being a great book. It's very readable though, and despite some of the magic and occult references being beyond me, I found myself becoming somewhat immersed in the story. Unlike the other two, there were references to sex in this one, which surprised me since it wasn't that style of writing in the rest of the series, but it wasn't very graphic or offensive so I don't see it being a problem for most readers.
I can't say that I'm going to go out of my way to find the fourth book in the series. I'm just not invested enough in any of the characters or the plotline as a whole. This is just an average fantasy series.
4.5 stars. This is almost my perfect book. Almost.
While I enjoyed Bradley's writing in Mists of Avalon, I like it even more here. There's beauty and a sense of ease to her words and she switches perspectives between characters easily. Her description of West Virginia is pretty spot on for the type of location she's set the story in. Not all of West Virginia is that backwards...but I've visited some places when my grandfather truck broke down a couple times that could easily be Morton's Fork. I love Bradley's description of the supernatural and of psychic phenomena, and while the characters follow familiar archetypes, they're still themselves. Most of all, I enjoyed the gradual breakdown of the characters mental states, Wycherly especially, though Sinah became really interesting as the story went on. Bradley's hallmark of feminist ranting also makes an appearance, but it isn't overwhelming and is understandable in the context of the relationships deteriorating as they were.
My complaints are few, but they're enough to cause someone else issues with this book. There are some unclear resolutions of plot points - like what was in the bag Wycherly pulled from the stone, and what exactly happened to Luned - and I would've loved a more detailed epilogue. Also, the unseen forces that motivate the main characters could've been better explained. I loved the book despite the things that are missing, but yeah. I get the sense that there was much MUCH more to this story than Bradley could justify fitting in. The story of just one of Sinah's ancestors could've filled a book the same length I think.
Regardless of the problems, though, I'm eager to find and read more of the books from this series, if for no other reason than to understand more about the Otherworld.
Die Dullons sind eine alte Familie, die seit Jahrhunderten eins der Sidhe-Tore bewacht. Nun gibt es jedoch nur noch eine Frau dieser Blutlinie und die hat leider keine Ahnung von ihrer Aufgabe. Trotzdem fühlt sich die junge Schauspielerin in das Dorf hingezogen, in dem sie geboren wurde. Sie möchte etwas über ihre Familie herausfinden. Von ihrer Mutter kennt sie nur den Namen. Da diese bei ihrer Geburt starb, wuchs Sinah bei einer Pflegefamilie auf. Doch als sie in dem Ort ankommt, schlägt ihr eine Welle der Feindseligkeit entgegen und alle Bewohner meiden sie und leugnen sogar die Existenz irgendeiner der Dullons. Das Dorf liegt in den Appalachen, abgeschieden von der Moderne. Es gibt nicht einmal Radioempfang, dafür jedoch noch einen alten Glauben an Hexerei. Dann taucht auch noch ein rothaariger junger Mann auf, der bereits von manchen Dorfbewohnern als neuer Hexenmeister gesehen wird...wie das alles und eine Forschergruppe a la the Ghostbusters zusammengefriemelt wird, erfährt man auf etwas über 460 Seiten. Dabei bleibt das Buch spannend und auch der Schreibstil hat mir ganz gut gefallen. Allerdings werden leider auch einige Klischees bedient und das Ende kam etwas plötzlich. Ratzfatz war alles auf einmal aufgelöst.
Psychic researcher Truth Jourdemayne and her colleague/fiance have come to a small Appalachian town rumored to have a history of occult phenomena. But, since the events that occurred earlier in this series, Truth is more a believer than a skeptic, and this is leading to conflict in her relationship. Also drawn to this town is Sinah Dellon, a successful but troubled actress who's searching for her family roots - but why will none of the townspeople discuss her family with her? And why has she been given the 'witch's cabin'? In a seeming coincidence, also in town is neer-do-well rich boy Wycherly Musgrave, another troubled soul, and alcoholic, who wrecked his car near town, and is reluctant to go back to his family, tormented by guilt over an accident that happened decades ago... All these peole are drawn into a weird web of occurences, which seem to center on the ruined, abandoned sanatorium outside of town. What occult secrets might it hold?
This book follows Ghostlight and has two of the same characters. The main character is Ghostlight is also a main character in this book. Gravelight is more tightly written than Ghostlight and its characters are more well developed. The story is also more intricate. I had a hard time putting this one down.
Three characters come together as tools of good, evil and the balance, each trying to harness or shut down a locus of power in West Virginia. Wycherly Musgrave (eccentric name, no?) is a privileged rich man who has been running away from himself and his demons most of his life. Mellusine Dellon is a successful actress come back to the hills of WV to try to find her roots. Truth Jourdemayne has come to WV to investigate disappearances and psychic phenomena. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens!
This one was a disappointment, after the way Ghostlight, Witchlight, and The Inheritor all sucked me in despite the subject matter. I am not really a fan of occult fiction or parapsychology, but MZB just writes so well. But Gravelight didn't suck me in the same way, and the two main characters -- Wycherly and Sinah -- failed to complete themselves. Their characterization was choppy. Sinah Dellon had an evil relative inside her head who took her over sometimes, but here was no rhyme or reason to it, nor did she ever confront such a parasitic thing. Oh well. It was nice to see Truth Jourdemayne again, and I'm glad MZB allowed Truth's relationship with Dylan to make it through some rough spots. MZB can usually be counted on for an entertaining read.
As the lockdowns gets me bored, I reentered the Light series, because I have a guilty pleasure fondness of the Ghostlight book.
Now I remember why I didn't like rereading this one. I just find none of the characters likeable. They are all very troubled, very angry and scared ALL THE TIME. Also the confrontations and dialogue just aren't quite good. Even Truth, whom I love in Ghostlight, just doesn't feel emphatic or relatable to me.
I tried wrestling through it again, but I couldn't manage it. Maybe in another mood, I can appreciate it again, but I have none the warm, cozy feelings that Ghostlight always gives me.
The book is set in WV - my home state. MZB relied heavily on "hillbilly" stereotypes for the town of Morton - which I found irritating because all she did is reinforce ideas that aren't true. I know - it's all fiction, but I'm getting really tired of everyone thinking I don't wear shoes, have teeth, or an education because certain people in the entertainment industry knowingly relied on an outdated cliche for characters. Then again, the end of that statement sums up a major flaw with the whole series - MZB relies on cliches and stereotypes far too much for any of her characters to be taken seriously.
(Fantasy 1997) This one had such potential with all the elements - an untrained psychic or two, a mysterious burned sanitorium in the deep mountains, and enough sexual tension to spread around. The story features Truth Jourdemayne again, the younger brother (Wycherly) of the last heroine, and a stage star with history, but it never quite melds into what it could have been. I found myself checking to see how many more pages, hoping that the story would start to come together. The end was rather anticlimatic, but nice - I do like happy endings. And still I will read the fourth of the series. With my fingers crossed for good luck.
This book was good. The story was very entertaining. The only thing that I didn't like about it was all the angst everyone was feeling. And I mean everyone. MZB does a great job telling about the people that live in the West Virginia mountains. And their beliefs. A very good read.
A classic haunted asylum story; a fun, enjoyable read, and it makes the more sense if you read the previous books in the series. I highly recommend it for paranormal investigators as it gives different perspectives on what a haunting may include.
I know this author is mainly known for her Avalon series, which I have not yet read. Unlike those books, this is one of her modern day occult fantasies. While not a bad book, I didn't find it all that interesting either, and it did not make me excited to read others of this type by her.
Deutsch: Die Feuer von Troja (alles in einem Band) - Der Kampf um Troja aus Sicht von Kassandra. Zwar recht feministisch angehaucht (samt Amazonen), aber spannend aufbereitet.