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Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj
"Darkover" is another series I'm thinking about reading - but I haven't yet been able to figure out the order in which they should be read. Every site I visit puts the books in different order, and not always the same books. It seems there is no agreement on what belongs to the series. I've read two random tomes in the past, but forgot what they were about since then - only that they didn't seem to be connected in any way.
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Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote the Darkover books over a long time, and jumped around in the timeline of the world. Her writing skills and style changed a bit as time wore on, and in fact, she re-wrote several stories - at least one case has both versions still available, at least in used form.
I would recommend reading them in publication date order, so that you get the stories in the order she wrote them. Also, be aware there are several books that were written by co-authors from outlines and/or notes from Bradley - they may be more or less to your taste since the actual writing was done by another author.
As another example, I would recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's 5 Gods series - Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. Each gives a bit more detail as the characters learn, and I think Lois does a better job of exploration than Marion did. And Lois's current series is The Sharing Knife, and again has the characters exploring their world and learning more about how things work.