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. The Darkoverans' still spacefaring Terran cousins rediscover them a few thousand years later and culture shock ensues as they try to become members of a galactic Imperial society. What worked for me: You may already know her as the author of "The Mists of Avalon" and "The Firebrand", but Marion Zimmer Bradley was also an excellent writer of science fiction as well. I got into the "Darkover" series as a teen and slurped them up quite eagerly. (Bear in mind these novels were written from the early 1960s onward, so some of them have a heavy dose of pro-woman thinking. But I can live with that, as there were no stories of this sort in that day and age. DARKOVER was groundbreaking when it came to putting women at the forefront of science fiction and fantasy novels instead of relegating them to the cast of supporting characters behind a "more capable" male protagonist.) Size-wise the women come in every shape, size, and ability.What didn't work for me: Opinion is divided as to how to sort out all these books. There are 20+ novels set in this world, but the author did not write them "in order". You can go to her home page and see both the publication order and the chronological order of the books and decide for yourself how to read them. If you choose to start with the chronologically earliest novel be forewarned it's good and will give you a great sense of background on the world, but it isn't the very best of the series so read a few more titles as well before making your decision about the universe of DARKOVER. (There lots of enjoyable short stories about this world as well, but I suggest reading at least a few novels before trying an anthology.) Overall: Princess Leia meets Xena Warrior Princess in this blend of science fiction and fantasy where laser pistol shootouts occur alongside sword fighting. A must-read for fans of those two genres.Warning: There are some references to homosexuality in some of the books.If you liked the Darkover series you might also enjoy "Cosm", "HomeGoing", "A Civil Campaign", "Memory", "Mirror Dance", "Channeling Cleopatra", "Time Pressure", "Ascendant Sun", "StarKissed", "Star-Crossed Lovers", or "Oracle".

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.

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 that I didn't want to put down until it was finished