Anne McCaffrey's books usually get a 3 from me, meaning "Don't expect to get much of lasting value from this, but it's fun." But this one falls below that line. Its plot is not really interesting or believable... in fact I can hardly remember it though I read it just a few months ago (& have been, since I signed up, reviewing books I read years ago which I remember just fine.) It seems as if this book exists simply to solve Killashandra's problems so she can live Happily Ever After. Apparently with emphasis on the "Ever".This is also the book that made me fully aware of the worst flaw in McCaffrey's writing. There's a scene in which the strange, living substance the characters have discovered and nicknamed Jewel Junk is examined by a scientist, who calls it Fluid Metal or FM for short. He is repeatedly ridiculed by Killashandra and her friend for wanting them to call the stuff by his new scientific name, and he responds by being pedantic and whiny. It is ridiculously exaggerated. Basically he has been created as a target for their scorn; his whininess is to be despised by the reader, while it's clear Killashandra's mockery is to be interpreted as simply her being cool and mouthy.This scene opened my eyes to all the other instances of the same thing throughout her work. Basically she has Chosen Characters. They are special, and other people hate them because they are special. (And the idea that some people are special and some are not is deliberately inherent in many of her sci-fi creations: dragonriders, Talents, crystal singers.) They are persecuted, but in the end they come out on top. All their decisions are right, and if they are ill-tempered (like Killashandra) or even do harm to others (like Piemur, who steals a valuable fire-lizard egg from a Bad Character) they never get called on it. They are never in the wrong. Acts which get roundly condemned if done by a non-Chosen Character (like gossip and backstabbing) are OK if done by a Chosen Character because they're just telling it like it is.I don't like this trope one bit. I think it's morally harmful. When we read a feel-good book we do it to identify with the main character and enjoy the ride, and this ride includes identifying with the main character in the belief that we are special and anyone who finds fault with us is Bad. Then we come back to the real world... and treat that rival co-worker the way Anne McCaffrey treats, say, Kylara. Real great.
I didn't discover this third in the series until some while after it was published, so I haven't read it as many times as the other two. It seems to grow on me a little bit each time, though it's still not a patch on the first one.There's a big jump into Killashandra's future in this one. She's been singing crystal for an unspecified number (but think many, many) of years, and her memory is starting to go. As a result, although she still appears young and attractive, her behaviour tends towards the cantankerous, and it's a bit of a dissonance to have both of those things going on. There are at least some mentions of characters from the first book (though none of them particularly happy), and there's a meeting with Brendan, the brainship half of a partnership who's currently missing his partner. I liked Brendan, I think he was perhaps the most likeable character in the book. Killashandra and Lars are sent off to investigate a strange crystalline entity to see if their crystal experiences can help determine what it is. But then Killa's world falls apart and things mostly go downhill from there until the last couple of chapters. I won't give the game away, but the trilogy does finish off quite nicely, although it was perhaps a little contrived for my tastes.
What do You think about Crystal Line (1994)?
I enjoyed this but I hated the way they called the crystalline formation Junk; surely there were better names - what about opalescence, for a start. I loved the addition of the Brain & Brawn ships.This book gets right into the nitty gritty of administration, & we can see how far the Heptite Guild has fallen because of the vagaries, & shortage, of Crystal Singers.*Possible SPOILER* I think I would have had Killa glorying in the sound of black crystal at the end, not too scared to touch it. If she was given a gift, she should have been able to use it. However, I imagine the sudden return of all those memories would be a gigantic shock.An enjoyable series, all told. Rated 7/10.
—Catsalive
This volume was a satisfying conclusion to the Crystal Singer trilogy. I still haven't been able to exactly like the main character, as Killashandra has a very abrasive, ego driven, tantrum prone attitude for most of the story. It was still good to see everything come around alright in the end. I liked the way Lars was working to modernize the guild, and it was interesting to see the struggle he had with convincing the tradition bound singers to comply. The passage of time figured prominently in this story too, and we find that Killa is two hundred and fifteen years old. It really gives you something to think about -- the fact that she is seeing the people around her dying off and the next generations coming in gives a good perspective on how the symbiont might keep the singers alive maybe well past what it ought to. Then again, there are the constant figures in her life too, and her job, so it's a nice contrast. All in all, this was a fairly entertaining series, and I am finding myself curious to read the brain ship books as well, just due to their 'guest' role in these books.
—Jewels
The third Crystal Singer book continues the series in the same fashion in which the romance and any real interpersonal relationships with this woman are pretty horrible to go into while the areas that are not about that, but about adventure and the realization of the world are wonderful. I really liked the ship-(person) in this book, which made me sad that he didn't have a bigger part. The romance part wasn't as bad in this book as the last, mostly because she had forgotten it most of the time, which I got to say was kind of a relief and I was perfectly fine with all the pains she deserved by it. There were some great attributes in the book, and I'm sad that they weren't put more in depth because it wasn't about the protagonist, a much less fascinating subject.
—Kim
