Customer Reviews

Snows of darkover

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

 

 

This anthology contains stories that are mostly good, if not great, writing. But there is one of them that I must point out is decidedly NOT a canonical Darkover story; Ms. Bradley has always said that she doesn't necessarily consider stories in these anthologies to be canonical, but "Cradle of Lies", by Deborah Wheeler, is several orders of magnitude less canonical than most; in it, Ashara Alton is the chosen successor of Varzil the Good, and still a young and unproven keeper when he dies. This is distinctly NOT what we saw in Bradley's own novel, "Shadow Matrix", and although the story was well-written and interesting, I found the inconsistency distracting.

The rest of the stories are all interesting, of varying quality, but ranging from so-so to excellent; none of them were bad. Also, in her introduction to "Poetic License" by Mercedes Lackey, Bradley indicates that Lackey is her chosen heir to the Darkover series, a relevant and interesting fact now that Bradley is dead. I wonder if this also applies to the "Sword and Sorceress" series? I suppose we'll find out eventually.

The book was good, though, as with most anthologies, a bit uneven in talent. The stories seemed from different periods of Darkover's history, which could make it difficult to understand if you're not familiar with the world itself. Still it gave multifaceted views on some familiar characters and introduced well-rounded new ones. I can honestly say that there was no bad or boring story in the book, though this would not be a choice place to begin the series.

I started reading the Darkover series when I was in college many moons ago. I have kept every single book from the series and re-read them all every few years. Bradley is the type of writer where the stories become so real that you can step right in and live along with the characters. If you want pure entertainment with a hint of social commentary as part and parcel of the story then read every last one and be educated

I liked the Darkover shorts in this book and particulary liked a very short one called A Matter of Perception by Lena Gore.. I have never seen this author before but I very much liked her style.. I would like to see more... I think she has a good grasp of the vagaries of Darkover... I like the way she sort of yanked you back and forth until the very end... Good style..I wish Ms. Bradley had prompted her for more.