Customer Reviews

Darkover Landfall

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Darkover novel.

Chronologically, this is the first Darkover novel. Here we are introduced to the founders of Darkover. We see how humans first came to the planet, and how they began to adapt to their new surroundings. Unlike many other fantasy series, humans were not created on Darkover, but rather there was a space ship on a trip to begin a colony on another planet when the ship had troubles and crashed on an uncharted planet. Granted, that is not a terribly original idea either, but the how Bradley treats the topic is very original, and very well done.

The crew is faced with the dilemma of whether to try to rebuild the ship (which will take several years at best) or to try to settle in and adapt on the unnamed planet (the planet does not get the name Darkover for at least a hundred years of its history). The crew and colonists are divided on this. Before anything else can be done there must be preliminary exploration of the planet so that they will be able to survive for as many years as necessary and also because if they are to be trapped on the planet for a while they must know what kind of planet it is.

We are given glimpses of an ESP power that will be refined throughout the series and are introduced to an alien (though native to Darkover) race. We are shown the Ghost Wind, which induces humans to release their inhibitions. ...

This novel serves as an introduction to Darkover (I believe it was the first novel in the series that I read years ago) as well as an important time in the history of Darkover (obviously, it is the founding). Darkover Landfall may not be the best novel in the series, but it provided enough interest for me to want to read more in the series.

Heroines: varied

Colonists journeying to a new home make an emergency landing on an inhospitable planet and are stranded there. The once technologically advanced people regress to a medieval type of feudalism but acquire some impressive psi powers along the way thanks to intermarrying with the planet's natives, a large supply of a psychic ability boosting flower called Kireseth, and matrix crystals.

The Darkoverans' still spacefaring Terran cousins rediscover them a few thousand years later and culture shock ensues as they try to become members of a galactic Imperial society.

What worked for me:

You may already know her as the author of "The Mists of Avalon" and "The Firebrand", but Marion Zimmer Bradley was also an excellent writer of science fiction as well. I got into the "Darkover" series as a teen and slurped them up quite eagerly. (Bear in mind these novels were written from the early 1960s onward, so some of them have a heavy dose of pro-woman thinking. But I can live with that, as there were no stories of this sort in that day and age. DARKOVER was groundbreaking when it came to putting women at the forefront of science fiction and fantasy novels instead of relegating them to the cast of supporting characters behind a "more capable" male protagonist.)

Size-wise the women come in every shape, size, and ability.

What didn't work for me:

Opinion is divided as to how to sort out all these books. There are 20+ novels set in this world, but the author did not write them "in order". You can go to her home page and see both the publication order and the chronological order of the books and decide for yourself how to read them. If you choose to start with the chronologically earliest novel be forewarned it's good and will give you a great sense of background on the world, but it isn't the very best of the series so read a few more titles as well before making your decision about the universe of DARKOVER. (There lots of enjoyable short stories about this world as well, but I suggest reading at least a few novels before trying an anthology.)

Overall:
Princess Leia meets Xena Warrior Princess in this blend of science fiction and fantasy where laser pistol shootouts occur alongside sword fighting. A must-read for fans of those two genres.

Warning: There are some references to homosexuality in some of the books.

If you liked the Darkover series you might also enjoy "Cosm", "HomeGoing", "A Civil Campaign", "Memory", "Mirror Dance", "Channeling Cleopatra", "Time Pressure", "Ascendant Sun", "StarKissed", "Star-Crossed Lovers", or "Oracle".

I recommend that a new reader of science fiction in general or of Marion Zimmer Bradley begin with this book, since it is chronologically the first Darkover novel. The series is my all time favorite, closely followed by the Riverworld series of Pilip Jose Farmer and the Dune Series. Anyway, the best book of all is "The Heritage of Hastur" but they are all terrific. MZB liked "The Heritage of Hastur" best, herself, I remember reading somewhere. This is a REAL science fiction series, not a fantasy series, and it is the best of the best.

This book, chronologically the first in the Darkover series, is more science fiction oriented than the others. It tells a fascinating story of the survivors of a shipwreck on the planet Darkover. The crew faces the problems of dealing with new lifeforms and their effects on humans and meet with the mysterious Ghost Wind, a strange force which affects their emotional states. Very short ( an evening's read) as novels go, it is a good introduction to Bradley, her Darkover series and would serve as a good intro to science fiction in general.

I'd never read any other Darkover novels and I thought this one was great. It really got my interest and now I'm totally hooked. If you want a series that'll draw you in, start here.

Really, that's my only serious complaint about the book. I would have liked to see MZB spend more time on the founding of what became Darkover. Given that I haven't become bored with Darkover books more than twice as long (Stormqueen! comes to mind, for example), she obviously would have been capable of it. Also, in the short novel with a teeny little 14-years-later epilogue, we're presented with at least as large of an ensemble cast as the one found in Stormqueen!, and I couldn't develop the same amount of affection for the characters because there just wasn't TIME. I would have loved to know more about Judy and her daughter Lori, or about what Father Valentine did after initially beginning his "penance," but it just wasn't there.

That depressed me.

Otherwise, the book is quite good. I particularly enjoyed the evolution of the names that become important in later novels. (Del Rey becomes Delleray, New Skye becomes Neskaya, etc.)

I started with the later books of the series and always wondered how the humans came across their matrixes. Then I found this book. It was great, it filled in a lot of details. Like what really happened in Darkover's beginning, not just the myths that you read about in the later stories. If you've never read MZB before, start with this one. If you have read her before, read this anyways.

The book has a mildly entertaining plot and Darkover has a lot of potential as story material, but Darkover Landfall fails to rise beyond mere entertainment to achieve any real literary value. Characters are barely developed, narrative is stilted and predictable, and the story lacks any philosophical or spiritual depth.

In a refreshing departure from her previous Darkover entries, Marion Zimmer Bradley takes us back to the first human presence on the planet. A ship containing colonists from Earth crash lands on Darkover, and its crew struggles -- first, to repair the ship -- and then, just to survive.
Bradley creates an interesting dynamic here. A schism develops among the survivors. Some would bring their Earth technology, culture and religion to Darkover... to remain in their comfort zone. Others feel that Darkover represents a new beginning, and that what was developed on Earth, was developed for Earth and should be let go.
This was a thought-provoking look at Darkover's distant past, and if you've read Bradley's earlier books (I'm taking them on in order of publication), you'll notice that all sorts of connections to the future of the planet are scattered throughout.
Some of the book feels a bit dated, as one of the ship's "subcultures" feels suspiciously like it's made up of residents of a hippie commune. (They're the only characters in the book who end their sentences like this one, man!) And as with every Darkover book I've read so far, the characters lack a certain depth. They never come alive; I don't miss them when I finish the book.
Still, Darkover Landfall is one of the best Darkover books I've read to date.

Darkover Landfall goes back 2,000 years to the original Terran ship that crashes on Cottman IV (Darkover). Good background book to read before you immerse yourself in the Darkover Universe