Burrough's hold on the imagination of so many Science fiction writers is hard for me to fathom. This very much descended from Barsoomian tales in my opinion. I was very surprized to discover that the copyright dates from so late as 1974. I thought we had moved on. Not my favourite Bracketts by a long sight. ( )

Brackett's combination of old-school science fiction adventure and 1970s environmentalism doesn't disappoint. Even though the second volume in this trilogy was a little weak, I'd highly recommend all three to any science fiction fan. And while the connections were a little lighter in the second volume, I stand by my assertion that these novels must have been an inspiration for George R. R. Martin. Winter is coming, indeed.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-reavers-of-skaith-by-leigh-brackett.ht... ] ( )

Terzo volume di una serie di tre, la saga Skaith è in realtà un opera fantasy sviluppata per l'appunto su tre volumi: pur se l'incipit è l'arrivo dell'agente galattico Eric John Stark sull'arretrato pianeta Skaith per una delicata missione di ricerca di un suo collega sperduto, la storia prende poi la strada di un racconto fantasy "classico" di ricerca ed avventura in cui l'agente spaziale si troverà al centro di un'incredibile serie di avventure, personaggi, popoli, guerre, fughe, intrighi, ricerche, ecc...
Quello di Skaith è un mondo complesso e ricchissimo di idee che la Brackett sviluppa e ci racconta con la sua incredibile maestria di scrittrice, con il suo stile al tempo poetico e lineare, senza mai arenarsi nelle sabbie della noia o della confusione (cosa fin troppo facile quando ci si cimenta in tali mastodontiche storie).
Molto bello, una grande avventura che avvince e convince il lettore. Consigliato. ( )

Finished up [The Reavers of Skaith] the third in the Eric John Stark/Skaith trilogy -- LOVED it -- now maybe I'm just in a mood, but on another thread there was discussion of rating within genres, so you don't compare [Moby Dick] with [Dune] - the thing is [[Leigh Brackett]] can really write, and unlike the way books are written now (endless detail, endless numbers of pages, not that there is anything wrong with that) she is so spare, so focussed, it's just beautiful stuff. "In the low desert, frost had dimmed the reptilian colors of sand and rock and in the debatable lands beyond the trees were hung with the funeral draperies of dead leaves." Skaith, the planet, has a bit of the flavor of Helliconia, the Aldiss world, but preceded it by about a decade. The sun around which Skaith spins is dying, the area where people live is closing in but the Wandsmen who have been in control of most of the planet for millenia do not want to give up their power and want to send away the spaceships that come to offer to take people to new planets to settle -- enter the heroic and feral Eric John Stark to save the day. Here you will find telepathic hounds that kill with fear, half-bird half men, - earlier when the culture of Skaith was at its peak, their scientists could reengineer people to live in the sea or underground or almost anything they wished. All good fun. ****1/2. ( )