Anne McCaffrey Books

Although Mrs. McGruder loves her tiny House Full of Books (they even spill out into her yard!) she does occasionally get rid of some of them.  Here are a few science fiction books by famous author Anne McCaffrey along with brief reviews.

 



Breakfast of (dragon?) Champions.
Steak, egg, and tomato with homegrown Blackberry Curd on a biscuit.  Add a book and a cuppa.  What more could a person want?

 

The book pictured is McCaffrey's

 To Ride Pegasus.

 

Although the characters and concepts are mildly interesting, this overly long and disjointed book about a group of telepaths is neither compelling nor even convincing. 

 

 

 

Some more of McCaffrey's books.  Reviews follow. (Reviews are also posted on my goodreads.com account.)

 

Decision at Doona

 

This is a clever story of a group of colonists on a supposedly uninhabited planet who discover there are sentient natives already living here.  Due to their philosophy the colonists must leave.  The characters are interesting but the overdrawn glamorization of the six-year-old wunderkind, Todd, is a bit nauseating.

The whole thing is very 60’s but this book does hold up well for a re-reading after almost fifty years.

 

 The Mark of Merlin

 

Recently orphaned college student and military brat, James Carlyse Murdock (Carla) meets her new guardian, Major Laird.  Set during WW II, the story features an art/jewelry theft in Colonel Murdock’s troop as well as the developing romance between Carla and the Major.

 

Ring of Fire

 

Another McCaffrey mystery/romance.  This book is set in the American “horse” world.  The plot is overly long, somewhat convoluted and not very convincing.
Though the characters are strong and interesting, the tedious, and definitely gratuitous, descriptions of the main couple’s sex life are a bit  much.


 

 Get Off The Unicorn

 

 This book is a collection of fourteen short stories. These are mostly boring, rather tedious sci-fi renditions that, frankly, don’t hold up well over the decades.  A couple of the stories, supposedly for the Young Adult market, are especially dull.  The story about the Smallest Dragon Boy and the Thorns of Barevi might be of interest to McCaffrey fans. 

 

Dinosaur Planet Survivor

Colonists, mutineers, and space pirates compete for the planet Ireta.  But the mysterious Theks have been there before them and brought dinosaurs with to save them from extinction on another planet.

Freedoms Landing 

Feisty, rebellious earthlings have been captured by the Catteni and placed on another planet which is being farmed by robots.  Who is in charge??  Another of McCaffry's sci-fi/romance novels, the first in a series.

 

 

 

So.... basically not exactly earthshattering.  Those McCaffrey books that Mrs. McGruder has read, while having some interesting elements, do not strike her as all that great.  Maybe they were new and exciting back in the day, but they haven't really held up all that well over time.

 

Conclusion:  Over-rated. Time to get rid of some books.