The Shadow Matrix
core novel 1998 Darkover
Record
| First published | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.07 (2,628 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 560 |
| First-edition ISBN | 0886777437 |
Synopsis
This novel follows two parallel storylines on present-day Darkover: Mikhail Lanart-Hastur, tasked with rescuing a group of neglected children discovered at an isolated mountain estate, and Marguerida Alton, who studies matrix science at a Tower despite friction with peers wary of her mixed Terran heritage and unusual gifts. When both are mysteriously and separately summoned to the ancient Hali Tower, an event neither of them can explain, they find themselves transported into Darkover's distant past. There they encounter Varzil the Good, a legendary laranzu from the turbulent Ages of Chaos who is working to reform the reckless use of psychic weapons, and who now needs their help with a crisis that threatens to unravel the history they both know.
Where it sits
- Universe: Darkover
- Series: Darkover core; position 21 of 22 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
Notes
- From the series record (Darkover): Core Canon = the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship during her lifetime (1958-1999; some jointly credited with a co-author -- Mercedes Lackey on Rediscovery, Adrienne Martine-Barnes on Exile's Song/The Shadow Matrix/Traitor's Sun -- but always alongside Bradley herself). Per Bradley's own stated preference, publication order is used rather than the internal Darkovan chronology (Founding/Ages of Chaos/Hundred Kingdoms/Rediscovery/Modern eras), consistent with this project's deliberately-unrecorded-chronology pattern used elsewhere. Expanded Canon (the post-2000 continuation novels written entirely by Deborah J. Ross after Bradley's 1999 death -- the Clingfire Trilogy, The Alton Gift, Hastur Lord, The Children of Kings, Thunderlord!, The Laran Gambit, Arilinn) is deliberately deferred out of scope per the credited-authorship bright line (same approach as Pern's generational handoff), same treatment as InCryptid's and Solomon Kane's deferred Expanded backlogs; not populated as book records yet. The Door Through Space (1961) shares worldbuilding details but is explicitly not part of the Darkover setting per its own cover copy and is excluded. The Sword and Sorceress anthology series (which Bradley edited but did not herself write) is out of scope for the same reason Songs of the Dying Earth was excluded from Cugel's Saga.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Darkover: position 21 of 22: previous Exile's Song (1996) · next Traitor's Sun (1999)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Darkover series
- sfadb: Marion Zimmer Bradley
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Matrix
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