Book Review : Anne McCaffrey - The Rowan (The Tower and the Hive, I)

I must admit I decided to read The Rowan for two reasons. Firstly, I had never read anything by McCaffrey and secondly, judging by the curious looking cat on the cover of my second-hand hardcopy, I figured that the story featured a feline character of sorts. 

Well, there is a feline in the book - a precious barque cat, to be precise. True to their independent nature, however, it abandons its owner - Altair's most gifted telepathic inhabitant, the Rowan aka Angharad Gwyn - halfway through the story. 

Anne McCaffrey - The Rowan, ACE / Putnam, C.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1990, Cover Art: Romas (Romas Brandt Kukalis)

Sadly, as soon as my main motivation for reading the novel was evicted from the story line, my interest in the rest of the book declined rapidly. In the end I decided to abandon it for a while and read something else instead. When I resumed reading this morning, I couldn't help wondering why this book ever got written, let alone published. To be fair, there are another five books in the Tower and Hive series and reading them might provide an answer. Yet, I simply was not drawn in enough, so it's unlikely I will pick any of the sequels any time soon.

The Rowan is the life story of McCaffrey's character of the same name, an orphaned and extremely gifted telepath from planet Altair. Growing up in one of Altair's remote mining communities, the Rowan loses her entire family in a mudslide and is rescued thanks to her ability to project her excruciating cries for help telepathically. 

As her wailing is picked up by the authorities, the child is saved and eventually taken care of by a foster mother. Being extraordinarily gifted, she receives training in all things telepathy and telekinesis from Altair's prime telepath, Siglen, under the watchful eye of  T-1 Earth Prime, Reidinger. The Rowan child is destined to become one of FT&T's T-1 primes, one day to be in charge of her very own tower on another planet.

Altair is a mining planet and vital supplier of raw materials destined for Earth. All cargo leaving and arriving on the planet is transported with the help of telepaths with telekinetic abilities, also known as the T-1 Primes. Human space travel underlies the same telekinetic principles. With the entire logistics of all planetary existence hinging on the exchange of raw materials between Earth and its colonised planets, the most gifted telepaths are crucial for the continued operation of this supply chain and thus assume a somewhat privileged position in society.

Part one of the series sketches the Rowan's life from the early tragedy of losing her parents to becoming herself a T-1 Prime, and eventually wife to Jeff Raven, and mother of their son, Jeran.  Oh yeah, and I forgot....! The Primes get to fight a telepathic space assault against an invasion of alien enemy beetles in defence of Deneb, Jeff's home planet. 

I'm not sure which target audience this book is aimed at. Perhaps, McCaffrey wrote it with a teenage audience in mind, given that most of the positive reviews I have found come from readers with book nostalgia, revisiting a favourite teenage read. The telepathic love story between the Rowan and Jeff may well appeal to a younger audience. 

Though the plot is well paced, I simply couldn't relate to the characters in the book. They all remained more or less remote to me. The technical aspects of the story, i.e. mainly telekinetic transportation and telepathic communication, didn't overwhelm. This is a bonus for all those who enjoy a less technical sic-fi novel. Yet, the concept of super-talented telepaths shunting space ships around with the mere power of their minds appears a trifle far-fetched. I didn't enjoy McCaffrey's writing style all too much in this one, but I haven't been put off completely. One day, I'm sure, I will give the Pern series a go. 

Book Review: Darcy's Utopia by Fay Weldon

A 90s book. So nineties, it's unbelievable...

Fay Weldon, Darcy's Utopia

Darcy's Utopia ended up on my '2017 clear-out pile' but was one of the more entertaining reads over the past six months. (This says a lot about my rather constrained, clear out-focussed reading list.)  

A full review will be coming up at some point, when I can be bothered to think of something to say about the book ... or find the time to write it down.

In the mean time, my initial verdict: Fay Weldon was actually not quite as annoying as some of the other authors, I had the misfortune of making acquaintances with recently. 

I'm looking at you: Milton Hartoum, and you, Elizabeth Kostova! (Kostova's epically long and equally disappointing 'The Historian' proved to be a tedious, hard slog and Milton Hartoum's 'Orphans of Eldorado' is taking way too long to finish, considering its length of a mere 164 pages.) That says a lot about Weldon's competition in my current reading pile.

Darcy's Utopia charts the ascent and decline of Weldon's heroine, Eleanor Darcy. For the most part, Darcy's story is relaid through a series of interviews she gives to two journalists,  Hugo Vansitart and Valerie Jones, who in turn hook up with one another for the duration of their research of Eleanor's life story, leaving children and partners behind to pursue a short-lived fling.

The book was released in 1991 and whilst I was not particularly smitten by the actual plot, I found this to be quite an entertaining glimpse into the United Kingdom's not so distant past.  Darcy's Utopia aspires to be a lot of things, part societal satire, part comedy, but it failed to  impress me in the end. 

Weldon's heroine starts life as Apricot, a child born out of wedlock on a council housing estate in post-War London with a slightly bewildering family background. Through a series of relationships, Apricot climbs the social ladder, finally becoming Mrs Eleanor Darcy, wife of a high profile economist and adviser to the prime minister.

As briefly mentioned already, I enjoyed this book mainly because of its accounts of society in post-War Britain from the 1950s onwards. I also enjoyed Weldon's writing style. Did I care about the characters or the story? Not really.

Cover Art by George Barr, Maren,Tim White, Darrell K. Sweet et al.

An eclectic selection of sci-fi and fantasy artists have created the covers for Marion Zimmer Bradley's books and anthologies.

The below is a selection of cover art for MZB's publications. The photos are taken from the paperback hardcovers. The entire pictures are available here, featuring works by George Barr, Tim White, David A. Cherry, Richard Hescox and Maren, whose actual name is Mariano Pérez Clemente. 

Whereever possible information on the cover artist and edition has been included. Sadly, the cover art the for The Forest House (MZB's Avalon Series) remains uncredited in the edition by Michael Joseph.

George Barr, Darkover Landfall

Marion Zimmer Bradley: Darkover Landfall - 1972

Publisher: DAW Books, Inc.

This edition: 15th printing (first printing, December 1972)

Cover Art by George Barr

For a review of Darkover Landfall, please click here.

Crime and Punishment

....or a Zero Tolerance Policy towards late returners:

Library Fines in Warren County, Vicksburg (Mississippi) Public Library

This was stuck to the inside cover of one of my latest paperback finds. 

I just love vintage paperbacks. You simply don't get the same amusement with a kindle.

Judge A Book By Its Cover

Most book lovers also have an appreciation for cover art and, personally, I always find myself strangely drawn to the book covers of fantasy and science fiction novels. I am aware that this may not be to everyone's taste, but I - for one - enjoy looking at it.

I recently found a number of flickr groups paying tribute to cover art and cover artists. Whilst some might not see the point of photographing the covers of the books on your shelf and sharing these images with others, in my humble opinion it is a jolly good idea.

By no means representative, but nevertheless a first impression of what is on offer over at Flickr, here is a selection of book covers featuring in the group "Hi - Res Science Fiction Book Covers":

Hi-Res Science Fiction Book Covers, a group on Flickr

And this is an overview for the "Books of Fantasy"  group

Books of Fantasy, a group on Flickr.

These groups are just a taster for what is on offer - the perfect destination for an afternoon's browsing and to gather inspiration for your to - read - list.