The Planet Savers

Marion Zimmer BradleyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 155K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer BradleyAuthor: Bradley, Marion Zimmer, 1930-1999,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 13, 2010

Editor's review

The Planet Savers is an early novella connected to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, compact in length and built on a clear genre-fiction frame: a periodic plague breaks out on a colony planet, and a team must venture into danger to find a cure. The story moves at a brisk pace, balancing adventure and investigation, and frames "saving" as a choice with a cost rather than a simple heroic triumph. As a public-domain ebook, the English original makes it easy to look up characters and setting details, and it works as a light introduction to Bradley's universe. One caveat: this is early genre science fiction, so characterization and world-building are limited by the short length, and some setup depends on series background; readers hoping for grand epic sweep or complex character arcs may find it leaves them wanting more. Overall, it is best read as a short planetary adventure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy classic American science fiction and planetary adventure
Readers who want a short introduction to Bradley's Darkover series
Language learners who need public-domain English texts for extensive reading practice
Science fiction fans interested in plagues, ecology, and colonial themes

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long, epic-scale world-building
Readers sensitive to gender and colonial narratives in early science fiction
Readers who only want a Chinese translation and are not comfortable with the English original

Reading tips

First clarify the mission goal and the team's division of labor, then read the adventure sections; the pace will be easier to follow.
Read the plague setup in relation to the colony's ecology, and notice how the author uses the environment to drive the plot.
After finishing, look up the series' basic background; it fills in setup the novella does not expand on.
For extensive reading in English, don't look up every word; grasp the dialogue and action lines first, then handle vocabulary on a second pass.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a complete full-length novel or a short work?

According to the materials, it is one work in a public-domain ebook and is on the short side, close to a novella. The story centers on a planetary plague relief mission and moves quickly, suitable for reading in one or two sittings; if you expect the development and multiple plotlines of a full-length novel, adjust your expectations.

Do I need to read other books in the Darkover series first?

Not strictly, but knowing the series' basic setup beforehand will make reading smoother. This story depends on some series background, and the relationships among characters and the planet are not fully explained in such a short length; reading an introduction or series chronology first can reduce confusion.

Is the English original difficult to read?

Overall it uses the common English of genre fiction, with short sentences and a lot of dialogue and action description; an intermediate English reading level is enough to attempt it. When you encounter proper nouns and planetary setting terms, you can skip them first and focus on the mission line and character relationships, then fill in details on a second pass.

What kind of readers is the story suitable for?

It suits science fiction readers who like short planetary adventures, plague investigation, and colonial themes, and also suits those who want to use public-domain English texts for extensive reading. If you care more about complex character psychology or grand world-building, this short work may feel slight.

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About the author

Marion Zimmer Bradley Author · American · 1930–1999

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930–1999) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, born in Albany, New York, and died in Berkeley. She is known for the Darkover series, which grew over many years and became a mainstay of her career, and she became a bestselling author with The Mists of Avalon, a retelling of the Arthurian legend from a female perspective that brought wider attention to women's voices in Arthurian fiction. She also edited the annual Sword and Sorceress anthology, providing a continuing platform for short fantasy and women-centered fiction. Five of her works are included here—The Colors of Space, The Door Through Space, Year of the Big Thaw, The Planet Savers, and Falcons of Narabedla—showing that much of her early work involved space adventure and science-fictional imagination. Public information about the details of her life is limited.