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The Planet Savers & The Sword of Aldones (Darkover #19-20)
These two short novels are a welcome addition to any SF fan's library. The Planet Savers, the first Darkover novel, introduces the reader to the now legendary world of Gottman IV. The Winds of Darkover, also an early novel in the series, reveals the awesome and terrifying powers of the infamous Sharra Matrix.
Paperback, 0 pages
Published
January 15th 1984
by Ace Books
(first published 1962)
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My edition of this book (I gather it's been reprinted several times in different configurations) contains four separate works: two short novels (The Planet Savers and The Sword of Aldones), a short story (The Waterfall), and a non-fiction essay titled A Darkover Retrospective.
The two novels were very early works by Zimmer Bradley, and the first two published stories (1962) set on the fictional planet of Darkover, a feudal aristocracy ruled by a caste of hereditary telepaths. The Sword of Aldones...more
The two novels were very early works by Zimmer Bradley, and the first two published stories (1962) set on the fictional planet of Darkover, a feudal aristocracy ruled by a caste of hereditary telepaths. The Sword of Aldones...more
[These notes were made in 1984:]. My sister left this double-bill behind her and it was my undoing, sending me on a tremendous Zimmer Bradley kick. The Planet Savers is a short and very early (in order of writing) novel which takes place in the young manhood of Regis (Danilo, alas, is nowhere to be found). Central character is Jay-Jason Allison, a Terran doctor whose repressed "other" personality is released so that he can go among the Trailmen, who brought him up, and find a cure for the diseas...more
Jan 17, 2011
Valerie
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Well, sort of, anyway. I don't seem to have ever had a copy of this edition. The Planet Savers probably falls between Sharra's Exile and The World Wreckers in terms of chronology. It stars Regis Hastur, still young but already
white-haired. The crisis is an outbreak of Trailmen's fever, which has apparently been a serious problem intermittently all along.
I don't think I read The Sword of Aldones. Probably I started it, realized it was essentially the same story as in Heritage of Hastur and Sharr...more
white-haired. The crisis is an outbreak of Trailmen's fever, which has apparently been a serious problem intermittently all along.
I don't think I read The Sword of Aldones. Probably I started it, realized it was essentially the same story as in Heritage of Hastur and Sharr...more
This book was confusing as hell. I never anticipated any of the twists and turns despite all the valiant efforts at foreshadowing which are evident, now, in hindsight. The main character behaved so erratically…no, all the characters were written so erratically that I dismissed many of Bradley’s efforts at foreshadowing as madness on the part of the main character (though whether due to head trauma or a chemical imbalance of the brain—I couldn’t venture a guess). I don’t at all grok the governmen...more
I'm a fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but my affection for her rests not on the Avalon books, which I didn't care for, but her Darkover series. Darkover is a "lost colony" of Earth that falls into a medieval society. Ruled by a psychic aristocracy it is later rediscovered by a star-spanning high-tech human federation after centuries, giving the series a feel of both science fiction and fantasy. The series as a whole features strong female characters, but it has enough swashbuckling adventure to dr...more
The first two Darkover novels! The first is a pretty short 'save the planet' adventure story (well-named, isn't it?); the second is the original version of what eventually became Sharra's Exile. These books move swiftly, worry not at all about continuity, and are fantastic fun reads so long as one doesn't take them too seriously. They don't fit into the later Darkover chronology or worldbuilding at all, so just shrug when you read about regular planet-wide epidemics and enjoy the ride.
I last read the Darkover books (as many as there were at that time) 25 years ago, and I remember, even then, that I thought these first early novels were rather messy. They are, but there is some stuff here that is still compelling. Clearly these two works, especially _The Sword of Aldones,_ are works of a journeyman writer who has not yet mastered her craft, but they do contain the seeds for what would become, in time, one of the great science fiction series ever written. And, frankly, despite...more
I've read only the Planet Savers, plus it was in omnibus editon with The Winds of Darkover. This particular book is somewhat interesting take on Darkover, due to the main character who is schizophrenic and also because of heavy presence of Trailmen, another Darkovan race that wasn't heard about since Landfall.
Gobbling up MZB 'Darkover' books like candy bars. These were short enough to read in an evening and a complete shift in POV from the others I'd already read.
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Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook.
Born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression, she began writing in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex magazine in 1952. In 1965 Bradley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Te...more
More about Marion Zimmer Bradley...
Born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression, she began writing in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex magazine in 1952. In 1965 Bradley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Te...more
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