...
The Rowan is the first in a series of five (the others being Damia, Damia’s Children, Lyon’s Pride, The Tower and The Hive – all currently available) set in the same world as the Talent series (To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, Pegasus in Space). I haven’t read ... Read review
Trapped under tons of mud following a huge mud slide, a three-year-old girl screams out ... more
telepathically for help. Every resource on her planet is used in her rescue mission, for she is no ordinary girl, but a Prime, and possessor of one of the most powerful minds in the Nine Star League.
Anne McCaffrey's greatest success is the lengthy "Dragonriders of Pern" science-fantasy ... more
sequence that began with the award-winning 1968 Dragonflight. In 1990 The Rowan inaugurated her less well-known "Tower and the Hive" SF series, of which this is the fifth and last. This romantic interstellar soap-opera now stars three generations of extended family, with much pairing-off and discreet sex. Leading characters all have envied Talents like telepathy or teleportation: passengers and cargo are flicked across deep space by human mind-power. The plot is tangled and episodic, major strands being the biological problems of dealing humanely with genocidal "Hiver" aliens defeated in the previous volume and solving the overpopulation problem of humanity's furry allies the Mrdini (who have names like Prtglm and Gktmglnt). Other issues come and go with soap- operatic suddenness, like the promising bad guy who plans revenge for his humiliation and then quietly turns into a good guy instead; or the assassination plot organised by a human xenophobe, which fizzles so quickly that there's no time for the thrill of suspense. The Tower and the Hive is a lightweight SF romp whose substantial back-story and large cast list are best approached through the four earlier books. --David Langford
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: easy to read, fairly entertaining Disadvantages: not her best work, strange place to put the dramatic scene
...should say that I’m not the world’s biggest Anne McCaffrey fan, and knowing that might help you decide if my opinion is any use to you. I do enjoy her writing, but I find it can seem a little ‘young’ – which is great when you want a quick and easy read, but not really challenging.
The Rowan is the first in a series of five (the others being Damia, Damia’s Children, Lyon’s Pride, The Tower and ... ...world as the Talent series (To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, Pegasus in Space). I haven’t read this series, and although reading The Rowan it’s fairly obvious that certain concepts have cropped up before, I don’t think it’s necessary to have read the other series beforehand. There is a short prologue in The Rowan, explaining briefly the history of ‘Talent’ – basically, telepathic and telekinetic abilities ... more
Series/position: Tower and Hive, book 1 of 5
First off, I should say that I’m not the world’s biggest Anne McCaffrey fan, and knowing that might help you decide if my opinion is any use to you. I do enjoy her writing, but I find it can seem a little ‘young’ – which is great when you want a quick and easy read, but not really challenging.
The Rowan is the first in a series of five (the others being Damia, Damia’s Children, Lyon’s Pride, The Tower and The Hive – all currently available) set in the same world as the Talent series (To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, Pegasus in Space). I haven’t read this series, and although reading The Rowan it’s fairly obvious that certain concepts have cropped up before, I don’t think it’s necessary to have read the other series beforehand. There is a short prologue in The Rowan, explaining briefly the history of ‘Talent’ – basically, telepathic and telekinetic abilities which have come to be used to transport people, products and messages between the colonies mankind has established on other planets.
Without going into a plot description, this novel mainly follows the early life of the Rowan, a powerfully Talented orphan. After reading the rest of the series, I view this first instalment as more of a prolonged introduction to the character of the Rowan, the matriarch of a large family who are the central characters in the later novels in the series.
I’ve always found of McCaffrey to be more interested in the lives of her characters than a large amount of plot, and this is a good example of that style of writing: most of this book meanders along, dipping into the character’s life. I’m not criticising – McCaffrey does this sort of thing rather well, and she does manage to convey the sense of her sci-fi world in a different way than most authors.
However, there is one moment of high drama present in this book, but I feel it unfortunate that it occurs right at the end of the story. This gives a feeling of a very sudden ending right as things were picking up pace, and seems quite strange.
In all, fans of Anne McCaffrey will almost undoubtedly enjoy this book, and it is quite a good introduction to a not-bad series. I wouldn’t say that The Rowan has the charm of her Dragon novels, or quite as original an idea as the Crystal Singer Trilogy, but it’s a decent light read.
Advantages: Good introductory to Sci FI Genre Disadvantages: Some areas are written in a simplistic style
The outline of the story is based upon the colonising of space by humans who use the 'Talents' (people possessing Telepathic and -TKelekinsis abilities). The book revolves around a Talended young girl called Rowan where we explore her life from her early age when her family dies to a young woman. As a reader I also was able to understand the personal developments she makes whilst growing into a young woman and understanding her Talent abilities.
... ...make compeling reading and from the descriptive writing you can picture Rowan growing from a young child to a young woman. Another theme of the book is a alien threat from the Hive who are a bettle type being. The Hive seem to have a style that is similar to the humble bumble bee, but are more aggressive in nature. Anne has effectively described the Hives background and their need for expansion throughout the galaxy, which lays a good foundation ...
Yocal 26.03.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey
...to do this they need the help of Talents, especially the Primes - the strongest talents in both telepathy and telekinesis. On the planet Altair, a new Prime has been born - but at three years of age, she is trapped in a mudslide that has killed her entire family and wiped out the mining community where she lives. She is taken to Altair's Prime, Siglen, for training, unaware that in the future, she will not only meet the love of her life, Deneb's ...
mushchr 27.07.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey
Product Information for "The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey" »
Product details
Type
Fiction
Genre
Science Fiction
Title
The Rowan
Author
Anne McCaffrey
ISBN
0552137634; 0593023382
Manufacturer's product description
Trapped under tons of mud following a huge mud slide, a three-year-old girl screams out telepathically for help. Every resource on her planet is used in her rescue mission, for she is no ordinary girl, but a Prime, and possessor of one of the most powerful minds in the Nine Star League. From the Back CoverThe Talents were the elite of the Nine Star League. Their gifts were many and varied, ranging from the gently telepathic, to the rare and extremely valued Primes. On the Primes rested the entire economic wealth and communications systems of the civilised worlds. But Primes were scarce - only very rarely was a new one born. And now, on the planet Altair, in a small mining colony on the western mountain range, a new Prime existed, a three-year-old girl - trapped in a giant mud slide that had wiped out the rest of the Rowan mining community. Every Altarian who was even mildly talented could 'hear' the child crying for help, but no one knew where she was buried. Every resource on the planet was centred into finding 'The Rowan' - the new Prime, the first ever to be born on Altair, an exceptionally unique Prime, more talented, more powerful, more agoraphobic, more lonely, than any other Prime yet known in the Nine Star league. THE ROWAN - A NEW CONCEPT, A NEW LEGEND, FROM THE CREATOR OF THE DRAGONS OF PERN. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. See all Product Description
Compare The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey to other similar Science Fiction Books »
![Rowan [Digipak] - Maggie Reilly](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/834/Rowan_Maggie_Reilly__6642834.jpg)
