The shadow matrix Book

I really feel like this book should have been a few short stories rather than a single book, because a lot of it felt barely connected to me. One thread is Margaret's attempt to master her laran and avoid getting drawn too much in to the politics of Darkover's families, one thread is Mikhail being sent to determine who the next heir to the Elhalyn throne will be, and one thread is Gabriel Lanart and Javanne Hastur continuing to try to control Mikhail's life. I didn't find any of these threads that interesting other Mikhail dealing with the Elhalyns, and I thought it resolved too quickly and left too much to the imagination to really satisfy me.

The part I really liked was the part at the end, and I would gladly have read an entire book dedicated to Varzil the Good's attempt to solidify his legacy and make sure the Compact held over all of Darkover after he was no longer around to enforce it.

Expand on why exactly Dom Padraig hates the Hasturs so much and why he wants to destroy Thendara. Expand Leonora's character and explain why she's willing to make people into slaves and where the idea to use uranium for weapons in the absence of clingfire and bonewater dust came from. Expand on Amirya and how she came to be Keeper at this ad hoc Tower that Padraig is putting together. And then have Varzil's plan to reach forward and pull back Mikhail and Margaret so that Ashara--who is criminally underutilized here for how important she's supposed to be--can't get her hands on his matrix. The "free-wheeling matrix technology" period of Darkover's history has always been my favorite part, and I would have much rather read a book about that that about the other plot threads here.

You can argue that would have been a different book, and you'd be right. I'd rather have read that book than this one.

It's not as bad as Exile's Song in terms of worldbuilding, though the threat posed to Darkover by the Terran Empire fell a bit flat because I don't know enough about the Empire to know exactly what the Expansionists want to expand into. Mention is made that they haven't fought a war in "generations," but who did they fight with? Is that some curbstomp where Imperial Marines came in and overthrew a planetary government, or are there nonhuman empires out there? Where do these non-Terran-but-human-inhabited planets come from? I don't know, because The Shadow Matrix sure doesn't tell you.

I suppose my major problem is just the character of Margaret. She has the Aldon Gift, which makes sense because she's Lew's daughter, and then we learn that she also has the Aldaran Gift. And since getting the Shadow Matrix, she also develops healing power that let her singlehandedly cure virulent diseases and even travel through time. In addition, she's the daughter of an Imperial senator and the heir to planetary nobility, extremely rich, the most educated woman on Darkover, and the beloved of the heir to the planetary government. Woe is her, indeed. I'd characterize her whining as first world problems if Darkover wasn't a undeveloped frozen hellhole.

The last part that takes place in the Ages of Chaos makes up for some sins, but not all of them, and the ending implies that future books in this series might get back toward the politicking that I like more than Margaret whining that she has too much laran. So maybe I'm giving The Shadow Matrix more credit than it deserves, but I think three stars is enough.

Previous Review: Exile's Song.
Next Review: Traitor's Sun.