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Catteni #1
Freedom's Landing
It's the dawning of a new age for mankind when the Catteni descend to Earth and easily overcome the Earth's population. Thousands are herded onto slave ships headed for the intergalactic auction block. Kris Bjornsen is captured in Denver on her way to her college classes and wakes up on the primitive planet Barevi. Courageous and resourceful, she manages a single-woman escape from the Catteni and is living in the wilds of the planet when she comes to the aid of a Catteni soldier pursued by his own ranks. Recaptured together, they join forces with other slaves to outwit their captors and a hostile planetary environment. Listeners will delight in this "against-the-odds" story of survival, ingenuity and romance. As her audience has come to expect of McCaffrey, she delivers a rich and intricate science fiction adventure in Freedom's Landing , sure to win over even more listeners and add to her legions of fans.
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First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Anne McCaffrey
482 books7,483 followersAnne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 410 reviews
December 28, 2011
I bumped into this by accident in the library, and since McCaffrey died I’d been meaning to read something by her, and the blurb looked to be promising SF with a dash of romance I decided to take the entire series with me on Christmas break. I’m so glad I did, because I really liked this first book.
It dives right in when Kris an escaped human slave on a strange planet, encounters Zainal, a Catteni (the aliens who invaded Earth and took a bunch of humans off-planet as slaves), who is on the run himself. Figuring that a common enemy makes them some sort of allies, she saves his hide, which gets her captured again and dropped on Botany, a planet version of penitary colony. Thus commences a tale of settling a new planet, organizing the humans and various kinds of other aliens, and figuring out who the original owners of the planet were.
I like planet settling stories, and I’m definitely planning on reading more. There’s something about surviving under harsh circumstances that’s really interesting and intriguing. I really liked that we got to see the settling and organizing through the eyes of Kris, who isn’t a leader. She’s very capable and definitely an important member of the original droppers, but she doesn’t have a position of power.
I liked how very unbigoted Kris was, and how ready to defend Zainal and the other non-humans. I loved that she kept chastising herself for her horniness. I liked the pace of the romance as well , and found it very fitting that it didn’t take the forefront for a long time.
There were a lot of touches that seemed very realistic to me, like the dietary problems of the Deski’s, the few untasteful troublemakers, the threat of abuse towards women when there were only few of them. I did think that the settling seemed to go almost too easy, and that the few troubles they had didn’t seem all that unsettling. But then the fact that they are dropped with materials is part of the Catteni plot, and the fact that they aren’t the first settlers is part of the Botany plot, so at least the easiness of it all is explained.
All in all I was pleasantly surprised, and definitely want to read the second installment right away. There’s about a million ways this can go, and currently all of them seem interesting.
It dives right in when Kris an escaped human slave on a strange planet, encounters Zainal, a Catteni (the aliens who invaded Earth and took a bunch of humans off-planet as slaves), who is on the run himself. Figuring that a common enemy makes them some sort of allies, she saves his hide, which gets her captured again and dropped on Botany, a planet version of penitary colony. Thus commences a tale of settling a new planet, organizing the humans and various kinds of other aliens, and figuring out who the original owners of the planet were.
I like planet settling stories, and I’m definitely planning on reading more. There’s something about surviving under harsh circumstances that’s really interesting and intriguing. I really liked that we got to see the settling and organizing through the eyes of Kris, who isn’t a leader. She’s very capable and definitely an important member of the original droppers, but she doesn’t have a position of power.
I liked how very unbigoted Kris was, and how ready to defend Zainal and the other non-humans. I loved that she kept chastising herself for her horniness. I liked the pace of the romance as well , and found it very fitting that it didn’t take the forefront for a long time.
There were a lot of touches that seemed very realistic to me, like the dietary problems of the Deski’s, the few untasteful troublemakers, the threat of abuse towards women when there were only few of them. I did think that the settling seemed to go almost too easy, and that the few troubles they had didn’t seem all that unsettling. But then the fact that they are dropped with materials is part of the Catteni plot, and the fact that they aren’t the first settlers is part of the Botany plot, so at least the easiness of it all is explained.
All in all I was pleasantly surprised, and definitely want to read the second installment right away. There’s about a million ways this can go, and currently all of them seem interesting.
August 16, 2008
This was really good...nice hard sci-fi with a lead female who isn't an idiot. All kinds of neat robots that groom a prison planet and a lot of discussion among mixed-species prisoners on who and how should labor be divided and such. Very cool hard science fiction with all the robots and stuff with a female lead.
February 23, 2010
I've read most of what Anne McCaffrey has written, and find most of it thoroughly enjoyable fluff that I have re-read anywhere from several to many times, because it's quick, and it's like having a coffee with an old friend. I read the first three books of this series quite some time ago, and haven't touched them since. However, recently, I decided to read the fourth book, but if I was going to do that, I'd have to re-read the first three, since I barely remember them. And who knew? Maybe at this later stage in my life, I'd get more out of them.
Not so much. And initially, I couldn't put my finger on why not. Kris, as a heroine, is pretty awesome. She's everything we'd all like to hope/pretend we'd be if we too were captured, enslaved, and then dumped unceremoniously on a foreign planet -- she's smart, resourceful, self-sufficient, cool under pressure and unfazed by the sight of dreadful injuries, she's generous and considerate of others, she's physically strong, and brave, and to top all that off, she looks like a supermodel. And then I realized that's kind of the problem. McCaffrey's other heroines are also fairly awesome, but they're flawed. Lessa is awesome, with many of those same characteristics, but she has a hell of a temper, and, for the first while, at least, carries a chip on her shoulder bigger than she is about her family's ancestral holding. Killashandra is pretty awesome, but is a little impulsive, and as a result of the crystal singing, can be a bit of a bit, and suffers memory loss. The Rowan is pretty awesome, but is rather haughty and has phobias. Kris is... pretty much a Norse goddess of perfection. OK, not strictly true. She has some irritating quirks, like her constant correction of Zainal's grammar, and her irritating modesty. (Seriously. It bugs me to compare anything unfavourably to Twilight, but at least there, Stephenie Meyer managed to create a character who is obviously hot, and obviously attracting a lot of male attention, but who is believably unaware of that until pretty much actually beaten over the head with it. Mainly because she's stupidly oblivious, but whatever. Kris, on the other hand, is well aware of the male attention. She full-knowingly rebuffs the advances of at least three men, gets comments from others, and is generally presented as being perfectly aware of the effect she has on men. And yet later, we're expected to believe that she's "never thought of herself as sexy, or particularly attractive," or whatever the exact words are. Please.) Anyway, these aren't really character traits that make her more human; they're just little behaviours that make her annoying. And Zainal too, awesome as he is (who doesn't love a gentle giant?), is also pretty much just a caricature of perfection. It just makes their whole story less than engaging.
And not really much actually happens in this book, to take attention away from the less-than-stellar characters. You would think stuff would happen, but things mostly progress fairly smoothly. They have to contend with the scavenger beasties, but figure out quite quickly how to avoid/dissuade them. They have a brief encounter with an abattoir, but they get out of that fairly easily, and effect a not-very-dramatic rescue of some other people there while they're at it. They find this mystery of who made all the machines on this planet, but thus far, there's not much threat from them, and they don't solve the mystery in this installment. The closest thing they have to a real, life-threatening challenge is the nutritional requirements of one of the alien races, and frankly, watching them try various plants to try and fix the lack is just not that exciting. The solution to it is slightly deus ex machina, too.
I have other minor complaints about grammatical issues, consistency issues, and the like, but I'm not even going to bother getting into those. Basically, the whole thing is just set up for the following books, but I'm a little surprised anyone was interested enough to publish the subsequent ones. Although I will finish the series, thus far, I remain as uncaptivated by this story as I did the first time I read it.
Not so much. And initially, I couldn't put my finger on why not. Kris, as a heroine, is pretty awesome. She's everything we'd all like to hope/pretend we'd be if we too were captured, enslaved, and then dumped unceremoniously on a foreign planet -- she's smart, resourceful, self-sufficient, cool under pressure and unfazed by the sight of dreadful injuries, she's generous and considerate of others, she's physically strong, and brave, and to top all that off, she looks like a supermodel. And then I realized that's kind of the problem. McCaffrey's other heroines are also fairly awesome, but they're flawed. Lessa is awesome, with many of those same characteristics, but she has a hell of a temper, and, for the first while, at least, carries a chip on her shoulder bigger than she is about her family's ancestral holding. Killashandra is pretty awesome, but is a little impulsive, and as a result of the crystal singing, can be a bit of a bit, and suffers memory loss. The Rowan is pretty awesome, but is rather haughty and has phobias. Kris is... pretty much a Norse goddess of perfection. OK, not strictly true. She has some irritating quirks, like her constant correction of Zainal's grammar, and her irritating modesty. (Seriously. It bugs me to compare anything unfavourably to Twilight, but at least there, Stephenie Meyer managed to create a character who is obviously hot, and obviously attracting a lot of male attention, but who is believably unaware of that until pretty much actually beaten over the head with it. Mainly because she's stupidly oblivious, but whatever. Kris, on the other hand, is well aware of the male attention. She full-knowingly rebuffs the advances of at least three men, gets comments from others, and is generally presented as being perfectly aware of the effect she has on men. And yet later, we're expected to believe that she's "never thought of herself as sexy, or particularly attractive," or whatever the exact words are. Please.) Anyway, these aren't really character traits that make her more human; they're just little behaviours that make her annoying. And Zainal too, awesome as he is (who doesn't love a gentle giant?), is also pretty much just a caricature of perfection. It just makes their whole story less than engaging.
And not really much actually happens in this book, to take attention away from the less-than-stellar characters. You would think stuff would happen, but things mostly progress fairly smoothly. They have to contend with the scavenger beasties, but figure out quite quickly how to avoid/dissuade them. They have a brief encounter with an abattoir, but they get out of that fairly easily, and effect a not-very-dramatic rescue of some other people there while they're at it. They find this mystery of who made all the machines on this planet, but thus far, there's not much threat from them, and they don't solve the mystery in this installment. The closest thing they have to a real, life-threatening challenge is the nutritional requirements of one of the alien races, and frankly, watching them try various plants to try and fix the lack is just not that exciting. The solution to it is slightly deus ex machina, too.
I have other minor complaints about grammatical issues, consistency issues, and the like, but I'm not even going to bother getting into those. Basically, the whole thing is just set up for the following books, but I'm a little surprised anyone was interested enough to publish the subsequent ones. Although I will finish the series, thus far, I remain as uncaptivated by this story as I did the first time I read it.
October 15, 2018
I don't know if this is crap McCaffrey or if McCaffrey is crap.
Let's see if I can sum up in 10 points:
10. The characters are stereotypes (Sarge, who lacked only a cigar to chew on); strong silent male love interest; attractive, outgoing female lead; wince-worthy black character (the happy cook who talks like he's about whip on a do-rag and call all the white folks "massa baas"); helpless, eye-batting female sidekick; male creeper (helpfully named "Dick"). This is more or less the cast of characters for The Poseidon Adventure or Towering Inferno. I kept expecting Troy McClure to pop up.
9. Crazily competent survivors ... cast out with a hatchet, cup, blanket and knife each and within a couple of weeks they are smelting ore. There's an internal conflict here for the author, who apparently wanted to write an up-from-the-ashes tale without really considering what it might entail. And if you accept it, it makes more "believable" the concept that the survivors could actually challenge a species with terraformed planets and spaceships the size of a small city.
8. Boring aliens. Turns out that almost all alien species are more or less humanoid. Handy. And the exceptions (six-legged cows, bird-things and Not-Sandworms) are dull and nonsentient.
7. Derivative aliens. The spacefaring cat-people from Wing Commander (a huge hit videogame when McCaffery was writing this) and the Not-Sandworms. Hmm, sandworms are attracted to vibration and hate water. The underground species in this book are repelled by vibration and love water. How original. Even the faceless overlords are a cliche.
6. Packaged as a novel, but ends with none of the major plot lines close to resolution. I picked this up to see if I liked McCaffery w/out committing to the Dragonrider series, so at least I don't have to worry about reading that now.
5. Plot holes you could drive one of those big spaceships through. Like the idea a master race would survey an entirely terraformed farming planet with geometrically regular fields, enormous supply and harvesting operations and never notice.
4. Everything about the novel, from the military hierarchy toAunt Jemima Bert the Cook, had been explored to death in sci-fi by 1955. This book was 40 years behind the times when it was written.
3. McCaffrey's ludicrous obsession w/ the size of Catman's member. A male author spending equal time on the size of the female love interest's chest would get (rightfully) shouted down. Overall the romance had all the sophistication of a cheap bodice-ripper.
2. Ham-handed foreshadowing.
1. The ending. Hahahahaha! I saw that one on the BCTV late-late show in 1973!
Let's see if I can sum up in 10 points:
10. The characters are stereotypes (Sarge, who lacked only a cigar to chew on); strong silent male love interest; attractive, outgoing female lead; wince-worthy black character (the happy cook who talks like he's about whip on a do-rag and call all the white folks "massa baas"); helpless, eye-batting female sidekick; male creeper (helpfully named "Dick"). This is more or less the cast of characters for The Poseidon Adventure or Towering Inferno. I kept expecting Troy McClure to pop up.
9. Crazily competent survivors ... cast out with a hatchet, cup, blanket and knife each and within a couple of weeks they are smelting ore. There's an internal conflict here for the author, who apparently wanted to write an up-from-the-ashes tale without really considering what it might entail. And if you accept it, it makes more "believable" the concept that the survivors could actually challenge a species with terraformed planets and spaceships the size of a small city.
8. Boring aliens. Turns out that almost all alien species are more or less humanoid. Handy. And the exceptions (six-legged cows, bird-things and Not-Sandworms) are dull and nonsentient.
7. Derivative aliens. The spacefaring cat-people from Wing Commander (a huge hit videogame when McCaffery was writing this) and the Not-Sandworms. Hmm, sandworms are attracted to vibration and hate water. The underground species in this book are repelled by vibration and love water. How original. Even the faceless overlords are a cliche.
6. Packaged as a novel, but ends with none of the major plot lines close to resolution. I picked this up to see if I liked McCaffery w/out committing to the Dragonrider series, so at least I don't have to worry about reading that now.
5. Plot holes you could drive one of those big spaceships through. Like the idea a master race would survey an entirely terraformed farming planet with geometrically regular fields, enormous supply and harvesting operations and never notice.
4. Everything about the novel, from the military hierarchy to
3. McCaffrey's ludicrous obsession w/ the size of Catman's member. A male author spending equal time on the size of the female love interest's chest would get (rightfully) shouted down. Overall the romance had all the sophistication of a cheap bodice-ripper.
2. Ham-handed foreshadowing.
1. The ending. Hahahahaha! I saw that one on the BCTV late-late show in 1973!
April 26, 2024
A good science fiction yarn marred by excessive profanity, especially of the blasphemous variety.
September 28, 2016
I had high hopes for the premise -kidnapped outworlders abandoned on strange new planet and they have to learn to survive. I just don't think it reached its potential. The MC's were appealing but one dimensional and the dangers of the new planet were never dangerous enough. Reviews of book 2 have persuaded me that things get worse in terms of characterisation and plot so I will stop here.
January 29, 2023
This is my second favorite series from Anne McCaffrey, the first being the Pern books.
Earth has been taken over by an alien invasion of Cattani warriors. Many humans have been transported to other planets as slave labor.
But the various alien races who rebel, are swooped up to be dropped on an uninhabited planet to colonize the planet (to see if they can even survive).
I LOVE novels about planet colonization and McCaffrey excels at this.
Kris, a human from Texas, and a high born Cattani, who was on the run, are in the first group of dumped humanoids. They make a perfect team and race against time to make sure all the incoming dumped humanoids survive.
This is one of my comfort reads that I’ve read several times over the past few decades.
Earth has been taken over by an alien invasion of Cattani warriors. Many humans have been transported to other planets as slave labor.
But the various alien races who rebel, are swooped up to be dropped on an uninhabited planet to colonize the planet (to see if they can even survive).
I LOVE novels about planet colonization and McCaffrey excels at this.
Kris, a human from Texas, and a high born Cattani, who was on the run, are in the first group of dumped humanoids. They make a perfect team and race against time to make sure all the incoming dumped humanoids survive.
This is one of my comfort reads that I’ve read several times over the past few decades.
May 31, 2012
Literally everything I remember about this book (we're talking about ten years since I read it here) is that the aliens are "like human men, but more so." In that they have larger penises. Because WHY NOT. /o\
February 7, 2017
Yeahhh. So decided to spend the afternoon doing a little window shopping (viz. going online, checking out book covers (viz. specifically Michael Whelan galleries - yes one of my favourite ways to get recs lol) and series lists and author bibliographies and reading all dem reviews...) and I stumble upon this cover. There are two things things I remember when I see it: i) The year I read this book (I borrowed it from the library); and, ii) (that after I finished it) feeling sad that I would probably not read the continuation anytime soon (hence the 4-star rating since that probably meant "I really liked it" - haha). Thing is I have just the vaguest recollection of what it was about. Oh man - another series to re-read/TBR. >_>
August 15, 2020
I have no complaints 🙂.
April 5, 2011
This is a survivalist story, about a group of humans and aliens working together to establish civilization. They fight natives, not in the form of primitive aliens, but in the form of mechanized robots that seem to farm the planet on autopilot. Who owns these machines? They don't know, but they'd love to find out.
The group has to deal with plenty of normal concerns, as well as hostility toward the Catteni (the race that invaded Earth), Zainal, who is deposited with them. Kris, a survival expert, spends most of her time exploring the planet, trying to find the food that one of the alien groups needs, saving others from scavengers and robots, and mapping the area.
I found this story to be very okay. It had a definite familiarity and, IMO, didn't add to the many survival stories already on the market. Kris was a flat character, without much depth or nuance. In fact, none of the characters stood out as people, and none of the aliens really stood our as aliens. I didn't understand Kris's attraction to Zainal, nor did I understand Zainal at all. The plot was okay, though this is a series, and I'm not convinced that I want to read the sequels, despite the fact that there are more mysteries out there. The mysteries aren't compelling enough to me to overcome the character issues.
www.christineamsden.com
The group has to deal with plenty of normal concerns, as well as hostility toward the Catteni (the race that invaded Earth), Zainal, who is deposited with them. Kris, a survival expert, spends most of her time exploring the planet, trying to find the food that one of the alien groups needs, saving others from scavengers and robots, and mapping the area.
I found this story to be very okay. It had a definite familiarity and, IMO, didn't add to the many survival stories already on the market. Kris was a flat character, without much depth or nuance. In fact, none of the characters stood out as people, and none of the aliens really stood our as aliens. I didn't understand Kris's attraction to Zainal, nor did I understand Zainal at all. The plot was okay, though this is a series, and I'm not convinced that I want to read the sequels, despite the fact that there are more mysteries out there. The mysteries aren't compelling enough to me to overcome the character issues.
www.christineamsden.com
July 15, 2021
This book best if read by Dec. 31, 1988.
Let me back up. This one has been on my TBR since I knew it existed. See, 12-year-old me had read (and, I admit, adored) "Thorns of Barevi" the short story this is based on. Much later, I found out there was a book-- A BOOK, ZOMG-- with the characters and world I adored in that story. I imagined a novel-length expansion on the story I'd read so long ago.
But the mere fact that such a book existed posed Soooo many questions for me.
Q: HOW is it possible for the late great Anne McCaffery's early foray into furry rape porn be translated into a book salable to her mostly YA-friendly, dragon-loving audience, familiar with her collection of female coming-of-age stories in fantasy settings with low-heat romance sub-plots?
Because, let's be honest. "Thorns of Barevi" is dub-con. With very little con.
And, okay, in the book at least the Catteni isn't a furry. I somehow remember him being a furry because he has "Cat" in his name and yellow cat eyes, but it's been literal decades since I read this so bite me for remembering wrong.
I have to assume the short story was written in the era of the bodice-rippers, where publishers and the public really got behind selling the idea that rape is sexier than sex. And the whole "plot" of "Thorns of Barevi" is basically a set-up for that very rapey sex scene. She saves him and he "rewards" her by banging her, there's a massively implausible deus ex machina that lets them all go home together (I murdered someone but they only get to be mad for one day! Whee!), the end.
So how could that be a book? An ANNE MCCAFFREY book?
A: It can't. It really can't.
So the short story, despite the fact that there's an enormous amoumt of summary exposition dumps, is word-for-word the first chapter of this book. Minus the rapey sex scene. Plus a really, really puppet-stringy launch into the rest of the book. The rest of the book has absolutely nothing to do with "Thorns" and the first chapter feels very wonky and shoehorned-in.
To me, it would have made a LOT more sense to start the story earlier, say with her abduction from Earth, struggle to survive as a slave, struggle to survive as an escaped slave, maybe give me some reason to sort of like the rapey love interest. Boom. There you go. Novel. Not very Anne McCaffrey but why does anyone, even Anne McCaffrey, have to write like ANNE MCMFINGCAFFREY EV-ER-Y time?
Anyway, that's not what this book is about. This book is about getting snatched (again?) and dumped on a "vacant" planet that the master race has somehow failed to notice is covered in perfectly symmetrical farms. (There's even a scene toward the end where this is pointed out to Zainal the Catteni and "everyone needs to use their breath for climbing" so no real answer. LOL.)
This still seems like an engaging premise, especially when there are people to save and mysteries to solve-- but it all feels very flaccid, directionless, and unfocussed. Any challenges that arise are wrapped up within that chapter and then a TON of page-time is given over to lengthy conversations with NPCs.
Second-string Anne McCaffrey novels suffer from a lot of this-- whenever she runs out of steam she starts filling in with introductions. By the second or third time the entire cast of NPCs gets entirely ditched in favor of more introductions, the whole thing starts to feel video-gamey. (How IS that arrow to the knee doing, Generic Racial Stereotype #4?) I don't really care about any of the nobodies, whose problems are all resolved off-screen anyway. I don't really care about the relationship between Kris and Zainal, either, because there is a male lead who is not Zainal, and-- while there is no love triangle-- this secondary male lead gets positioned as the logical choice for Kris. (Who, for some reason, wants babies here on Planet Stranded?)
Sadly, that's not the only problem this book has.
I know that there are plenty of books out there that exist for their moment, and really aren't as great if you're late to the party. But this one-- it felt like it went out of its way to date itself. If you sat down and TRIED to write something that was going to feel 80s AF what would you do? Name drop defunct bands? TV shows? Put Walkmans front and center? Well, this book has you beat.
There are references here to classic Dr. Who (that are laughed at by the majority), The Cosby Show (yikes?), and Short Circuit. And E.T. There is even a walkman. When we are first introduced to Kris she is wearing a loud sixties miniskirt, and, I have to assume, sweatbands. (Sidenote: this was published in 1995. Oh my god.)
And then there's the matter of race. By the end of the book there's a massive global hodgepodge of people living in one spot-- but they are all expected to (easily!) learn English. (Why?) And everyone is a stereotype. The black cook. The silent Asians. The scrappy Irish and scrappier Aussies. Who are then replaced by some Norwegians. (Hva?)
Even the depiction of the Catteni whose higher castes have "patrician" features vs. the lower grunts who have "thick, blubbery lips" reads like thinly-veiled sci fi racism.
Then there's gender. The only thing that remains of the rapey chemistry exists now in leers and terror of alien rape which is brought up CONSTANTLY. But only for women. There's a deeply cringey scene where the men of the commune are told to "sit back and enjoy it" if they are sexually assaulted by a woman. That . . . Ew. Men have been legally denied protection from female rapists forever and-- I know I wasn't exactly expecting anything progressive here, and the original premise of the book was Mf rape porn-- but still, ew. The unexpected direction of the icky made it ickier.
I love Kris Bjornsen. To me, she's the most kickass of McCaffrey's strong female leads. I like Zainal, too. But I can't bring myself to give this book more than two stars.
Let me back up. This one has been on my TBR since I knew it existed. See, 12-year-old me had read (and, I admit, adored) "Thorns of Barevi" the short story this is based on. Much later, I found out there was a book-- A BOOK, ZOMG-- with the characters and world I adored in that story. I imagined a novel-length expansion on the story I'd read so long ago.
But the mere fact that such a book existed posed Soooo many questions for me.
Q: HOW is it possible for the late great Anne McCaffery's early foray into furry rape porn be translated into a book salable to her mostly YA-friendly, dragon-loving audience, familiar with her collection of female coming-of-age stories in fantasy settings with low-heat romance sub-plots?
Because, let's be honest. "Thorns of Barevi" is dub-con. With very little con.
And, okay, in the book at least the Catteni isn't a furry. I somehow remember him being a furry because he has "Cat" in his name and yellow cat eyes, but it's been literal decades since I read this so bite me for remembering wrong.
I have to assume the short story was written in the era of the bodice-rippers, where publishers and the public really got behind selling the idea that rape is sexier than sex. And the whole "plot" of "Thorns of Barevi" is basically a set-up for that very rapey sex scene. She saves him and he "rewards" her by banging her, there's a massively implausible deus ex machina that lets them all go home together (I murdered someone but they only get to be mad for one day! Whee!), the end.
So how could that be a book? An ANNE MCCAFFREY book?
A: It can't. It really can't.
So the short story, despite the fact that there's an enormous amoumt of summary exposition dumps, is word-for-word the first chapter of this book. Minus the rapey sex scene. Plus a really, really puppet-stringy launch into the rest of the book. The rest of the book has absolutely nothing to do with "Thorns" and the first chapter feels very wonky and shoehorned-in.
To me, it would have made a LOT more sense to start the story earlier, say with her abduction from Earth, struggle to survive as a slave, struggle to survive as an escaped slave, maybe give me some reason to sort of like the rapey love interest. Boom. There you go. Novel. Not very Anne McCaffrey but why does anyone, even Anne McCaffrey, have to write like ANNE MCMFINGCAFFREY EV-ER-Y time?
Anyway, that's not what this book is about. This book is about getting snatched (again?) and dumped on a "vacant" planet that the master race has somehow failed to notice is covered in perfectly symmetrical farms. (There's even a scene toward the end where this is pointed out to Zainal the Catteni and "everyone needs to use their breath for climbing" so no real answer. LOL.)
This still seems like an engaging premise, especially when there are people to save and mysteries to solve-- but it all feels very flaccid, directionless, and unfocussed. Any challenges that arise are wrapped up within that chapter and then a TON of page-time is given over to lengthy conversations with NPCs.
Second-string Anne McCaffrey novels suffer from a lot of this-- whenever she runs out of steam she starts filling in with introductions. By the second or third time the entire cast of NPCs gets entirely ditched in favor of more introductions, the whole thing starts to feel video-gamey. (How IS that arrow to the knee doing, Generic Racial Stereotype #4?) I don't really care about any of the nobodies, whose problems are all resolved off-screen anyway. I don't really care about the relationship between Kris and Zainal, either, because there is a male lead who is not Zainal, and-- while there is no love triangle-- this secondary male lead gets positioned as the logical choice for Kris. (Who, for some reason, wants babies here on Planet Stranded?)
Sadly, that's not the only problem this book has.
I know that there are plenty of books out there that exist for their moment, and really aren't as great if you're late to the party. But this one-- it felt like it went out of its way to date itself. If you sat down and TRIED to write something that was going to feel 80s AF what would you do? Name drop defunct bands? TV shows? Put Walkmans front and center? Well, this book has you beat.
There are references here to classic Dr. Who (that are laughed at by the majority), The Cosby Show (yikes?), and Short Circuit. And E.T. There is even a walkman. When we are first introduced to Kris she is wearing a loud sixties miniskirt, and, I have to assume, sweatbands. (Sidenote: this was published in 1995. Oh my god.)
And then there's the matter of race. By the end of the book there's a massive global hodgepodge of people living in one spot-- but they are all expected to (easily!) learn English. (Why?) And everyone is a stereotype. The black cook. The silent Asians. The scrappy Irish and scrappier Aussies. Who are then replaced by some Norwegians. (Hva?)
Even the depiction of the Catteni whose higher castes have "patrician" features vs. the lower grunts who have "thick, blubbery lips" reads like thinly-veiled sci fi racism.
Then there's gender. The only thing that remains of the rapey chemistry exists now in leers and terror of alien rape which is brought up CONSTANTLY. But only for women. There's a deeply cringey scene where the men of the commune are told to "sit back and enjoy it" if they are sexually assaulted by a woman. That . . . Ew. Men have been legally denied protection from female rapists forever and-- I know I wasn't exactly expecting anything progressive here, and the original premise of the book was Mf rape porn-- but still, ew. The unexpected direction of the icky made it ickier.
I love Kris Bjornsen. To me, she's the most kickass of McCaffrey's strong female leads. I like Zainal, too. But I can't bring myself to give this book more than two stars.
November 17, 2022
Interesting start to a series.
Anne is a great writer and she takes you on an interesting ride that never seems to go where you think it does. I like the story, the setting, and the characters, but she conveniently sidesteps the world building by dropping everyone off in a mystery box. I'm curious where she'll take us.
Anne is a great writer and she takes you on an interesting ride that never seems to go where you think it does. I like the story, the setting, and the characters, but she conveniently sidesteps the world building by dropping everyone off in a mystery box. I'm curious where she'll take us.
December 11, 2020
So, I first discovered McCaffrey when I picked up one of the Pern books - and became totally hooked on the series. But only been quite recently that I've branched out and tried her other books.
I can't say that this one grabbed my attention as much as the first ever Dragon book. Don't get me wrong - I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but somehow the story just never seemed to get going. Oh, Botany has it's dangers and its mysteries, but everything just seems a tad too easy. I'm sure if an actual group of humans and aliens were dropped onto another planet, it would take a bit longer to get everything sorted. How handy is it to find everything they need - from clay to be made into pots by their handy potter, to scrunchy plants that can be sued from towels to bandages to bedding! And how come it's only the Deski who suffer from nutritional difficulties? I think everyone else would have taken longer to adapt to the new microbes too.
And one last moan - the whole sex thing is just done really clumsily. And I don't just mean between Kris and Zainal (and that's cringy enough!). The constant reprimands of some of the men for harassing the women stretched my patience to almost breaking point - it just seemed a needless plot device and didn't ring true half the time. You'd honestly think that a group of abandoned refugees on a strange planet would have too much to think about!
But all that aside, it was a good read. Entertaining, didn't need much brain power and didn't get bogged down with anything too serious. The whole concept is brilliant and I can't wait to see who or what the planet farmers are. And, of course, whether Earth wins its rebellion against the Catteni/Eosi. I have the rest of the series to read, so we'll see where it goes.
I can't say that this one grabbed my attention as much as the first ever Dragon book. Don't get me wrong - I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but somehow the story just never seemed to get going. Oh, Botany has it's dangers and its mysteries, but everything just seems a tad too easy. I'm sure if an actual group of humans and aliens were dropped onto another planet, it would take a bit longer to get everything sorted. How handy is it to find everything they need - from clay to be made into pots by their handy potter, to scrunchy plants that can be sued from towels to bandages to bedding! And how come it's only the Deski who suffer from nutritional difficulties? I think everyone else would have taken longer to adapt to the new microbes too.
And one last moan - the whole sex thing is just done really clumsily. And I don't just mean between Kris and Zainal (and that's cringy enough!). The constant reprimands of some of the men for harassing the women stretched my patience to almost breaking point - it just seemed a needless plot device and didn't ring true half the time. You'd honestly think that a group of abandoned refugees on a strange planet would have too much to think about!
But all that aside, it was a good read. Entertaining, didn't need much brain power and didn't get bogged down with anything too serious. The whole concept is brilliant and I can't wait to see who or what the planet farmers are. And, of course, whether Earth wins its rebellion against the Catteni/Eosi. I have the rest of the series to read, so we'll see where it goes.
June 17, 2021
I thought this was a good, easy to read, science fiction story. The story doesn't challenge with ideas or emotions, just an amusing tale. I read it on a plane from coast to coast and didn't get bored with it or put it down. I'm interested enough that I may read more in the series - I'd like to find out more about whoever created the machines.
I have a couple criticisms:
- Those stranded on the planet easily set up a community and improve their situation drastically in a short time. They handle the situations with ease and aren't terribly challenged. You can argue that the world was set up to produce food and would be easy to survive on, based on how it was engineered. Yet, even the personal relationships aren't terribly challenging. There are creepy dudes and another band of aggressive people, there are people who - understandably - don't like the non-humans, but none of these challenges really threatens in this first book. I have not read the following ones. Just wished for more conflict and hardship.
- I think they were way too successful with understanding and reusing a completely alien technology / machine with few tools. This assumes similar technology to our own - chips, power, interfaces, etc- that they could easily understand and re-use. I wish this were more challenging and "alien".
- I would've liked more conflict between the main character and her "alien" friend as their relationship develops. Like the rest of the story, this was very unchallenging and bland.
I have a couple criticisms:
- Those stranded on the planet easily set up a community and improve their situation drastically in a short time. They handle the situations with ease and aren't terribly challenged. You can argue that the world was set up to produce food and would be easy to survive on, based on how it was engineered. Yet, even the personal relationships aren't terribly challenging. There are creepy dudes and another band of aggressive people, there are people who - understandably - don't like the non-humans, but none of these challenges really threatens in this first book. I have not read the following ones. Just wished for more conflict and hardship.
- I think they were way too successful with understanding and reusing a completely alien technology / machine with few tools. This assumes similar technology to our own - chips, power, interfaces, etc- that they could easily understand and re-use. I wish this were more challenging and "alien".
- I would've liked more conflict between the main character and her "alien" friend as their relationship develops. Like the rest of the story, this was very unchallenging and bland.
March 3, 2022
I’m dropping this at the three-quarters mark. I kept hoping it would improve. I was excited about the prospect of a strong female lead in sci-fi, and I generally enjoy Anne McCaffrey’s worlds.
The main character is beset by unwanted advances from a couple men, who are subsequently villainized. Fine. At the beginning, though, a member of the alien enslaving race actually tries to rape her. She spends the rest of the book fantasizing about him and defending him from all the other human slaves. What?
Also, the premise is weak. A highly advanced alien race subjugates humanity and tries to use them to test colonize planets that are too difficult for said aliens. The aliens do pre-colonization surveys, but fail to notice the planet in this story is a developed, automated farm?
The main character is beset by unwanted advances from a couple men, who are subsequently villainized. Fine. At the beginning, though, a member of the alien enslaving race actually tries to rape her. She spends the rest of the book fantasizing about him and defending him from all the other human slaves. What?
Also, the premise is weak. A highly advanced alien race subjugates humanity and tries to use them to test colonize planets that are too difficult for said aliens. The aliens do pre-colonization surveys, but fail to notice the planet in this story is a developed, automated farm?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2021
I enjoyed the Dragonriders of Pern series (until her son took over) when I was a young adult, but I haven't read Anne McCaffrey since then. I don't know if this is dated or my tastes have changed or what, but this seemed a little .... off.
Kris Bjornsen is an escaped human slave who witnesses an aerial dogfight and an airship crash and .... runs toward it? She sees an injured Catteni, one of the race of aliens who kidnapped the humans from Earth and she .... helps him? He makes a pass at her, makes it clear he won't take no for an answer, so she konks him on the head with a wrench and then .... uses her stolen flier to return him to civilization? But then they and a bunch of others get captured and relocated to a new planet.
I question every move the protagonist makes in the opening chapter. It's tough to be invested after that.
Kris, the Catteni Zainal, and a bunch of other humans and aliens are dropped on a planet with some supplies and left to fend for themselves. The Catteni means of settling a planet is to drop a bunch of prisoners and troublemakers on it and let them deal with it.
But the group manages to survive, to set up a camp, to slowly grow and explore. Kris and Zainal are key players without being Mary Sues. And, ugh, they end up in a relationship together. The story seems set up for drama, but all the bad stuff seems to happens to other people. The settlers do well. There are plenty of refugees with useful skills. It's just kind of easy.
Kris Bjornsen is an escaped human slave who witnesses an aerial dogfight and an airship crash and .... runs toward it? She sees an injured Catteni, one of the race of aliens who kidnapped the humans from Earth and she .... helps him? He makes a pass at her, makes it clear he won't take no for an answer, so she konks him on the head with a wrench and then .... uses her stolen flier to return him to civilization? But then they and a bunch of others get captured and relocated to a new planet.
I question every move the protagonist makes in the opening chapter. It's tough to be invested after that.
Kris, the Catteni Zainal, and a bunch of other humans and aliens are dropped on a planet with some supplies and left to fend for themselves. The Catteni means of settling a planet is to drop a bunch of prisoners and troublemakers on it and let them deal with it.
But the group manages to survive, to set up a camp, to slowly grow and explore. Kris and Zainal are key players without being Mary Sues. And, ugh, they end up in a relationship together. The story seems set up for drama, but all the bad stuff seems to happens to other people. The settlers do well. There are plenty of refugees with useful skills. It's just kind of easy.
August 15, 2022
"Or would they all be caught between two master races…the mysterious Eosi and the even more unknown quantity of the Mech Makers?"
August 30, 2017
I'm a bit biased. I loved Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" novels as a kid. A year or so ago, I discovered that McCaffrey was not an obscure, one-series author hidden in the corner of the bookstore as I once thought. When I started reading her work again, I realized how much her books had influenced my tastes- all those wonderful new planets and creatures I had been craving were because of her!
Onto this one. I haven't finished this series yet but if this first book is anything to go on, it's looking to become a regular favorite of mine. I loved, loved, loved this. I read it in less than a day, staying up until 6 in the morning with the voraciousness for the story I have rarely had since I was a child.
The protagonist, Kris, is incredibly likable and capable. She has strength, a sharp wit, an unironic and unannoying optimism, and a practicality that makes her incredibly enjoyable to read. McCaffrey has done a fantastic job writing a relatable and capable character, treating her with the respect I have for my strong female friends. So often authors write strong women to be bitter or hostile- or worse, write female protagonists who constantly run to their better and more developed male counterparts. But Kris is neither and I appreciate that.
Furthermore, as someone who 99% of the time can't stand romantic subplots, McCaffrey has written one that I was absolutely giddy about. It's slow and real hot and respectful and it makes SENSE. Genuinely- I mean, I have never been able to sit through Rom Coms and I can't stand the shallow, adolescent, codependence that most fantasy and sci-fi novels include in their romantic subplots. This book though? I was basically whooping and hollering as the romance developed. Somehow Anne has written my dream boyfriend and he's a six and a half foot tall gray alien. No wonder I'm not dating anyone right now. Who could measure up?
A small but delightful detail- McCaffrey's colloquialisms and folksy phrases are so fun to read. Many of them were unfamiliar to me (and I'm born and raised Midwestern, so where she picked these up I don't know!) and at times I felt like the aliens trying to pick up English- but it was all fun and I'm definitely going to be incorporating some of this weird ass slang into my lexicon. Hell's bells! I'd give my eyetooth to talk like this!
Anyways, I love this book and I can't wait to read the next one. I got this from the library but you best believe I'm going to be buying copies right and left. This is a book I'm going to read and reread until the binding breaks.
Onto this one. I haven't finished this series yet but if this first book is anything to go on, it's looking to become a regular favorite of mine. I loved, loved, loved this. I read it in less than a day, staying up until 6 in the morning with the voraciousness for the story I have rarely had since I was a child.
The protagonist, Kris, is incredibly likable and capable. She has strength, a sharp wit, an unironic and unannoying optimism, and a practicality that makes her incredibly enjoyable to read. McCaffrey has done a fantastic job writing a relatable and capable character, treating her with the respect I have for my strong female friends. So often authors write strong women to be bitter or hostile- or worse, write female protagonists who constantly run to their better and more developed male counterparts. But Kris is neither and I appreciate that.
Furthermore, as someone who 99% of the time can't stand romantic subplots, McCaffrey has written one that I was absolutely giddy about. It's slow and real hot and respectful and it makes SENSE. Genuinely- I mean, I have never been able to sit through Rom Coms and I can't stand the shallow, adolescent, codependence that most fantasy and sci-fi novels include in their romantic subplots. This book though? I was basically whooping and hollering as the romance developed. Somehow Anne has written my dream boyfriend and he's a six and a half foot tall gray alien. No wonder I'm not dating anyone right now. Who could measure up?
A small but delightful detail- McCaffrey's colloquialisms and folksy phrases are so fun to read. Many of them were unfamiliar to me (and I'm born and raised Midwestern, so where she picked these up I don't know!) and at times I felt like the aliens trying to pick up English- but it was all fun and I'm definitely going to be incorporating some of this weird ass slang into my lexicon. Hell's bells! I'd give my eyetooth to talk like this!
Anyways, I love this book and I can't wait to read the next one. I got this from the library but you best believe I'm going to be buying copies right and left. This is a book I'm going to read and reread until the binding breaks.
July 25, 2021
I’m pretty picky about what I’m willing to read these days, since I don’t read as much. That means I’m reading fewer of my science fiction book club’s monthly picks than I used to, but this one I went for because Anne McCaffrey is classic science fiction and I don’t have much exposure to her work. I don’t have good memories of reading one of her dragonrider books when I was a kid, but I liked The Ship Who Sang well enough. Will this book be a tie-breaker?
Yes, but not in a good way. I thought this book would be easy reading. It’s not hard reading, but it’s not easy reading either. It’s more… “easy going”, where there’s not much actual conflict and the story is very episodic and not much is at stake, or very important. This makes it easy to put down and harder to stay invested.
The first chapter also makes the rest of the book tougher to care about. It takes place on this planet where the main character, Kristin, has escaped captivity and learned to survive in a hostile environment. It’s cool to learn about the bushes that shoot thorns, the food she’s discovered, and the small ship she stole and is hiding out in. Then suddenly she’s flying this ship back to civilization, risking getting recaptured and punished, in order to drop off an alien who is part of the society that enslaved her? And then she does get recaptured and dumped on a completely different planet. At that point I didn’t care about the story anymore because I’d invested myself in the situation from the first chapter. It didn’t help that the second planet isn’t hard to survive on, so there isn’t a serious challenge to keep me interested.
The nail in the coffin for me is that, as part of a series, almost nothing is resolved. The only one answered is the “Will they or won’t they?” question about Kristin and her love interest, Zainal (the alien guy she rescued and got recaptured for). We don’t know why they got dumped on this planet, who developed this planet originally, or even who in the group of unwilling colonists is going to finally be the bad guy McCaffrey set them up to be and actually do something evil.
I'll try more McCaffrey after this, but I'm done with this series.
Yes, but not in a good way. I thought this book would be easy reading. It’s not hard reading, but it’s not easy reading either. It’s more… “easy going”, where there’s not much actual conflict and the story is very episodic and not much is at stake, or very important. This makes it easy to put down and harder to stay invested.
The first chapter also makes the rest of the book tougher to care about. It takes place on this planet where the main character, Kristin, has escaped captivity and learned to survive in a hostile environment. It’s cool to learn about the bushes that shoot thorns, the food she’s discovered, and the small ship she stole and is hiding out in. Then suddenly she’s flying this ship back to civilization, risking getting recaptured and punished, in order to drop off an alien who is part of the society that enslaved her? And then she does get recaptured and dumped on a completely different planet. At that point I didn’t care about the story anymore because I’d invested myself in the situation from the first chapter. It didn’t help that the second planet isn’t hard to survive on, so there isn’t a serious challenge to keep me interested.
The nail in the coffin for me is that, as part of a series, almost nothing is resolved. The only one answered is the “Will they or won’t they?” question about Kristin and her love interest, Zainal (the alien guy she rescued and got recaptured for). We don’t know why they got dumped on this planet, who developed this planet originally, or even who in the group of unwilling colonists is going to finally be the bad guy McCaffrey set them up to be and actually do something evil.
I'll try more McCaffrey after this, but I'm done with this series.
May 5, 2014
This is the first Anne McCaffrey book I've ever read, and I'm sorry to say that based just on this one, I don't think she is a very good writer. I am interested in the story and want to know what happens, but some of the dialogue and writing made me cringe. For example, some of Kris' interior dialogue seems phony - "Whoa Kris girl" and things like that. I was also annoyed by how everything is great on Botany except for the easily avoided dangers: the animals are all delicious, the plants "tasty," and everything so very easy to fix and/or figure out by just a few conveniently inserted plot contrivances, I mean "experts." And they can all run, carry, climb, move around, etc. with only a mention of being tired or immediately dropping off to sleep at the appropriate time. Some of the characters' emotional responses seem mixed up as well, such as Patti Sue, who has evidently been severely traumatized but within a few days has apparently gotten over it enough to lay a claim on a man in the "colony" (and then disappears from the story, apparently) or Mitford thinking to himself that he "might fancy" Kris - a woman apparently half his age or even less. Come on! And everyone seems to shift from one emotion (usually annoyance with something someone else has said) to another in seconds. The inter-species love affair kind of skeeved me out, too. Of course the sex is fantastic - just like everything else. *rolls eyes* If I had been kidnapped by aliens and dumped with hundreds of fellow slaves on a supposedly uninhabited planet and left to fend for myself with nothing more than some rudimentary clothing and a knife, the last thing I would be thinking about is how I can hook up with some male. Hmm, maybe I disliked this book more than I initially thought I did. I may eventually read some more later, but I'm not in any hurry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2021
4.5 Stars
Freedom's Landing was an unexpected hit for me. It's an older science fiction adventure ('95! What a throwback!), but I started it because it was recommended for Stargate fans (which, I am).
The story is slower than most science fiction adventure stories. This story is all about the journey and survival, not the action, even though there's a lot of stuff going on day-to-day.
It was refreshing for the story to be told from the perspective of someone who isn't "in charge"; instead, it's a person who plays just as an important role in everyone's survival.
I liked how the romance was really slow - seriously, being stranded on a foreign planet means there's WAY more important things to worry about than sex. And that dynamic is well reflected in the pacing and discreetly developed romance(s).
The alien races weren't as well described as Ilona Andrew's work, but still vivid and distinct!
Be warned: Freedom's Landing is left open - no resolution to the people's situation on the planet...yet. I will definitely read the next book in this series to see how their survival continues to play out.
Freedom's Landing was an unexpected hit for me. It's an older science fiction adventure ('95! What a throwback!), but I started it because it was recommended for Stargate fans (which, I am).
The story is slower than most science fiction adventure stories. This story is all about the journey and survival, not the action, even though there's a lot of stuff going on day-to-day.
It was refreshing for the story to be told from the perspective of someone who isn't "in charge"; instead, it's a person who plays just as an important role in everyone's survival.
I liked how the romance was really slow - seriously, being stranded on a foreign planet means there's WAY more important things to worry about than sex. And that dynamic is well reflected in the pacing and discreetly developed romance(s).
The alien races weren't as well described as Ilona Andrew's work, but still vivid and distinct!
Be warned: Freedom's Landing is left open - no resolution to the people's situation on the planet...yet. I will definitely read the next book in this series to see how their survival continues to play out.
November 15, 2020
This was really a strange story. I was not like any of the author’s stories that I had read before. I definitely liked the MC female lead. I liked the MC alien male too, but where is this story going? More alien races than one can shake a stick at and our MCs have been dumped on an alien planet to punish them. They are there to die or survive, seemingly. They are to colonize the planet? The MC’s alien race keeps on dumping load after load of humans and other aliens onto the planet. A planet that seems to be “managed” by robots. Who owns the planet and who owns the robot work force seems to be the question of the day.
My book was full of typos and strangely worded sentences. Annoying, I know, although it is not going to keep me from seeking out the next book in the series.
My book was full of typos and strangely worded sentences. Annoying, I know, although it is not going to keep me from seeking out the next book in the series.
July 16, 2010
I liked this first book enough to check out the next three from the library. The series feels hollow. Many major events are not written about just spoken about in conversation and not covered well. An okay story line but not delivered well or filled out. Too many things introduced but never talked about again or developed. For such horrible events like the invasion of earth, forced pregnancy, slavery and others it was really too much Pollyanna style. Could have been a really thought provoking series.
August 31, 2008
more SiFi than fantasy to be honest. Good detail (as always) and characters are fantastic. The plot didn't really grab me, there was too much other content getting in the way (not exactly 'PG' if you know what I mean. She typically has very colorful series and characters so I have no doubt that the continuing books in this one are great, I just won't be reading them.
July 13, 2021
A re-read. A colonization book with multiple races of aliens. We don't have to watch the aliens attack. Or setup the story. We just start nicely in the middle. Perhaps not the most believable ever, but a pleasant quick read. And interesting. Sure some of the bad guy humans are a little too obvious. And it could have been more detailed.
October 18, 2016
What the blinking crap was that? From the weak world-building (that I was secretly hoping would be resolved somehow) to every convenience character (we just happen to have someone who knows how to do that!) to the incredible stereotypes (ewh), I just couldn't stomach this story.
October 10, 2009
interesting idea. Aliens abandon you on a planet where you have to survive. you find a giant mechinized farm... go from there.
May 9, 2022
I'm sure I've seen the titles of this science fiction series, at one time or another, when I used to haunt bookstore shelves looking for books by favorite authors, but my main interest in Anne McCaffrey has usually been her Dragons of Pern series, which I've read through more times than I can count, after finding the first book, Dragonflight, in my husband's book collection shortly after we married in the early 1980s. I also enjoy her Crystal Singer series, and The Ship Who Sang and its sequels. But I was quite sure, when I picked this one up, that I had never read this series ... until I began reading, and there was something so familiar about it ... but then not.
It turns out this series of four books, published between 1995 and 2002, evolved from a short story by Anne McCaffrey that I read many years ago, "The Thorns of Barevi" (1970), published in a collection titled Get Off the Unicorn. I think it's kind of weird that I didn't remember the story involving a rape fantasy, so much as I remembered those thorn bushes. The thorn bushes were what I recognized when I read this book as well, which is just as well, because the author wisely left the other out of this series, and turned this into a sweeter romance interwoven with science fiction that deals with a more harsh adventure. But then, romantic fiction back then was sometimes odd in that way, so maybe I'd read enough of it that I didn't set much store at the time by those aspects. I don't have the story available right now to compare, or jog my memory. It's possible that I saw what looked like it might be a sex scene coming up and, not really being a fan of those, skipped ahead and missed entirely that rape had anything to do with it. I wouldn't put that past me. But I remembered thorn bushes. Hmm, okay.
See Wikipedia for more on that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catteni...
I love it when writers do that, though, become their own inspiration and teacher, evolving a story that doesn't work so well into something better. The short story morphed into a series of novels that I am finding unputdownable.
Mind you, Anne McCaffrey was not a literary author, though she did win some awards for her speculative fiction. She wasn't a very poetic author, though she had her moments. But one thing she was great at was just telling a story straight out, describing things in a common-sense way, things that shouldn't be able to happen or exist, and drawing characters that come alive, who seem to be people you might know, maybe work with or live next door to, and can identify with, so you lose yourself in even the most implausible landscape, populated with the impossible. Like those thorn bushes that re-arm themselves so quickly. Or telepathic dragons fighting writhing Thread falling from the sky, or parallelogram-shaped predators (I think that was her), or ships with human brains and personalities, and planetary landscapes that stretch the imagination. Which is exactly what speculative fiction is supposed to do.
This is a more down-to-earth story, at least it feels that way to me, though none of it takes place on Earth. It seems more believable to me, in some sense, but is also an escape story, following some people who've already been torn from their own homes and taken into slavery, who are now dumped on a planet simply to see if they can survive it. Survive or die, those are the choices, and while survival is possible, it's definitely a matter of will and cleverness, tenacity, independence, and good leadership. Add that most important, civilizing factor, helping each other out. If they seem to find their feet a lot faster than I expected, I'll chalk that up to a few things, some clever people, good leadership, and the fact that the planet is already being farmed by automated machines, so there is a source of food, and of technology that can be altered for their uses.
I was surprised how much I liked the inter-species romance in this book, which built quite gradually and naturally out of the initial conflict. (Warning, there is some adult content, including sex scenes, so it's not really YA friendly or for those who like a chaste story.) The romance was incredibly well done, and frankly, if not for that I wouldn't be nearly as drawn to this story. But I will read the next in the series.
Be warned, this ends with a cliffhanger. It's not a standalone story. So, if you like it, you'll want to read the next.
It turns out this series of four books, published between 1995 and 2002, evolved from a short story by Anne McCaffrey that I read many years ago, "The Thorns of Barevi" (1970), published in a collection titled Get Off the Unicorn. I think it's kind of weird that I didn't remember the story involving a rape fantasy, so much as I remembered those thorn bushes. The thorn bushes were what I recognized when I read this book as well, which is just as well, because the author wisely left the other out of this series, and turned this into a sweeter romance interwoven with science fiction that deals with a more harsh adventure. But then, romantic fiction back then was sometimes odd in that way, so maybe I'd read enough of it that I didn't set much store at the time by those aspects. I don't have the story available right now to compare, or jog my memory. It's possible that I saw what looked like it might be a sex scene coming up and, not really being a fan of those, skipped ahead and missed entirely that rape had anything to do with it. I wouldn't put that past me. But I remembered thorn bushes. Hmm, okay.
See Wikipedia for more on that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catteni...
I love it when writers do that, though, become their own inspiration and teacher, evolving a story that doesn't work so well into something better. The short story morphed into a series of novels that I am finding unputdownable.
Mind you, Anne McCaffrey was not a literary author, though she did win some awards for her speculative fiction. She wasn't a very poetic author, though she had her moments. But one thing she was great at was just telling a story straight out, describing things in a common-sense way, things that shouldn't be able to happen or exist, and drawing characters that come alive, who seem to be people you might know, maybe work with or live next door to, and can identify with, so you lose yourself in even the most implausible landscape, populated with the impossible. Like those thorn bushes that re-arm themselves so quickly. Or telepathic dragons fighting writhing Thread falling from the sky, or parallelogram-shaped predators (I think that was her), or ships with human brains and personalities, and planetary landscapes that stretch the imagination. Which is exactly what speculative fiction is supposed to do.
This is a more down-to-earth story, at least it feels that way to me, though none of it takes place on Earth. It seems more believable to me, in some sense, but is also an escape story, following some people who've already been torn from their own homes and taken into slavery, who are now dumped on a planet simply to see if they can survive it. Survive or die, those are the choices, and while survival is possible, it's definitely a matter of will and cleverness, tenacity, independence, and good leadership. Add that most important, civilizing factor, helping each other out. If they seem to find their feet a lot faster than I expected, I'll chalk that up to a few things, some clever people, good leadership, and the fact that the planet is already being farmed by automated machines, so there is a source of food, and of technology that can be altered for their uses.
I was surprised how much I liked the inter-species romance in this book, which built quite gradually and naturally out of the initial conflict. (Warning, there is some adult content, including sex scenes, so it's not really YA friendly or for those who like a chaste story.) The romance was incredibly well done, and frankly, if not for that I wouldn't be nearly as drawn to this story. But I will read the next in the series.
Be warned, this ends with a cliffhanger. It's not a standalone story. So, if you like it, you'll want to read the next.
January 17, 2023
Kris had escaped the slave areas of Brevari into the surrounding jungle and had been surviving quite well in the flyer she stole. While out gathering food she noticed several flyers heading her way, the one's in the back were shooting at the front one which crashed near her. Thinking it might be another escaped prisoner she ran down to help whoever was in it. When she got near she found the pilot was a Catteni, one of those who had invaded earth and took thousands of people as captive slaves.
Not wanting to help those who were hunting the one laying in front of her, she decided to help him. Using water and some slaps to his face she got him up and running as the other ones in the flyers continued to shoot at the downed flyer until it exploded.
When Kris and the Catteni made it to the flyer she had stole, he was now wide awake and ready to treat her like a slave not as his rescuer. He did tell her that the reason they were hurting him was because he had killed their leader in a fight. He needed to stay hidden from the city until noon the next day, the Catteni rules were after 24 hours everything ended. If they didn't have such rules then they would kill themselves off. As he neared her to take advantage of her, Kris smacked him in the head with a metal bar, knocking him out. Kris decided she didn't care about the 24 hour vendetta, she was going to fly him back to the city and drop him off.
When trying to get him out of the flyer, being much bigger than her and dead weight, she was trying to drag him out. Noise started getting near her and it sounded like a riot, suddenly there were flyers all around and everyone was gassed. Kris woke up in a crowded slave pen and the Catteni overlords were forcing everyone to strip and put them through a fast shower, gave them clothing, a package of food bars and a cup of soup, then forced all of them into a transport ship, she got sleepy and realized that the soup was spiked, but before she fell asleep she saw that the Catteni she had brought back was being forced into the ship too.
This covers the first few chapters of the book, if you want to find out more, then get the book. It is the first book in a series of four. I'll be reading the next book after I read something else first.
Not wanting to help those who were hunting the one laying in front of her, she decided to help him. Using water and some slaps to his face she got him up and running as the other ones in the flyers continued to shoot at the downed flyer until it exploded.
When Kris and the Catteni made it to the flyer she had stole, he was now wide awake and ready to treat her like a slave not as his rescuer. He did tell her that the reason they were hurting him was because he had killed their leader in a fight. He needed to stay hidden from the city until noon the next day, the Catteni rules were after 24 hours everything ended. If they didn't have such rules then they would kill themselves off. As he neared her to take advantage of her, Kris smacked him in the head with a metal bar, knocking him out. Kris decided she didn't care about the 24 hour vendetta, she was going to fly him back to the city and drop him off.
When trying to get him out of the flyer, being much bigger than her and dead weight, she was trying to drag him out. Noise started getting near her and it sounded like a riot, suddenly there were flyers all around and everyone was gassed. Kris woke up in a crowded slave pen and the Catteni overlords were forcing everyone to strip and put them through a fast shower, gave them clothing, a package of food bars and a cup of soup, then forced all of them into a transport ship, she got sleepy and realized that the soup was spiked, but before she fell asleep she saw that the Catteni she had brought back was being forced into the ship too.
This covers the first few chapters of the book, if you want to find out more, then get the book. It is the first book in a series of four. I'll be reading the next book after I read something else first.
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