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Told in the timeless style of Anne McCaffrey, The Rowan is the first installment in a wonderful trilogy. This is sci-fi at its best: a contemporary love story as well as an engrossing view of our world in the future.The kinetically gifted, trained in mind/machine gestalt, are the most valued citizens of the Nine Star League. Using mental powers alone, these few Prime Talents transport ships, cargo and people between Earth's Moon, Mars' Demos and Jupiter's Callisto.An orphaned young girl, simply called The Rowan, is discovered to have superior telepathic potential and is trained to become Prime Talent on Callisto. After years of self-sacrificing dedication to her position, The Rowan intercepts an urgent mental call from Jeff Raven, a young Prime Talent on distant Deneb. She convinces the other Primes to merge their powers with hers to help fight off an attack by invading aliens. Her growing relationship with Jeff gives her the courage to break her status-imposed isolation, and choose the more rewarding world of love and family.… (more)
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I did enjoy this book, it was a fun light read and worth the little time it takes.
This book is good pulpy fun and I return to it every couple of years. Try it, you might like it.
The Talents are spread out over the Nine Star League using their psionic abilitiies to help things along. Among these abilities there's a lot of variety and power, but there are very few high-powered telepaths,
I liked it, there were some casually sexist moments in it but it was published in 1990, and the author is of an age where some of that was normal. Still the attitudes have improved from the first book, I do want to continue with this series and see where and how it continues to entertain (I hope)
Her life is a lonely one until she meets Jeff Raven, a Wild Talent from a far flung colony on Deneb VIII. Together they face the alien invaders pummeling his planet and then they begin a life together. Sounds easy, right? Oh, no…nothing is ever easy for a Prime, let alone two.
Picking up hundreds of years after the original Talents series, The Rowan begins a new era for FT&T. Well-written with a fast pace the story of the Rowan’s life flows by smoothly. An orphan and a powerful T-1 the Rowan is an unusual child and leads an interesting, if lonely, life. I was happy for her when Jeff entered the picture. He’s quite the character and even more of a powerhouse than she is with considerable more charm, too.
I also loved reading about a descendant of Peter Reidinger. Peter Reidinger IV is Earth’s Prime and it’s nice to see the family line continue. Another interesting part of the story is how Deneb is handling the aftermath of the devastation. A new colony only three generations old and they just lost three-fifths of their population and both of their major cities. Deneb is a cash-strapped planet that needs to get it’s major export (minerals) up and running again in order to pay off the colonization debt. It makes me appreciate all of the things I have and how I can just make a run to the store if I need something. All-in-all a great story to get lost in.
*Book source ~ My home library
The Rowan's growth from a frightened three-year-old who lost her parents in an accident into the full growth of her talent occupies the rest of the book. It covers twenty years of her life and includes the normal growing pains and adult issues.
I like the long scope of the book and the strong characters depicted within it. Some of the minor characters are more caricatures. Some of the dialogue is trite or repetitious--something I just noted while listening to the book on tape. When I first read the book 20+ years ago, I did not notice that then.
I also like the combination of paranormals with space travel--a good idea that has only been executed a few times in the thousands of science fiction books I've read. Perhaps Alfred Bester's book, "The Stars My Destination" did it better.
The book is the first in a series of five books, so be prepared to be hooked.
I give the book three stars.
It's an excellent story of what could happen if psychic powers really do exist.
The book then traces The Rowan's life through adolescence and into adulthood, when another extremely powerful Talent emerges from a distant colony. Jeff and the Rowan fall in love immediately, as Jeff helps her to heal from her childhood trauma. Much of the last half of the book is larded with a frankly boring description of their courtship and life together. Nothing happens for 100 pages while they're exchanging syrupy love messages, which feel a bit unearned because they fell in love so quickly. Finally, the book ends with some mortal peril, but the Talents are basically so ridiculously powerful that there's not even much suspense.
I guess this is the first book in the Tower and Hive Series, so maybe it gets more interesting, but I won't be finding out.
She is found after a mudslide because her mind will not stop shouting, and the Prime (the primary telepath of her planet) insists on rescuing her. This Prime is also a doozy of a character and is created for that purpose: not every female character can be likeable! Contrast her with the Rowan's primary caregiver, and some snippy cousins, and you have a good human basis for this sci-fi story.
Once the Rowan grows into adulthood, however, the story navigates in and around and through this interstellar travel, an invasion by an alien species, and a love story between equals. I did have to shake my head at McCaffery's /the Rowan's statement that she "never felt more womanly" than after she gave birth, but there you have it. Definitely a good and decent read and insight into a future of possibilities.
Enjoyable enough though I felt that the world building wasn't as good as in the Pern series.
book re-read 1/17/2022