Customer Reviews

The Darkover Concordance A Reader's Guide

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I hunted down this book used because I was desperate to read some commentary -- any commentary -- on Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series. When I found this, her ex-husband's work on the series, I was immensely disappointed.

"Darkover Concordance" is extremely outdated, to begin with. It was published sometime in the 1970's, and many Darkover books have been written since then. It contains reminders of the stormy relationship between Marion Bradley and Walter Breen -- almost every sentence of his harbors a tone of resentment.

And the commentary itself? Any drooling Darkover fanatic could have written a better work. Don't waste your time trying to hunt down this book -- it's obscure for a reason.

As an original owner of this book in the late 70's I have to say it was a real godsend (in those fresh years of MZB and her wonderful universe of new Darkover books)when any information on what made up this strange world was most welcome. It was not one of those 'professional flashly made books' made only for commercial endevour, but was a book made by a true fan and it's contents reflect that. Enjoy it for what it is was then and what it reflect now. It is a great addition to anyone out there that loves the Darkover universe and I for one would never part with my copy for love or money!!

P.S. I still drag this book out out and enjoy it's uniqueness time and time again, but for those expecting the superslick publications of say 'Star Wars fandom literature' may find this book a little bit antiquated.

The Darkover Concordance contains a lot of information about the universe of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover that is not available anywhere else. Much effort has been put into the etymology of the different languages, and it offers a good guide to pronunciation of Darkovan words and names, which is of great help for, for instance, live role players. Also fan writers may find this book a nice source. Apart from the concordance itself, it also contain several appendices, including proverbs, genealogies, and ballads.

The book does not contain much information about characters, events, places, etc., described in material published after 1979, which, of course, makes it incomplete as a guide.

However, only 5000 sewn paperbacks and 300 sewn cloth copies were made, and this makes this book a real treasure for any collector. 100 copies of the cloth version are numbered and signed by Breen, MZB herself (she wrote the foreword), and the illustrator, Melisa Michaels.

I am a lucky owner of a paperback copy, bought in Sweden in 1989 for the incredible sum of 30 Swedish kroner which in those days were worth about 3 US dollars...