McCaffrey, Anne Books - Page 4

Crystal Singer

Anne Mccaffrey

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 142 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not Free SF Reader 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A woman is a talented singer, however she is not good enough to be the best there is, so she gets a bit grumpy.

So, she goes and takes a job as a crystal miner on another planet, where, for some reason, the ability to sing in perfect pitch is a very useful ability.

The book really isn't as dumb as that sounds, though.

The crystal they mine is a valued and important technological resources.

liked it 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed this book and the rest of this short anne maccaffrey series. I am a big fan of her dragon books but this was a very interesting read, with a real girl heroine/character. I enjoyed the story through all three books Anyone who likes a nice sci-fi read that isn't too deep but entertaining would enjoy these books. I did, and I have re-read them a couple of times now.

Editorial Review:

Her name was Killashandra Ree. And after ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Until she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild who could provide careers, security, and wealth beyond imagining. The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra the risks were acceptable....

The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern, Second Edition

Jody Lynn Nye, Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 58 new & used starting at $3.57

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> Classics -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent reference, but needs to be revised 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This was when it was issued an excellent reference for Pern, but it has since been very dated by the publication of books such as Masterharper of Pern and Skies of Pern. And the information in it is extremely shallow compared to some of the excellent wesites that are available online. I would be delighted if Jody Lynn Nye and Annne McCaffrey would sit down and incorporate some of the work Pern fans have been doing in the interim years and make this a truly authoritative Pern reference book.

Editorial Review:

An indispensable companion guide to the wonderful world of Anne McCaffrey and her dragons

Guaranteed to enrich every armchair traveler's journey into McCaffrey's legendary world, this illuminating guide leaves no stone in Pern unturned! Both faithful fans and newcomers will relish the fascinating history and lore of . . .

THE DRAGONS: How they developed from little fire-lizards into the huge telepathic creatures that carry human riders and fight Thread

THE PEOPLE: How they live, the clothes they wear, the food they eat

THE PLACES: What to see and do in individual Holds and Weyrs

THREAD: Its appearance and behavior, the threat it poses, and ways to combat it

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE RENEGADES OF PERN, ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN, THE CHRONICLES OF PERN: FIRST FALL, AND THE DOLPHINS OF PERN

Crystal Line

Anne Mccaffrey

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 167 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Words McCaffrey is not allowed to use anymore: 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

"Yarran beer"
"good brew"
"Jewel Junk"
"Lanzecki"

Though I greatly enjoyed Crystal Singer, and thought Killashandra, though flawed and not up to the quality of Crystal Singer, was a good enough read, though the bodice-ripper aspects of the romance were irritating. But Crystal Line promises a lot and delivers little. The characters are getting wearisome, Killashandra's memory loss is irritating and becomes a very tiresome and overused plot device, and McCaffrey falls into the trap so many series writers do - of using the same phrases and references again and again, ad nauseam, to the point where the reader wonders if the author is simply cutting and pasting lines and phrases from the previous two books. How many times must these characters drink Yarran beer in these books and act as if each and every sip is a great revelation of a "good brew"? Let them discover something else to drink, for heaven's sake! It becomes embarrassing.

For fans of the Crystal Singer series, this is a fairly satisfying ending, but a lot of red pencil wielding on the part of a good editor who was aware of how often McCaffrey was re-using tired old phrases in a misguided attempt to tie the three books together would have been a very good idea.

But then, this is the author who has used the word "dragon" in titles to the point where it's painful and gives rise to continuous jokes about the possible risque titles for the next "Dragon-whatever" book. Repetition obviously isn't a problem for her, or her devoted fan following.

Editorial Review:

"A treat for long-time McCaffrey fans, a good read and a satisfying look at one of the most haunting facets of the crystal singers' profession."
LOCUS
When Killashandra Ree joined the mysterious Heptite Guild, she knew that she would be forever changed. Crystal singing brought ecstasy and pain, near-eternal life...and gradual loss of memory. What she hadn't counted on was the loneliness she felt when her heart still remembered what her mind had forgotten. Fortunately, someone still cared enough to try to salvage what was left of Killashandra's mind. But she would have to learn to open herself--to another person, and to all her unpleasant memories.

The Tower and the Hive (Rowan)

Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Amazon Marketplace: 107 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The long-awaited final volume in the New York Times bestselling Rowan saga.

For generations, the descendents of the powerful telepath known as the Rowan have used their various Talents to help mankind--some are powerful telepaths, others can teleport through space, others are empathic healers. The clan has grown powerful. They have led Earth to ally itself with the alien Mrdini, and together the two races have held back the predatory Hivers, a deadly insectoid species that kills all life it finds.

Like all powerful families, the Rowan clan has also made enemies. There are those who say the treaties with the Mrdini gave away too much--especially, that the Mrdini get more than their fair share of new living space as habitable planets are discovered--that the Hivers should have been exterminated by now, and that far too much power is concentrated in one family.

The clan has two goals to keep the peace: to help the Mrdini control population growth, so that newly discovered planets are distributed more evenly, and to put a final halt to Hiver advances. They are confident of success--if they can survive sabotage and assassination attempts aimed at destroying all they have worked for.

"McCaffrey continues to hone and extend this universe, which has become more convincing with each novel." -Booklist

The Rowan

Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Amazon Marketplace: 268 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What happened? 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

When we are first introduced to the Rowan, we know she's destined for great things. We travel along as she grows up, becoming an intelligent, articulate, and self-sufficient young woman. She's poised to become a heroine who kicks butt and takes names.

Then, she meets Jeff, turns into a pile of brain dead mush, and is content to forevermore squeeze out lots of babies.

It's sad when things start out looking good and fizzle to a lame end. The Rowan could have been a contender.

Not Free SF Reader 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is set in a universe where psionic abilities are utilised in a commercial sense, and have guilds and organisations set up around them.

People use teleportation for space travel, and telepathy for communication, all that sort of thing.

They are graded on ability, and the most talented can do the move the spaceship trick. The book follows a young girl of this variety, of course.

Editorial Review:

The Rowan was one of the strongest Talents ever born, but she was also lonely and without family, friends --or love. Then a telepathic message came from a distant world facing an alien threat, a message sent by an unknown Talent named Jeff Raven, and be it power, danger, or love--the Rowan is about to meet her match.

Power Play

Anne Mccaffrey, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

List Price: $22.00 By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 91 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Hardcover

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Petaybee was growing up. Day by day, the sentient planet--like any child--was learning to recognize and understand the meaning of outside stimuli, to respond to those stimuli, to communicate its own needs and desires...even to use human speech.
But few outsiders truly cared for the feelings and intelligence of what they perceived to be a giant hunk of rock--or a mere oddity to be gawked at. Some came to worship the newly awakened soul. Some came by invitation, but without comprehension, to harvest the almost magically curative native plants. Big game hunters came chasing rumors of fantastical creatures that simply gave themselves up for the killing. And tourists came in droves, many of them searching for long-lost relatives among those whom Intergal had relocated to Petaybee during its colonization phase. The Petaybeans had their hands full trying to protect their beloved planet from the sudden influx of visitors.
Then some of Petaybee's staunchest champions--Yanaba Maddock, Marmion de Revers Algemeine, Bunny Rourke, and Diego Metaxos--were kidnapped. The perpetrators wanted Petaybee for its incredible mineral wealth. Their other attempts at plundering the planet had all failed, and now they were determined to force the Petaybeans to make a trade: the planet for the people. They simply didn't understand that such a bargain was impossible. For the only one who could speak for Petaybee was Petaybee itself--and no one knew what a living planet could do once it found its voice...

The Ship Who Sang

Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 131 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Mind Within the Shell 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Ship Who Sang (1969) is the first SF novel in the Brainship series. Centuries from now, medical practice can prevent or cure most types of physical ailments. Some congenial defects, however, cannot be corrected. Still, the body can be encased in a shell and maintained in physical health.

Shellpersons with the proper aptitudes can become the controllers of complex facilities such as space stations and spaceships. Such persons are trained in many practical skills and are conditioned against the misuse of their powers. Upon graduation, their central nervous systems are connected to the sensors and effectors of their mechanical bodies.

Shellpersons acquire a great deal of debt for their testing, training and installation. However, they can use their earnings to pay off this debt. Until such time, they serve the Central Worlds government in various ways.

In this novel, Helva is a shellperson controlling a scoutship. She has a hobby of singing in any vocal range. With her control of the audio circuits, she can sound like a bass or a soprano. Moreover, she has perfect control of her voice.

As the Brain of this ship, she is entitled to select a Brawn -- a normal person -- as her mobile crewmember. At the Brawn selection party, she joins the singing and amazes the nine candidates. They start calling her "the ship who sings" and the appellation spreads.

During the party, Helva falls in love with Jennan and picks him as her Brawn. Their first assignment is to rush a vaccine to a distant system plagued with virulent spore disease. Then they tangle with a vicious narcotic ring.

Their next assignment is the evacuation of the inhabitants of a planet with an unstable star. Many residents are religious fanatics and resist evacuation. On their fourth run, the women in the cloister resist so strongly that Helva starts preparing for liftoff.

The sounds of her engines impress the dangers of the situation upon the women and they crowd into the ship. There is not enough room for all within the ship, so Jennan stays in the airlock with three women. Just then the star explodes and the shock wave overtakes the fleeing ship. In the ensuing panic, Jennan loses his environmental controls and dies from the heat.

In this story, Helva takes Jennan back to base for burial. While she is mourning the loss of her Brawn, she receives an urgent mission to take a physical therapist -- Theoda -- to help treat the victims of a space plague. Theoda is also mourning the loss of her family several decades earlier in a previous space plague.

During that mission, Helva learns from Theoda how to accept her loss and continue on with her life. Then she is assigned a temporary Brawn -- Kira -- who is also mourning the loss of her beloved spouse. This time, Helva assists Kira to accept the loss. They also eliminate a religious cult that worships death.

This tale recounts the major experiences of a Brainship with a special talent and a persevering attitude. Unlike some of her associates, Helva does not adopt a cynical manner and a dismal temperament. Despite her troubles, she gets the job done.

This story remained a standalone tale for over two decades. Then the author wrote several other works in this milieu in collaboration with other authors. The first sequel is PartnerShip. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of advanced civilizations, unusual circumstances, and extraordinary people.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Editorial Review:

Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved and implanted into the titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner, to soar with her through the daring adventures and exhilarating escapades in space.

Damia's Children (Rowan)

Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Amazon Marketplace: 186 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Dreadful 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This books along with the latter talent books are so unrealistic as to be boring. The first talent books, Pegasus in Flight and Pegasus in Space were interesting and fun because we were reading about real characters.They had Talent, but they were still real people.The characters in the latter talent books are nothing less than gods, with an almost all-powerful Talent, and seemingly little or no personal problems or limitations (which makes th books dull). Also, what the books really portray, without actually saying it is basically a Talent autocracy. Non talented are inferior and unimportant, and the talented rule over everyone else with their powers. This reminds me of Star Trek, where everyone is law abiding, and the authority of the Federation is unquestioned.So what happens to those who question the authority of the Federation? They are automatically outlaws. Its really quite totalitarian.
Anyway, this book is boring and not worth the money.

Editorial Review:

Although they have inherited their mother's legendary powers of telepathy, Damia's children will need more than psionic Talent to face the enemy's children, an alien race more insect than human. Reprint.

Legends II: New Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy

List Price: $28.95 By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $2.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Anthologies
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Brooks, Terry -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Brooks, Terry -> Hardcover

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fantasy fans, rejoice! Seven years after writer and editor Robert Silverberg made publishing history with Legends, his acclaimed anthology of original short novels by some of the greatest writers in fantasy fiction, the long-awaited second volume is here. Legends II picks up where its illustrious predecessor left off. All of the bestselling writers represented in Legends II return to the special universe of the imagination that its author has made famous throughout the world. Whether set before or after events already recounted elsewhere, whether featuring beloved characters or compelling new creations, these masterful short novels are both mesmerizing stand-alones—perfect introductions to the work of their authors—and indispensable additions to the epics on which they are based. Beyond any doubt, Legends II is the fantasy event of the season.

ROBIN HOBB returns to the Realm of the Elderlings with “Homecoming,” a powerful tale in which exiles sent to colonize the Cursed Shores find themselves sinking into an intoxicating but deadly dream . . . or is it a memory?
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN continues the adventures of Dunk, a young hedge knight, and his unusual squire, Egg, in “The Sworn Sword,” set a generation before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire.
ORSON SCOTT CARD tells a tale of Alvin Maker and the mighty Mississippi, featuring a couple of ne’er-do-wells named Jim Bowie and Abe Lincoln, in “The Yazoo Queen.”
DIANE GABALDON turns to an important character from her Outlander saga—Lord John Grey—in “Lord John and the Succubus,” a supernatural thriller set in the early days of the Seven Years War.
ROBERT SILVERBERG spins an enthralling tale of Majipoor’s early history—and remote future—as seen through the eyes of a dilettantish poet who discovers an unexpected destiny in “The Book of Changes.”
TAD WILLIAMS explores the strange afterlife of Orlando Gardiner, from his Otherland saga, in “The Happiest Dead Boy in the World.”
ANNE McCAFFREY shines a light into the most mysterious and wondrous of all places on Pern in the heartwarming “Beyond Between.”
RAYMOND E. FEIST turns from the great battles of the Riftwar to the story of one soldier, a young man about to embark on the ride of his life, in “The Messenger.”
ELIZABETH HAYDON tells of the destruction of Serendair and the fate of its last defenders in “Threshold,” set at the end of the Third Age of her Symphony of Ages series.
NEIL GAIMAN gives us a glimpse into what befalls the man called Shadow after the events of his Hugo Award–winning novel American Gods in “The Monarch of the Glen.”
TERRY BROOKS adds an exciting epilogue to The Wishsong of Shannara in “Indomitable,” the tale of Jair Ohmsford’s desperate quest to complete the destruction of the evil Ildatch . . . armed only with the magic of illusion.

Damia (Rowan)

Anne McCaffrey

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ace Amazon Marketplace: 248 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCaffrey, Anne -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A little disturbing, but rewarding overall. 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The Lyon family of "methody" Capella are Talented folk. This means that they possess telepathic and telekinetic abilities in varying degrees and combinations, although none has the power of a "Prime." Young Afra chafes under the emotional repression and strict propriety of his home-world, and delights in his beloved older sister Goswina's brief apprenticeship to the Rowan - the most powerful Prime Talent known to FT&T.

As a young man, Afra has his own chance to work with the Rowan. He and that lonely woman strike up a rare and wonderful friendship, destined to endure throughout their lifetimes. But romance isn't part of their synergy, and both yearn to find it with other partners. Which the Rowan does, eventually, with an equally powerful but untrained telepath from Deneb: Jeff Raven. Whom she marries, and partners with when FT&T's "Talents" are the only viable defense against an alien invasion.

The Rowan and Jeff Raven produce a family of Talented children, including a daughter named Damia. From childhood, this third in their brood proves herself the most Talented human yet born. She's also temperamental, strong-willed, and unpredictable; and the most important person in her life, from its earliest hours, proves to be her mother's friend and colleague Afra.

Although this book includes some thrilling passages of interstellar conflict carried out by telepathic and telekinetic means, the romance of Damia Gwyn-Raven and Afra Lyon forms its heart and occupies most of its pages. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this romance. The author handles Afra's transition from parental figure to suitor in Damia's life well enough, and there is certainly nothing wrong with a grown woman (even a rather young one) choosing to marry an older man. Nevertheless I came away with residual discomfort, because even McCaffrey couldn't quite convince me that this close friend of Damia's mother (in an emotional sense, her uncle) had any business sharing her bed.

I loved the "coonies" and the Barque Cats, though! And since I've read the rest of the Talent series already, I know that Damia and Afra's marriage is destined to mature into a genuine and healthy partnership. So I would advise other readers to be forewarned that "Damia" may disturb them a little, but I recommend it just the same.

Editorial Review:

Afra has submerged his romantic feelings for the great telepath, Rowan, and has even dedicated his life to helping raise her family, but trouble brews for Afra when Rowan's talented daughter, Damia, begins to fall for him. Reprint. AB. PW.