Traitor's Sun
core novel 1999 Darkover
Record
| First published | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.96 (2,372 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 544 |
| First-edition ISBN | 0886778107 |
Synopsis
When the aging Regis Hastur dies and the Comyn gather for his state funeral, young Nico Hastur stumbles onto evidence of a plot to ambush the assembled Comyn leadership during the ceremony itself, a plan meant to decapitate Darkover's government at its most vulnerable moment. Terran operatives disguised among a traveling theatrical troupe work to destabilize the planet from within, spreading propaganda intended to erode Darkovan confidence in independence even as the conspirators prepare a direct military strike. As Nico and the remaining Comyn scramble to expose the plotters in time, the Comyn find themselves defending their world on two fronts at once, against both armed assault and a calculated campaign to convince Darkover it cannot survive outside the Terran Federation.
Where it sits
- Universe: Darkover
- Series: Darkover core; position 22 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 22 of 22: previous The Shadow Matrix (1998)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Darkover series
- sfadb: Marion Zimmer Bradley
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor%27s_Sun
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