Book Review - Two to Conquer

This book makes for uncomfortable reading at first, because the main character is an unrepentant rapist. Worse still, he has the ability to force women to yield their bodies to him while mentally aware of the act, leading to extremely unpleasant descriptions of the helpless victim weeping in fear and shame but unable to resist due to the laran compulsion ('laran' is basically MZB's version of ESP). Fortunately, the rapist does pay for his many and horrible crimes, but I won't spoil it for you by saying how. :)

The plot necessarily involves several aggressive sexual encounters, which are made slightly more palatable by the fact it is a female author writing - but only slightly. It was somewhat disturbing reading them, but this was at least partially mitigated by the rapist's punishment.

The plot is engaging, with a Terran teleporting over into the story, which does add yet another layer to the usual high suspension of disbelief required in fantasy, but Bradley handles the plot device well, and it doesn't take up too much of the book - the writing is mainly concerned with the central character, Bard, and his development as a military leader.

So far, I'd say this was probably the most interesting of the four Darkover books I've read up to this point, so would recommend it with the warning that rape is a central part of the novel.