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adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I like McCaffrey's writing style and worlds, and this book isn't an exception to the rule – but if I didn't have that attachment already, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this as much. Think of the Spacing Guild from Dune, but as a massive corporation...put through the traditional McCaffrey world lens and missing most of the description. Is it fun to fill in the gaps yourself? Kind of.
I wish there was more explanation of what the Prime's training/any Talent's training actually was (which is mostly skipped over in favour of character relationships), and more on how the world actually functions. All of mankind's trade has to travel through FT&T's Prime stations and yet we barely see how that looks beyond the daily team the Rowan talks to. She's supposedly learnt how it all works, too, but beyond some technobabble there's no explanation of the giant generators that enhance Talents and makes people capable of shooting cargo to other planets.
Mostly, the fault in this book is the same fault in all of McCaffrey's books: she has a particular type of romance she likes, and it involves strong but 'volatile' women being entirely subservient to 'headstrong' men while secretly manipulating them in the background. 'You can't control a man like that' is not the sexy line McCaffrey thinks it is, mostly it makes it clear he's abusive. This story has a particularly egregious example of this since they immediately fall in love after one sentence to each other. Yes, I get that telepathy means they pick up more from each other but the story does not show that at all. The Rowan is an absolute delight ruined by a man whose name reminds me of the goth scene post Underworlds films. The middle part is almost exactly the same as the short story that inspired this, and I get McCaffrey probably didn't want to rehash a relationship she'd already planned out, but good lord any interaction that explained their chemistry would have been good.
If you want an Anne McCaffrey space corporations book, I'd recommend Sassinak (the first book in The Planet Pirates series) over The Rowan. It has a lot more world building and a slower build up to see how the protagonist grows thanks to Elizabeth Moon (a very detail orientated writer) being the co-author.
Would I recommend this in general? No. If you've not read Anne McCaffrey before now, she has better series to start on, and if you're a McCaffrey fan you've probably already read this or will anyway. I enjoy her works while acknowledging they are riddled with weird, sexist cliches.
I wish there was more explanation of what the Prime's training/any Talent's training actually was (which is mostly skipped over in favour of character relationships), and more on how the world actually functions. All of mankind's trade has to travel through FT&T's Prime stations and yet we barely see how that looks beyond the daily team the Rowan talks to. She's supposedly learnt how it all works, too, but beyond some technobabble there's no explanation of the giant generators that enhance Talents and makes people capable of shooting cargo to other planets.
Mostly, the fault in this book is the same fault in all of McCaffrey's books: she has a particular type of romance she likes, and it involves strong but 'volatile' women being entirely subservient to 'headstrong' men while secretly manipulating them in the background. 'You can't control a man like that' is not the sexy line McCaffrey thinks it is, mostly it makes it clear he's abusive. This story has a particularly egregious example of this since they immediately fall in love after one sentence to each other. Yes, I get that telepathy means they pick up more from each other but the story does not show that at all. The Rowan is an absolute delight ruined by a man whose name reminds me of the goth scene post Underworlds films. The middle part is almost exactly the same as the short story that inspired this, and I get McCaffrey probably didn't want to rehash a relationship she'd already planned out, but good lord any interaction that explained their chemistry would have been good.
If you want an Anne McCaffrey space corporations book, I'd recommend Sassinak (the first book in The Planet Pirates series) over The Rowan. It has a lot more world building and a slower build up to see how the protagonist grows thanks to Elizabeth Moon (a very detail orientated writer) being the co-author.
Would I recommend this in general? No. If you've not read Anne McCaffrey before now, she has better series to start on, and if you're a McCaffrey fan you've probably already read this or will anyway. I enjoy her works while acknowledging they are riddled with weird, sexist cliches.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny
Minor: Sexism, Xenophobia