Darkover is rather a controversial taste—like certain foods, very few people are neutral on the subject. I confess to having been hooked long ago and to reading each new Darkover book with anticipation and interest. The current offering, Sharra's Exile, is actually a major reworking of the very weak The Sword of Aldones, one of the two earliest Darkover books….

Sharra's Exile is a worthy sequel to The Heritage of Hastur, which is probably the single most popular Darkover novel. It is written in the same form, alternating between the viewpoint of Regis Hastur and that of Lew Alton. Bradley is remarkably successful at combining the bones of her old story with the meat she has added in the intervening twenty years and those who liked The Heritage of Hastur will be perfectly satisfied with its companion volume….

[This] should not be missed. Bradley does tend to...