I'm a fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but my affection for her rests not on the Avalon books, which I didn't care for, but her Darkover series. Darkover is a "lost colony" of Earth that falls into a medieval society. Ruled by a psychic aristocracy, it is later rediscovered by a star-spanning high-tech human federation after centuries, giving the series a feel of both science fiction and fantasy. Most books in the series examine this culture clash and this book is no exception as it focuses on a Terran, Jeff Kerwin, returning to Darkover only to discover it's very much part of his heritage. The series as a whole features strong female characters, but it has enough swashbuckling adventure to draw the male of the species, and indeed this series was recommended to me by a guy (when we were in high school!)
Although some books are loosely connected, having characters in common, they were written to be read independently and were written out of sequence. This makes it difficult without a guide to know what story to start with, as MZB really didn't come into her own as a writer until the mid-seventies, and books published before that are among the weaker in the series. This book, although originally published early on in 1964, was however, later expanded and extensively rewritten in 1979. Make sure you get that later edition. If you do, than this makes a good entry point into a captivating series.
