Customer Reviews

Darkover Landfall

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

 

 

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.

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.)

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.

This is the first Darkover book I read (about 5 years ago), and it got me hooked. I read about a dozen of them, then moved on the some of MZBs newer books. This one is definately not the best of the series, but it is a very intriging introduction to what comes later on the planet Darkover. Start with this one to get some backgound, then move into some of the other early ones, which are great!

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.

Short and sweet? Hey I guess this book is a necessary evil, we need to know how humans got to Darkover in the first place. I had to many issues with this book, especially with the cheri. So they boinked a human and now we have Hastur's? And Father Valentine, I'm still not sure whether I liked the fact that he was sexually repressed (like most preists) or hated him because he was the founding spiritual leader (St. Valentine of the Snows?) And I really didn't care for any of the characters. This book must've been written by a "Freind of Darkover" because it lacked depth. Alright "Salt" was a really good "FoD" story. If you feel like you have to read this book.

I read this one and thought it was pretty good...though at some times I was kind of confused...but now I've read most of the Darkover books and know what they're talking about.

A group of Terrans landed on a planet called Darkover. They discovered creatures that were new to them, such as fireants and new plants that create spots! Humanity on this planet is unknown as far as they know. They want to learn as much as they possibly can. One woman speaks with an alien and finds that the alien is smart and gifted with special powers.Then the Ghost Wind comes and they can't control themselves. A few people find stones that are to be discovered years from now as a matrix. The things these people go through are amazing, but can they handle the consquences that come with that?

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

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.