From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Darkover, Bradley's popular series of the planet of the Bloody Sun, rejoice. As Bradley's health was declining, she and Ross sketched the new Clingfire Trilogy, set in the aftermath of the Ages of Chaos when the Hundred Kingdoms used vicious telepathic laran weaponry to annihilate their neighbors. This solid opener, like others in Bradley's canon, centers on the coming-of-age of a laran-gifted youngster, Coryn Leynier, who becomes under-Keeper at Neskaya Tower, a powerful hub of the psi Tower network, and eventually finds himself pitted against both evil human foes in battle and black psionic wizardry in the Overworld. Ross has fleshed out Bradley's encyclopedic vision of the Darkovian Dark Ages into a competent, fast-paced narrative congruent with the late author's familiar 1960s theme: "make various kinds of love, but not nuclear war." Ross also seems to have mastered the familiar Darkovian vocabulary, though perhaps not injecting it so frequently, as well as Bradley's absorbing minutiae of life under the Bloody Sun copper butterfly hairclips and all. With ancient Neskaya Tower crumbled in the cataclysmic conflict between Coryn Leynier and his enemies and Bradley now gone, the next two volumes of the Clingfire Trilogy should showcase Ross's literary strength her sensitivity to human needs and talents even more clearly. (July 10) FYI: Bradley also collaborated with Diana L. Paxson on a final sequel to The Mists of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon (Forecasts, Apr. 30). Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
During the era of the Hundred Kingdoms, when Darkover is splintered by constant border conflicts, the laranzu Rumail, ambitious and power-hungry King Damian's Tower-trained brother, is sent to Verdanta to examine young Coryn Leynier and his sisters for evidence of psychic ability. While examining Coryn, Rumail buries a weapon of destruction deep within his mind. Rumail knows Coryn's laran is strong and gambles that the boy will become a Keeper, the highest rank among the Tower-trained. As such, Coryn would be perfectly placed to unwittingly bring down Darkover's most powerful dynasty, the Hasturs of Thendara, putting control of Darkover in Damian's hands. Coryn does indeed become Keeper of Neskaya Tower, but Rumail fails to reckon on the power of love to intervene. Yet when Neskaya falls, will Coryn and his lover, a Hastur queen, be equal to the near-impossible task of stopping Rumail's abominable abuse of laran? Completing this new novel of Darkover after Bradley's death, Ross succeeds in keeping it true to Bradley's style. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
The Fall of Neskaya, Book One of the Clingfire Trilogy, marks the legendary author's final return to Darkover before her death. Set in the tumultuous era of The Hundred Kingdoms, a terrible time of strife and war, this unique fantasy world is divided into a mutlitude of small belligerent domains vying for power and land. One ambitious and corrupt tyrant will stop at nothing to control Darkover-even wield the terrifying weapons of the matrix.

"Darkover is the essence, the quintessence, my most personal and best-loved work." (Marion Zimmer Bradley)

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Following Marion Zimmer Bradley's passing in September 1999, fans of her Darkover series despaired of ever reading a Darkover novel again. Yet, here is exactly that: The Fall of Neskaya, the first volume in The Clingfire Trilogy, is a Darkover novel that was being written by Bradley and Deborah Ross at the time of MZB's death.

What a delight this book was to read. I slipped back into Darkover as easily as putting on a pair of old, faded jeans. For those of you who have read the 20-plus novels, the story begins in the Darkover timeline between the novels Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress! -- very early in the history of Darkover.

Corwyn Leynier is a young Verdantan prince with a secret. He's suffering from threshold sickness, although he doesn't know it yet. Corwyn's bouts with dizziness and nausea are actually a psychic disorder that affects telepaths when they reach puberty and their laran (psychic talent) starts awakening. Corwyn's secret is eventually found out, and he is sent to the Tower of Tramontana to help him deal with his ailment, as well as to hone his powerful skills.

Meanwhile, Rumail, the brother of King Damian of Ambervale, has come to Verdanta with an offer to unite the handsome Prince Belisar and a Leynier daughter in marriage. Rumail checks all royal daughters for laran (makes better offspring), and decides to handfast Belisar to the eight-year-old Kristlin. Corwyn's father blesses the union for the good of both kingdoms, but there is something sinister behind the Ambervale offer of partnership.

Corwyn excels living in the Tower and learns quickly how to use his laran. The years pass, and Corwyn matures into a powerful young man. One of his best friends at the Tower turns out to be Liane Storn, the daughter of his father's enemy, the King of High Kinally. But reality comes crashing down on the friends, when it is learned that Corwyn's country has been plagued with lungrot and most of his family is dead. To make matters worse, King Damian invades Verdanta and several other smaller kingdoms, including Acosta. Damian withdraws the handfast between Belisar and Kristlin (Verdanta is a defeated country now) and picks Queen Tanquiel of Acosta as his future wife. But Damian underestimates the woman's cunning and she escapes to safety with her unborn child -- the true heir to the throne of Acosta. What exactly is Damian planning? And can his evil plan succeed?

As usual with MZB stories, the characters are superbly drawn. I've found myself saying this before about MZB novels, but I loved some of the peripheral characters the best. I particularly liked One-Eyed Rafe, six-fingered Kieran, and Taniquel of Acosta, the exiled queen who vows to get her country back. (Paul Goat Allen)

ANNOTATION

In a terrible time of strife and war, when this unique fantasy world is divided into a multitude of small belligerent domains vying for power and land, one corrupt, ambitious tyrant will stop at nothing-even the use of terrifying matrix weapons-to control all of Darkover!

FROM THE PUBLISHER

More than four decades ago, best-selling author Marion Zimmer Bradley first envisioned the world of Darkover - a frigid world lit by the dim glow of a dying red giant star. On this mysterious planet of the Bloody Sun, a generational starship from faraway Terra crash-landed, stranding her colonists in a land of unknown dangers and unimagined potential.

Now in The Fall of Neskaya, the lands of Darkover are fragmented into a multitude of small belligerent realms torn apart by constant border conflict.

High in the mountainous Hellers, Corin Leynier, adolescent son of a minor nobleman, wakes from a nightmare of a raging forest fire, only to find that the fire is real. Running toward the fire lines, Corin fights to suppress waves of nausea and dizziness - feelings that have become more and more frequent over the passing months - to help his kinsmen. As all the inhabitants of Verdanta lands, nobleman and commoner alike, struggle hopelessly to contain the worst fire in memory, Lord Leynier sends a desperate message to his nearest neighbors, The Storns of High Kinnally, with an appeal for help and passage through Storn lands to Tramontana Tower. But despite the tradition of "fire truce" Lord Storn refuses aid to the Leyniers because of an ancient feud. When all seems lost, and Verdanta doomed by uncontrollable flames, help arrives.

SYNOPSIS

Return to the world of Darkover during the tumultuous era of The Hundred Kingdoms. In a terrible time of strife and war, when this unique fantasy world is divided into a multitude of small belligerent domains vying for power and land, one corrupt, ambitious tyrant will stop at nothing￯﾿ﾽnot even the use of terrifying matrix weapons￯﾿ﾽto control all of Darkover!

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Bonnie Kunzel