Reviews

Darkover Landfall by Marion Zimmer Bradley

spaceyasay's review against another edition

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3.0

A colony ship crash lands on a mysterious unexplored planet. Can they repair the ship, or should they accept where they ended up and make the best of it? That in a nutshell is the first book of the Darkover Saga.

dorthonn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Short story but I have come back to this book many times over past 20 years, it has certain magic even after all these years.

spinstersam's review against another edition

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3.0

Solid planet colony story, providing an interesting foundation/history for the Darkover series. For the most part, it held up for an older story. I was a bit annoyed by some silly 1970's theories on female maternal instinct, but it didn't ruin things.

magickalscientist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

marierie's review against another edition

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5.0

Never had a list of Darkover books in order (or so I thought). Found that list, and realized I did not have all the books. Read this one and am eager to read the next, but realized I did not have all of them! Just ordered them all as birthday presents. Can't wait to read them!
Since they were written in the 70's, many references to male chauvinism, birth control and free sex, but really liked the beginning of the saga!

lotalimareva's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

foolish_shane's review against another edition

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3.0

Reading this one with Shelley. It's only been on my tbr pile for about 20 years now. I like to read at least one old classic sci-fi book a year.

So this was interesting. It was really more about the characters than an amazing new world or it's inhabitants. For it's age it held up well minus some gender issues with the male characters. Not a lot happened so it was a little slow and there definitely didn't seem like there was a conclusion or a climax to the story. I'm curious about what happens to this marooned colony of humans but not sure if I'm curious enough to read the next book.

arkobla's review against another edition

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4.0

excellent book written 1972. yes, it has some antiquated beliefs and technology that is dated but it is a solid story that lays the foundation for the dark over novels. I am looking forward to my journey there

mysteriousnorse's review against another edition

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2.0

I have to agree with several of the lower ratings that this is unbearably tedious. The characters are unlikable and trapped in the worst gender stereotypes of the early 70s. Nothing really new is learned about Darkover as a world in this. There were better starship crash/survival stories written before this and have been better since. The best part is the hard science because the psychology is outdated garbage, and the romance is juvenile (a continuing problem with the series). There just isn't much that I enjoyed here.

yarrowkat's review against another edition

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2.0

well, that was a good story right up until the anti-feminist & pro-eugenics argument about 4/5 of the way through. which of course did nothing to advance the story, either. because how could they. i'm completely weirded out now.