Ms. McCaffrey again demonstrates why a good editor is so important. They take out the false starts, clunky sentences, and silly ideas. They also check for inconsistencies in the story and can give the author some guidance on getting the various parts of the story to fit together seamlessly. It is unfortunate indeed that Ms. Mccaffrey did not have such an editor for this series. This book, and the rest of the series, is choppy, silly, inconsistent, and awkward. The book is an expansion of a very poorly written short story "A Meeting of Minds". The writer inserted some material into the original story, but kept the short story otherwise intact. This is unfortunate since her writing improved in the time between the writing of the short story and this novel. This makes the insertion of the short story a bit jolting. It also makes the poor writing of the earlier work more obvious. I suppose it's easy to be lazy about such things when one is rushing off to the next book. Unfortunately, I have yet to read anything by her, or her hero Andre Norton for that matter, that did not seem slapped together with nary a rewrite. The first half of the book was, in spite of the problems with the writing, charming, although I do get tired of the constant and unnecessary hints of things to come. Half way through, the story jumps ahead a few years and changes tone entirely. This is the beginning of the original short story. From that point on the whole enterprise becomes tedious and uninteresting, sappy, unrealistic, predictable (in part because of the ladling on of so many hints in the first half of the text) romance. I know the author was an adult when she wrote this, but it reads like what an early teen might write, assuming she had never had a real relationship. Gooey, gooey, gooey! Oh, and of course, the heroine gets to save civilization from mindless thugs (bugs, actually). One dimensional enemies for a one dimensional book. So, why am I reading this series? Maybe I'm thinking it will get better, maybe there is just enough charm in the writing to keep me reading, maybe I am desperately hoping for the Raven family (the heros) to fall from grace (pretty certain that won't happen---it would be too interesting and realistic), or maybe I'm just a dull boy with nothing better to do. Sigh.
Damia Gwyn-Raven is the third child of Jeff Raven and The Rowan. Unlike her older brother and sister, Damia is a handful. When The Rowan is pregnant for a fourth time and the pregnancy is not going well and after several shenangians by Damia it is decided that raising Damia on Callisto Station is not a good idea, so she, Jeran and Cera go to live with their paternal grandmother, Isthia, on Deneb VIII. There Damia thrives and grows into a young woman. After a lot of training she takes over as Aurigae Prime and lives a lonely life until she senses a brilliant mind light years away. Will Soran be the one to ease her loneliness?This book starts out with Afra Lyon, his childhood and how he came to work in Callisto Tower as the Second in Charge to The Rowan giving us excellent insight into his life. While I truly enjoyed this book, Damia is not one of my favorite characters until the end. I found her to be self-centered, selfish and really not very likeable. It takes a terrible tragedy to finally mature her even though she should have matured years before. The ending is a nice surprise and leaves plenty of fodder for the next book in the series. My reread was every bit as enjoyable this go ‘round even though it’s been about 20 years since I read it.*Book source ~ My home library.
What do You think about Damia (1993)?
Damia, daughter of Jeff Raven and the Rowan, was a difficult child, now a talented adult expected to follow in her parents' footsteps. Like her mother, she is very lonely once she's assigned to her duties, but her loneliness may be assuaged when she becomes mentally aware of an alien consciousness very far away. Afra, the man who cared for her as a child and now cares for her differently as an adult, may need to get involved before Damia's longing paves the way for another inter-species war.Very much like the previous book, this involves a talented woman whose loneliness destroys her better judgment, and it takes a man to fix her, instruct her, and stop her from ruining things. I did like the idea of a very young but talented child overwhelming the people who are trying to raise her, but when she became an adult I lost most of my investment in her. Her love and attraction just seem to come from nowhere most of the time, so the interaction rarely feels authentic or warm.
—Julie Decker
It's been many years since I read "The Rowan", and I thought it was about time to continue with the story. I enjoyed "Damia", but "The Rowan", in my opinion, was better. "Damia" is somewhat from Afra's point of view (Afra being a Talent who helped raise Damia from birth). It's a story of love, decades in the making. I found the dynamics between Afra and Damia to be a little disturbing at times, though, considering Afra's the eldest of the two by a couple of decades. What I liked: the telepathy and teleportation aspects of the story (communication and transportation), the new alien "invasion", the discovery of a new alien race, the coonies and barque cats, the story traveling between planets and moons, and the Rowan. The Rowan is just a great character. I'm looking forward to reading "Damia's Children" soon, since it's the next book in The Tower and Hive series. The person who introduced me to "The Rowan" and "Damia" and anything Anne McCaffrey? My beautiful wife Stephanie. These books have been foundational in her life... pillars of science fiction.
—Gabriel Wallis
I did not love this book as much as the first time I read it some 15 years ago for a two reasons:The first 1/3 of the book is a recap of the previous book, but from Afra's point of view. If I had read the other one some time ago, the recap might have been helpful, but because I moved straight on from the first one it was a little pointless.The relationship between Afra and Damia was just plain weird. I tried to keep an open mind about it, but Afra had taken care of Damia like a father in the beginning and then they became lovers... a little strange for me.
—Catherine
