[The first two books in Bradley's Darkover series, written in 1962, have been reissued.] The Planet Savers … was originally little more than a long novelette; it's followed here by a new Darkover short story, a curious piece for Bradley, but quite good.

The Sword of Aldones … is a full novel, and the one that really began the Darkover cult. It's a complicated story of Comyn intrigue and dark matrix magic, foreshadowing the later Heritage of Hastur. It also presents a somewhat different Darkover than we find in later novels. Bradley refused to be bound by consistency—wisely. I think, since Darkover has evolved and improved. But even the early stories have the wonderful allure of this strange world.

Lester del Rey, in a review of "The Sword of Aldones," in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Vol. XCVII, No. 3, March, 1977, p. 169.