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Darkover (Publication Order) #1
The Planet Savers
Originally published in Amazing Stories in November 1958, The Planet Savers was the very first Darkover novel to see print. It was here that readers first encountered the now legendary world of Cottman IV, at a time when the Terrans were desperately seeking a cure for a disease of epidemic proportions that threatened the lives of Darkovans and Terrans alike.The Planet Savers introduced many readers to the wondrous world of the red sun, and it remains today a powerful evocation of the magic and mystery of Darkover.
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1958
108 people are currently reading
1770 people want to read
About the author
Marion Zimmer Bradley
799 books4,862 followersMarion 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.
Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.
Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.
Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.
Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.
For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.
Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.
Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.
Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.
(from Wikipedia)
Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.
Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.
Her 1958 story The Planet Savers introduced the planet of Darkover, which became the setting of a popular series by Bradley and other authors. The Darkover milieu may be considered as either fantasy with science fiction overtones or as science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover is a lost earth colony where psi powers developed to an unusual degree. Bradley wrote many Darkover novels by herself, but in her later years collaborated with other authors for publication; her literary collaborators have continued the series since her death.
Bradley took an active role in science-fiction and fantasy fandom, promoting interaction with professional authors and publishers and making several important contributions to the subculture.
For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies, continuing to encourage submissions from unpublished authors, but this ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction.
Bradley was also the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including male authors in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death in September of 1999.
Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books; like the Darkover series, the later novels are written with or by other authors and have continued to appear after Bradley's death.
Her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
September 24, 2019
there is a marvelously entertaining short story that is contained within Planet Savers: a mission into the dangerous wilderness of an alien world to beg for help from the enigmatic, arboreal "Trailsmen" in combating a deadly epidemic. this story has a sociopathic doctor of parasitology whose revolting personality has been switched off to allow another personality - an adventurous, open-minded young man - to emerge and lead the expedition. the two personalities of course despise each other, which leads to a fun scene where the misanthropic doctor self briefly emerges to take care of some medical matters, and another more questionable scene when the doctor emerges to say and think various cynical things before being quickly banished by the wholesome power of some good old fashioned fucking. ah, split personalities... always a fun plot device! possibly less fun for the split personality itself though.
this would be an easy 3 star book but man it was kinda torturous getting to the fun parts. so much sloppy logic and cringeworthy dialogue to deal with before the adventure, ugh. and then the adventure itself is much too short. still, I will give the likewise schizophrenically minded Bradley her due: this was her first novel in the lengthy Darkover series and it is brisk, tight, and competently written - at least after that terrible opening - with none of the bloat that would plague her later novels. all of the things that would come to fascinate her are present: Othering; emotional blockage that damages but also creates powerful abilities; independent women that don't need no man but aren't necessarily against them; psychic abilities; the tensions that can exist between radically different cultures (in this case both human versus Trailsmen and Darkover human versus Terran human). unfortunately I don't recall her returning to explore much more about the fascinating (and rather adorable) Trailsmen, which is a shame. I guess tortured psychodrama replaced xenoanthropology in her interests.
this would be an easy 3 star book but man it was kinda torturous getting to the fun parts. so much sloppy logic and cringeworthy dialogue to deal with before the adventure, ugh. and then the adventure itself is much too short. still, I will give the likewise schizophrenically minded Bradley her due: this was her first novel in the lengthy Darkover series and it is brisk, tight, and competently written - at least after that terrible opening - with none of the bloat that would plague her later novels. all of the things that would come to fascinate her are present: Othering; emotional blockage that damages but also creates powerful abilities; independent women that don't need no man but aren't necessarily against them; psychic abilities; the tensions that can exist between radically different cultures (in this case both human versus Trailsmen and Darkover human versus Terran human). unfortunately I don't recall her returning to explore much more about the fascinating (and rather adorable) Trailsmen, which is a shame. I guess tortured psychodrama replaced xenoanthropology in her interests.
February 10, 2013
Reading The Colors of Space made me immediately want to read something else by Marion Zimmer Bradley. In reading about her, I found myself intrigued by her "Darkover" series of which I kept finding mention. In researching it, it turns out to be an ever-expanding tree of books, stories, and fan fiction such that I couldn't figure out what to read first. If you read the books in the order that she wrote them, you'd not be reading them chronologically because she wrote prequels here or branched off on storyline tangents there. While some books of tangent series withing the series are available on Kindle, others are only available as brittle used paperbacks.
So what is the series about? Hmm ... well ... it seems to take place on a planet called Darkover. There are apparently immigrants there from earth as well as 2 types of natives of the planet. One variety of natives are human while the others, the "trailmen", are evolutionarily still living in the trees. There also seems to be some people on the planet that have developed long- and short-distance telepathy.
The series sucked me in with it's futuristic human civilization living on another planet, its Jeckyll/Hyde character, its impending plague, its mountain-climbing adventure, and its tree-dwelling almost-human native population. We have our hero (as a Mr. Hyde-type) leading a mountaineering expedition to convince the trailmen to help our hero's alter ego create a vaccine for a plague that decimates the human population every 48 years but for which the trailmen are immune.
Despite fantasy not really being my genre of choice, I found the book enjoyable. The telepathy part was understated enough not to seem silly. The evolutionarily-behind trailmen were intriguing. And the adventure parts of the novel were interesting. While there wasn't really any one character or storyline that I feel the need to revisit, I am left wondering more about the planet of Darkover in general. And you have to admit that "the Darkover series" sounds like something that would be intriguing just because she's named the planet well.
So, will I read more? Well, the problem is both ebook availability and knowing where in the world to go from here. While this particular book is the first book that author wrote that is set on the Darkover planet, it is chronologically the 3rd in this particular tangent series within the series. I could start with Book 1 in this tangent series, The Bloody Sun (the 3rd book she actually wrote), but it's not available on Kindle and Book 2 of this tangent series within the series, (The Heritage of Hastur), is only available on Kindle packaged with another book. Or ... I could start with Darkover Landfall which is chronologically the first book of the entire series. But, alas, it's not available on Kindle either. So I really don't know where to go from here if I want to start reading the series since none of the obvious starting places are really available. However, the book that the author wrote immediately after writing this one (The Sword of Aldones) is available on Kindle. Although I can't say that it looks terribly interesting. Meh. We'll see. I'm not sucked in enough that I can't quit while I'm ahead, but I am still curious.
Hmm ... someone's purchased the rights to turn the series into a television series. That may be easier in the long run that running down all the tangents of the book series.
So what is the series about? Hmm ... well ... it seems to take place on a planet called Darkover. There are apparently immigrants there from earth as well as 2 types of natives of the planet. One variety of natives are human while the others, the "trailmen", are evolutionarily still living in the trees. There also seems to be some people on the planet that have developed long- and short-distance telepathy.
The series sucked me in with it's futuristic human civilization living on another planet, its Jeckyll/Hyde character, its impending plague, its mountain-climbing adventure, and its tree-dwelling almost-human native population. We have our hero (as a Mr. Hyde-type) leading a mountaineering expedition to convince the trailmen to help our hero's alter ego create a vaccine for a plague that decimates the human population every 48 years but for which the trailmen are immune.
Despite fantasy not really being my genre of choice, I found the book enjoyable. The telepathy part was understated enough not to seem silly. The evolutionarily-behind trailmen were intriguing. And the adventure parts of the novel were interesting. While there wasn't really any one character or storyline that I feel the need to revisit, I am left wondering more about the planet of Darkover in general. And you have to admit that "the Darkover series" sounds like something that would be intriguing just because she's named the planet well.
So, will I read more? Well, the problem is both ebook availability and knowing where in the world to go from here. While this particular book is the first book that author wrote that is set on the Darkover planet, it is chronologically the 3rd in this particular tangent series within the series. I could start with Book 1 in this tangent series, The Bloody Sun (the 3rd book she actually wrote), but it's not available on Kindle and Book 2 of this tangent series within the series, (The Heritage of Hastur), is only available on Kindle packaged with another book. Or ... I could start with Darkover Landfall which is chronologically the first book of the entire series. But, alas, it's not available on Kindle either. So I really don't know where to go from here if I want to start reading the series since none of the obvious starting places are really available. However, the book that the author wrote immediately after writing this one (The Sword of Aldones) is available on Kindle. Although I can't say that it looks terribly interesting. Meh. We'll see. I'm not sucked in enough that I can't quit while I'm ahead, but I am still curious.
Hmm ... someone's purchased the rights to turn the series into a television series. That may be easier in the long run that running down all the tangents of the book series.
June 2, 2016
This was pretty ok! It was short and competent, if not the MOST good. Could've used a little less 60's and a little more Making Sense. Kinda felt like there was too much time spent on non-essential plot (crossing a river) at the expense of essential plot (weird split personality stuff.) If you've only got 91 pages, use them a little more economically.
February 15, 2020
Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 2/5
Talent shines through what is otherwise a very constrained novella. Bradley clearly is capable, but the 1950s magazine issue from which this was originally issued was not. The author knows the elements of a good story but also the trapping which are necessary for audiences looking for a quick thrill. Unwilling to jettison the good components, Bradley puts in the beneficial along with the demanded, giving us the provoking science fiction idea (this one having to do with psychology), the adventure (truncating and hurrying it), the romance (shoving it forcefully in regardless of fit), and the description of life and people on a faraway planet (sprinkling it lightly, only whetting the appetite), all in 91 pages. Given what all is in the book, Bradley does an amazing job pacing what is there, but ultimately even her efforts at tempering the excess could not pleasantly or fully develop the story in that short of a space.
I thought of and compared this with Ursula K. Le Guin’s first novel Rocannon’s World as I was reading. Both Bradley and Le Guin are now respected, women science fiction authors who had their beginnings in the 1950s and 1960s and who went on to write well-known series. Rocannon’s World was the first of nine Hainish novels and The Planet Savers is the first of what went on to be forty-plus book series. Of the two, I thought The Planet Savers was the better. It might have been stuffed too full for the meager page count, but it was not pulp science fiction and attended more to the science fiction than the swashbuckling. It is also the earlier of the two written, published as a novel in 1958 whereas Rocannon’s World would reach print in 1966. Both, however, have to be appreciated in the context in which they were written. Neither are good books in any objective sense. Considering the format, the time, and the other works being written around them, though, one can find some merit in The Planet Savers, and I look forward to reading more from the Darkover series.
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 2/5
Talent shines through what is otherwise a very constrained novella. Bradley clearly is capable, but the 1950s magazine issue from which this was originally issued was not. The author knows the elements of a good story but also the trapping which are necessary for audiences looking for a quick thrill. Unwilling to jettison the good components, Bradley puts in the beneficial along with the demanded, giving us the provoking science fiction idea (this one having to do with psychology), the adventure (truncating and hurrying it), the romance (shoving it forcefully in regardless of fit), and the description of life and people on a faraway planet (sprinkling it lightly, only whetting the appetite), all in 91 pages. Given what all is in the book, Bradley does an amazing job pacing what is there, but ultimately even her efforts at tempering the excess could not pleasantly or fully develop the story in that short of a space.
I thought of and compared this with Ursula K. Le Guin’s first novel Rocannon’s World as I was reading. Both Bradley and Le Guin are now respected, women science fiction authors who had their beginnings in the 1950s and 1960s and who went on to write well-known series. Rocannon’s World was the first of nine Hainish novels and The Planet Savers is the first of what went on to be forty-plus book series. Of the two, I thought The Planet Savers was the better. It might have been stuffed too full for the meager page count, but it was not pulp science fiction and attended more to the science fiction than the swashbuckling. It is also the earlier of the two written, published as a novel in 1958 whereas Rocannon’s World would reach print in 1966. Both, however, have to be appreciated in the context in which they were written. Neither are good books in any objective sense. Considering the format, the time, and the other works being written around them, though, one can find some merit in The Planet Savers, and I look forward to reading more from the Darkover series.
October 18, 2021
Il primo libro in ordine di pubblicazione della saga di Darkover non mi ha entusiasmato; mi è parso una bozza di quello che si dipanerà negli altri libri. È un testo breve che non si focalizza su nessun aspetto particolare del mondo di Darkover. Non spiacevole, però mi ha dato la sensazione del compitino svolto bene ma che non lascia troppe tracce una volta conclusa la lettura.
May 24, 2025
Nice good read. Feels like more of a proof of concept book than an actual story. Feels a bit unfinished. The pacing of the story is a bit weird and the dialogue strange at points. That being said I enjoyed the characters in this book. Looking forward to reading more.
December 10, 2015
This consists of a novella called "The Planet Savers," with a bonus short story called "The Waterfall." Both are set on the planet Darkover. I liked them both quite a lot. Both are well written. In "The Planet Savers," a psychologically repressed young man must embrace what he thinks of as his bad side in order to lead a group into the mountains to contact the "Trailmen," who aren't quite human. From that contact, they hope to find a cure for a plague that periodically ravages the planet. The young man is the ideal one to go because he actually lived with the Trailmen as a child, but as a repressed adult he doesn't have any detailed memories of that time.
"The Waterfall" is a very simple story about a young girl discovering a power within herself. It isn't what you might think. This was quite a brutal and disturbing story but certainly held my interest.
"The Waterfall" is a very simple story about a young girl discovering a power within herself. It isn't what you might think. This was quite a brutal and disturbing story but certainly held my interest.
December 2, 2022
The First book of (the seemingly neverending) Darkover Series. I have to say while I like reading series in order I hope that some of the following books make the series worth the reading. This book was mild and while it had some interesting premises going, didn't delve into any of them with any real attention to detail. It was an okay read but I didn't find it anything special.
January 1, 2013
Let’s face it; Darkover is just a cool name for a planet. If we ever discover a planet that could be habitable, we should definitely call it Darkover. It is just that cool. That said, I had no idea what to expect from “The Planet Savers.” (And really, it is more like a novella. It is very short.) I’d just found it recommended on a sci-fi list somewhere, saw it available for cheap, and downloaded it.
And I was glad I did. It was a quick read, and served as a pretty good initiation to Bradley’s style and world. (This is the first book of hers I’ve read.)
What I liked most about the book was the dual identity aspect of the main character. The idea that a person’s personality is so guided by their experiences and choices that at some point in their life they would be unrecognizable to the person they were at a younger age, or the person they could have been had they chosen a different path—great, great stuff. For that alone, I think “The Planet Savers” is worth checking out.
Great premise, good characterizations, solid writing. In fact, it wasn’t until I almost finished the book that I realized the author was mixing first and third person points-of-view. The execution was so seamless, and so in tune with the story, I barely noticed. Altogether, a story worth reading.
**The e-Version I read was passable, but the formatting could’ve been better. Be sure to download a sample of the book before you buy! **
And I was glad I did. It was a quick read, and served as a pretty good initiation to Bradley’s style and world. (This is the first book of hers I’ve read.)
What I liked most about the book was the dual identity aspect of the main character. The idea that a person’s personality is so guided by their experiences and choices that at some point in their life they would be unrecognizable to the person they were at a younger age, or the person they could have been had they chosen a different path—great, great stuff. For that alone, I think “The Planet Savers” is worth checking out.
Great premise, good characterizations, solid writing. In fact, it wasn’t until I almost finished the book that I realized the author was mixing first and third person points-of-view. The execution was so seamless, and so in tune with the story, I barely noticed. Altogether, a story worth reading.
**The e-Version I read was passable, but the formatting could’ve been better. Be sure to download a sample of the book before you buy! **
December 19, 2022
I'd vaguely heard of Darkover before this, but have never read any of it. However, I'm visiting my dad for Xmas and this is on his shelves, so I gave it a go. It was alright. There was, it must be said, a deeply unconvincing romance that added absolutely nothing to the plot, and seemed to exist solely to insert a single female character into the text. I also expected, from the blurb, a much stronger emphasis on medicine, as I got the impression that this was a book about a plague. And it is, but much more of the focus here is travel and identity: a doctor's repressed personality is brought to the fore (and periodically buried again) as that repressed self is better able to endure the physical and emotional rigours of travel to ask for help from an isolated culture. Nice idea, basically adequate execution.
Included at the end of this particular edition is an unrelated short story, "The Waterfall." It's unreservedly dreadful, and book would be stronger without it.
Included at the end of this particular edition is an unrelated short story, "The Waterfall." It's unreservedly dreadful, and book would be stronger without it.
June 13, 2017
Long,long ago and far away....I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels. (You might be familiar with her as the author of Mists of Avalon.) I could always find them at a paperback and comic book trade store in town. As a result, I read them as I found them with no particular attention to either the chronological order of the story nor to the publication date. The author claimed each book stood on its own; this was not a series, but rather books that shared characters and locales, but did not necessarily build on each other.
This book is one of several I'm pretty sure I missed. It was a quick read and brought back many good memories of stealing some reading time while the kids were napping. (Those kids are now 42, 38, and 34 with their own kids!)
This book is one of several I'm pretty sure I missed. It was a quick read and brought back many good memories of stealing some reading time while the kids were napping. (Those kids are now 42, 38, and 34 with their own kids!)
June 23, 2021
First story of Darkover. A pandemic threatens both Terran and Darkovans, and the key to a solution lies in the high mountains, among a people who are alien, and who likely do not have the humanity to offer their assistance. An expedition sets out to face uncertain dangers to try to negotiate with them. A number of the essential elements of Darkovan society are already in place, although a few like the status of Renunciates would be expanded on in future volumes.
June 15, 2024
La storia prende subito. Per il resto, seppur concettualmente interessante, è stato un po' meh: segue molto il protagonista, ma avrei preferito un approfondimento di Darkover. Mi ha messo però curiosità su quello che succederà nei seguiti
May 28, 2017
Great story, and even if you're not familiar with the Darkover world, it's an enjoyable read.
I love Marion Zimmer Bradley, ever since I read the Firebrand at the age of 13, and suddenly the whole Achilles-myth made sense (his un-herioc action of draging Hector's body around Troy was due to mental illness. Read the book, the whole Trojan war will make sense).
The Planet Savers is set on Darkover, a far-away planet and home to a whole lot of her stories.
I love how she's able to marry hard sci-fi (represented by the Terrans) and high fantasy (the Hasturs come to mind imediately), create an engaging story and raise a lot of (still-relevant) sociological questions at the same time...
Like most of her stories, it's also heavy on (para)psychology, bit in nice, bite-size elements.
I love Marion Zimmer Bradley, ever since I read the Firebrand at the age of 13, and suddenly the whole Achilles-myth made sense (his un-herioc action of draging Hector's body around Troy was due to mental illness. Read the book, the whole Trojan war will make sense).
The Planet Savers is set on Darkover, a far-away planet and home to a whole lot of her stories.
I love how she's able to marry hard sci-fi (represented by the Terrans) and high fantasy (the Hasturs come to mind imediately), create an engaging story and raise a lot of (still-relevant) sociological questions at the same time...
Like most of her stories, it's also heavy on (para)psychology, bit in nice, bite-size elements.
June 6, 2017
This is the first work of fiction set in Darkover ever, and you can tell. The background isn't very worked out, though the basics are in place. Darkover has multiple moons, it's under the rule of the Hasturs with Regis Hastur as the current leader, and the Darkovans have "parapsych" powers. The words Comyn and laran are not mentioned anywhere. The Free Amazons exist. There are trailmen, though they are nonhuman only in the most basic sense, being mostly aliens of the rubber forehead variety and otherwise being pretty similar to humans. They have the same basic attitudes and can be easily reasoned with. They even respect the Hasturs and Regis knows their language.
Alright, that's all weird but fine, but that's not why I rated this two stars. That's because there were two major problems with the book that are integral to its structure and plot that I just couldn't get past.
Problem One: Trailman's fever reappears every 48 years and has an 87% mortality rate.
You can probably see the math problem here. An 87% mortality rate for a disease that comes back every two generations isn't just a tragedy, it is a civilization-ending cyclical disaster. There is no reason to expect that there would be any Darkovan civilization at all for the Terrans to find if that was what they had to put up with. Unless the average Darkovan family was like 15+ children, anyway. Breed like rabbits during boom times, then everyone dies. There wouldn't be any cities because they'd get wiped out every fifty years. It'd be a planet of hunter-gatherers, if that.
Trailman's fever is a good example of how details something make things worse. Just let the reader imagine how deadly it is.
Problem Two: The main character has multiple personalities, and not only does it change his actions, but also his appearance to the point where people who know one personality can't recognize the other.
I'm sorry, what?
This is about as weird as Cherillys' Law and the way that means that there are people who look exactly the same who grew up on different planets. Jay and Jason Allison have different life experiences and different personalities, but also different chronological ages, or at least different appearances of aging. They don't like each other, but one is in first person and one is in third person, so it's obvious who the hero is. And the conflict between Jay and Jason is the main source of conflict, since nothing actually goes wrong with the attempt to get the trailmen to help develop a vaccine. It's all about how Jay speaks Trailman and Jason doesn't, but how Jason is a trained physician and Jay isn't. It's fundamental to the plot and it's completely ridiculous, so it meant that the only part of the book that had any conflict was the part that I rolled my eyes at every time I saw.
The trailman's fever cure gets mentioned in future books, but the other fruit of The Planet Savers--that the Darkovers would teach the Terrans matrix mechanics--gets walked back in basically every other book. There's really no reason to read this.
Alright, that's all weird but fine, but that's not why I rated this two stars. That's because there were two major problems with the book that are integral to its structure and plot that I just couldn't get past.
Problem One: Trailman's fever reappears every 48 years and has an 87% mortality rate.
You can probably see the math problem here. An 87% mortality rate for a disease that comes back every two generations isn't just a tragedy, it is a civilization-ending cyclical disaster. There is no reason to expect that there would be any Darkovan civilization at all for the Terrans to find if that was what they had to put up with. Unless the average Darkovan family was like 15+ children, anyway. Breed like rabbits during boom times, then everyone dies. There wouldn't be any cities because they'd get wiped out every fifty years. It'd be a planet of hunter-gatherers, if that.
Trailman's fever is a good example of how details something make things worse. Just let the reader imagine how deadly it is.
Problem Two: The main character has multiple personalities, and not only does it change his actions, but also his appearance to the point where people who know one personality can't recognize the other.
I'm sorry, what?
This is about as weird as Cherillys' Law and the way that means that there are people who look exactly the same who grew up on different planets. Jay and Jason Allison have different life experiences and different personalities, but also different chronological ages, or at least different appearances of aging. They don't like each other, but one is in first person and one is in third person, so it's obvious who the hero is. And the conflict between Jay and Jason is the main source of conflict, since nothing actually goes wrong with the attempt to get the trailmen to help develop a vaccine. It's all about how Jay speaks Trailman and Jason doesn't, but how Jason is a trained physician and Jay isn't. It's fundamental to the plot and it's completely ridiculous, so it meant that the only part of the book that had any conflict was the part that I rolled my eyes at every time I saw.
The trailman's fever cure gets mentioned in future books, but the other fruit of The Planet Savers--that the Darkovers would teach the Terrans matrix mechanics--gets walked back in basically every other book. There's really no reason to read this.
January 1, 2012
A free e-book, I didn't need much encouragement to read this (especially as I needed a quick read to reach a target for the year). Marion Zimmer Bradley was one of the first sci-fi/fantasy authors I ever read. I loved the feminist nature of the Darkover series, the writing and characters, and still feel the standard of her writing is superior to much in this genre.
Read
January 4, 2013(Starting a Darkover reread, in order of publication.) Still the weakest of the series for me. Only really recommended if you're being a completist.
May 17, 2019
The Planet Savers, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The copy I have of this is from the Gutenberg project. It is taken from the pages of amazing stories. And I want to share the little quote at the beginning.
[Quote] Marion Zimmer Bradley has written some of the finest science fiction in print. She has been away from our pages too long. So this story is in the nature of a triumphant return. It could well be her best to date.
Marion Zimmer Bradley. The Planet Savers (Kindle Locations 16-17). [/Quote]
I had not read this prior and it's fairly old. It's from Bradley's Darkover world and I think it's a masterpiece. Even after all this time it still holds together well as a relevant and well told tale.
This short novel easily demonstrates the author's massive ability at world creation and her skill in writing that makes this not only a marvelous work of Science Fiction but a literary masterpiece.
This is the story of Jay/Jason. A highly intelligent and driven doctor who is respected on one hand and despised on the other. He's aloof most of the time and has nothing but prejudice against most of the inhabitants of the Darkover world especially the trailmen whom he considers to be low life beasts.
Ironically Jason is also the man who as a child was rescued and raised by the trailmen in their remote mountain village. They raise him until they decide he's old enough that he needs to be returned to his kind.
It might be that this young man felt abandoned by them as he may have felt abandoned when his father died. Whatever the reason, he's pulled off a sort of Jekyl-Hyde or Sybil turn in his life where he has segmented the old Jason from the new Jay.
Now, at the time of the reawakening of a cyclical pandemic fever he is forced to bring out the Jason- trailman- side of his personality.
The Trailmen are immune to the illness because they suffer a milder form of it when they are young. The notion is that they might be able to make a serum from the trailmen blood. The problem is the trailmen never come down from their mountain. Jay even has to agree that this trip out to the trailmen is necessary because his greater understanding of medicine can see the value. They need Jason to help insure its success.
Submitting to a procedure that will bring forth this other personality he becomes Jason- a somewhat genial and reckless young man. The transformation he undertakes affects even his physical characteristics to a point that colleagues who have known him for years don't recognize him.
All this takes place in a matter of few pages all packed in expertly with the added bonus of creating the affect that the reader comes to identify and love Jason, while loathing and despising Jay.
There's a lot more to come in this story as they make the dangerous trek into the wild and up through treacherous mountains that tax even the local Darkovans.
Will they survive, will they find a vaccine, how did Jason get so messed up. All these and more will eventually come out in this gem of a short.
The skill with which Marion Zimmer Bradley weaves and fills this novel and the fact that it stands the test of time make it easy to see how she became such a respected author and remains that to this very day.
This book is a good read for anyone who wants to become acquainted with the author and her Darkover series. And for those already acquainted who may have missed this one, they should pick it up and give it a go. There is no way for you to be disappointed.
J.L. Dobias
The copy I have of this is from the Gutenberg project. It is taken from the pages of amazing stories. And I want to share the little quote at the beginning.
[Quote] Marion Zimmer Bradley has written some of the finest science fiction in print. She has been away from our pages too long. So this story is in the nature of a triumphant return. It could well be her best to date.
Marion Zimmer Bradley. The Planet Savers (Kindle Locations 16-17). [/Quote]
I had not read this prior and it's fairly old. It's from Bradley's Darkover world and I think it's a masterpiece. Even after all this time it still holds together well as a relevant and well told tale.
This short novel easily demonstrates the author's massive ability at world creation and her skill in writing that makes this not only a marvelous work of Science Fiction but a literary masterpiece.
This is the story of Jay/Jason. A highly intelligent and driven doctor who is respected on one hand and despised on the other. He's aloof most of the time and has nothing but prejudice against most of the inhabitants of the Darkover world especially the trailmen whom he considers to be low life beasts.
Ironically Jason is also the man who as a child was rescued and raised by the trailmen in their remote mountain village. They raise him until they decide he's old enough that he needs to be returned to his kind.
It might be that this young man felt abandoned by them as he may have felt abandoned when his father died. Whatever the reason, he's pulled off a sort of Jekyl-Hyde or Sybil turn in his life where he has segmented the old Jason from the new Jay.
Now, at the time of the reawakening of a cyclical pandemic fever he is forced to bring out the Jason- trailman- side of his personality.
The Trailmen are immune to the illness because they suffer a milder form of it when they are young. The notion is that they might be able to make a serum from the trailmen blood. The problem is the trailmen never come down from their mountain. Jay even has to agree that this trip out to the trailmen is necessary because his greater understanding of medicine can see the value. They need Jason to help insure its success.
Submitting to a procedure that will bring forth this other personality he becomes Jason- a somewhat genial and reckless young man. The transformation he undertakes affects even his physical characteristics to a point that colleagues who have known him for years don't recognize him.
All this takes place in a matter of few pages all packed in expertly with the added bonus of creating the affect that the reader comes to identify and love Jason, while loathing and despising Jay.
There's a lot more to come in this story as they make the dangerous trek into the wild and up through treacherous mountains that tax even the local Darkovans.
Will they survive, will they find a vaccine, how did Jason get so messed up. All these and more will eventually come out in this gem of a short.
The skill with which Marion Zimmer Bradley weaves and fills this novel and the fact that it stands the test of time make it easy to see how she became such a respected author and remains that to this very day.
This book is a good read for anyone who wants to become acquainted with the author and her Darkover series. And for those already acquainted who may have missed this one, they should pick it up and give it a go. There is no way for you to be disappointed.
J.L. Dobias
October 7, 2024
Ok, I finished this a while back and have been putting off reviewing it, because it is not easy to review. But here I am biting the bullet.
MZB wrote some really classic stuff, the Darkover series was really exciting and different when it came out. I never loved it as much as some people did and I suspected that had something to do with reading it out of order. These days I think that I just really never was comfortable with her depiction of women, but, however.
This novel has two stories, the first and longer one is the titular The Planet Savers in which we stat out with Jason awakening in a doctors office. We find out that Jason is actually an alter ego of Dr Jay Allison and that he has been 'brought to the surface' because Dr Allison has suppressed his earlier experiences with a race Aboriginal to Darkover. The Earth base now needs to beg for the help of this race in acquiring antibodies to a virulent disease that occurs ever 45 years wiping out most of the human population.
Jason embarks on a perilous journey into the 'Hellars' mountains so high and dangerous they have been named after 'hell' to seek the tribe he lived with as a child. On this journey he is accompanied by a team that are not aware of his split personality situation, a Hastur; the first family on Darkover and psionically active and a woman from the 'free amazons' who is presented as a 'guide' though Jason is actually the guide. The free amazons are meant to be this amazeballs, independent group of women, I never enjoyed the way they were written. They stand out only because of the servitude of all other human women on Darover suffer from, which I also find icky.
This story from 1962 is not bad overall, it borrows heavily from the idea of split personalities that was popular at the time. Books like The Three Faces of Eve or Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalitieshad popularised the idea and it is used very well in this story. NOT saying that it has not dated, or that the split personality concept has not been disproved - only that The Planet Savers uses the concept in a unique and interesting way.
Ok, so I liked the first one.
The second, thankfully short story The Waterfall was written in 1976. It is about a daughter of one of the Darkover ruling houses who tried to be taken for training in her mind gifts but was turned down by the 'sorceress' because her mind suggested she was untrustworthy. Angry and resentful this nasty little piece of work 'discovers her powers' which seem to consist of seducing men, feeding off their lust energy in some icky way and then claiming they raped her so they get put to death. This may appeal to serious feminists who lean toward misandry. For myself, I find misandry and misogyny equally distasteful. This story made me feel like I had vomited a bit inside my own mouth (in a literary sense) and reminded me why I moved firmly AWAY from MZB all those years ago. This story could be written in ways that would make it palatable, but it has not been.
MZB wrote some really classic stuff, the Darkover series was really exciting and different when it came out. I never loved it as much as some people did and I suspected that had something to do with reading it out of order. These days I think that I just really never was comfortable with her depiction of women, but, however.
This novel has two stories, the first and longer one is the titular The Planet Savers in which we stat out with Jason awakening in a doctors office. We find out that Jason is actually an alter ego of Dr Jay Allison and that he has been 'brought to the surface' because Dr Allison has suppressed his earlier experiences with a race Aboriginal to Darkover. The Earth base now needs to beg for the help of this race in acquiring antibodies to a virulent disease that occurs ever 45 years wiping out most of the human population.
Jason embarks on a perilous journey into the 'Hellars' mountains so high and dangerous they have been named after 'hell' to seek the tribe he lived with as a child. On this journey he is accompanied by a team that are not aware of his split personality situation, a Hastur; the first family on Darkover and psionically active and a woman from the 'free amazons' who is presented as a 'guide' though Jason is actually the guide. The free amazons are meant to be this amazeballs, independent group of women, I never enjoyed the way they were written. They stand out only because of the servitude of all other human women on Darover suffer from, which I also find icky.
This story from 1962 is not bad overall, it borrows heavily from the idea of split personalities that was popular at the time. Books like The Three Faces of Eve or Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalitieshad popularised the idea and it is used very well in this story. NOT saying that it has not dated, or that the split personality concept has not been disproved - only that The Planet Savers uses the concept in a unique and interesting way.
Ok, so I liked the first one.
The second, thankfully short story The Waterfall was written in 1976. It is about a daughter of one of the Darkover ruling houses who tried to be taken for training in her mind gifts but was turned down by the 'sorceress' because her mind suggested she was untrustworthy. Angry and resentful this nasty little piece of work 'discovers her powers' which seem to consist of seducing men, feeding off their lust energy in some icky way and then claiming they raped her so they get put to death. This may appeal to serious feminists who lean toward misandry. For myself, I find misandry and misogyny equally distasteful. This story made me feel like I had vomited a bit inside my own mouth (in a literary sense) and reminded me why I moved firmly AWAY from MZB all those years ago. This story could be written in ways that would make it palatable, but it has not been.
February 11, 2021
What a timely thing to read during a pandemic. Personally, as far as plague/pandemic books go, I prefer the arguably terrible Plague Ship. Still, this book is only wearing the costume of a plague preparation book. It's really more of an unusual psychology adventure in space.
I really have no idea what she was thinking with those unusual space creatures who are at times discussed like unusual white marmoset (or that weird meme puppet) and humanoids. She's run into the Golem problem --that is, creating a creature with an unspecific size as Tolkien did with Golem in the 1st edition of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. In this case, I've perceived them as smaller than she likely intended rather than larger as happened with Golem.
I like he subtle feminism in the book. The Amazon free woman and the roaming Trail(wo)men were really interesting. There is, of course, the usual pulp fuckery and Kyla becomes Jay's girlfriend after some heat preserving snuggling on the mountain (where he talks about wanting to squeeze her breasts. . .) and some more nonsense where she pretends to be his mate in the Trailmen village. That usual stuff aside, the Trailwomen are fascinating! They can only live in The Hive if they have a mate, but they'd rather live on the outskirts in the mountains so they can be free. They attack any males who try to capture/claim them so they can maintain their freedom. MZB is hella sneaky slipping that in the book.
Since this review is almost as long as the book itself, I'll close by saying the ending is unsatisfying, but at least provides the reader some closure about employed in the story.
I really have no idea what she was thinking with those unusual space creatures who are at times discussed like unusual white marmoset (or that weird meme puppet) and humanoids. She's run into the Golem problem --that is, creating a creature with an unspecific size as Tolkien did with Golem in the 1st edition of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. In this case, I've perceived them as smaller than she likely intended rather than larger as happened with Golem.
I like he subtle feminism in the book. The Amazon free woman and the roaming Trail(wo)men were really interesting. There is, of course, the usual pulp fuckery and Kyla becomes Jay's girlfriend after some heat preserving snuggling on the mountain (where he talks about wanting to squeeze her breasts. . .) and some more nonsense where she pretends to be his mate in the Trailmen village. That usual stuff aside, the Trailwomen are fascinating! They can only live in The Hive if they have a mate, but they'd rather live on the outskirts in the mountains so they can be free. They attack any males who try to capture/claim them so they can maintain their freedom. MZB is hella sneaky slipping that in the book.
Since this review is almost as long as the book itself, I'll close by saying the ending is unsatisfying, but at least provides the reader some closure about employed in the story.
September 3, 2018
Pro: Jay/Jason Allison.
Pregevole il blend fantascienza-fantasy dell’ambientazione, nonostante Darkover non sia ancora ben delineato e i dettagli sulla sua società e struttura non siano ancora molto precisi.
Letto in originale ho apprezzato la scrittura senza troppi fronzoli. Non essendo troppo lungo è anche scivolato via bene.
Contro: Kyla.
Gli avrei anche dato 3 stelle, ma il finale tirato via mi ha fatto desistere.
Pregevole il blend fantascienza-fantasy dell’ambientazione, nonostante Darkover non sia ancora ben delineato e i dettagli sulla sua società e struttura non siano ancora molto precisi.
Letto in originale ho apprezzato la scrittura senza troppi fronzoli. Non essendo troppo lungo è anche scivolato via bene.
Contro: Kyla.
Gli avrei anche dato 3 stelle, ma il finale tirato via mi ha fatto desistere.
February 9, 2021
This book, novella, in the Darkover series tells a complete story and can stand alone. It is possibly the first book written. While it belongs somewhere in the recent history of Darkover, attempts to reconcile it chronologically are difficult. Since it was written first, there are inconsistencies with other books. For instance, here Regis has red hair and 2 legitimate sons, but in Sharra's Exile, his hair was bleached white and he was never married.
The double identity of Jay/Jason gets confusing. It seemed to me that the names were not carefully applied to the right personality, but as I said - confusing. The narration did seem consistent in that Jason always narrated first person, and Jay was viewed in third person narration.
The story is obviously short and rushed and yet the plot outline would be quite brief. A fair amount of the story is the wilderness journey and I'm not a great fan of those. Like many romance stories, the relationship advances way too quickly to make sense.
Kyla is a Renunciate. Since this is MZB's first extended story, it shouldn't be expected that the Renunciate concept would not be well developed, but Kyla does not have the personality of one. She is certainly competent and strong willed and even independent to a point, but then late in the story she abandons some of that.
Mature themes: none, unless you count dual personalities, which I don't. Sex is implied by not described at all. There are some minor fights.
The double identity of Jay/Jason gets confusing. It seemed to me that the names were not carefully applied to the right personality, but as I said - confusing. The narration did seem consistent in that Jason always narrated first person, and Jay was viewed in third person narration.
The story is obviously short and rushed and yet the plot outline would be quite brief. A fair amount of the story is the wilderness journey and I'm not a great fan of those. Like many romance stories, the relationship advances way too quickly to make sense.
Kyla is a Renunciate. Since this is MZB's first extended story, it shouldn't be expected that the Renunciate concept would not be well developed, but Kyla does not have the personality of one. She is certainly competent and strong willed and even independent to a point, but then late in the story she abandons some of that.
Mature themes: none, unless you count dual personalities, which I don't. Sex is implied by not described at all. There are some minor fights.
January 28, 2021
3.5 Stars
A solid Sci-Fantasy start to the Darkover series. Yes, the psychology and some of the dialogue are dated, but who am I to hold that against it. I'm still more interested in the idea of the Terrans actually creating Jason, which is mentioned, over the "split personality" thing" I also kind of wish it had ended a chapter earlier because that would have been an incredibly dark ending. Also, the current one is some handwavy garbage. Also, why did the split occur? Think about the reason given for a few minutes and Jay's hatred of his foster family makes very little sense, though emotions are often confusing. Still, the fantasy tendencies grounded a bit more by the science ended with a quite appealing mix. The focus on nature and custom is certainly something I like seeing. It also doesn't overexplain. We get enough of the amazons, Hasturs, etc. to work with them without getting a genealogy. It's more fantasy than SF, especially in that era. It's also incredibly short, so it moves quickly and certain sections have a great abruptness. Next up, the overwritten entry The Sword of Aldones!
A solid Sci-Fantasy start to the Darkover series. Yes, the psychology and some of the dialogue are dated, but who am I to hold that against it. I'm still more interested in the idea of the Terrans actually creating Jason, which is mentioned, over the "split personality" thing" I also kind of wish it had ended a chapter earlier because that would have been an incredibly dark ending. Also, the current one is some handwavy garbage. Also, why did the split occur? Think about the reason given for a few minutes and Jay's hatred of his foster family makes very little sense, though emotions are often confusing. Still, the fantasy tendencies grounded a bit more by the science ended with a quite appealing mix. The focus on nature and custom is certainly something I like seeing. It also doesn't overexplain. We get enough of the amazons, Hasturs, etc. to work with them without getting a genealogy. It's more fantasy than SF, especially in that era. It's also incredibly short, so it moves quickly and certain sections have a great abruptness. Next up, the overwritten entry The Sword of Aldones!
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October 23, 2025Marion Zimmer Bradley has written some of the finest science fiction in print. She has been away from our pages too long. So this story is in the nature of a triumphant return. It could well be her best to date. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
April 21, 2019
Trying to catch up on having somehow missed most of MZB's books growing up. I liked this one, although I was a little miffed at Jason's views about Kyla. Given what a reputation MZB has for feminist writing, I was a bit surprized at them. I did appreciate that MZB offered us a bit of a window into Kyla's experience by showing her doing twice the work of the men and being very adept at her job, even while Jason griped about her actions far more than he ever did for any of the men in the group and only ever referred to her as "girl." (Massive eyerolls abounded).
As a biologist, I also had to wince at the descriptions of humans as "the most evolved and complex form" and the descriptions of evolution, in general. But authors can't be experts in everything, and this book was published in 1958, so I suppose I should make allowances for inaccuracies and appreciate how ahead of its time this book was, with regards to female characters even for all of its flaws.
Either way, I'm excited to learn more about Darkover as I read more of these books.
As a biologist, I also had to wince at the descriptions of humans as "the most evolved and complex form" and the descriptions of evolution, in general. But authors can't be experts in everything, and this book was published in 1958, so I suppose I should make allowances for inaccuracies and appreciate how ahead of its time this book was, with regards to female characters even for all of its flaws.
Either way, I'm excited to learn more about Darkover as I read more of these books.
December 9, 2021
I read The Planet Savers along with The Sword of Aldones, and this shorter story was MUCH better, in my humble opinion. It provided a fun introduction to the world of Darkover, had a clear and succinct story with a fun cast of characters, led to a satisfying conclusion, and did a great job of introducing you to all the ideas and concepts. Essentially, it did everything Sword of Aldones tried to do. Unless you're going to jump fully into Bradley's universe, you could easily stop here!
Note: it was revealed after her death that Bradley was a child molester, and also helped her husband to molest children. I would be lying if this revelation from Wikipedia did not sour my view of the author and her work. I will not be reading anything further from her.
Note: it was revealed after her death that Bradley was a child molester, and also helped her husband to molest children. I would be lying if this revelation from Wikipedia did not sour my view of the author and her work. I will not be reading anything further from her.
January 16, 2024
A barebones novel that's obviously an early work and now makes for a nice introductory foray into the Darkover novels. I had a lot of fun with this since the main split personality premise works really well and provides an intriguing moral-personal conundrum relating to how alter-ego Jason copes with knowing that his existence was and only ever could be temporary. In hindsight it's a bit of a shame that this is so short and the adventure, personalities, and culture of everything else related to the plague our crew is out to stop aren't expanded upon further, since this was over just as I started to feel I wanted to delve further into it. It's a book cut down in its prime, just as Jason is.
September 30, 2019
Audiobooks.com version
I fully admit bias on my review. MZB is my favorite author and this was probably the third or fourth time I have read this book. First time in audio. The narrator was good and helped with emotional investment in the story. The names are pronounced a little different than they are in my head, but that is not a surprise.
This story shows how difficult it is sometimes to reconcile your childhood with who you are as an adult. The main character is supported, perhaps a little unbelievably at times, by another. This is fantasy on another planet, in another culture, with another species of people. Belief must be suspended.
I fully admit bias on my review. MZB is my favorite author and this was probably the third or fourth time I have read this book. First time in audio. The narrator was good and helped with emotional investment in the story. The names are pronounced a little different than they are in my head, but that is not a surprise.
This story shows how difficult it is sometimes to reconcile your childhood with who you are as an adult. The main character is supported, perhaps a little unbelievably at times, by another. This is fantasy on another planet, in another culture, with another species of people. Belief must be suspended.
October 17, 2022
A short story introducing a glimpse of the Darkover world. In this first story, we are introduced to the a time were space age, and conquering of other planets are possible. We find a hierarchy of telepaths, and isolated humanoids. The landscapes, social constructs, culture are described with precision, in a race to save the planet from a devastating disease. Our narrator is somewhat unreliable, as they suffer from multiple personality disorder. But the story is short, but gave much information on the land and it's people of Darkover.
September 14, 2019
A good dark over introduction
I read a few of the dark Ivan novels mini years ago, it was my first introduction to real fantasy and I loved it. For me this was a great little novel reminded me of what I’ve been missing and want to look forward to. As I continue to read on since Marians death.
If you like great fantasy with enough drama and science fiction Maxton to make it viable then do read the dark over series I recommend it.
I read a few of the dark Ivan novels mini years ago, it was my first introduction to real fantasy and I loved it. For me this was a great little novel reminded me of what I’ve been missing and want to look forward to. As I continue to read on since Marians death.
If you like great fantasy with enough drama and science fiction Maxton to make it viable then do read the dark over series I recommend it.
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