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Although they have inherited their mother's legendary powers of telepathy, Damia's children will need more than psionic talent to face the enemy's children, an alien race more insect than human.Tags
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84 points, 4 ¼ stars
Quote:
Review:
I was happy with Damia's Children, but I feel like with every book further in this series, I stray further from the greatness that was the series opening. This book takes place about fifteen years after the ending to Damia, as her children start to grow up and move away from home and become working members of FT&T and Primes in their own right.
Damia's Children is much more fractured than the previous two books. It focuses on several of Damia's children as they grow up and spread out to their different jobs and show more different roles.
Yet there is also a huge focus on the alien race we encountered at the end of the previous book. The Dini have been paired with Damia's children. They have formed connections, they know each other deeply. This connection is really weird but really cute, as well. And through their connection with the Dini, the lives of Damia's children take root.
One of their children, Laria, goes to the Dini Homeworld. She is there to operate their Tower as well as be a sort of ambassador and translator and cultural liaison. Another of their children, Thian, is dispatched to the space fleet tracking down the Hive motherworld which attacked Deneb. He goes as a civilian consultant, to help smooth over miscommunication between the Human and Dini fleets. Rojer eventually joins Thian with the fleet. And Zara, (who doesn't have much of a plot in this book, really), takes a different path.
There is another interesting social, moral, and ethical dilemma that is presented in Damia's Children that I quite like to explore the depths of. There is a giant focus to track down the Hive homeworld, but the question is what are they going to do when they get there. The Dini, who have been attacked for centuries by the Hive, are all set on wiping out the Hive, "for the good of all". The humans, being human, are wondering about the ethics and morality of this argument. And if they aren't going to wipe out the Hive, what are they going to do?
The writing.. it isn't that the writing is bad or anything. Yeah it's slow, but being fast isn't the point of these books. It is just that the end sucks. All three of the "endings" for this book, because there are three kids that are the primary focus of the book. Their story goes until it can go no further and just cuts off and moves to the next book.
The ending just isn't an ending. The first book was billed on this being a trilogy. Only, this isn't a trilogy. It is like the third book in the trilogy got too long and got split up into three books. The book just arbitrarily cuts off when it got too long. Nothing is solved, there is no climax. The story just kept going on and on until it couldn't any longer.
This doesn't bode well. show less
84 points, 4 ¼ stars
Quote:
It is what you do that concerns us and you may not retaliate in that fashion no matter what the provocation!
Review:
I was happy with Damia's Children, but I feel like with every book further in this series, I stray further from the greatness that was the series opening. This book takes place about fifteen years after the ending to Damia, as her children start to grow up and move away from home and become working members of FT&T and Primes in their own right.
Damia's Children is much more fractured than the previous two books. It focuses on several of Damia's children as they grow up and spread out to their different jobs and show more different roles.
Yet there is also a huge focus on the alien race we encountered at the end of the previous book. The Dini have been paired with Damia's children. They have formed connections, they know each other deeply. This connection is really weird but really cute, as well. And through their connection with the Dini, the lives of Damia's children take root.
One of their children, Laria, goes to the Dini Homeworld. She is there to operate their Tower as well as be a sort of ambassador and translator and cultural liaison. Another of their children, Thian, is dispatched to the space fleet tracking down the Hive motherworld which attacked Deneb. He goes as a civilian consultant, to help smooth over miscommunication between the Human and Dini fleets. Rojer eventually joins Thian with the fleet. And Zara, (who doesn't have much of a plot in this book, really), takes a different path.
There is another interesting social, moral, and ethical dilemma that is presented in Damia's Children that I quite like to explore the depths of. There is a giant focus to track down the Hive homeworld, but the question is what are they going to do when they get there. The Dini, who have been attacked for centuries by the Hive, are all set on wiping out the Hive, "for the good of all". The humans, being human, are wondering about the ethics and morality of this argument. And if they aren't going to wipe out the Hive, what are they going to do?
The writing.. it isn't that the writing is bad or anything. Yeah it's slow, but being fast isn't the point of these books. It is just that the end sucks. All three of the "endings" for this book, because there are three kids that are the primary focus of the book. Their story goes until it can go no further and just cuts off and moves to the next book.
The ending just isn't an ending. The first book was billed on this being a trilogy. Only, this isn't a trilogy. It is like the third book in the trilogy got too long and got split up into three books. The book just arbitrarily cuts off when it got too long. Nothing is solved, there is no climax. The story just kept going on and on until it couldn't any longer.
This doesn't bode well. show less
This book finally takes us out of the emotional mire of Damia and focuses more on the science fiction elements that I enjoy. Damia and Afra have 8 children and most of them are Primes. The story follows the oldest 4 as they venture away from their family and into independent, adult lives. There is considerably more detail given about the Mrdini- who communicate through dreams as well as language. Both cultures are sent on a joint mission to find the origins of the hostile Hives and learn more about them.
Re-read 2/1/2023
Re-read 2/1/2023
While the book wasn't completely free of misogyny or problematic aspects, those elements fortunately took a far back burner to actual plot, which I greatly enjoyed. Following four of Damia's children throughout space made things more interesting, and I thought the pacing of developments with the Hive studies moved well. Hopefully the rest of the series continues this way.
When reading this, I realized half-way through that I had read it before. I'm not sure it's going to stick this time, either. The best books in this series have placed superhuman characters against challenges worthy of their abilities. Damia's Children, instead, offers us a series of mortal level challenges; the main issue in the first half of the book is solved the first time the protagonist takes the problem seriously.
Book source ~ My home library.
Damia’s children are growing up and taking their places in FT&T. All are powerful, but each has their own special Talents. Paired with young Mrdini allies when they were babies they’ve grown up with the aliens and are comfortable with them. Unlike others in the Federation who think the Mrdinis are weasel-like and shouldn’t be allies with humans. Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara will play their parts in the ongoing search for more Hivers and the Hive home world, so that a way can be found to contain the Hivers and keep them away from human and Mrdini planets.
Revisiting this story 20 years later made me realize I hadn’t forgotten much. The good mark of a story that enthralled me. Laria, as the eldest, show more goes to Clarf as part of the exchange that was agreed upon before she was born. Gaining experience in her own Tower has matured her and when her year is up and it’s time for her to train on Callisto and for Thian to take her place on Clarf, something else for Thian comes up. He’s needed on a fleet ship amongst a squadron that has been tracking Hive ships. At 16 he’s young for the responsibility, but it’s believed he can handle it and off he goes. Rojer follows about a year later by joining another ship and at the end of the book Zara pulls a stunt reminiscent of Damia when she was a child, but she does manage to figure out why the captured Queen appears to be dying.
This book is chock full with information about Damia and Afra’s children, especially the older ones and how they’re maturing and helping FT&T. Lots of adventure, information and great story-telling. A lot more is learned about the Mrdini and there’s even new info about the Hivers. This book is an excellent addition to the series and I look forward to rereading the next book and having the saga continue. show less
Damia’s children are growing up and taking their places in FT&T. All are powerful, but each has their own special Talents. Paired with young Mrdini allies when they were babies they’ve grown up with the aliens and are comfortable with them. Unlike others in the Federation who think the Mrdinis are weasel-like and shouldn’t be allies with humans. Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara will play their parts in the ongoing search for more Hivers and the Hive home world, so that a way can be found to contain the Hivers and keep them away from human and Mrdini planets.
Revisiting this story 20 years later made me realize I hadn’t forgotten much. The good mark of a story that enthralled me. Laria, as the eldest, show more goes to Clarf as part of the exchange that was agreed upon before she was born. Gaining experience in her own Tower has matured her and when her year is up and it’s time for her to train on Callisto and for Thian to take her place on Clarf, something else for Thian comes up. He’s needed on a fleet ship amongst a squadron that has been tracking Hive ships. At 16 he’s young for the responsibility, but it’s believed he can handle it and off he goes. Rojer follows about a year later by joining another ship and at the end of the book Zara pulls a stunt reminiscent of Damia when she was a child, but she does manage to figure out why the captured Queen appears to be dying.
This book is chock full with information about Damia and Afra’s children, especially the older ones and how they’re maturing and helping FT&T. Lots of adventure, information and great story-telling. A lot more is learned about the Mrdini and there’s even new info about the Hivers. This book is an excellent addition to the series and I look forward to rereading the next book and having the saga continue. show less
Anne McCaffrey is one of my all time favorite sc-fi/fantasy authors. Her 'The Tower and the Hive" series is among my favorite series of all time. The characters are engaging and the story grabs me right about and keeps me interested until the very end. I do feel that story gets a weak towards the middle but it picks up at the end. I enjoyed this novel as a way to see where this family is headed in this series more than I enjoyed the story itself.
This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Damia's Children Series: Tower and the Hive Author: Anne McCaffrey Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: SFF Pages: 300 Synopsis: Following the exploits of Damia's Children as they come of age and deal with the Hive threat in their time. My Thoughts: This was more 4 short stories than 1 novel. However, that worked out ok as you only had to stay with one character so long, which show more is a blessing if you happen to hate a particular child. The Hive have lost their homeworld and there is a vocal minority among humanity clamoring for "peace and understanding" even while having no clue about the viciousness of the Hive. To be honest, the child associated with this part of the story drove me up the wall and almost made me put this book down. I can't stand when "feelings" trump sound, solid thinking. The other three stories were quite enjoyable. One was about the eldest girl going to the Mridini homeworld to further cement the alliance between Mridini and Humanity. The next 2 were about the 2 boys going to military vessels and using their Talent. The final story dealt with another daughter who was just coming into her teen years and all that that entails. Overall, this was a good solid story by McCaffrey. Hoping this keeps up with the next 2 books. Oh, yeah, the cover. This cover is SO aimed at the teen girl crowd. I wouldn't have read it based on that alone. However, based on the original cover (picture below), I would definitely be reading this. Marketing is scary! " show less
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257+ Works 207,455 Members
Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 1, 1926. She received a degree in Slavonic languages from Radcliffe College. She worked in advertising for Helena Rubenstein from 1947 to 1952. Her first publication was a short story in Science Fiction Magazine, and her first novel, Restoree, was published in 1967. She is a well-known show more author of over 100 books, mostly science fiction, including the Dragonriders of Pern series, the Crystal Singer series, Acorna's Children series, The Twins of Petaybee series, and Barque Cats series. She won numerous awards including the Hugo Award for Best Novella for the short story Weyr Search in 1968 and the Nebula Award for Best Novella for Dragonrider in 1969. In 2006, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. She has also written books under the pseudonym Jody Lynn. She died of a stroke on November 21, 2011 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Damia's Children
- Original title
- Damia's Children
- Original publication date
- 1993-01
- People/Characters
- Jeff Raven; Angharad The Rowan Gwyn; Afra Lyon; Damia Gwyn-Raven-Lyon; FLK/FOK/; Trp (show all 95); Laria Raven-Lyon-Dano; Tlp; Hgf; Thian Raven-Lyon; Mrg; Dpl; Rojer Raven-Lyon; Grl; Ktg; Elizara Zara Raven-Lyon; Plg; Dzl; Keltia Raven-Lyon; Morag Raven-Lyon; Petra Raven-Lyon; Ewain Raven-Lyon; Xexo; Keylarion; Mick; Mauli; Torshan; Saggoner; Segrazlin; Yugin; Mexalgo; David; Perry; Xahra; Morgelle; Herault; Filamina; Yoshuk; Nesrun; Plsgt; Prtglm; Rhodri Roddie Eagle; Captain Ashiant; Ailsah Vandermeer; Etienne Osullivan; Alison Anne Gravy Greevy-Lyon; Megan; Jeran Gwyn-Raven; Cera Gwyn-Raven-Hilk; Eidvan Auster-Keely; Ashiant; Birkowski; Plr; tikele; Sblpk; Ted Exeter; Sally; Sedallia; Greene; Eki Wasiq; Jaskell-Germys; Fardo Ah Min; Ailsah Vandermeer; Lacee Mban; SPKTM; Steena Blaz; Dellian; Smelkoff; Sutra; Cheslmen; Mertz; Jimenz; Kaudi; Kes; Clark; Tedwars; Kaickmo; Godowling; Strai; Bhuto; Firr; Blrg; Waygolla; Etienne Osullivan; Lin Yin Tsu; Gander; Prtglm; Baucha; Metrios; Langio; Gktmglnt; Tohl Mekturian; Duplas; Fuamil; Orry
- Important places
- Iota Aurigae; Clarf; Alliance Starship Vadim; Alliance Starship Genesee; Heinlein Base, Moon
- Important events
- Mrdini exchange program (Laria Lyon goes to Clarf Tower)
- Dedication
- Reverently dedicated to
Richard Woods, O.P.
aka Pendragon, Fullfret Faxdragon, Captooth Fangbite the Whistler, Hurryfast Rushdrake, Sir Walter McDragon, Slipknife Ouchblend the Reckless, Shortblast Sleenfume ... (show all)the Apoplectic, Dragonrabbit Eggsnitcher the Wily, Thickhead Diddlewit the Forgetful, Snatchfinger Jewelheist the Avaricious, Snapdragon Fastsnatch
Harpmaker, Storyteller, GOOD Friend. - First words
- Laria reined Saki in at the curve, to let Tlp and Hgf catch up.
- Quotations
- All 90 Suns of the 9-League System want to know
The Gwyn-Raven-Lyons are not in total charge - there are plenty of Ravens, Eagles, Cranes, Gwyns, Lyons, Reidigers, Owens, Grens, Mauks, Thigbits working in FT&T as well. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We've been waiting for a game to play, but for now, we can all get some rest.
- Original language
- English
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- ISBNs
- 28
- ASINs
- 12