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The Ship Who Sang

The Brain and Brawn Ship series, Book 1

Baen
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Bonded Companions, Classics, Cyborgs, Girl Power, Space Stories
*****

Description

In the future, children with major physical defects are modified starting at birth to become the brains behind some of humanity's most sophisticated machines. Enjoying enhanced senses, longer lives, and generally greater intelligence, they can look forward to becoming society's most valued members. Helva is one such person, who chose to become the brains of a starship. She's to be partnered with a "brawn," a human companion who acts as her hands and flesh-and-blood agent beyond the spaceports. But just because you're capable of interstellar travel and have a hull of reinforced metal doesn't mean you're not human at heart...

Review

There's a reason this is a classic in the sci-fi community. A great concept with interesting characters, it almost reads more like a series of short stories than as one novel. Helva's adventures take after old-school science fiction adventures, but make for decent tales nonetheless. I nearly docked it a point for a weak ending, but I'm feeling generous today.

 

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PartnerShip

The Brain and Brawn Ship series, Book 2

Baen
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Bonded Companions, Classics, Cyborgs, Girl Power, Space Stories
***

Description

Once a disabled child, Nancia is now a brainship in service to the interstellar Courier Service of the Central Worlds. It's a top-notch position, but one she has fully earned. Unfortunately, she's about to discover that the challenges of the Service are paltry compared to the challenge of saving the galaxy.

Review

This is very much like The Ship Who Sang, only not nearly as good. The story structure is almost identical to the first book, but lacking the interesting characters and situations. It hardly explores the concepts it presents at all, just giving us a retread of Helva's adventures with different names and places. Readable, but not very thought-provoking - and if sci-fi can't provoke thoughts, what can?

 

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The Ship Who Searched

The Brain and Brawn Ship series, Book 3

Baen
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Bonded Companions, Classics, Cyborgs, Girl Power, Space Stories
***+

Description

The third tale of the brainships follows the child of a pair of archaeologists. Infected by an alien virus that leaves her paralyzed from the neck down, she becomes one of the oldest children ever entered into the brainship program. She has a will to win, and is determined to someday track down the enigmatic, presumably extinct race from which she contracted the disease to begin with.

Review

I liked this better than the second book, and would've given it top marks if not for the fact that it, too, is virtually a carbon copy of The Ship Who Sang. I could almost pinpoint which chapter what event would take place in before I got there. Still, the main character is different enough to make it interesting reading, even if the story arc is pretty much the same. It lost a half-mark off a fourth star for the ending, though.

 

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Crystal Singer

The Crystal Singer trilogy, Book 1

Del Rey
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Altered DNA, Classics, Creative Power, Girl Power, Space Stories
**

Description

Killashandra Ree spent ten years of her life working relentlessly for a dream she could never have, as a top soloist out of the planet Fuerte. When told of a vocal flaw that no training could remedy, she walked away from everything, leading her colleagues and teachers to worry she'd end her own life. Instead, she found herself with Carrick, a member of the mysterious Heptite Guild, who mine the Ballybran crystals on which the Federation of Sentient Planets depends. Being a Crystal Singer requires perfect pitch, utter dedication, a willingness to forsake any other path and future: everything she'd already done for the singing school that left her with nothing. When Killashandra Ree sets out for the Heptite Guild, she's determined that, this time, she won't fail. She'll be a Crystal Singer or die trying. On Ballybran, though, the goals are far from mutually exclusive...

Review

Crystals are neat. Crystals are interesting. Crystals are shiny. Singing is likewise. So a book whose premise involves using singing and resonant tones to mine a planet of crystal - crystals with properties that make interstellar travel and communications commonplace... one would think it, too, would be neat, interesting, and, at the very least, shiny. Sadly, Crystal Singer is anything but.
It opens on a sour note with the protagonist, Killashandra Ree, in the midst of a tantrum: she's just been told that the solo career she's trained for is not something she can ever have. This is not an auspicious way to introduce me to a character I'm supposed to follow for three hundred pages, especially when she's given no redeeming qualities whatsoever. She's immature, petty, can't handle failure, jumps in the sack with most anything that moves, and has an ego the size and brightness of your average main sequence star. And that is pretty much who she remains throughout the story, with only minimal nods given to her maybe, marginally figuring out that it's worthwhile to at least attempt friendship. Of course, the story does very little to challenge her conceits; throughout the tale success is basically a given for her - not just success, but amazing success. Even her (minimal) setbacks are ultimately beneficial and praised.
As for crystal singing itself... I know, from my reading experience, the specfic of the 1980's seemed to have a Thing about making unsubtle sexual commentary. (They were also still often glaringly white, aside from the odd "swarthy" extra, but that's another thing.) The many casual hook-ups of Killashandra demonstrate a future where monogamy is no longer dominant and sex is not some shameful or precious thing locked away until a girl finds The Right Man. Okay, nothing unusual here. But the ecstasy invoked by crystals, from the moment Killashandra handles her first point to the reaction to her first solo cut to the way she later compares a lover's touch to the way the harmonics of black crystal make her feel... talk about overkill. And just to make sure I, the reader, understood the point, McCaffrey outright calls her reaction "orgasmic" at the book's climax, bashing me over the head with the Message about a woman being ultimately empowered and fulfilled by finding a means to sexual release entirely on her own. (The cover image, with Killashandra in a rapturous swoon while holding up a large dark crystal, pretty much says it all. Once she goes black crystal...)
The plot is loaded down with infodumps and boring details about Ballybran and crystal harvesting and meteorology; it's over halfway through the book before Killashandra begins to do anything but sit through lectures, and by then the thrust of the tale and ultimate infallibility of the heroine is so telegraphed that even danger is little more than a minor distraction. As for this reader, at some point I realized I was just turning pages to get to the end. I never liked Killashandra, I was bored with the Heptite Guild, I didn't give a dang about the sudden burst of politics thrown in out of left field at the end in her first official Guild trip beyond the planet, and - for all that I'm as much a sucker for shiny objects as the next gal - I've never found crystals sexually arousing.
For all that the concept is neat and the trilogy is still considered something of a classic, chalk this up to another 1980's novel that doesn't age well.

 

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The Dragonriders of Pern

The Dragonriders of Pern series, Books 1 - 3

Random House
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Bonded Companions, Classics, Dragons, Epics, Girl Power, Time Travel
****+

Description

Long ago, interstellar human colonists settled on the distant planet Pern, hoping to create a better world. Though it looked like a paradise, Pern had a dark danger: every 200 years, a rogue planet in the system comes close enough to spread a deadly, devouring lifeform known as Thread, falling from the skies like a silver rain of death to destroy any living thing it touches. Using native Pernese creatures, humans managed to genetically engineer great dragons who telepathically bond to a human rider at hatching. Combining the dragon's wings and fire and the human's combat strategy, they battle Threadfall and allow life to flourish on the world below.
Over the centuries, the people lost all memory of their origins, reverting to an agricultural, feudal-style society, where harpers sing the history of the land, lord-holders watch over their subjects, and tithes are paid to the dragon weyrs which protect all of Pern... but, if history has taught nothing else, it's that humans are a short-sighted species, and when the threat of Threadfall fades into memory during a long "Pass," caused by the Red Star's irregular orbit, will the people be prepared for its return?
This book was originally published as three volumes:
Dragonflight - It has been four centuries since Threadfall was last sighted, and people are forgetting the need for dragons and resource-hungry dragon weyrs. Only one still remains, steadfast Benden Weyr, and their old dragon queen and human Weyrwoman have died. She left a golden egg behind, which will hatch a new queen... but first the dragonriders must find a suitable candidate for Weyrwoman, someone strong enough to bond with and guide the golden queen. Their search is complicated by resistance from skeptical lords, convinced that Threadfall is a thing of the past and not, as the dragonriders fear, an imminent threat about to return to a woefully unprepared Pern.
Dragonquest - Thread has returned, and while the new Weyrwoman has brought prestige and strength to Benden Weyr and the dragons, danger still lurks. Their unexpected allies are relics of another time and seem reluctant to adapt to today's Pern, while continued distrust and dissent breed among lord-holders who resent the weyr tithes.
The White Dragon - Jaxom became a lord-holder long before he became a man, an heir to the position by blood. When witnessing a dragon hatching, he inadvertently bonds with a runt dragon named Ruth. Like most boys on Pern, Jaxom has always dreamed of riding a dragon, but a lord cannot be a dragonrider, nor a dragonrider a lord. Once a dragon bonds, however, there is nothing to be done about it. Besides, Ruth is a white dragon. Undersized and underdeveloped, he may not even be able to carry a man's weight, let alone produce Thread-burning flames. Jaxom and Ruth may be shunned by other riders, and Jaxom may be bound to a landlocked life as a lord, but neither he nor Ruth are going to sacrifice their dreams, or each other.

Review

Pern, one of the classic sci-fi worlds, is well worth visiting if you haven't experienced it before, and this three-in-one volume is probably the most economical and convenient way to do it. These, the first trilogy in the still-ongoing series (now written by Anne's son), are the best. McCaffrey considers her dragons strictly sci-fi, but the story is more likely to appeal to fantasy lovers. She creates a rich, detailed world full of memorable characters. I sometimes see these books published as Young Adult titles, but as a warning there is a fair amount of violence and sex... not to mention some subtext that reads a bit squirmworthy today.

 

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Dragonsong

The Pern universe: the Harper Hall trilogy, Book 1

Random House
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi
Themes: Bonded Companions, Classics, Dragons, Girl Power
*****

Description

Menolly was born to a small Pernese fishing community, ruled by her hidebound father who has a very strict idea of what women can (or can't) aspire to. One of these forbidden territories is the realm of the harper, and this is the one realm her heart yearns to explore. The old harper in town encouraged her innate talents, and even claimed to have sent off some of her songs to Harper Hall and the eyes of Masterharper Robinton himself! Unfortunately, she never hears if he responds. Crippled first by an accident to her hand and then found out by her father (who holds to the old ideas that women and harping don't mix), Menolly finally runs away from home. In the wild, she finds a nest of legendary fire lizards, native predecessors to the great Thread-burning dragons, and with them the courage to follow her gifts.

Review

McCaffrey has done a fair bit of research into music, and it shows in this story. Menolly makes a brave heroine, well worth following through this book and the next, and the fire lizards are lively and fun. Pern continues to grow in this trilogy, moving a little beyond the world of the dragon weyrs and into the lives of more ordinary citizens.

 

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Dragonsinger

The Pern universe: the Harper Hall trilogy, Book 2

Random House
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi
Themes: Bonded Companions, Classics, Dragons, Girl Power, Schools
*****

Description

As the first-ever female apprentice at Harper Hall, Menolly's dreams have begun to come true, but just having talent isn't enough to wear the harper blue and live the life she longs for. In addition to her studies and personal challenges, she still has nine fire lizard companions to care for.

Review

The first two Harper Hall books are perhaps McCaffrey's best Pern adventures (after the originals, of course), and Menolly one of her most real and engaging characters. For some reason, I felt it ended one chapter short, but otherwise it's a great tale.
As a closing note, I don't know who is doing the covers of the recent Aladdin imprint of this title, but it's clear they have no clue about the world of Pern and its dragons. Amazing how cover art seems to drift further and further from the story through each successive reprint, when the words are right there on the page... but, I digress.

 

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Dragondrums

The Pern universe: the Harper Hall trilogy, Book 3

Random House
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi
Themes: Bonded Companions, Classics, Country Tales, Dragons, Schools
****

Description

Piemur, an apprentice at Harper Hall, was once a boy soprano, but his age finally caught up with his voice. Now without a place in the choir (literally), he finds instead a new, exciting job helping Masterharper Robinton in his many political explorations in the wilds of Pern. Piemur's adventures take him where few have gone before, and lead him to his own little fire lizard bondmate and ally.

Review

Inexplicably, McCaffrey changes characters two-thirds of the way through the stream in the Harper Hall trilogy, even though I suspect Menolly had at least one more story of growth left in her. Piemur isn't a bad protagonist, but I never got to know him or love him as I did Menolly, and his story ventured so far from Harper Hall that it might have been better served as the head of a separate trilogy altogether. Aside from that, Piemur and his new winged friend have a decent adventure, even if they seemed a bit short-changed by being tacked onto someone else's trilogy.

 

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A Diversity of Dragons

, illustrations by John Howe
HarperPrism
Fiction, Fantasy/Media Reference
Themes: Dragons, Myth-Based Stories
***

Description

The author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McCaffrey is considered an expert on the literary dragon. One day, she receives a phone call from a man who, though evasive about his motives, seems desperate to learn all there is to know about the great reptilian beasts of legend. Between Anne and a local, eccentric dragon-lore expert named "Eppy" Tighe, the young man is about to get more of an education than he bargained for... and he may have something to teach them about dragons, in turn. This oversized volume features illustrations by noted fantasy artist John Howe.

Review

If not for the illustrations, this book would have barely rated two stars. Even then, only the fact that I found it at less than half the original price spared it. McCaffrey has a reputation for considering herself God's gift to dragons, and this book seems to be her attempt to affirm that title. She does this by quoting - very extensively - from other people's books about dragons. From Jane Yolen to Melanie Rawn, McCaffrey gives us prolonged clips from someone else's visions as though claiming them, in some small way, as her own. The passages she selects are too long and too out of context to lend much to the so-called story. They serve mainly to highlight the fact that A Diversity of Dragons is an excuse to mention as many dragons as possible under McCaffrey's name. The book is at its most interesting when it deals with actual legends of dragons, but still the quotations and sidetracks run too long, and with too little point. Much like the narrative, this book comes off as two people competing to throw out the most dragon facts and stories before an overwhelmed third party (the reader), more caught up in bragging and lecturing than conveying actual information or providing interesting conversation. The illustrations aren't too bad, but John Howe has a limited style of drawing dragons, and the pictures often have little to do with the stories they claim to be associated with. Still, the images are a bigger selling point than most of the text. Frankly, I get more use out of this book as a hard surface to write on than as a reference for dragons.

 

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