Four Moons of Darkover

Rating:
Summary: Moonlight Madness
Review: "The Four Moons of Darkover" are part of a series of anthologies that deal with specific themes; in this case, the all-influential moons of Darkover. I personally enjoyed this anthology because it features some really good amateur work (which was encouraged by the late great Zimmer Bradley, who included the mechanics of joining in the backs of her anthologies---the world of literature is certainly lesser for her passing), and I believe that some of the authors are now pros. I had wanted to try my hand at it but I'll leave it to those who are much better at it. Every Darkover fan knows that the moons have got a lot to say about what happens on Darkover and especially to the gifted ones, who possess laran. In some stories it's literally moonlight madness, and all laran-gifted creatures beware, especially of the light of all four moons! Under that kind of light, ANYTHING is possible. I gave the book 4 stars, because of course, not all the stories are great, but over all, it's worth having for the entertainment value. Some explanations of legends mentioned in other Darkover books are also well written. I happen to have this book because I bought it quite some years ago, and if you can get a hold of it, sit back and prepare to be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Moonlight Madness
Review: "The Four Moons of Darkover" are part of a series of anthologies that deal with specific themes; in this case, the all-influential moons of Darkover. I personally enjoyed this anthology because it features some really good amateur work (which was encouraged by the late great Zimmer Bradley, who included the mechanics of joining in the backs of her anthologies---the world of literature is certainly lesser for her passing), and I believe that some of the authors are now pros. I had wanted to try my hand at it but I'll leave it to those who are much better at it. Every Darkover fan knows that the moons have got a lot to say about what happens on Darkover and especially to the gifted ones, who possess laran. In some stories it's literally moonlight madness, and all laran-gifted creatures beware, especially of the light of all four moons! Under that kind of light, ANYTHING is possible. I gave the book 4 stars, because of course, not all the stories are great, but over all, it's worth having for the entertainment value. Some explanations of legends mentioned in other Darkover books are also well written. I happen to have this book because I bought it quite some years ago, and if you can get a hold of it, sit back and prepare to be entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Fair to good.
Review: This book is a collection of stories written by "The Friends of Darkover", which is to say, mostly fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, set on the world of Darkover, and edited by Ms. Bradley herself. It's one of several such collections, and like most of them, it's hit-and-miss. Some of the stories weren't all that impressive; in fact, I didn't care ofr any of the first three. But some of them were interesting, if none of them actually come to mind as being memorable for positive reasons.

There was one story written by Ms. Bradley herself, "Man of Impulse", which further developed a character mentioned elsewhere in the canonical Darkover books, and apparently popular with readers: Dyan Ardais. So if you are determined to read everything ever written by Bradley, you need to read this story, even if you don't care for the fan fiction.

And there was a story, quite a good story in fact, which Ms. Bradley put in this book in spite of the fact that it was not written for Darkover; it was intended for her "Sword and Sorceress" series, but for reasons unclear to this reader, she felt it fit better here. The story is "Ashes To Ashes", by Patricia B. Cirone, and it seemed to me that it would have fit much better in its target anthology, rather than this one. But it was a good story in any case, so I'm glad it was published SOMEWHERE, regardless.

Rating:
Summary: Fair to good.
Review: This book is a collection of stories written by "The Friends of Darkover", which is to say, mostly fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, set on the world of Darkover, and edited by Ms. Bradley herself. It's one of several such collections, and like most of them, it's hit-and-miss. Some of the stories weren't all that impressive; in fact, I didn't care ofr any of the first three. But some of them were interesting, if none of them actually come to mind as being memorable for positive reasons.

There was one story written by Ms. Bradley herself, "Man of Impulse", which further developed a character mentioned elsewhere in the canonical Darkover books, and apparently popular with readers: Dyan Ardais. So if you are determined to read everything ever written by Bradley, you need to read this story, even if you don't care for the fan fiction.

And there was a story, quite a good story in fact, which Ms. Bradley put in this book in spite of the fact that it was not written for Darkover; it was intended for her "Sword and Sorceress" series, but for reasons unclear to this reader, she felt it fit better here. The story is "Ashes To Ashes", by Patricia B. Cirone, and it seemed to me that it would have fit much better in its target anthology, rather than this one. But it was a good story in any case, so I'm glad it was published SOMEWHERE, regardless.