Series ~ The Talents, #2
Author ~ Anne McCaffrey
Publisher ~ Del Rey Books
Published ~ 31 October 1990
Genre ~ Sci-Fi/Fantasy
My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5
Taking
place about 80 yrs after To Ride Pegasus
Rhyssa Owen, granddaughter of Daffyd op Owen, is now the Director of the Center
for Parapsychic Talents on the North American East Coast. Along with many
descendants of the original members, Rhyssa is under extreme pressure to
provide kinetics to complete the Padrugoi Space Platform. Without the kinetics
the space platform construction is falling behind schedule. With Earth’s
population already straining its resources to the limit the space platform
needs to be completed on time in order to use it for a jumping point for colony
ships to be sent off to habitable planets. But that’s not the only problem the
Director has to deal with.
Rhyssa
is being visited in her sleep by someone who can travel out of body. She can’t
get enough of who or where he is to pinpoint his location, so they have to
search for him. Someone that powerful needs to be under the protection of the
center and he needs to be trained in his Talent, whichever Talent that may be.
When they finally find 14-yr-old Peter Reidinger in a hospital, paralyzed from
the neck down as the result of an accident, and realize he’s been boosting his
kinetic talent with electricity they are staggered by the thought of his
potential.
In
another part of the city Tirla is a 12-yr-old girl living in Residential Linear
G. Her parents are dead, but she makes a decent living serving the many
different ethnic groups in her linear never realizing that her knack for
survival and speaking many languages is actually Talent. When the Center and
Law Enforcement and Order try to crack down on a child kidnapping ring in
Linear G they discover Tirla and her unusual Talent. Coaxing her to the Center
she thrives along with Peter. Then the unthinkable happens. Both Tirla and
Peter get kidnapped and everyone rushes to find them before it’s too late.
After
discovering this series back in 1990 I couldn’t read them fast enough. I had
them in my hot little hands as soon as they were published. I like that this
book picks up a few generations after To
Ride Pegasus because we can see the progress already made while learning
the problems this generation of Talents have to deal with. I have to say that
I’m glad our world isn’t as crowded as McCaffrey portrayed in this book. Yikes!
Those Linears! *shudder*
Well-written
with rich characters and a great plot this book is another winner with me. The
potential of Peter just boggles the mind and in this book it hasn’t even really
been tested yet. Tirla is also another great character with an unusual Talent.
It makes me wonder how many more ways Talent will evolve over time. Oh,
wait…I’ve already read all the books, so I know. *grins* That doesn’t dim my
enjoyment of the re-read. I haven’t read this series in a number of years, so
I’m thoroughly enjoying them all over again.
*Book
source ~ My home library.
I haven't heard of this series but it sounds like a great read! I've only read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series and really enjoyed those. Lovely review!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) After reading The Dragonriders books, at least those that had been published as of the 90s, I went looking for more of her books. I've read several and haven't been disappointed. I really like her Freedom series, too which I'll be visiting again later this year.
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