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4.0 out of 5 stars
A fast-paced, highly enjoyable Darkovan adventure, May 18 2004
With Star of Danger (1965), I take my first footsteps into Marion Zimmer Bradley's legendary world of Darkover. While this particular story is far removed from the earliest chronicles of Darkover, taking place during the First Age (the era in which the Terran Empire rediscovered Darkover for the first time), it makes for an easy introduction to this strange and beautiful world. Star of Danger reads much like a juvenile novel of the type Heinlein perfected in the 1940s and 1950s. This does not mean the novel is not a magical read for adults - because it is. At the same time, however, it is filled with the type of youthful adventure and soul-stirring excitement that members of the younger generation can take great delight in. The protagonists are two teenaged boys standing on the cusp of adulthood, natives of two different cultures coming together for the unplanned-for adventure of a lifetime.Young Terran Larry Montray is thrilled at the prospect of leaving Earth and moving to the exotic planet Darkover with his father, for he has long dreamed of experiencing space flight and embarking on adventures in alien lands. He is so excited that he studies the peculiar Darkovan language and learns how to read and communicate with the insular inhabitants of his planet-to-be. When he arrives on the planet, however, he is met with great disappointment; not allowed to explore the local area, he finds life in the Trade Cities no different from his life back on earth. Gradually, he talks his father into giving him more freedom, and he is surprised and gratified to discover that many of the local inhabitants mistake him for one of their own thanks to his red hair and knowledge of their language. The "backwards" Darkovans do not trust the Terrans, afraid of the type of change Earthmen will bring to their traditional, highly structured society, but Larry soon makes friends with a young Darkovan aristocrat named Kennard Alton. Larry is given the unprecedented opportunity of spending several months with the Altons in the countryside, but this great adventure soon becomes a life-threatening one. If Larry and Kennard are going to survive the series of ordeals thrown at them in these pages (which include ambushes, deadly forest fires, capture, physical ordeals, and the threat of deadly Banshees), their bond of friendship must hold steady, and they must both learn from and defer to one another's very different strengths. Culture clashes are inevitable, but a spirit of understanding and friendship can not only lead them to safety, it may also serve as the beginning of a bridge between their two different, yet related, peoples. Star of Danger is not a very long novel, and its action-packed plot is just the type of thing needed to get a youngster excited about the joys of reading; a few lessons on sharing and mutual understanding and respect also might pay dividends. This is not technically a juvenile novel, but it very well could be. Exciting yet meaningful, Star of Danger is a fast-paced science fiction adventure for all ages.
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