Darkover Landfall

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. ... Read Full Review

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,... Read Full Review

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.

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.

I have read many of the Darkover novels, and this one answers the questions of where the Darkovans came from and how the "Christoforos" came to be. It is also an interesting tale of how people survive crisis situations and get on with life when there is nothing else to do. The added bit with the chieri and the Ghost Wind bringing together some of the main characters and explaining their actions and motivations made it a book... Read Full Review