Reviews

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

kmhst25's review

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

2.75

Womanhood as defined by female authors in the 1960s was bleak. Weakness and accepted inferiority;   desire to be sexually and socially dominated; desperation for a husband and children; crushing depression after the husband and children were obtained. I have never read a book written by a woman in the 1960s that didn't paint some part of that picture.

You'd think a book about a sentient space ship wouldn't fall into that trap, but you'd be wrong. Gender perceptions in this book are rough. In fact, the whole book is basically a sci-fi version of a Bridget Jones-esque attempt to find a man. And, as another reviewer pointed out, three women in this book become suicidal over the loss of a man. Layer on some stereotypes and uncomfortable relationships, and it's a lot.

Gender issues aside, there are some entertaining stories in here. Multiple of the storylines were unique and inventive, and I was generally having an okay time when I wasn't wondering what was in the water in the 60s. But the characters are pretty meh, either lacking in characterization or so over the top that they don't feel real, and there was a lot of drawn out conversation that got pretty tedious. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Misogyny

stillthinking72's review

adventurous emotional funny sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

hsumanityreads's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

This is my first Anne McCaffery book, and an excellent example of why I love some old school sci-fi. Helva is a ship, but she has the brain of a human. She pairs with a “brawn” who pilots with her and is the “face” of their missions. She’s trained and conditioned to enjoy what she does and not need anything else out of life - but she also teaches herself to sing, and learns Shakespeare with a troupe of actors. She is a gentle soul, highly intelligent (because they made her so), and fully sentient and sensitive to the whims of mere mortals.

I just loved the way Anne infused humor into every situation, and had believable relationships between the characters. It’s hard to believe this was written so long ago (1969) in some ways, because the writing is very, well, readable?? It’s just so easy, whereas much sci-fi can drag you down into a pit of worldbuilding and scientific terms that either aren’t well known or don’t exist yet.

Highly recommend picking this up for a jaunt through space with Helva!

geekwayne's review

4.0

This is really a series of shorter works tied together by Helva, the ship who sang. There are references to the earlier stories, so it all ties together into a more cohesive single work.

I really liked this one, and will probably continue on with the series. It's a classic that I had never read before, and I'm glad I took the journey.

han_hug's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

karinlib's review

3.0

3.5 stars, pretty good. I loved Helva the ship's brain, so I liked the premise of the book, but I felt like McCaffrey could have developed this a bit more.

nonlocalflow's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

Originally a series of short stories, the book manages to keep flow between chapters while lacking any consistent narrative beyond the titular character being a shell-person, a tank-dwelling "brain" employed by the Central Worlds to conduct missions. The brain's quest to find an ideal, ambulatory "brawn" dominates as the prevailing theme, but was the least interesting aspect of the book by far, but even the more interesting narratives such as the play being performed for an alien species to facilitate some kind of energy transfer felt somehow rushed and overlong. Character development was not a highlight of this book as the author's voice so often resonated in any given character that they were inseparable from her, all the way down to her preferred "fardling" curses. I bought the book along with several of its sequels but felt so uninspired to continue after this that I might donate the rest.

serru's review

Sentient ships who have to be courted by their captains /o

kraley's review

4.0

I read this book a long time ago, but recently re-read it. I still enjoyed a lot of the premise, but it seemed much more dated by the 1960's. Still a pretty good book, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to the genre.

nanimao's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical content