This Darkover novel is similar to Darkover Landfall in that it deals with the discovery (in this case, rediscovery) of the planet Darkover by Terrans landing on the planet. There are rather significant differences, of course. Rediscovery takes place a couple of thousand years after Darkover Landfall and the ship that colonized Darkover is known only as one of the Lost Ships that was unaccounted for. The Terran spacecraft has been traveling for several years, looking for a habitable planet on which to land and conduct experiments to determine whether or not the planet is able to be colonized. The novel s viewpoint switches back and forth between the ship and the telepath s who learn the ship is coming.

Part of the novel (that which is suggested by the title) is focused on the ship, its crew, and the discovery that the people of Darkover are comprised of the descendants of former Terran colonists. The other viewpoint is that of the native Darkovans. We see Leonie Hastur, a woman going to train her extremely powerful laran in one of the Towers. Even though I know the novel s focus was truly on the rediscovery of Darkover, it was the Leonie chapters that interested me the most.

The events of this novel were a turning point in the history of Darkover as there will now be a Terran presence on Darkover and a greater technological impact on what was once a low-tech world. This was not one of the best Darkover novels, but I enjoyed it and it was a story that needed to be told as it allows for all of the novels that are set after Rediscovery . I would not start the series with Rediscovery , but if you like the series then there is no reason you shouldn t read this one, too.