Fifth Millenium/McCaffrey's Pegasus/Deeds of PaksenarrionDec 10 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line When you have done 'Foundation' and 'Dune' and the others and want something else, try these.
Like many others, I have a hard time limiting my list... so I decided to pick some that haven't been suggested yet. These are not straight SF, and one is pure Fantasy. The Fifth Millenium Series is written by three writers, who collaborated on the various novels. The series is set in the far future, millenia after the world was broken in the Fire from the lightnings cast by Mosk and Merk, the great giants. In this time, a girl grows up on the streets of a thriving city learning to be a thief and a merchant before being taken in by her drunken aunt. The aunt sells her to a foreign shipowner who treats her harshly. The girl, Megan, has a child by the man at age 14, but can never have another due to birth trauma. The man sells her son when he is two. That night, Megan kills him and takes his ship, vowing to find her son and reclaim him. In order to do that, she uses the ship to build a trading house and a fortune. Her fortune made, she is betrayed and sold again into slavery. She ends up on the other side of the ocean and befriends a savage warrior. Together they return to Megan's native land -- to hunt the man who betrayed Megan and ruined her trading house, to look for her son and to put the past behind her. The characters are complex and the references to 'our' time are vague and veiled enough that they aren't distracting. You get completely caught up in the quest for revenge. A word of warning: Megan's warrior partner and lover, Sh'Kaira, is female. If you are homophobic, let this one pass. The books are: Shadow's Daughter, Snow Brother, Sword and Shadow, The Cage, Shadow's Son. Related to the series: Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul. (Some of the these are hard to find -- I had to go to Half.com and eBay to find the last one). The authors are: Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling, and Karen Wehrstein Anne McCaffrey's Pern series get many well-deserved nods but I also thoroughly enjoy Her Pegasus books (To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, and Pegasus in Space). In the first, scientific evidence is found that paranormal abilities are real and can be measured. A Talented couple tries to create a foundation to protect those gifted (with telekenesis, teleportation, precognition, etc) and allow them to use those gifts commercially. They struggle against bigotry and ignorance before achieving a measure of respectability. In the second book, Talents face new threats -- a scheme to force them into pseudo-slavery on a space station, a man who would exploit young Talents, and the forces of nature itself. We meet two engaging young Talents that develop abilities previously unknown that could lead to great potential for the Talented... and all mankind. In the third book, Talent reaches a new level of legitimacy and respectability. A mutiny is thwarted on a space station, new technology thrusts them to greater heights, and the characters evolve and grow (as McCaffrey's characters always do). These books are a precursor to the series of books that start with The Rowan, showing how the Talented launch mankind into space. The Deeds of Paksenarrion -- what can I say but WOW! Elizabeth Moon wrote a gritty, enthralling story of a young girl who wants to be a soldier. We see her training, sweating, bleeding and growing into a paladin. She becomes the least of the least before rising to become a hero and saint. And that's like saying Dune is about a guy who goes to the desert. Wonderful, beautiful, heart-wrenching -- don't miss this!! 'Deeds' is a whopper of a book with two other related books (same universe, different characters) The Oath of Gird and (can you believe I can't remember the other??)  |
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