Star of Danger

Darkover (Publication Order) #4

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

First published in 1965, Star of Danger is a work that stands as a foundation for the bestselling Darkover series, introducing many loyal fans to this wonderful, mysterious world. Two natives of Darkover are forced to combine Darkover matrix magic with Terran technology to stand against a shared enemy.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction

213 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

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.

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)

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

an entry in the Darkover cycle. pleasantly enjoyable overall, but also slim and rather forgettable. this one concerns Larry Montray, Terran, and his teen adventures on the wintry, semi-barbaric world of Darkover. those adventures come complete with assorted monsters & aliens, bullying street urchins & dastardly kidnapping bandits, psychic powers, a forest fire, an amusingly antagonistic bromance between our hero & an arrogant Darkovan lordling, and much contemplation & conversating regarding the nature of being a man & what constitutes honor in a fight (i prefer the Darkover belief system that loathes guns & bombs as the weak man's choice). this early novel in the long-running series has none of the mid-saga's books' fervent, near-hysterical emotional content nor their sometimes moving, other times soap operatic deconstruction of gender & sexual orientation. it is a pleasingly straightforward, clearly written, earnest young adult novel filled with boyish enthusiasm, teenage angst, and on-the-cusp-of-maturity musings on Adulthood. probably a good starting point for kids interested in Darkover. but are there any even out there?

[La licorne bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larry Montray, un jeune terrien ayant suivi son père sur Ténébreuse, rêve de découvrit la culture ténébrane malgré les réticences de son père. Une promenade hors du spatioport terrien va changer sa vie.

2,5 étoiles, la stricte neutralité, pour ce tome qui n'est pas désagréable mais qui est parfaitement dispensable.

Le roman partait pourtant bien avec une première partie assez intéressante. J'ai apprécié la rencontre entre les deux cultures et les incompréhensions qu'elle procure parfois. Pour autant, dès cette partie, les ficelles semblent beaucoup trop grosse et le lecteur averti sera très vite ennuyé par toutes ces précisions indiquant à quel point Larry ressemble aux Ténébrans et comment il réussit à assimiler d'une manière exceptionnellement rapide leurs coutumes (wink wink).

La deuxième partie est probablement passionnante pour des lecteurs plus jeunes et j'aurais sûrement apprécié à l'époque suivre nos deux jeunes héros dans leur découverte des hommes-arbres ou bien dans leur affrontement pour vaincre une banshee (affrontement vraiment trop gros pour moi), mais le fait est que j'ai du lutter de nombreuses fois contre le sommeil durant certains moments.

Je ne peux pas sincèrement pas dire que L'Etoile du danger soit un mauvais livre, mais c'est sans conteste un tome que j'oublierai sans regrets.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Next up on my 1965 reading list is one of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover tales; #16 in chronological order, but I am reading them in order of publication, so #4.

It is a tale of boyhood friendship across social and political boundaries. Larry Montray, 16 years old, has just arrived on Darkover from Earth. Kennard Alton, the other teen, is the son of a Darkover Lord.

Larry befriends Kennard in the marketplace where he is allowed to go by his space commander father. Soon he is caught up in the kidnappping of Kennard with possible disastrous consequences between the spacers and the natives.

The writing is great, of course. There are empaths and psychics, feuds, bandits and danger. The theme, as always in this series, is how can these two peoples come together in understanding and technological expertise?

Great read!

[Gregg Wingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marion Zimmer Bradley has become a cautionary tale of the dangers of hero worship and glorification of celebrities. She had an astoundingly successful career as a fantasy and science fiction writer and editor. was know as a friend and mentor of beginning writers, and was a co-founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism. She also was married to a convicted pedophile, is accused by her own daughter of sexual abuse from the age of three to 12, and is now suspected of sexual crimes against other female and male children. The SF and fantasy world is reeling from these revelations and its final impact is not yet realized.

But Bradley's work speaks loudly of these issues and includes many pubescent characters dealing with their sexual awakenings, adults mentally and physically violating youths, and a menagerie of sexual encounters of all makes and types. Yet, Marion was a staunch defender of women's rights and personal responsibility for one's actions in her writings. So it is important that we learn to condemn the person but still see the beauty and importance of the author's work both written and in support of these ghetto genres. She may very well be seen as literary figure whose life and ideals are a mixed legacy similar to the Marquis de Sade.

I have never considered the Darkover stories as fantasy but rather well written science fiction with good characterization and a well-constructed and logically bound psionically based technological society. "Star of Danger" is one of the very first of the series and begins firmly rooted in the world of hard science fiction. It is tale of a boy finding his manhood through adventure and exploration like Huck Finn, Jim Hawkins and, of course, Paul Atreides. It is also a story that will resonant with any world traveler who despises globalization and the denizens of business class hotels, organized tours, and international home-country schools. Bradley's hero is an individual enthralled with the wonder of the alien and a dislike of the sterility of his Terran culture. His adventures introduce us to the conflict between our own history of assimilation and the indigenous cultures it has destroyed. In fact, the book is more relevant in our condition of Late Capitalism than it was when originally written in 1965. The novel also lays down the basic facts of the Darkoverian universe and is a quick and riveting introduction to one of the great SF and fantasy series ever written and one of the few that can be enjoyed by readers of both genres.

Until the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust decides how to handle royalty issues in regards to her victims, you might not want to buy the book but I strongly recommend you ask your neighborhood librarian to find it for you. It is fun and thought provoking as Mrs. Bradley's work has always been for both female and male readers alike.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

MZB does the Boys' Adventure Story much better than one would expect.

[MargaretDH · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm working my way through the Darkover series in publication order, and I've enjoyed this instalment most so far. That being said, this is extremely pulpy scifi/fantasy from the sixties, and I'm sure it won't stick with me. But it was a fun, quick, boys adventure-type read, and kept me good and distracted while I waited for the doctor.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to Darkover. Got me interested, I will likely read more of her Darkover novels.

Quick read, moves quickly. Good character development and starting basis for the Darkover universe.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is so refreshing to finally read a Darkover story where the main character is a man and not a woman. Even though the female characters that Marion Zimmer Bradley writes are strong, they can at times be overbearing and whiny.
Larry was a bit of a weak character at first, but when he and Kennard began their adventure and friendship together, Larry proves to be a strong and interesting character.
Sixteen year old Larry is eager for adventure and discovery. He gets his wish when his father tells him that he has been reassigned and they will be traveling to the planet Darkover.
Larry is confronted with all kinds of cultural barriers when they land. He soon finds himself in a fight against the local young men, brutes of the trade city, on his first day on Darkover.
Larry and Kennard quickly become friends after the fight in the trade city. Kennard observes that Larry is not like other Terrans. To his benefit, Larry made the effort to learn the Darkovan language. Also, he solves his own problems himself. He doesn’t call out for help from elsewhere or from someone on the outside. He is invited to the house of the ruling Altons. He is surprised to discover that they have the ability to read his mind, but that doesn’t seem to disturb him any. The real trouble starts when his father forbids him from leaving the safety of their dormitory at the Terran space port, because of the fear that Larry will unknowingly cause irresolvable conflict between the two aliens leading to a war. Torn between obeying his father and keeping his word to Kennard, (view spoiler)
Faced with fighting the disastrous and deadly fires racing across the hills, brutal and murderous bandits, and a deep prejudice between the two aliens, Larry wants to earn the right to be recognized as a man.

[Valerie]

I have two editions of this book, which is one of the earliest Darkover Books written, and was rewritten in a later edition, to bring it more in line with the series as it developed.

The rewriting is not very obvious in this title, and it's sometimes difficult to realize what has changed. But the copy I read this time is the earlier edition.

In terms of internal chronology, this is set during the childhood of Kennard Alton. At this time, Valdir Alton lived at Armida in winter, and (mostly) at the later-destroyed Alton townhouse in summer. Kennard, it should be noted, was Valdir's younger son; the older brother, Lewis, was evidently sent to Arilinn at a fairly young age, and probably died with Cleindori, whose son he fathered. Cleindori was fostered at Armida, though it's not clear when she went there.

This edition has, as many books at the time had, very misleading cover art. Nothing remotely like what's pictured on the cover features in the book. The cover is credited to Jack Gaughan, who perhaps also drew the picture of what are probably Kennard and Larry (later styled Lerrys) Montray, being menaced by what is apparently meant to be a banshee bird. Neither are anything like what's described in the book, so I suppose the artist did not, in fact, read the book. This was not uncommon at the time.

The dedication reads: "To my son Patrick, but for whose help this book would have been written much sooner"--apparently a wry reference to the fact that child care is a much more time-consuming job than novices expect it to be.

This volume is fairly deliberately disingenuous. Why Wade Montray felt he had to conceal his previous history on Darkover (including the fact that Larry had a sister, Elaine, and that their mother was of Aldaran ancestry), I don't know. I would guess that Wade's relationship with his wife was not untroubled, and that they divorced after the birth of their younger child (I THINK Larry was the younger). I'm not sure when Larry & Elaine's mother died, but I think she might have been still alive when Kennard went to be fostered on Earth.

I conclude that Larry was the younger because he seems to have had little knowledge of his mother, though it doesn't necessarily follow. It looks as if custody was split, and as if Larry had little if any contact with his mother and sister after the divorce.

Wade Montray appears in the Darkover timeline around about the time of the beginning of the Forbidden Tower. He has a one-night stand (one day, really) with Margali n'ha Ysabet during her housebound time in Thendara House, and at the time he mentions that he's planning to go off to Aldaran, where the then Lord Aldaran (Kermiac? Either him or his predecessor, likely) had asked for some technical aid. He also goes off to fight the fire menacing Armida at the time. But though he married one of the Aldarans, he seems to have had very little to do with the leroni, so it's likely from his mother that Larry inherited the laran he has.

Kennard at the time is about 15--but though he assumes that Larry is his agemate, he is probably a few years older (Darkovan years are about a month longer than Earth years, and Darkovan days are 28 hours long--which means, by the way, that a tenday is more nearly a third of a month on Darkover). Kennard's mother was still alive at the time, and is offstage in several scenes, though she never appears onstage in any scene. Kennard is doing his stint as a Guard cadet, which is how he meets Larry, because he referees a fight between Larry and the champion of a group of street toughs who are harassing him. Kennard is rather contemptuously insular--but also rather uneasily so. It's evident that he had been in the habit of hanging about the spaceport for some time before Larry arrived, but that he hadn't managed to strike up an acquaintance with any of the Terran children, because they were every bit as insular as the Darkovans.

It's also evident that Valdir had already been maturing the idea of importing lensgrinding technology and expertise before Larry and Kennard became friends. One of the things Kennard asks Larry for is books about Terran photographic techniques, and about starships. Picture books, because Kennard, at this point, was illiterate both in Terran and Darkovan scripts. Bradley's uneasiness about the rejection of literacy by Darkovans is made clear even this early in her imagination of Darkover--the rationalizations for said lack of written lore are quite defensive; and where you find defensiveness, there's evidence of a feeling of shame about something. The odds are the Darkovans themselves didn't know why they had (largely) abandoned written texts, and, when they were challenged on the subject, defended themselves reflexively, even while recognizing that they had been deliberately kept ignorant of things their ancestors wanted kept secret, and that this was seriously hampering betimes. Case in point: the Terran ancestors of the majority of Darkovan humans undoubtedly knew of the technique of cloud-seeding. But the knowledge had to be (re)introduced to their descendants in this book.

In this book, as in quite a few others, the 'bandits' are introduced as monstra ad machina, to menace the visiting Larry. There are hints that a lot of backcountry Darkovan (small d) domains turned to preying on passersby in troubled times, or were taken over by roving bands of bandits, and that there was no coordinated attempt to dislodge them from their holdings until Valdir's time. But this is still a matter of dislocation. Bandits can't sustain themselves. They need supplies. And there's not much use in stealing money if you can't SPEND it somewhere. The Dry Towns are a partial answer: it's evident that they acted as suppliers and fences for the bandits. And they probably did so in order to keep the people south of the Kadarin from advancing and meddling in what they regarded as their own business. But there are still missing elements, and the rationales still ring a bit hollow.

Talking of rings, by the way, it's occurred to me that the metal-poor Darkovans seem to have a lot of bells and gongs. Where do THEY come from? Nevarsin?

This is also the origin of the oft-repeated (and often scoffed-at) encounter between Larry Montray, Kennard Alton, and a chieri. Most lowland Darkovans treat tales of chieri as fairy-tales. But those six-fingered hands (and six-toed feet?) in some Darkovan families didn't come from nowhere, after all.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Darkover series that really grabbed me from the beginning and never let up. There isn't any weird sexual stuff, no incest, no people being held against their will in service to whatever, etc. Incidentally, this book also features essentially zero women. Hmmm. Complete coincidence, I'm sure. Nothing that indicates an author's biases about that kind of stuff.

Anyway, regardless, this is a tight book - no real fluff, and all about the line between childhood and adulthood and what makes someone "a man" - is it age? Bravery? Honoring your word? Seeing the truth in others? All of these options present themselves during this story of Larry, a Terran (Earth) teenager, who travels to Darkover for his father's job. While there, he finds he has a knack for the local language and understands some of the customs. In a novel full of cultural exchange and negotiation, Larry meets a Darkoven teenager his age and they begin to forge a friendship.

A really classic story of two disparate cultures finding common ground through hardship and need. The ending leaves *quickly* but otherwise, I found this to be well-edited and well-focused, with a nice combination of action and emotion.

[Jack Vasen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Darkover novel tells a complete story and could stand alone. It does, however, begin to lay the foundation for events in the lives of Regis Hastur and Lew Alton and those related to them. Kennard is the father of the yet unborn Lew.

This is a short novel but I would say longer than a mere novella. It chronicles the beginning of the friendship between Kennard Alton and Larry Montray and the adventure that seals their friendship.

There is plenty of action and a wilderness journey.

I wonder at the accuracy of some of the science Larry uses here and there to aid in their survival. The basis for that science is accurate, but my doubt concerns how some of it is applied, particularly the healing of the leg infection.

I have read that MZB is not always consistent with history and cannon and some of that appears here, although this book is earlier in publication than some of those with the apparent inconsistencies.

Mature themes: there is virtually no male-female interaction and thus no sex. In fact there is only a single female character who appears briefly. There is plenty of violence including some killing, but not in gory detail.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great starting point to the Darkover books!

3.5 Stars
This is a great primer to the series and one that I've been waiting for. The Planet Savers does a fair enough job, but this actually establishes the setting and explains more about how everything works. The frame is a coming of age story, and that part is fine, but the mutual understanding that the book encourages is my actual favorite part. Also, the undercutting of the rather Libertarian Darkover inhabitants is really nice. A solid book, and I look forward to The Winds of Darkover where Lerrys returns!

I skipped The Bloody Sun, and it got rewritten to be part of a loose trilogy, so I'll catch that later.

[Jan Niblock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this in chronological order instead of publication order you have to overlook some things. But that did not make reading it this way any less enjoyable.

Wade Montrey comes back to Darkover with his son, Larry. Kennard, the son of the Valdir Alton, a Comyn Lord, breaks up a fight that could have gotten Larry killed, they start a friendship. Since this is still during the time where the Terrans are not even allowed outside of the town that surrounds the spaceport, it opens up a rare chance for Larry to spend time at the Alton estate.

While on a hunting trip with the Altons, they are attacked by bandits and Larry is captured. They think that Larry is Kennard and want to use him for ransom. They keep him a prisoner and drugged. When Kennard shows up to rescue him, Larry thinks that he is imagining it. The 2 boys (yes, they are really teenage boys) escape but end up lost in the forest. The things that happen to them makes the book very exciting. The ending ties up some lose ends.

[Theresa Hargitai · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a re-read from my childhood - I thought I'd dare to see how this 1965 publication stood the test of time. And the verdict is - not too badly for 60 years! MZB has come under fire for being a really awful abusive person in her private life, but was also a progressive feminist writer of her time.

This book doesn't show any of that, being exclusively a book about two teen boys and their coming-of-age adventure, and there are pretty much no female characters at all.

It introduces the world of Darkover and has plenty of exciting elements of SF, psi powers, aliens - plenty that would entice me to indulge further, and enjoyed back then, but the writing is suitable for a young teenage boy, so no.

The narrator really over-narrated at times - he really got into the action and excitement of the moment, e.g. having the boys shrieking when they needed to be really quiet and whisper - a bit disturbing.

[Erik the Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marion Zimmer Bradley, and her literary work, must be viewed through two, often competing, lenses.

First, she was writing stories with strong, relatable female protagonists battling male oppression at a time when very few other authors were prepared to do so. Many modern readers cannot conceive of a time when women were not allowed to have a credit card in their own name, which was but one of the policies Bradley was dealing with in her time. She was a feminist long before it became fashionable. She was one of a very few voices that spoke powerfully to young women about their own worth. Much of her writing, read today, can be seen as trite, obvious, or overbearing, but it must be remembered that it was none of those things at the time it was written. This was a woman who co-founded, and named, the Society for Creative Anachronism, who championed pagan rights when the mainstream saw them as satanic, and who encouraged and published unknown female authors like Mercedes Lackey. Viewed through this lens, Bradley was a progressive woman to be lauded, as she was, posthumously, when she received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2000.

Second, and hideously, Bradley was a pedophile, who molested her own children. She also procured and groomed children for her husband, Walter Breen, to assault. She admitted to knowing what he was doing to these children, but refused to stop helping him, much less report him or interfere with his desires. Her own daughter was her accuser, so we can be assured this is not a "he said, she said" situation. Viewed through this lens, then, her life and work become irredeemably tainted.

We are, perhaps, used to evaluating art for art's sake, commenting on Ender's Game, or Harry Potter, as though their authors' views, hateful as they are, should not condemn the output of their minds and hands. Perhaps we are right to do so; after all, these views are only beliefs and words, no matter how widespread a bully pulpit their famous speakers are able to command. However, when beliefs and words turn into actions, we must draw the line. Since 2014, when definitive proof finally came to light, I have found myself unable to recommend anything written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I remain so appalled by her actions that I can never give more than one star to anything she has written, no matter how groundbreaking, how heartfelt, how astounding it may be. I urge everyone reading this to join me in boycotting her work forever.

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* (extremely rare) There is something very wrong with this book &/or this author; never again.
** (seldom) Has flaws, or I just couldn’t get into it; no thanks.
*** (usual) Not great, not bad; no need to return to it.
**** (often) Better than average; I’d read it again.
***** (rare) A superb example of the genre, &/or an incredible piece of art; I re-read it often.

[Saturn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo capitolo della storia di Darkover è un bel romanzo di formazione molto vicino a uno young adult. Il protagonista è un preadolescente terrestre, che per i canoni darkovani sarebbe già un giovane adulto, che stringe un'amicizia fraterna con un giovane comyn. Questo rapporto diventa un'occasione di crescita personale ma anche di confronto fra due popoli in contrasto. Le qualità dell'uno non fanno che colmare le carenze dell'altro e viceversa ed è dall'unione delle loro forze che nasce l'unico cammino percorribile con successo per entrambi. La penna di Marion Zimmer Bradley impreziosisce una storia fondamentalmente semplice ma che non sente il peso degli anni e che si legge appassionatamente come un libro di avventura.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 2.5* I did enjoy my time with this very much but it feels like a conceptual step backwards from The Bloody Sun, the setup and scenario is a lot more basic and whilst I was compelled by he first hundred pages with the expectation that the story was building to something more complex, that complexity was tossed aside for what amounted to an embellished camping adventure - albeit a rather dangerous one - and a "we have to work together" moral. As another reviewer stated, this felt like Darkover aimed squarely at a younger audience and it's possible that MZB was just in that mode and she neglected to tell us. if this *is* a kid's tale then add a star to 3.5 because it zips along quite nicely

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is 59 years old. Despite the age it holds its own in trail blazing issues that we are still trying to fix today. The story has elements of coming of age, cross cultural understanding, strategy and friendship. In the hands of a writer the caliber of Marion Zimmer Bradley the book takes all these issues and turns them into an adventure. The book sets up the Darkover series. It gives us a boy and his father from earth and a boy and his father from Darkover. That part is easy. The rest plunges us into action, conflict and danger.
I took into account the age of the story when I rated it but one thing that was missing for me was any female characters. It left it a little lacking for me. Otherwise I appreciate the writing of Marion Zimmer Bradley.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can probably sum this up in one word. Boring.
This juvenile blather must be targeted for some other audience other than me although I can't imagine what audience that may be. Have never been a big fan of constant dribbling repetition, giving the audience no credit for thinking for themselves and last the inability of one gender to assume they know how to cloak centric characters of the other gender in anything approaching believability. One would think that such a prolific author may have learned to polish their skills over the years, but no. In fact just the opposite seems to be the rule. However, given the reviews someone must like this mundane drivel, but not me. Bad. Bad. Bad.

[Macjest · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m embarking on a world of Darkover reread to prepare for new books by an MZB collaborator. Back in the day I was totally caught up in this universe. It’s interesting to back to some of the earlier publications to see how well they’ve aged. Since the Star of Danger seems to be aimed at the juvenile market my take is it hit the mark. The 2 main characters, teenagers from two different worlds, must work collaboratively to get themselves out of danger. Because this is early in publication history there are several discrepancies with what comes later. Still, it was fun to go back and read about the psi powers and how it could be used - for good as well as bad.

[Judey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Darkover book I read.
As the story unfolded I rather quickly guessed the 'hook' in the plot, although I was fooled at the way it unfolded.
(I had guessed a space Prince and the Pauper story. I was wrong).
I'm cheered by reading other reviews that places this as a ho-hum story; I may read another book or so in the series to see how it turns out.... but it isn't high on my priorities.
MZB is an author that I rather enjoyed in the past but the events in her life have overshadowed those memories.

[Casey Landolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple and fast-paced read. It almost seems like she solved one of the later issues of the book very quickly when it could have been drawn out and made more suspenseful. Regardless, this book was excellent, and I would read it again. Her writing is so easy to follow and really allows for the reader to fully dive into the story.

[Kerith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next up in the Darkover comfort reads: Star of Danger. A quick-to-read adventure story detailing the friendship of Terran Larry Montray and Darkovan Kennard Alton. As they flee the bandits who kidnapped Larry (thinking he was heir to Alton) we get a tour of the planet and its other strange inhabitants. Written in the 60s, it holds up pretty decently for what it is.

[Kat Heatherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are all pulpy but this one was exceptionally so. It was written before Bradley knew where she was going with Darkover so it is wildly inconsistent with the rest of the Darkover universe, though some important bones of the later series are present. I'm almost sorry she didn't keep the nonhuman trailmen in the later novels. They were the most interesting part of this tiny installment.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue my adult return to my teenage home planet of Darkover. Reading by publication date rather than Darkoven chronology... This episode is The story of the beginning of the friendship of Kennard and Larry, enjoyable although showing its age.

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one reads as a juvenile. Story of two boys alone in the wilderness discovering their courage is nevertheless entertaining. Evolution of their friendship is weetly drawn, and I suspect pretty unusual for the time (1965)

[Sherin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mir hat das Buch sehr gut gefallen. Es ist die Geschichte von zwei Welten - die Terranische und die Darkovanische die zusammen einen Weg finden müssen. Der „Nachwuchs“ muss hier Brücken bauen um Kulturen und Welten zusammen zu bringen.

[James]

A novel from the DARKOVER series, about a man on his first mission to the planet. What he encounters when he leaves the space station is to determine the fate of every Terran stranded there. From the author of THE SPELL SWORD.

[Joyce Reynolds-Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Research read. Interesting to discover.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

More boys-adventure with a fantasy setting, it's a refreshing change. Kennard Alton and Larry Montray begin forging a bond between Darkover and Terra, but the path to change is not always easy.