Who wills,
Can.
Who tries,
Does.
Who loves,
Lives.

Welcome to the conclusion of our group read discussion for Anne McCaffrey’s seminal classic, Dragonflight. This has been my first experience with McCaffrey and I will admit to being impressed. It was a tale of two halves for me, with the first half of the book (parts I and II) being a bit clunky in parts yet paired with engaging ideas and characters and the second half (parts III and IV) settling into a great rhythm of suspense and mystery, revelation and wonderful relationships. Wow!

As in part one there will be spoilers from here on in. If you’ve read Dragonflight and have any thoughts on it whatsoever I do hope you will join the conversation. For those of you participating in the group read, please be sure to leave the links for your posts in the appropriate section below.

Let’s fly…

Continue reading Dragonflight Group Read, Part 2 →

Nineteen year-old Ellie Quin spends her days planting tubweeds on an oxygen farm anxious for the day that she can escape rural life and move to the domed city of New Haven. The normal longings of an adolescent girl prove to be anything but normal in this gene-enhanced future. The day arrives and Ellie puts her plans into motion, unaware that she and her small agricultural planet are on a collision course with forces that could unravel the entire course of humanity, with Ellie being the key to their undoing.

The Legend of Ellie Quin delivers a sense-of-wonder exploration of the future reminiscent of Heinlein’s juvenile novels coupled with the accessibility of contemporary storytelling techniques. It reveals an imaginative future in which humanity thrives in a sprawling universe seen through the eyes of a down-to-earth, likeable character.

The fine folks over at SF Signal have posted my review for the first in author Alex Scarrow’s newest series featuring nineteen year old Ellie Quin. The Legend of Ellie Quin is an entertaining and accessible story that I really think you’ll enjoy.

I would love it if you checked it out. Thanks everyone!

The Novel at a Glance: The Cold War escalates when Western forces discover that the Reds may be using time travel to access alien technology from artifacts located in the indeterminate past. Ross Murdock is a criminal with a special skill set, captured and volunteered for a trip back in time in the hopes of finding the location of the Red base and with it the source of this alien technology.

Pros: Minimal dated elements; heroic protagonist shows moments of frailty; descriptive passages place the reader very firmly in this primitive age.

Cons: Ending sequence drags in places; the occasional ‘convenient’ escape from trouble.

My Experience: This is time travel in its purest adventure form with the focus on the destination, not the technology used to get the character there and back again. Despite his criminal background Ross Murdock is a likeable protagonist that I enjoyed journeying with through the early nomad tribal period of history. The novel delivered descriptions of the primitive society that made me feel like I was there. While I feel that my first Norton experience, Star Born, was a better book, The Time Traders delivers a fun, nostalgic, accessible adventure.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Continue reading The Time Traders ~Andre Norton →