Reviews

The Ship who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

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tearsofthetinman's review against another edition

4.0

Read McCaffreys Dragons of Pern in the 80s but was unaware of this sci fi series until a Sci Fi book group made it book of the month.
It’s not hard sci go but sci fi about humanity and it’s characteristics. Helva is the maturing Brain ship, a ship who sings , a ship some forget is a human encased in titanium .

Gorgeous book about humans , humanity and what may come . Will be sure to read more in the future.

bogmummyinvoked's review against another edition

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5.0

Love this book

I always come back to Anne McCaffrey for comfort and adventure, Helva never disappoints on those two.
Try Nerilka's Ship.

aruaxe's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

milo10000's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

There are two things this book does really well: exploring the questions of what makes us human through human, non-human, and in-between characters, and acting as an example (for me) of good older-and-less-comic-focused scifi, which I haven't read a ton of.

Overall, a very enjoyable read.

bgstrong's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 Stars.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book! I really liked that it was a collection of short stories. It made it somehow easier for me to read, and though each short probably could have been fleshed out to be their own novel or novella, I still felt satisfied at the end of each one.

This book could easily be the subject of a college lit course (one that I would have actually wanted to take!). From the biblical themes to discussions of morality, and even the types of romance explored...this book gives a lot to dissect and talk about!

I've never read an Anne McCaffrey book before, and I'm glad this was the first one.

sesquipedalian's review against another edition

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4.0

I found this book to be unexpectedly clumsy in its narrative. Although there is a story, it seems unsure what story it wants to tell. In addition, the time jumps are done in a confusing way. There are no segues to help transition from one scene to another. It's also difficult to tell how long each scene is in standard time (how they record time) for example the part with Kira took 3 years yet this was said at the end of the partnership and i wouldn't have thought from the prose that that much time had elapsed, I'd thought of it more like a few months.

This book was almost like a book of connected novellas rather than a book on its own.

You can separate the book into:
1) Prologue: Helva's history and growing up years until she becomes a qualified brainship
2) Novella 1: Jennan
3) Novella 2: Theoda and helping the plague survivors
4) Novella 3: Kira, the Stork deliveries and eliminating 732 (Lia)
5) Novella 4: The Actors visit Beta Corvi
6) Novella 5: Teron and the shipnapping
7) Epilogue: Payout, Niall and a new mission