From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Subject: KILLASHANDRA by Anne McCaffrey (mild spoiler) From: duane@anasazi.UUCP Organization: Anasazi, Phoenix Az. Date: 11 Jul 86 05:41:59 GMT Time: medium-range future (some hundreds of years from now) Place: planet Optheria, mainly. Introduction: Killashandra is a crystal singer, a person with perfect pitch, able and willing to seek much-needed crystal (of various kinds) on planet Ballybran. It's a love-hate relationship though; singers save enough money selling crystal to leave planet, but, for biological reasons, they always have to return. Killashandra has just excavated a decent load of crystal, not enough to get her very far off planet, but at least enough to take her away from Ballybran. But the head of her guild offers her a short-term job on planet Optheria, a planet mainly noted for its crystal-based musical organs. She's to take her load of crystals and install them in the main organ; on the side she's to try and find out why no Optherian has ever left the planet. Main storylines: Killashandra's adventures on Optheria, her investigation, and her relationship with a leading islander there. SF elements: advanced technology, galactic and planetary politics, minor biological changes in some humans (crystal singers). Critique: This book might be called "The Further Adventures of Killashandra Ree". It starts a few months after CRYSTAL SINGER ends. Killashandra comes across as a believable person, and the worlds seem quite real. The book is paced well enough. I had a bit of trouble believing that Killashandra would strike up the romantic relationship she did, but it's not that improbable, given the nature of her character. I didn't find any particular fault with the book, but I didn't find anything especially gripping or exciting either. It's a pleasant, mildly interesting read. I give it 3.0 stars (good, but I'll trade it in). -- Duane Morse ...!noao!mot!anasazi!duane (602) 870-3330 From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Subject: TWO new Pern books are out! Keywords: Renegades, Dragonlovers From: jcmorris@mbunix.mitre.org (Morris) Organization: The MITRE Corp. McLean, VA Date: 7 Nov 89 21:03:33 GMT Either I missed a feed or the net.rumor.mill missed it, because there are TWO new Pern books on the bookstore shelves as of yesterday afternoon. As the net has been discussing for some time, _The_Renegades_of_Pern_ is one of the new books. I assume that it follows the plot as described here over the past week since I haven't started into it yet. The other book is _The_Dragonlover's_Guide_to_Pern_ by Jody Lynn Nye (and Anne McCaffrey). It's a large-format (8-1/2x11) guide to the flora, fauna, and culture of Pern, and on first examination looks to be a good companion to the _Atlas_of_Pern_ which came out last year. A few of the items from the book: - A drawing of a klah mug with the EEC logo - The demographics of the original settlers: 2,000 unattached 2,020 married (1,010 couples) 120 single parents 223 over [child-]bearing age 721 nomads 939 children ------ 6,023 humans (plus 25 dolphins) - Drawings of tunnel snakes, wherrys, Thread, and grubs - Drawings showing the relative size of a man and a fully-grown dragonet, a bronze rider, his dragon, and a quenn egg, and the various sizes of dragons - Another comparative-size drawing of Ramoth against a Lockheed L1011 jet (wingspan award to Ramoth by a huge amount; length award to the jet by only a dozen feet or so) ...and so on. The general feel I get from thumbing the books at home last night is that they remind me of some of the unclassified orientation briefing books which the State Department issues for some foreign countries. Both books are published by Del Rey, and both are listed at $19.95. Waldenbooks is selling them for 15% discount. Oh yes...also in the book is a recipie for klah if you want to really get the flavor of the series. From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Subject: Anne McCaffery _The_Renegades_of_Pern_ From: HIGHLAND%AESD.DECnet@CRDGW1.GE.COM Date: 10 Nov 89 14:45:00 GMT Ann McCaffery's newest book, _The_Renegades_of_Pern_, seems to be a "tie up the loose ends" book for the Dragonriders of Pern series. The period of this book is before, during and after _The_White_Dragon_. It follows the adventures of Piemur exploring the southern continent as a subtheme. _Renegades_ jumps around alot. There are some surprises, but not many. If you haven't read all of the books in the Dragonrider series to date, including _Dragonsdawn_, forget it, you will be completely lost before you make it half way through the book. This book is not one of McCaffery's best. You probably should not make my mistake and buy the thing in hard cover, wait for the paperback. The book goes in depth to describe the condition of the lower classes of Pernese society. There are several characters which are brought in and used to make these points, then disappear and don't surface again for about 100 pages. David Highland highland%AESD.DECnet@crd.ge.com From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Subject: _Sassinak_ by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon Summary: quite good From: throopw@sheol.UUCP (Wayne Throop) Date: 25 Feb 90 00:14:54 GMT From Baen Books, 4.95, 333 pages. ***+ on the OtherRealms scale. Some of you may remember _Dinosaur_Planet_ and _Dinosaur_Planet_Survivors_ by Anne McCaffrey. The two books were separated by several years, and yet they were clearly "really" a single book. This oddity was discussed on the net a while back, but I don't remember anybody presenting a convincing definitive reason for the split in the story or the long interval between publication. I also recall that there was a faction that thought the books were quite good, and another that thought they were quite bad, and not too many with intermediate opinions. One of those "loved it or hated it" things. My position was that it was quite good, as a bit of adventure fluff. Quite McCaffrey-esque. *Very* interesting multi-sentient civilization universe. Well, Anne and Elizabeth have gone and written a pre-and-sequel. Or a simulquel. ANYway, a book set in the same universe which touches strongly upon the events in DP and DPS. _Sassinak_ chronicles the adventures of one of the spear-carrier characters of the resolution of DPS from childhood to somewhat beyond the time of the end of DPS (a few days beyond). I'm not sure how it would read to somebody not familiar with DP and DPS... towards the end it might get somewhat choppy as characters from the other books get involved. (Or maybe not... as I say it's hard to judge.) But even if choppy, I think the book as a whole is very effective. Better than DP and DPS. I think Anne and Elizabeth handle the coming-of-age-in-the-military better in many ways than F.M.Busby's "Rissa" and "Zelde" books. I could also compare it to Starship Troopers (epecially what with the eye-catching cover of Sassinak in powered battle armor), but no matter what I said about that would be misleading one way or another, given the ossified Heinlein controversy. In fact, come to that, forget what you might think of F.M.Busby's UET universe... even if you didn't like those, you might like this. As Goldman's father might say, "Good men. Bad men. Giant men. Beautifullest women. Alienest peoples. Space Battles. Sacrifice. Treachery. Loyalty. Revenge. True Love." (Well, sincere love, anyway.) This is definitely *after* the invention of the adventure yarn. Perhaps the only negative thing about it is that it is the first of a (ugh, I can barely stand to say it...) Trilogy. -- Wayne Throop !mcnc!rti!sheol!throopw or sheol!throopw@rti.rti.org From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 Path: sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!uupsi!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers Subject: Planet Pirates #2: Death of Sleep Message-ID: Date: 22 Jun 90 06:32:59 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 27 McCaffrey's second "Planet Pirates" book is out, this one co-authored by Jody Lynn Nye, who is clearly not as good as Moon. It's not bad mind-candy, but it's disappointing. Sloppy. Not negligent-sloppy, except for some minor slips such as referring to water as hydrogen dioxide. Not bad-science-sloppy, though I could wish for the book to have started with a more probable cliche than having the spaceship hit a meteor. Lack-of-imagination sloppy: The twenty-ninth century feels just like the twentieth -- and has similar tastes, as well. Then the protagonist spends half a century in cryogenic sleep -- and all of a sudden massive cultural changes seem to have taken place. As with the previous book, Sassinak, the weakest part of this book was that overlapping Dinosaur Planet -- this time told from a third perspective, that of Lunzie. The authors seem to be relying on the reader's familiarity with the earlier books (which are not formally part of this series) and tell the story in a choppy and unmotivated manner. I'd be interested in knowing how the last forty pages read to someone who hasn't read "Dinosaur Planet". ----- Dani Zweig haste+@andrew.cmu.edu 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From rec.arts.sf-lovers Fri Nov 16 12:04:32 1990 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!uupsi!cmcl2!yale!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers Subject: The Rowan Message-ID: Date: 12 Nov 90 00:33:24 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 23 Over thirty years ago, Anne MacCaffrey wrote a twenty-page story titled "Lady in the Tower". Like so much of her work, it was a romance -- strictly adhering to formula -- with science-fictional props. In "The Rowan", this story has been expanded to novel length by the infusion of three hundred pages of candy floss. The story is still the same -- poor little tele-younameit finally find the equally powerful tele-younameit who is her one true love -- except that every nuance now gets a chapter of background and a chapter of expansion. There's still only a short-story's worth of substance. The rest is not the worst mind- candy, but is quite lacking in whatever it is that minds use for nutrition. Don't buy this book in hardcover. If you must read it, wait till it's out in paperback or, better still, borrow it from a friend or, best of all, borrow it from the library. One and a half stars out of five. ----- Dani Zweig haste+@andrew.cmu.edu 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From rec.arts.sf.written Mon Jul 20 11:58:18 1992 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!sun-barr!ames!apple!apple!netcomsv!mork!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: PartnerShip (Spoilers) Message-ID: <9c-m9xb.dani@netcom.com> Date: 16 Jul 92 04:28:38 GMT Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Lines: 62 "PartnerShip", by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey, is a good self- indulgent read that offers no surprises. McCaffrey's name on the cover tells us that it's going to be a romance novel, whatever the setting. Lackey's name tells us that plot logic is not going to be allowed to get in the way of the serious business of pulling on our heart strings. And the title tells us that the book is going to be set in Helva's universe. So we know that we're going to get a romance between a ship and her brawn, and we do. McCaffrey's grasp of celestial mechanics is a shaky as it ever was (a highly eccentric orbit that gives a planet ninety years of Earth-normal weather and ten years of -50 degrees winter would seem to defy Kepler's laws), and her grasp of physics in general is no better. (She seems to be under the impression that "less than a microsecond" and "a few nanoseconds" mean "fast reaction time". Well, maybe.) The book's picture of the business world is also fuzzy. (Sure, things may have changed by then, but we're given no reason to believe that they have in these respects.) The authors seem to think that "preferred stock" means the stock that controls a company (though the opposite is often the case), and that a company's "board of directors" is its top management. I tend to attribute the plot inconsistencies to Lackey. For example, Alex comes in and finds most of the ship's functions shut down -- because most of the Ship's attention is elsewhere -- and just *knows* that she's gone. This despite the fact that we're told that she has three hours of deep sleep a day, during which one presumes that *all* her attention is unavailable. The miracle that allows the limits of current technology to be combined in a working model within two weeks? That actually might work. I can see it now: Researcher 1: It's impossible. How are we to develop an android body in that amount of time? Researcher 2: Don't be naive; you know what she wants. Just take a sex-droid, replace the AI with communications gear, and add tranceivers along the skin. Researcher 1: Will it... Will she... um... Researcher 2: No, of course not. She'll feel the pressure on her 'skin' but it won't translate to sexual pleasure unless it's routed to her brain illegally. "Addictive use of electronics", you know. I don't think we need to actually tell her that. Why am I being this picky? Mostly to reinforce what I said at the start. If you buy this book, you're buying a romance, with some science-fiction- oreinted stage dressing. If that's what you expect, you won't be disappointed. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From rec.arts.sf.written Mon Jul 20 11:59:04 1992 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!olivea!decwrl!csus.edu!netcomsv!mork!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: The Ship Who Searched (was: PartnerShip (Spoilers)) Message-ID: Date: 16 Jul 92 18:15:48 GMT References: <9c-m9xb.dani@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Lines: 9 Oops, did I say "PartnerShip"? I meant "The Ship Who Searched." The former is the earlier product of McCaffrey's collaboration with Margaret Ball. My thanks to those who pointed out my mistake. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com God helpe the man so wrapt in Errours endless traine -- Edmund Spenser From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 From: ut6y@vax5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU (Michael Scott Shappe) Subject: Shappe's Spoiler Review: _DragonsDawn_ (second attempt) Date: 19 Oct 88 19:12:57 GMT Shappe's Spoiler Review _DragonsDawn_ a new novel, by Anne McCaffery _____________________________________________________________ Warning: The following article may contain important plot information about the work reviewed, or other related works. Any reader who thinks such advance information may spoil his or her appetite for the work or works in question should do whatever necessary to stop reading this article as soon as possible. The author assumes no responsibility for spoiled appetites. _____________________________________________________________ It has become common practice for authors of long series to start those series in media res (literally, in the middle of things), then go back to the beginning later. Asimov has done it with _Prelude to Foundation; Harrison has done it with _A Stainless Steel Rat is Born_. Even some of the Star Trek novels recently have dealt with situations set before what was broadcast on television. Now, Anne McCaffery has followed suit. Oh, has she ever. I have long been a fan of the _DragonRiders of Pern_ heptology, and from my very first reading of the main trilogy--_DragonFlight_, _DragonQuest_, and _The White Dragon_, I have wondered exactly what brought mankind to the planet Pern. What could have motivated people to migrate to an out of the way, mineral poor backwater? And what kind of people must they have been to have survived and prevailed over the troubles that the wandering Red Star brought every 200 years? Now, Anne McCaffery answers that question. _DragonsDawn_ spans a 9 year stretch, beginning just as the three ships of the Pern Colonial Expedition, commanded by war hero Admiral Paul Benden, is entering the Rukbat system. The Federated Sentient Planets is recovering from a long space-war, and many of the battle weary have chosen to forego the technology-ridden, bureaucratic FSP in favor of the simpler life. Pern, out of the way, lacking in the quantities of minerals necessary for heavy technology, but ideally suited for carbon based life, seemed perfect for a agricultural colony. McCaffery once again works her magic, from the very start, with her characterizations. McCaffery has always had a way of making likeable (and occasionally loathable), three dimensional characters, and _DragonsDawn_ is no exception. Unlike her previous seven books, which habitiually focus strongly on, at most, three or four characters, here manages to juggle no fewer than eight primary characters, doing justice to all. Neither have her descriptive powers failed her. Once again, as she had done seven times before, McCaffery managed to teleport me /between/ to her imaginary beautiful world. This time, she had some help, in the form of experts in astronomy and (I believe) geology, in forming her descriptions. Finally, Anne manages something which not all authors do: her story is perfectly continuous with what has gone "before". All the descriptions given here fit with what few glimpses the Pernese of 2000 years later have managed to view. And finally, she has left the story open ended. Now, those of you who despise sequels should not start despairing yet. After all, McCaffery left the original stories that were later to become the novel _DragonFlight_ open ended, as well, and that was before she had any intention of continuing the series further. Such openendedness is necessary to give the story the a properly "historical" feel--to give the sense that, whether more is written or not, the story still goes on. This is not, therefore, a fau lt in my opinion, and I find myself seriously torn between wanting to see her quit while she's ahead, and continue ad infinitum. Many people I have talked to have expressed disappointment with McCaffery's previous Pern offering, _Moreta:DragonLady of Pern_, and I have, by and large , agreed that it is the weakest of the seven (for the record, I am discounting _Nerilka's Story_, which I have not read, and therefore would not criticize). McCaffery has certainly redeemed herself with this novel, which kept me reading well past my bedtime (not something I usually do--call me strange), completely unable to escape. I give it my highest, slavering recommendation. _____________________________________________________________ Michael Scott Shappe UT6Y@vax5.ccs.cornell.edu ...!rochester!cornell!vax5!ut6y CopyRight (c) 1988 Michael Scott Shappe. All rights reserved. From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992 From: ut6y@vax5.ccs.cornell.edu (Michael Scott Shappe) Organization: Pern Colonial Expedition, Federated Sentient Planets Subject: Shappe's Review:_The People of Pern_ Date: 2 Nov 88 01:49:27 GMT Shappe's Review: _The People of Pern_ Text by Anne McCaffrey Art by Robin Wood Warning The following post may contain important information regarding Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" stories and characters. Anyone who feels that their enjoyment either of the reviewed work or related works would be destroyed by continuing should bug out now. The author assumes no responsibility for spoilt appetities. I had just come down off of my _DragonsDawn_ high. I had just stopped dreaming of dragons at night. Then, I walked into B. Daltons, and WHAMMMO, there it was, all over again, as bad as before, for there, sitting on the shelf, was _The People of Pern_, by Anne McCaffrey and Robin Wood. _TPoP_ is primarily an art book. The book contains a large number of high- quality paintings and sketches of the characters of McCaffrey's first eight Pern books, accompanied by Anne's own descriptions of the characters. Anne had a large hand how her characters were represented, so these visions can be considiered "canonical" -- particularly those of Master Harper Robinton and Menolly, both of which are based on the same real people the characters were based on. Speaking of Master Robinton -- the portrait in the book is what convinced me to buy the book, and apparently part of what convinced Anne to have the book done, and rightly so. It is absolutly beautiful, as are all its companions. Robin Wood, who's previous Pern fame relates to the Mayfair games version of /DragonRiders of Pern/, clearly has a feel for Pern. Also of interest are the small spoilers Anne gives for future books (yes, there are more on the way -- that she divulges not-so-subtly in her introduction). Whether Anne actually plans to write into Pern's "future" (that is, the time after _White Dragon_) or not, she definitely appears to have thought up interesting additions to the dimensions of several characters, including F'nor, Brekke, T'gellan, Mirrim, and Jaxom. My ratings: Uninitiated Types: Read the books first!!!!! THEN get this. Casual fans: May want to wait for the paperback or the SFBC edition, if nothing else becase the thing runs $19.95 Slobbering junkies like me: Get it. Get it NOW!!!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Uncle Mikey (Michael Scott Shappe) | BITNET: UT6Y@CRNLVAX5 208 Dryden Road Apartment 304 | InterNet: UT6Y@vax5.ccs.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14850 | UUCP:...!rochester!cornell!vax5!ut6y 607/277-6461 | ************************************** ______________________________________________________________________________ Copyright (c) 1988 Michael Scott Shappe. All Rights Reserved. This copyright is not intended to infringe upon those legitimately held by any other other individual or group. From rec.arts.sf.written Thu Sep 3 16:12:37 1992 Path: isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!olivea!hal.com!decwrl!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: All the Weyrs of Pern Message-ID: <7blns5b.dani@netcom.com> Date: 3 Sep 92 07:04:04 GMT Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Lines: 31 "All the Weyrs of Pern" isn't a bad book, if you think of it as a farewell to old friends, rather than as a serious attempt at story- telling. Enjoyment of the book depends almost completely on knowing the characters from previous books, and caring who winds up married to whom and with how many children. As weak an understanding of science as McCaffrey's own is also an advantage. She got some advice this time round (the problem of the red star's orbit is partly cleaned up, for example), but it's not tempered by an understanding of her own. (Her computers, for example, are either artificial superintelligences or pc's running DOS. But the piece of voodoo pseudo-science I thought most characteristic was the use of a mixture of liquid helium, liquid hydrogen, liquid neon, and liquid silicone as a lubricant. That would be a tough mixture to achieve at any temperature!) The actual scheme to rid Pern of thread is fraught with implausibilities, but that scheme isn't very important. It's only a mechanism for allowing McCaffrey's favorite characters to take their final bows. If you have a sentimental attachment to the Pern novels, you'll want to read this one as well. Just don't expect a book that caters to anything *but* that sentiment. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From rec.arts.sf.written Wed Oct 7 15:08:00 1992 Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uknet!stl!bnrgate!corpgate!news.utdallas.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!sgiblab!smsc.sony.com!tucker From: tucker@smsc.sony.com (Tim Tucker 817) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Anne McCaffery's "Crystal Line", reviews/spoilers Keywords: McCaffery, Crystal Singers Message-ID: <1992Oct5.213413.8859@smsc.sony.com> Date: 5 Oct 92 21:34:13 GMT Sender: tucker@smsc (Tim Tucker 817) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Sony Microsystems Corp. Lines: 59 (*SPOILER ALERT*) I just went out and read the latest addition to the "Crystal Singer" series over the weekend and thought I would give some words of warning before too many other people buy it. McCaffery's (sp?) style has gotten worse since the original two Singer books. It was pretty obvious that this one does not hold together as well as the first two, and at times I wondered if maybe Anne is starting to lose it :-) The problems: o The story wonders around too much. At times she would make quick changes, and I had to back up and re-read to make certain that I was following along correctly. This points to poor writing/editing, and it suprised me. o She has introduced a number of items from her other books into the "Singer" universe. Most notable are from the "The Ship who Sang". If you haven't read these other non-"Singer" books, you might start off a little confused since McCaffery doesn't spend much time explaining these new items. o The plot device used to restore "Killa's" memory was too out of character, occupied a large section of the book, and then seems to get dropped. I didn't like this. Unless she plans to continue the series with this new entity as a returning character, it was a big waste of time. o The story had great potential for character development, but it was skim- med over in favor of time spent with the liquid metal entity (yes, you heard right, shades to T2). This is was disappointed me the most, since the relationship/character aspect was very strong in the "Singer" books. My advice, wait for the paperback version... Tim tucker@smsc.sony.com and not From rec.arts.sf.written Sun Jan 17 15:35:01 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: McCaffrey: Crystal Line Message-ID: <1993Jan16.050059.12225@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 05:00:59 GMT Lines: 30 "Crystal Line" is probably the best thing McCaffrey's written in the past five years -- though in my opinion it's not nearly as good as her best work, which is two decades and more behind her. We return to Killashandra Ree for the third, and probably last, time. She's been cutting crystal for a couple of centuries now, and it's taken its toll of her memory. (At the start of the book it's not so bad, but she hits a crisis part way through, by the end of which there's not much of her still home.) The resolution to her personal problems is a generic-McCaffrey Deus Ex Machina, and the solution to the Guild's problems is more handwaving (many of them are only problems because the author has declared them to be problems, although it seems odd that they would be, and they disappear with farcical ease as the book runs out of pages), but that's okay: The so-called problems are only a foil for Killashandra, who is one of McCaffrey's more engaging characters. This book is no more than a self-indulgence for readers who enjoyed the first two Crystal Singer books, but it's also no less -- and there's nothing wrong with self-indulgence. A good ultra-light read. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com 'T is with our judgements as our watches, none Go alike, yet each believes his own --Alexander Pope From rec.arts.sf.written Sun Jan 17 15:35:39 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!The-Star.honeywell.com!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: McCaffrey: Damia Message-ID: <1993Jan16.094240.22562@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 09:42:40 GMT Lines: 24 "Damia" is Anne McCaffrey's second Raven novel. Or, to put it differently, it is the second Raven story (from "Get Off the Unicorn"), expanded, like the first, two novel length -- by the mechanism of granting the characters childhoods, relatives, and angst. Like "The Rowan", it's a very minor romance novel in a tissue-thin science-fictional setting, with just enough plot to keep the reader turning pages while boy and girl get around to finding each other. Most irritating line in the book: "Since a high-tech society gobbles ores, minerals, and rare earths at phenomenal rates, it is reasonable to suppose that he's crossed to our galaxy to find new sources." I suspect McCaffrey has only the vaguest idea of what a galaxy is. Pheh. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From rec.arts.sf.written Sat Mar 13 16:17:24 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!think.com!ames!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: The City Who Fought Message-ID: <1993Mar13.073724.6092@netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1993 07:37:24 GMT Lines: 50 I just read "The City Who Fought", by Anne McCaffrey and SM Stirling. As I've remarked before, I don't approve of hardcovers. Not only are they expensive, but they're for people with excess shelf-space...which doesn't describe anyone I know. But I had some serious procrastinating to do, so I made an exception. I shouldn't have. I also remarked recently that McCaffrey's shown generally good judgment in her coauthors -- and that making Stirling a coauthor tends, in itself, to represent good judgment. What I neglected to consider was that some teamups just don't work. I'm not sure quite how to describe the writing in this book. It isn't precisely bad. 'Inept' comes to mind. The main protagonists are Simeon, the shell-person running a major space station, and Channa, his initially reluctant brawn. Here, quoted for your edification -- and not noticeably out of context -- is their first conversation: "Hubba-hubba!" The dark eyes widened slightly, "Excuse me?" He laughed, "That's ancient Earth slang for 'sexy lady.'" The station is attacked by truly nasty pirates. Think of them as *mean* Draka -- with a complete lack of class. (They've also, in the course of a few centuries on a nasty planet, evolved faster reflexes, high-gravity adaptions, and near-immunity to disease, poison, and radiation. In case you were worrying that someone was going to try slip some hard sf into your science fantasy.) The station is attacked and taken over, and must cope (with the pirates looting and raping and torturing at will) until the cavalry can arrive. Since, for practical purposes, the station is Simeon's body, this gives them a tremendous advantage. (The cover blurb and the early part of the book, make much of the fact that Simeon is a wargamer, but this turns out to be almost irrelevant.) So a lot of people die and a lot more are hurt, but not so many as might have been were McCaffrey one to let plot logic get in the way of a romance. I had some cynical things to say about "The Ship Who Searched", but at least in that instance both authors were pulling in the same direction. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 02:46:05 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!sgiblab!sgigate.sgi.com!olivea!hal.com!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Anne McCaffrey: "First Fall" Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 03:37:42 GMT Lines: 56 Anne McCaffrey's "The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall" tells a story that didn't really need telling, and tells it badly. Several stories, in fact. She should have left well enough alone: Pern was settled by colonists who were unaware of the Red Star and its thread, and contact with the home worlds was lost for reasons unknown. In providing more specific answers, McCaffrey has given us a collection of labored, unconvincing, and uninteresting stories. The first story, "The Survey", tries to explain why the original survey team failed to spot the danger, but ignores the more serious organizational stupidity: It makes sense to have a small team do a quick initial survey, but you'd think that if habitable planets are uncommon, a thorough followup survey would be conducted before sending in ten thousand colonists. (We're not talking here about "It looks great, but let's be cautious," from the original survey; we're talking about "We don't know what killed so much of the plant and animal life, but aside from that it looks great.") The last story, "Rescue Run", tries to explain why contact was never resumed: A mission finds a few survivors in the south and, after a cursory exploration, takes their word for it that nobody else survived. It doesn't occur to anyone to check the other continent. A far more serious failing is that it doesn't occur to anyone to orbit a camera and computer-scan Pern, rather than try to physically search it in five days. Three other stories cover the early years of threadfall. "The Dolphin's Bell" is the story of the evacuation of the southern continent. By and large, the story could as well have been about an evacuation of Long Island. (There's even a main character who knows a lot about twentieth-century history and nothing about nineteenth or twenty-first century history -- a failure of verisimilitude to which McCaffrey is particularly prone.) "The Ford of Red Hanrahan" tells of the settling of the third northern Hold. It's particularly dull. "The Second Weyr" -- the tale of the establishment of Weyrs at Benden and elsewhere -- is the best story of this poor lot but, like 'Ford', it's still mainly begats: This is how the name was chosen and this is how the location was picked and this is how such and such custom arose and here are the names of the original leaders, etc. Writing stories to fill in the backstory of a favorite story or series is a common passtime among fans, and such fan fiction can be fun for the writers and the readers. It's almost always a mistake, though, for authors to write their own fan fiction. If you must read this book, get it from the library, for it is not worth the $3 that used book stores will eventually ask for it. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com "You have the reputation of being one of the nicest guys in the field. We both know you're a hyena on its hind legs. How have you fooled everyone?" "By keeping my mouth shut when I read garbage" -- Gene Wolfe From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:42:28 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Powers That Be Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1993 10:09:32 GMT Lines: 43 How disappointing. "Powers That Be", by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough isn't actively bad, but it is unimaginative and formulaic. We start with Intergal, a generic semi-evil Company. It's such a two- dimensional prop that no effort is made to make it make sense. It's a big company with career ladders and retirement plans and medical benefits. And it also has the ability, as the plot requires, to field armies, to deport and resettle whoever it wants to other planets, to arbitrarily interrogate or blackmail its employees. The book starts with Major Yanaba Maddock being invalided out to the arctic planet of Petaybee. (She was badly injured on another world where the natives were being starved by the Evil Company.) There she is ordered/blackmailed/requested to help look into the planet's mysteries. In particular, company teams consistently fail to find mineral deposits identified from space. Sure enough, there's a secret, but it's a silly secret -- the premise isn't thought through very well -- and aside from its improbability, it's used in as pedestrian a manner as two occasionally gifted writers could manage. The novel never gels. The Company is a bad plot device used to set up the situation and push it in whatever direction the authors require -- however much stupidity that may require on the part of Company officials. The planet and its society are an idealized Arctic, but it could have been interesting if it had been developed in a bit of depth. The crisis has no obvious justification beyond two writers saying "we need a crisis here": The problem the company was facing was not the sort for which a small army and high explosives were a reasonable answer. And the romantic subplot was a standard McCaffrey shoehorning. Again, the novel isn't *bad*, but it never lives up to its admittedly modest promise. How disappointing. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com Watership Down: You've read the book. You've seen the movie. Now eat the stew! From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 04:10:40 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!uunet!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: mss1@cornell.edu (Michael Scott Shappe) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ by Anne McCaffrey Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Organization: Cornell University Message-ID: Date: 23 Oct 93 21:24:36 GMT Lines: 175 Shappe's Spoiler Review: _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ by Anne McCaffrey Below are spoilers for Anne McCaffrey's new short story collection, _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_. Twenty Five lines of blank space protect the spoilers from Thread as well as from who prefer not to be spoiled. Shappe's Spoiler Review _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ by Anne McCaffery I've often felt that Ms. McCaffrey's strong suit was shorter fiction, or, at the very least, modularlized stories. _The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall_ confirms this belief. Many of the Pern novels have tended to wander, or lack coherency at times. _Renegades of Pern_ is perhaps the best example of this -- too many really unrelated story lines trying to weave a tapestry and not quite succeeding. The strongest of her novels have been those which have been built up from smaller, discrete units. _Dragonflight_, for example, was more four short stories than a single novel, and was a very strong book. _Dragonquest_ was less formally broken up, but still had a couple of distinct, if more intertwined stories. _Dragonsdawn_ was, like _Dragonflight_, really four separate stories--landing, building the colony, coping with Thread, and the Second Crossing; and as a result, was, in my opinion, the strongest of the more recent trilogy of novels. _First Fall_ demonstrates that short fiction is still a major strength for McCaffrey. Composed of five stories, each from a slightly different time period and different point of view, the collection goes a long way toward filling in some of the gaps between _Dragonsdawn_ and the society we see in _Dragonflight_. The first story, "The Survey: P.E.R.N.c", describes the initial Exploration and Evaluation Corps expedition to Rukbat. It contains little that is really new, except, perhaps the point of view of people who have no idea what Pern would or could become. McCaffrey does a good job of explaining why the expedition must be so brief, which in turn goes a long way to explaining why the colonists had no idea what they were getting into. The second story, "The Dolphins' Bell", skips ahead to the evacuation of Landing and the Second Crossing, this time from the point of view of Jim Tillek, the dophins and the dolphineers. As well as being a typical McCaffrey love story (between Tillek and dophineer Theo Force), the tale does a good job of fleshing out Tillek's character, and finally focuses on the dophins, who have been comparatively slighted in past novels, when mentioned at all. The frustration Tillek feels trying to organize the rather haphazard fleet of ships at his command and the sadness of the sacrifices necessary to make the Crossing successful are palpable. This story began what was to be a trend throughout the book, making much more obvious the radical changes in mindset and mood of the colony during and after the Second Crossing than did _Dragonsdawn_. This story also reaffirms McCaffrey's ability to build a rich enough world to allow for many different viewpoints of the same time period, touching as it does on a story already told in _Dragonsdawn_. "The Ford of Red Hanrahan" picks up several years after the colony has established itself in the north, and describes the founding of what would become Ruatha (Rua Atha == Red's Ford). Here we see some of the striking changes that have marked the colony since its move north. Morale is low; many heros have passed away, either by plauge or age; and, after establishing a colony based on open space for everyone, the Fort Hold has become badly overcrowded. But this story is also the turning point in those fortunes. Having recovered from the Crossing and the Fever Year three years previous, groups are starting to claim their stakes, as is still their right under the Charter. Furthermore, the dragons are prospering and becoming more and more adept at their job. The strong point of this story is the emotions it evokes, starting with the despair of the recent past and movikng into a hope for the future and for the strength of human spirit with which the colony was founded. "The Second Weyr" is similar to "The Ford...", in that it tells the story of new expansion, this time, the expansion of Fort Weyr into several new Weyrs. The main difference is that this story marks something of the final dividing line between the old colony in the south and the new in the north. The last known holdouts, stakes on Ierne island, are moving north, planning to stake claims in the eastern part of the continent and on Big Island. Of the old leaders, only Zi Ongola, most recently founder of Tillek Hold, and Joel Lilienkamp, now administrator of Fort Hold, remain. Pern has been handed over to the next generation, those who were children for the First Crossing, like Sean and Sorka, or born on Pern like Michael and Torene. This story also contains one of the most detailed and sensual depictions of a mating flight from the viewpoint of the queenrider yet. Finally, "Rescue Run" describes the retrieval of the 'last survivors' of the Pern expedition -- Stev Kimmer, of all people, and the inhabitants of the Honshu Stake, who firmly believe themselves to be the last eleven survivors of the colony. The story is disturbing in many ways, not the least of which being the callousness of the Federation Fleet team, compared to the 'human life is everything' mindset ingrained in me from years of being a rabid frothing Trek fan :-). While willing to rescue these stranded people, they make only a cursory effort to verify what their flyby of the northern continent showed -- no descernable signs of life. It's also distasteful that Kimmer should be seen as any kind of hero, surviving against the odds, when he was the source of so much trouble, most of it self-induced by not paying attention to the migration of the colony. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the now-well-established civilisation in the north would not have wanted 'rescue' of any sort -- just help eliminating the incursions of Thread. All in all, however, this story is a very nice 'footnote' in Pernese history. Overall, this was a most enjoyable collection, if somewhat slim for the money. I think that they could have, and should have, waited to add a couple more stories, and sold it for the same price. There are comparatively few continuity problems here, mainly because much of what this covers is uncharted territory. A few cases where events slightly contradict what's been established, I can accept without complaint -- after all, history tends to get distorted over time. Whose to say that the recorded order of events as read 2,500 years after the fact might not differ from what really happened. "Rescue Run" contains two contradictions -- the first, that the original EEC took only 5 days (they took 10 in "The Survey"); the second, the substituion of Altair for First (which was implied as being part of the Centauri system in _Dragonsdawn_) when discussing either the secondary capital of humanity or the home of Governor Boll. More importantly, though, McCaffrey manages to avoid many of the pitfalls she's fallen into with her longer, more interwoven novels. These stories flow well, and kept me turning the pages eagerly. Each story is internally consistent and well structured. Also, the last two tales in particular are more obviously written for adults than anything in the Pern series since _Dragonquest_. Ever since the _Harper Hall_ books, it felt like she was trying to strike a compromise between the juvenile audience those books were targeted toward and the more adult audience the original two books were intended for. These stories don't really give that impression, and I, for one, am glad. When I'd first heard that McCaffrey was not yet finished with Pern, I was very skeptical. After all, I thought, all of the really big stories have already been told! But I forgot that McCaffrey started out with short fiction, and that there were still many smaller stories still to be told. It is my firm hope that McCaffrey will continue to produce volumes of _Chronicles_, filling in those gaps in what has always been and continues to be a fascinating world. %A Anne McCaffrey %C New York %D Officially: November 1993 (released October 1993) %G ISBN 0-345-36898-3 %I Ballentine Books/Del Rey %K Pern (Imaginary place)--Fiction %O Hardcover, US$22.00, CAN$29.00 %P 306 pp. %T The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall -- Michael Shappe Moderator, rec.arts.startrek.reviews From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 23 13:36:28 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: schulman+@pitt.edu (Christina Schulman) Subject: _The Dolphins of Pern_ by Anne McCaffrey Message-ID: <3ajini$amm@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: St. Dismas Infirmary for the Incurably Informed Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 23:13:40 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 52 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:680 rec.arts.sf.written:81722 [Beware of spoilers for _All the Weyrs of Pern_] There are hordes of devoted fans of Anne McCaffrey who will run out and buy _The Dolphins of Pern_, no matter what anyone says. And there are throngs of readers who never liked McCaffrey in the first place, or who have given up on the Pern books in disgust, and they won't get within 50 feet of _The Dolphins of Pern_, no matter what anyone says. I belong to the third group of readers who have continued to read the increasingly disappointing Pern books out of a lingering sentimental fondness for the earlier books. So should these borderline fans try _Dolphins?_ I think so; I enjoyed it more than I did the previous few. In _Dolphins_, McCaffrey returns to her strength: writing about unappreciated kids who bond with endearing animals. And her dolphins are endearing, and considerably less goofy than I expected them to be. The first section of the book, which begins several Turns before the end of _All the Weyrs of Pern_, deals with the rediscovery that the "shipfish" are sentient. This part of the story is fairly self-contained and centers on only a few characters, which I found a pleasant change from the recent Pern books. The mercifully short second part of the book, which meshes with the end of _All the Weyrs_, is far less successful. In a typical passage, Readis, the young son of Jayge and Aramina, receives a note with the news of Robinton's death; he goes from one adult to another for an explanation, and each adult promptly bursts into incoherent tears. McCaffrey was obviously shooting for pathos here; unfortunately the effect is ludicrous, especially after the third or fourth adult, and I giggled through it. The final third of the book is the best part. Forbidden by his mother to have anything to do with the dolphins--and stop me if you've heard this one before--Readis runs away from home to live Holdless in a cave by the sea, where he spends his time swimming with and caring for a pod of dolphins. It's not exactly new material, but I enjoyed it. So if you've read your copy of _Dragonsong_ into shreds, take a look at _The Dolphins of Pern_, although you may want to skim the middle. If you've read the previous two Pern books, you have a good idea of what to expect, and if you haven't, it stands fairly well on its own. %A McCaffrey, Anne %T The Dolphins of Pern %I Del Rey %C New York %D October 1994 %G ISBN 0-345-36894-0 %P 340pp %O hardcover, US$22.00 -- Christina Schulman Presbyterian University Hospital schulman+@pitt.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Aug 10 12:42:14 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!news.solace.mh.se!news.ecn.ou.edu!news.cetlink.net!nntp.abs.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!194.162.162.196!newsfeed.nacamar.de!news-hh.maz.net!ai-lab!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: hklaus6073@aol.com (HKlaus6073) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Acorna's Quest by McCaffrey & Ball Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 20 Jul 1998 16:52:28 -0400 Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 38 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2043 ACORNA'S QUEST by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball Review Copyright 1998 Harriet Klausner [This is a review of a second book in a series; as such it may be considered a spoiler for the first "Acorna" book. --AW] Acorna is now a young adult, who desperately needs questions answered about her heritage and who her people are. Years ago, three asteroid miners found the infant Acorna floating through space in an escape pod. Knowing her horn would make her the abject study of science and government, they safely hid her safety while her unique, special powers evolved. Acorna knows it is time to break out in search of her ancestry. Accompanied by one of the prospectors who raised her, she begins her journey across the universe. However, her trek is temporarily aborted when her ship malfunctions, forcing her to land on Rushima, where people are being starved to death by a dastardly group of Starfarers. Even as Acorna is caught up in the plight of Rushima, a strange people with telepathic powers have suddenly appeared in the sector. The Linyaari have come to raise the alarm concerning vicious invaders who are wrecking havoc throughout the galaxy while also seeking the whereabouts of a missing person who was lost as an infant several years ago. The second novel in the Acorna series will intrigue die-hard McCaffrey fans and readers who enjoy a clear cut good vs. evil science fiction story line. Many other readers will be turned off by the lack of subtlety that make up the various races, who easily can be classified as good or evil. Though the story line is a bit flimsy, there is the usual Anne McCaffrey trademark of plenty of action and easily identifiable races. Ms. McCaffrey and co-author Margaret Ball have a good series that needs more shades of gray to turn it into a complex, great series. Harriet Klausner %I HarperPrism %D Jul 1998 %O $23.00 %P 292 pp. %G ISBN 0-06-105297-3 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Sep 4 15:06:41 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: robotech@eyrie.org (Robotech_Master) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews,alt.books.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl, by Anne McCaffrey Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 02 Sep 1998 18:40:42 -0400 Organization: Superguy Listserv: http://www.eyrie.org/superguy/ Lines: 52 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2099 rec.arts.books.reviews:2548 alt.books.reviews:47839 Acorna: The Unicorn Girl, by Anne McCaffrey Review Copyright 1998 Chris Meadows "Acorna: The Unicorn Girl" is a fairly solid, well-written science-fiction fantasy about a strange young girl who is found floating in a survival pod in deep space, and grows up (quickly) to become a legendary savior to a planet full of enslaved child laborers. The tale follows Acorna as she grows to young adulthood, picking up many friends and a few enemies along the way. "Acorna" is very entertaining, if somewhat predictable in places--it's hard not to guess how a book like this will end; the reading enjoyment comes from what happens along the way. The mixture of Hungarian, Oriental, and Islamic influences adds an interesting spice to the story, and the writing doesn't talk down to the reader. The pacing never falters, especially toward the middle of the book where there are at least four distinct sets of villains who come into conflict with our heroes or with each other. The characters often seem mostly black and white, with no shades of grey in between, but they're handled with sufficient panache that it never gets in the way of the story. On the downside, there are a few loose ends that are never adequately explained. If Acorna's people were far enough away from humanity that no trace of them had ever been discovered, how did Acorna's pod end up in human space? What happened to Dr. Anton Forelle, who was telegraphed early in the book as being a possible potential villain (or at least antagonist) but was never seen again after the book was 1/5 over? Perhaps "Acorna's Quest" will address these issues. All in all, "Acorna" is a diverting and enjoyable story, and I look forward to reading about her further advantures. I recommend it. [Permission granted for newsgroup distribution & associated archival, and to share with other people as long as you don't charge for it. All other rights reserved, but feel free to ask.] %A McCaffrey, Anne %A Margaret Ball %T Acorna: The Unicorn Girl %I HarperPrism %C New York %D 1997 %G ISBN 0-06-105789-4 %P 410 pp. %S The Unicorn Girl %V Book 1 %O Paperback, $6.50 US, $8.50 CDN Chris Meadows aka | Co-moderator, rec.toys.transformers.moderated Robotech_Master | Homepage: robotech@eyrie.org | PGP: robotech@jurai.net | ICQ UIN: 5477383 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Sep 4 15:07:11 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!howland.erols.net!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: robotech@eyrie.org (Robotech_Master) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews,alt.books.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Anne McCaffrey's The Unicorn Girl: The Illustrated Adventures Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 02 Sep 1998 18:44:34 -0400 Organization: Superguy Listserv: http://www.eyrie.org/superguy/ Lines: 97 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2100 rec.arts.books.reviews:2549 alt.books.reviews:47840 The Unicorn Girl: The Illustrated Adventures Review Copyright 1998 Chris Meadows It was probably a bad idea to give "Anne McCaffrey's The Unicorn Girl: The Illustrated Adventures" a title so close to "Acorna: The Unicorn Girl," but I suppose it couldn't be helped. This confusingly-titled book is a less worthy successor to the one it follows up, and leaves a somewhat disappointing aftertaste when it is over. "The Unicorn Girl" is actually made up of a novella, "Trouble in Kezdet," and two short stories, "Pony Girl" and "Acorna's Serum," as well as two sidebars with brief informative blurbs on the planets and people of the "Acorna" universe. All three stories are written by different writers, and none of them by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, the writers of the two full-length "Acorna" novels. The quality is quite uneven, and none of the stories compares very favorably to the original. "Trouble in Kezdet," continues from where the original novel left off, and deals with Acorna's search for the elusive Dodger, who has rescued many kids from the harsh working conditions of Kezdet's sweatshop labor. "Pony Girl" has Acorna make an appalling discovery on the gambling space station of Kismet, and "Acorna's Serum" deals with Acorna going to earth to try to help stop a deadly plague. Oddly enough, considering that the subject matter of the Acorna series so far has included children being sent to whorehouses and dying of veneral diseases, the writing in "The Unicorn Girl" seems to be at a much more _juvenile_ reading level than "Acorna." This might be at least partly due to the high level of exposition of past events, especially in "Trouble in Kezdet," the fairly simplistic plots, the depictions of the heroes and villains in even more polarized shades of black and white than in "Acorna," and the use (possibly _over_use) of various cliches (the Oliver Twistian references, the chain of events leading up to the climax of "Trouble in Kezdet," and so on). Of the three tales, "Trouble in Kezdet" (but shouldn't it really have been called "Trouble _on_ Kezdet," given that Kezdet is a planet, not a city?) is really the only one worth reading. The short stories suffer from a failing common to many short stories--there is simply not enough time to develop a decent plot or characterizations. All three of the stories are predictable, and all leave a few annoying loose ends dangling, some more obvious than others. I imagine the loose ends might be partly meant to set up for future "Acorna" short story anthologies (as the book's introduction not-so-subtly hinted--"It is hoped this collection will be the first of many intended to keep her symbol alive and make certain she is not forgotten"), but some omissions seem just plain sloppy. Given that "The Unicorn Girl" bills itself as "An Illustrated Novel," and claims that illustrated novels are "A New Art Form For A New Age" -- which in itself is a rich load of fertilizer, given that almost _all_ novels used to be illustrated, and even in this day and age there are still a few that have been -- it is only fair to look at the quality of illustrations in the book. The art is nothing to write home about; frankly, I'd rather have my imagination than some of these pictures. Oddly enough, there are almost no decent new color pictures of Acorna herself--the ones on pages 8-9, 12-13, and 97 are the only ones that seem to be there--and the black and white ones by John Ridgeway are very unflattering. Both the cover picture and the picture opposite the title page, which was derived from the cover to "Acorna" by the same artist, are not even accurate depictions of the way Acorna is described in the books. To add insult to injury, the cover blurb is not only misleading but sometimes downright _wrong_--we are most certainly not shown "Acorna's heartbreaking search for her home planet" or "Acorna's first love affair...with a human," no matter what it says, and "Acorna's fight to stop a deadly plague on [...] Earth" actually amounts to little more than contributing tissue samples and is not even the primary conflict in the story, for that matter. "Anne McCaffrey's The Unicorn Girl: The Illustrated Adventures" was a nice try, but it's just not as good as the original. I mildly recommend it, mainly to Acorna completists and mostly because of "Trouble in Kezdet." [Permission granted for newsgroup distribution & associated archival, and to share with other people as long as you don't charge for it. All other rights reserved, but feel free to ask.] %A Mickey Zucker Reichert %T Trouble in Kezdet %A Jody Lynn Nye %T Pony Girl %A Roman A. Raineri %T Acorna's Serum %B Anne McCaffrey's The Unicorn Girl: The Illustrated Adventures %I HarperPrism %C New York %D December 1997 %G ISBN 0-06-105540-9 %P 136 pp. %S The Unicorn Girl %V Book 2 %O Hardbound, $22.00, printed in color Chris Meadows aka | Co-moderator, rec.toys.transformers.moderated Robotech_Master | Homepage: robotech@eyrie.org | PGP: robotech@jurai.net | ICQ UIN: 5477383 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:10:00 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!tfl450.tfl.hk-r.se!newsfeed1.swip.net!swipnet!newsfeed.cwix.com!18.181.0.26!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: Harriet Klausner Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Nimisha's Ship, by Anne McCaffrey Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 00:41:47 GMT Organization: none Lines: 34 Sender: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2223 Nimisha's Ship, by Anne McCaffrey Review Copyright 1998 Harriet Klausner On Vega III, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense has lived an indulged life as befitting the daughter of Lord Tionel, owner of the Rondymense ship yards. Though Nimisha had just about everything she wants growing up, she enjoyed taking apart and rebuilding mechanical and robotic items. However, her idyllic existence abruptly ends when her father suddenly dies. To the shock of everyone, Nimisha takes charge of the family business, but most people accept the change in leadership. That is except Lord Vestin, who expected to inherit the ship yards. Nimisha continues to succeed with experimental models until a test flight goes astray, stranding her light-years from her home. Vestin, encouraged by his mother, sees the opportunity to obtain what he feel has always been rightfully his. All he has to is eliminate Nimisha's daughter, a chip off the old block. NIMISHA'S SHIP is the opening novel in Anne McCaffrey's new science fiction series. The exciting story line has the usual McCaffrey thread of non-stop action running through it. Though Nimisha is a splendid lead protagonist, the villains do not come across as dangerous as readers expect from the Mistress of Pern. Still, a science fiction novel by the incompatible Ms. McCaffrey is always a winning treat and readers will relish and crave the next book. Harriet Klausner %T Nimisha's Ship %A Anne McCaffrey %I Del Rey %D Feb 1999 %O $25.00 %P 400 pp. %G ISBN 345-38825-9