This is a collection of six sci-fi short stories by Anne McCaffrey, in chronological order. They all fit together as a part of one story.

The story is about a so-called "brain ship" named Helva. In McCaffrey's futuristic world, babies born with birth defects are given a second chance at life--a different kind of life. They are fitted into complex ships, and they act as the brains of the ships. They have full control.

The short stories chronicle Helva's experiences and relationships with different brawns. [Each brain ship is given the option to choose a "brawn" partner. The brawns are "normal" humans that serve to help execute missions that the ships alone may not be able to complete, due to physical immobility.]

Helva is a special ship, with a unique hobby: singing. She trained herself in singing in her early years, and doesn't regret it.

People who like quick-paced science fiction stories. Especially those sci-fi fans who are intrigued by different methods of space travel and types of ships.

The concept of ships being run by human brains fascinates me. I also like how McCaffrey develops the characters (save for Helva--Helva was introduced well, but has not been done justice, in my opinion).

The fact that a character that seemed like a main character died on page 23. I mean, sure, it was a part of her learning process, but I didn't like reading it. The story was also a bit too fast-paced for me, skipping years at a time and only providing the reader with a few sentences about what had happened during that time.

Put it on the shelf and move on. I probably won't be rereading it, and I probably won't be reading more of the series. (The books in the series, by the way, are written by different authors. Some of the books are by Anne McCaffrey herself, some of them are her collaborations with other people, and some are by other people completely.) Out of curiosity, I may explore the books by others, to see how they compare.

Annoyed and awe-struck at the same time. As wonderful as the story itself is, I just don't feel like it was justified on paper. I don't much care for how it was written.

Had it been possible, I would've given this book a 3.5 rating, but since I had to choose between 3 and 4 stars, I went with 4 when I compared it with the other books I've written product reviews about. One thing I can say is that it gets better towards the end.

The bottom line is that the book wasn't bad, but I expected it to be better. But, by all means, it was an okay book to curl up with and spend time on. It's not long, and moves quickly, so it probably won't waste your time.

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Created Jan 02, 2006 at 7:12am • Submit your own review...