Darkover

#4593.89 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 22 books Status Complete 1958–1999 Reading commitment High Marion Zimmer Bradley Last reviewed 2026-08-15

Overview

An interstellar 'Lost Colony' world: the psi-gifted human descendants of a crashed colony ship build a Hundred-Kingdoms medieval society on the planet Darkover, later rediscovered by a starfaring Terran Empire. Marion Zimmer Bradley's second universe in this canon (alongside The Mists of Avalon), confirmed a wholly separate setting with no shared characters or continuity. A long-running science-fantasy series that Bradley herself said should be read in publication order, not an invented internal chronology.

Epic fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (22 works) counts toward ranking

Darkover Marion Zimmer Bradley

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	The Planet Savers	1958	core	3.73 (2,051 ratings)
	The Sword of Aldones	1962	core	3.67 (1,076 ratings)
	The Bloody Sun	1964	core	3.92 (3,091 ratings)
	Star of Danger	1965	core	3.72 (1,956 ratings)
	The Winds of Darkover	1970	core	3.75 (2,049 ratings)
	The World Wreckers	1971	core	3.72 (2,065 ratings)
	Darkover Landfall	1972	core	3.86 (6,805 ratings)
	The Spell Sword	1974	core	3.74 (2,208 ratings)
	The Heritage of Hastur	1975	core	4.03 (3,358 ratings)
	The Shattered Chain	1976	core	3.95 (3,026 ratings)
	The Forbidden Tower	1977	core	4.06 (3,182 ratings)
	Stormqueen!	1978	core	3.88 (4,647 ratings)
	Two to Conquer	1980	core	3.70 (2,622 ratings)
	Sharra's Exile	1981	core	3.96 (2,768 ratings)
	Hawkmistress!	1982	core	4.00 (4,524 ratings)
	Thendara House	1983	core	4.01 (2,613 ratings)
	City of Sorcery	1984	core	3.76 (2,035 ratings)
	The Heirs of Hammerfell	1989	core	3.70 (2,302 ratings)
	Rediscovery	1993	core	3.86 (2,374 ratings)
	Exile's Song	1996	core	4.05 (2,797 ratings)
	The Shadow Matrix	1998	core	4.05 (2,301 ratings)
	Traitor's Sun	1999	core	3.96 (2,370 ratings)

Core Canon = the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship during her lifetime (1958-1999; some jointly credited with a co-author -- Mercedes Lackey on Rediscovery, Adrienne Martine-Barnes on Exile's Song/The Shadow Matrix/Traitor's Sun -- but always alongside Bradley herself). Per Bradley's own stated preference, publication order is used rather than the internal Darkovan chronology (Founding/Ages of Chaos/Hundred Kingdoms/Rediscovery/Modern eras), consistent with this project's deliberately-unrecorded-chronology pattern used elsewhere. Expanded Canon (the post-2000 continuation novels written entirely by Deborah J. Ross after Bradley's 1999 death -- the Clingfire Trilogy, The Alton Gift, Hastur Lord, The Children of Kings, Thunderlord!, The Laran Gambit, Arilinn) is deliberately deferred out of scope per the credited-authorship bright line (same approach as Pern's generational handoff), same treatment as InCryptid's and Solomon Kane's deferred Expanded backlogs; not populated as book records yet. The Door Through Space (1961) shares worldbuilding details but is explicitly not part of the Darkover setting per its own cover copy and is excluded. The Sword and Sorceress anthology series (which Bradley edited but did not herself write) is out of scope for the same reason Songs of the Dying Earth was excluded from Cugel's Saga.

Library / Expanded (6 works) context only

Darkover: The Ross Continuation Novels Marion Zimmer Bradley, Deborah J. Ross

	Work	Year	Canon	Rating
	The Alton Gift; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2007	expanded	N/A
	Hastur Lord; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2010	expanded	N/A
	The Children of Kings; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2013	expanded	N/A
	Thunderlord; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2016	expanded	N/A
	The Laran Gambit; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2022	expanded	N/A
	Arilinn; Darkover continuation novel by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, continuing the Alton/Hastur/Elhalyn political storyline after Traitor's Sun (1999). Registered Expanded Canon; Core Canon remains the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship (1958-1999), per this universe's existing scope note.	2024	expanded	N/A

6 Darkover continuation novels written by Deborah J. Ross, credited jointly with Marion Zimmer Bradley, 2007-2024. Publisher's own announcement names Arilinn (2024) as the final Darkover novel.

Quick answers

• How many books are in Darkover? Darkover's Core Canon is 22 books, plus 6 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
• What is the reading order for Darkover? Publication order, starting with The Planet Savers. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
• Is Darkover finished? Complete (1958–1999).
• How much reading does Darkover take? High reading commitment (estimated from 22 Core Canon books · ~7,107 pages).
• How is Darkover ranked? #459 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 62,220 reader ratings across 22 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #459?

Ranked #459 of 664 ranked universes.

• Average reader rating of 3.89 across 22 core books.
• A smaller readership (62,220 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
• Less than 0.01 behind #458, The Bromeliad Trilogy (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
• Below the top-10 average of 4.45.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Rated · 22 books · Complete · 62k ratings · Ranks #459 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (22 Core Canon books)

1. The Planet Savers (1958)
2. The Sword of Aldones (1962)
3. The Bloody Sun (1964)
4. Star of Danger (1965)
5. The Winds of Darkover (1970)
6. The World Wreckers (1971)
7. Darkover Landfall (1972)
8. The Spell Sword (1974)
9. The Heritage of Hastur (1975)
10. The Shattered Chain (1976)
11. The Forbidden Tower (1977)
12. Stormqueen! (1978)
13. Two to Conquer (1980)
14. Sharra's Exile (1981)
15. Hawkmistress! (1982)
16. Thendara House (1983)
17. City of Sorcery (1984)
18. The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989)
19. Rediscovery (1993)
20. Exile's Song (1996)
21. The Shadow Matrix (1998)
22. Traitor's Sun (1999)

Awards (verified)

• Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1963: nominated: The Sword of Aldones
• Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1978: nominated: The Forbidden Tower
• Nebula Award (Best Novel), 1975: nominated: The Heritage of Hastur; sfadb registers this under its 1976 award-year listing; nebulas.sfwa.org's own nominated-work page is cited directly rather than resolving the exact ceremony-year label.

Related universes

• Same author The Mists of Avalon: Both by the same author (Marion Zimmer Bradley); confirmed wholly separate settings, an interstellar science-fantasy 'Lost Colony' world (Darkover) vs. Arthurian Britain (The Mists of Avalon).

You might also like

Suggestions computed from what Darkover and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

• The Black Magician Trilogy and the Kyralia World Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.03
• Sword of Truth Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.01
• The DemonWars Saga Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.99
• Shannara Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.99

Official resources

• The Hugo Awards: 1963 Hugo Awards
• The Hugo Awards: 1978 Hugo Awards
• The Nebula Awards: The Heritage of Hastur
• Wikipedia: Darkover series

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.89 across 62,220 ratings on 22 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Darkover admitted; Marion Zimmer Bradley's 2nd universe accepted 2026-08-15

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

• Wikipedia: Darkover series Tier 2
• sfadb: Marion Zimmer Bradley Tier 2
• The Hugo Awards: 1963 Hugo Awards Tier 1
• The Hugo Awards: 1978 Hugo Awards Tier 1
• The Nebula Awards: The Heritage of Hastur Tier 1

Related universes: see the Related universes section above.

Last reviewed: 2026-08-17

Rule: Core Canon = the 22 novels published under Bradley's own credited authorship, 1958-1999 (some jointly credited with a co-author -- Mercedes Lackey on Rediscovery, Adrienne Martine-Barnes on the final 3 -- but always alongside Bradley herself). Expanded Canon (the post-2000 continuation novels written entirely by Deborah J. Ross after Bradley's 1999 death) is deliberately deferred out of scope this pass, per the credited-authorship bright line already used for Pern's generational handoff.

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