Nimisha's Ship

On Vega III, where the jaded inhabitants pursue lives of malicious intrigue and decadent pleasure, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense has always been an anomaly. Disdainful of the frivolity of her fellows, she prefers the exciting and challenging world of her father, Lord Tionel, owner and principal starship designer of the famous Rondymense shipyards.

Precociously gifted, Nimisha becomes Lord Tionel's secret assistant—and, in the aftermath of a shocking tragedy, his chosen successor at the helm of the shipyards. But supplanting her father's designated body-heir, the callow Lord Vestrin, is a slight that Vestrin and his mother, Lady Vescuya, will not easily forget. Or forgive.

Preoccupied with carrying on her father's ambitious plans for show more the Mark 5, an experimental long-distance cruiser, Nimisha dangerously disregards Vestrin's animosity—until a solo test flight of the Mark 5 goes horribly awry, marooning Nimisha light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful.

Now, Vestrin and Vescuya are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the shipyards . . . by any means necessary. Only Nimisha's child, Cuiva—a girl every bit as ingenious as her mother—stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is unable to help—and in a precarious situation herself. But Nimisha has never given up in her life—and she's not about to start now . . . show less

It's odd - usually I really dislike books that spend ages getting to the real story. But this one - it starts with Nimisha as a little girl, spends about a quarter of the book with her growing up, learning to design and build complex machines, developing her skills and habits, then (after she's had a child), gets on to the 'real' adventure, and makes all of it interesting. The largest part of the book is when Nimisha, alone in her own ship, falls through an unexpected wormhole and ends up in a distant part of the galaxy; meets survivors and (previously) spacefaring aliens, finds a permanent partner and a task that will truly occupy the rest of her life. Her daughter Cuiva is the only thing she misses from before, and even that is show more eventually remedied. Happily ever after. Still, even the set-up portion of the story is interesting in its own right. Nimisha as a child, her mother, her father, her bodyguard/best friend; more information on the First Families universe (this is in the same universe as The Coelura - Nimisha mentions them once); and the fact that the relationships set up in the first part of the story become rather important in the latter part make the setup enjoyable to read and not merely an appendage to the 'real' story. A good book. show less

Nimisha doesn't follow the social expectations for young women of her elevated social status. She's interested in engineering and good at it, developing a faster space ship. While on a test run she is sucked in by a wormhole and spat out in an unknown sector of the universe.
McCaffrey speeds thru the first 30 years of Nimisha's life, then double times us thru the adventure. I can't figure out why I remembered her as a great author--have I matured that much, or has her writing become more rote? Maybe teens would enjoy this, but I wouldn't recommend it to any I know because of the old-fashioned roles women have. Yes, they might be engineers and astrophysicists, but their interactions with men show nothing has changed.

Nimisha's Ship is a solid science-fiction adventure: solid prose, plotting, characters, and world building.
The initial fifth-ish of the book is fairly set up and exposition heavy, introducing the readers to the society, how it operates and, most importantly, who Nimisha is. Many readers will probably find it too slow, and much of the narrative meat it concerns itself with is how Nimisha is a lady of extremely high society (and social obligations/expectations) while she herself is vastly more interested in the more masculine pursuit of engineering. Social settings and conflicts tend to be narratives I enjoy so this slow starts didn't bother me. After that set up though, we enter the core of the narrative which is about surviving on a show more hostile planet far from rescue and the various adventures/challenges Nimisha overcomes thereupon.
While solid, all the various elements of Nimisha's ship "standardized" (though that is a severly incorrect word.) What I mean to say is that this is not a gritty survival story, or an action-heavy narrative, or a romance centric plot, or an aggressively technical narrative concerning the design of spaceships. The characters, while solid and likable, are absent of striking personality notes or decisions. The various conflicts, while interesting, are resolved rather straightforwardly. It is a 'clean' book if that makes sense, full of neat squares and boxes and bows: entertaining, but perhaps lacking the 'teeth' to really satisfy some readers. show less

A guilty pleasure that I have finally got to the stage where I can avoid spending money on them, at least - this one's from the library. Candy-easy read with the usual McCaffrey tropes - talented, determined, strong, and beautiful woman becomes colonist in somewhat Swiss Family Robinson style, with added sex and lots of kids.

That might be a spoiler in that it's not on the back of the book, but it's so similar to the [b:Freedom's Landing|61928|Freedom's Landing (Catteni Vol. 1)|Anne McCaffrey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170597935s/61928.jpg|678069] series (though with less guerilla warfare) that it more comes under the heading of predictability.

Was also amused that the titular Nimisha is the embodiment of what would be thought of show more as a kind of feminism - strong etc as I say above - but nevertheless the society that she is in is very clearly sexist. A future society needn't be a paragon at all, of course, but it seems a slightly odd way to go about being feminist (if that's what McCaffrey would specifically class herself). The society could be generally much more radical in its overall gender roles and Nimisha could still be made into a standout extraordinary character. show less

This was an interesting read, and I was eager to finish it. However, I did find that it was a bit too easy on the characters at times. They had a long-distance time-lag, but they lived longer and could go into cold sleep. Everyone was conveniently beautiful; bad guys were conveniently stupid. Everyone paired up, because that was the thing to do, and no hard feelings, etc. Despite these naggings, I did find McCaffrey's universe very intriguing, as I've come to expect from her work.

Set in the future when space travel is commonplace, Nimisha's Ship is a light and enjoyable scifi book.

Nimisha is the Body Heir of a powerful woman who has the courage and ability to separate herself from what is expected of one of her class and birth.

She shows talent for designing space ships and is able to have the life she wishes, doing so.

On a trial run shakedown cruise of her latest design, she is lost in space. The book deals with how she copes with her new, alternate lifestyle.

This book is pleasant, nonviolent, very very minimal sexual references that are necessary for plot development (definitely low PG) that would offend only the very strictest Evangelical families. It is a good portrayal of a strong self sufficient but not show more obnoxious woman.

I recommend it highly for ya's over 10-12 depending upon maturity and also for adults who like a good, fast moving, light read. show less