Customer Reviews

The Winds of Darkover (Ace SF, 89253)

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The series of twenty-one novels and a dozen anthologies that sprawls across the history of human settlement on the planet of Darkover consists not of an ordered sequence of novels but of trilogies, duos and stand alones which weave in and out of each other, sometimes in direct conflict. This is one of the stand alones in this series, an aside from Darkovan events at large. Very few of the characters appear in or are even mentioned in any of the other novels, and this is not greatly dissapointing as it is definitely not one of the best Darkovan novels. The protagonist is a Terran who, being stationed on this primitive planet finds himself in service to one of the great lords of the Comyn, Valdir Alton. The contact between this Terran and another, Larry Montray (the foster-son of Valdir, due to events related in 'Star of Danger')is used typically by MZB as a platform from which to demonstrate Darkovan culture and explore the effects of culture shock - this technique of immerging a Terran in Darkovan nobility and standing back to watch the effects is one MZB uses in most of the novels set after recontact between Earth and its lost colony Darkover. It is quite slow getting into the story, but when it does it is quite a good rolic. It is a must read for devotees of the series but definitely not one to start on if unfamiliar with the series - The Heritage of Hastur or The Bloody Sun are probably the best to start on. Those more aware of the series will enjoy the brief contact with Larry Montray, destined to become uncle to Lew Alton, one of the most poignant and troubled characters of the whole series, and the focus on the Storn family, who are one of those families in the complex genealogies of the Comyn which receives little attention in the main novels. Particularly interesting for those who found Desideria Storn in 'The World Wreckers' a fascinating character. Perhaps the most interesting part of the novel for devotees though is the taboo broken by the Storn scion in order to obtain help from the Terran: he telepathically 'overshadows' him and takes control of his mind and body. Darkover is a society run by powerful telepaths and the observation of certain conventions, all of which utterly forbid such a maneuovre, is the only way to make such a society functional. This makes for interesting ramifications for all characters in the novel, and interesting explorations of conscience. The other bonus for those familiar with the series is the only excursion to the Dry Towns (except for the notable rescue in 'The Shattered Chain')in the whole series. However, these items of trivia for the fan are not enough to sustain a middling novel above a rating of three.

Dan Barron is a Terran who has spent 5 years working on Darkover. Like nearly all Terrans on Darkover, he has spent all of his time in the Terran Zone and not actually among native Darkovans (which is the way the ruling class of Darkover wants it). He is demoted after causing a nearly horrific accident at the Thendara Spaceport. It seems that Dan has been having "visions" where he suddenly finds himself in some castle somewhere, but he doesn't actually go anywhere. When this happens on the job, accidents can and do happen. While Dan is skilled at what he does, the accident was so severe that he can no longer be trusted to do his job. When the Darkovan Lord Valdir Alton requests a Terran to help teach and train Darkovans to grind glass for telescope and binocular lenses, the Terran Vice-Coordinator selects Dan to do the job. It is the only job that could keep Dan from being transferred off-planet.

One of the visions that Dan keeps having has to do with a young woman, red-haired, in chains, and covered with fire.

Since Darkover novels tend to be told from multiple perspectives (Terran and Darkovan), we are also told the story of the Storn family. Storn castle has been taken over by a bandit army and the Storns have been imprisoned. Lord Loran Storn, blind and nearly helpless, has protected himself with his laran (esp) power and has also sent his sister Melitta out to find help. Loran has also been trying to find a way to help his family himself, so he uses his laran to try to control someone and get the help the Storns need. That someone just happens to be Dan Barron.

Once again, as in the majority of the Darkover novels, "The Winds of Darkover" deals with the cultural differences between Terrans and the natives of Darkover and there is a Terran trying to assimilate to the new Darkovan culture. This is such a common theme that Bradley works with, but due to the nature of her world it is one that is necessary.

"The Winds of Darkover" feels more like a set-up novel than one that is telling a new story. It is world building. This story introduces Dan Barron to Darkover, but it also introduces something called the "Sharra Matrix" which will be important later in the series. The Sharra Matrix is powerful laran magic. It was outlawed years ago because it was viewed as "dangerous" and also "pagan" (of sorts). It can create powerful fire magic in the hands of a leronis (one who can command laran). "The Winds of Darkover" introduces this concept and a couple of others to our understanding of Darkover, but as a standalone novel it is not anything truly special. It builds on what we know of Darkover, but in the basics of the story it is one that Bradley has told several times set in Darkover.

By no means is this one of the best Darkover novels, though it is decent enough. "The Winds of Darkover" is one for fans of the series because it fills in some details and introduces a couple of characters and concepts that will be used later in the series, but unless you are trying to work your way through the entire series (as i am), this is one that you can easily skip. It is an average story (even for Darkover) with nothing to recommend it over some of the far superior Darkover novels (The Bloody Sun, The Forbidden Tower, Stormqueen).

-Joe Sherry

Among the native people of Darkover, even those outside the rule of the Comyn, certain taboos are strictly forbidden. In this society of telepaths, none must use their mental powers in order to shadow, or take over the mind and body, of another individual. Drastic times call for drastic measures, however, and the situation at High Windward, the outlying Castle of Storn, is indeed drastic. The stronghold has been breached and the family of Storn virtually imprisoned by a gang of ruffians. The oldest son and de facto head of the family, Loran, lies in a deathlike trance inside the high walls of the castle, protected by a magical force field; blind since birth and thus virtually powerless to stop the storming of the castle, he is not without magical recourse in his trancelike state. Eldric, his younger brother, is imprisoned in the dungeon. Allira, his timid sister, has been forcefully taken as a wife by the leader of the gang of bandits, but the younger Melitta has been given, at least temporarily, limited freedom of movement inside the walls of the castle. Alienated from the families of the Comyn on Darkover, Loran Storn has no one to call upon for aid. Taboo or not, his only hope is to search out another mind and engineer some kind of rescue mission through that person. The mind he finds is that of a Terran named Dan Barron.

Barron, after five years of unblemished service as a dispatcher at the Darkover Spaceport, finds himself in serious trouble after his dereliction of duty almost results in the crash of a landing spacecraft. He cannot tell his superiors what actually happened - that he had suddenly found himself lost in a vision of a world he did not know. Rather than being deported, he is assigned to teach lens crafting to a delegation of Darkovans, and so he ventures into the world outside the Terran zone for the first time. These sudden, all-encompassing visions continue to hit him without a moment's notice, and he begins to feel as if two people reside within his brain, as he seems to know things about Darkovan language and culture that he cannot possibly know. Eventually, this other person inside Barron takes full control of his mind and body, sending him on a desperate mission to a city he has no knowledge of; at the same time, Melitta follows the instructions of her entranced brother, escapes from the Castle of Storn, and makes her way to that same city. In this desperate rendezvous of sister and "brother" lies the only hope for the rescue of the Storn family. Dan Barron, as you might expect, takes on a less zombified role in the drama before all is said and done. Still, with no allies to call upon or available mercenaries to hire, Loran Storn's desperate gamble to save his family seems destined to fail until a most unlikely savior comes up with a plan, one involving the breaking of yet another Darkover taboo.

This relatively short novel stands alone quite well, but it also has its place in the context of the entire Darkover series. We meet Star of Danger's Larry Montray, in a relatively minor role here, and Desideria, an important character in the story of The Second Age of Darkover, makes her first appearance (in terms of the Darkover chronology) in these pages as a heroic young lady. Winds of change blowing in the kingdoms outside Comyn hegemony portend the sweeping changes evoked in the land as The First Age of contact with the Terrans draws to a close. Perhaps most significantly, we are witnesses to the rebirth of one of the forbidden weapons from the earlier Ages of Chaos, as the forbidden powers of the fire goddess Sharra are called upon for the first time in centuries.

Maybe reading the Darkover books in order of publication wasn't such a hot idea, after all. I'm now on the fifth one, and I'm not sure that I want to go much further. The Winds of Darkover is a clunky, sloppily edited story that lurches along to an improbable ending.

So why not just quit reading Darkover books now? Here's why I'm torn: I'm still impressed with the complex, interesting world that Zimmer Bradley has created. There are so many great stories to be told about it.

But the great stories aren't the ones being told so far.

Our protagonist, a guy from Earth named Barron, is kind of a small minded jerk. Not an interesting jerk, mind you, just your garden variety dude whose usual response to intrigue is, and I quote: "what the devil?"

The Winds of Darkover takes us on a journey with Barron as he is psychically manipulated, drawn against his will to save people who are being held captive after their castle is stormed and overtaken. He is unhappily pulled outside his comfortable, Earth-like spaceport home, and into Darkover proper, where he generally fumes about his situation.

Then he disappears for a good portion of the book, his personality completely subsumed under that of the force using him to save those prisoners. Maybe that force is the true protagonist. That's part of the problem, here. As readers, we're not sure whose story this is, and it never does become clear.

The story does move along fairly briskly -- this isn't a long book. But I never was able to connect with the skin-deep characters or to believe what was happening. It didn't help that poor editing leaves the reader with moments that stutter like a badly cut sitcom: you know when you see an actor showing a certain emotion, the camera angle changes, and the actor's expression is completely different? Yeah, like that, except in print. Small inconsistencies and really awkward sentences abound.

And the ending? Let's just say that Barron doesn't exactly develop so much as undergo an abrupt change of heart without a shred of plausibility.

If you want to try a couple of Darkover books, avoid this one and scan the reviews for something better. If you're a completist, well, The Winds of Darkover is readable enough. Speed through it, then move along, please -- there's nothing to see here.