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For an overpopulated Earth, whose resources are strained to the breaking point, there is only one place to look for relief: straight up. With the successful completion of the Padrugoi Space Station, humanity has at last achieved its first large-scale permanent presence in space. Additional bases are feverishly being built on the Moon and on Mars, stepping-stones to the greatest adventure in all history: the colonization of alien worlds. Already long-range telescopes have identified a number of habitable planets orbiting the stars and distant galaxies. Now it's just a question of getting there.But there are those who, for selfish motives of their own, want Padrugoi and the other outposts to fail. People who will stop at nothing to maintain their power or to avenge its loss. Standing in their way are the Talented, men and women gifted with extraordinary mental powers that have made them as feared as they are respected--and utterly indispensable to the colonization effort.There is Peter Reidinger, a teenage paraplegic who is the strongest telekinetic ever, his mind capable of teleporting objects and people thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. Yet all his power cannot repair his damaged spine or allow him to feel the gentle touch of a loved one...Rhyssa Owne, the powerful telepath and mother hen to Peter, and the rest of her "children"--and a fierce, unrelenting fighter against the prejudice that would deny the Talented the right to lead happy and productive lives...and Amariyah, an orphan girl who loves two things in the world above all others: gardening and Peter Reidinger. And woe to anyone who harms either one of them--for the young girl's talent may prove to be the most amazing of all.Now, as sabotage and attempted murder strike the Station, it's up to the Talented to save the day. Only, who's going to save the Talented?… (more)
User reviews
I did like it, sometimes the technobabble washed over me but mostly I enjoyed the story. I liked the story about Peter and his learning about himself. I also liked the
In the meantime, an orphaned five-year-old girl named
Even though this is the 3rd book in the Talents series it was the last to be written after the Tower and Hive series was complete. In my opinion, it makes a better bridge between the two series than Pegasus in Flight and I’m glad it was added since Peter’s story is as fascinating as it is heartwarming.
There is a lot going on in this book, but most of it revolves around Peter. Since Peter is the catalyst for all of the books that follow, it’s only right that we learn the history of how FT&T (Federated Telepath and Teleport) comes about. FT&T features heavily in the Tower and Hive series.
Once again the story flows smoothly and the plot proceeds quickly. My favorite characters are back, some with much larger roles and we pick up Amariyah as well as a few more. The story still fascinates me and makes me wonder how much faster we would be exploring space if we had people with Talents such as these. The mind boggles at the wonder of it all.
I’m looking forward to picking up The Rowan to continue with the series. As I’ve said before, it’s been a long time since I’ve read this series and I’m really enjoying my immersion back into the world of the Talents.
*Book source ~ My home library.
4 stars for a fun and entertaining
In the second book Peter Reidinger was discovered to be a powerful teleporter as well as a telepath when he was paralyzed after a wall fell on him and he was desperate to get out of his hospital bed. In this book Peter reaches maturity and can be put to use transporting shipments to the Padrugoi space station and beyond. He has help and support from other teleporters but he is still paralyzed. Then Amariyah Bantam comes to the Eastern Parapsychic Centre and becomes Peter's foster sister. Amariyah was orphaned by the huge flood in Bangladesh with which the second book ended. Everyone feels she has pyschic powers but she is so young and no psychic can be expected to test their abilities until they are at least in puberty. She does love to garden and her plants do wonderfully under her care. She can also give a good massage which Peter appreciates after he sustains a number of broken bones in what might or might not have been an accident. Later when Peter starts to regain some feeling he suspects that Amariyah's massages may have covered her ability to make repairs to his spinal chord injury. First though Peter (and other pyschics) have to survive attempts made on their lives and find out who is behind it. There are some very tense moments in this book.
McCaffrey, who wrote this book in 2000, dedicated it to Christopher Reeve who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident in 1995. She says "This book is respectfully dedicated to Christopher Reeve with the devout hope that he realizes his ambition--to stand on his own two feet once again in 2002!" Although Reeve never regained the ability to stand on his own feet he did regain some motor function and was able to sense hot and cold. This is very similar to the path that Peter Reidinger took in achieving control of his body. Too bad psychics weren't available to help Reeve.