Home :: Books :: Science Fiction & Fantasy  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Acorna's Triumph: The Further Adventures of the Unicorn Girl

Acorna's Triumph: The Further Adventures of the Unicorn Girl

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $16.97
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Targeted To Younger Readers
Review: Acorna's Truimph is the seventh and final book in the Acorna series by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Acorna is a young linyaari (a humanoid-unicorn species) who was raised by humans. In previous books, she has had many adventures to be reunited with the other linyaari and free their home planet from the insect-like khleevi. In Acorna's Truimph, Acorna is reunited with her missing lifemate Aari who has been time-traveling with the feline shape-changer Grimalkin. Acorna bounces from one crisis to another across space and time, chasing thieves and rescuing people, all while trying to solve the mystery of Aari's strange behavior.

The plot reads like a series of television episodes -- each crisis is neatly wrapped up and then the characters move on to the next adventure. Several of the supporting characters aren't much more than clichés and even the main characters seem shallow at times. However, it is entertaining in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way and the action does bop along fairly swiftly.

This light-hearted jaunt through space and time with almost-magical unicorn people will mostly appeal to young adults. Older readers might want to try Scarborough's Nothing Sacred or books from McCaffrey's Pern series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: pretty good conclusion
Review: I enjoyed the twist in the story, it kept it from being too predictable, everything turns out ok but it does make you wonder if it will, which keeps you reading. I enjoyed it but you could never read it if you hadn't read the others in the series.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Happy Ending but so many Plot Holes
Review: Like many others I have enjoyed the Acorna series for years. I started when I was a kid and have looked forwarding avidly to each new book being released. I'm afraid all my waiting was a bit of a let down this time.

While the book was an enjoyable read, it didn't really have the same viseral appeal of the other few books. It was very much like eating a large amount of cotton candy, you may like it at the time but you beginning to doubt how wise a chioce it all was towards the end. While not something I was hoping for it wasn't something I take major points away for, even I love a happy ending.

What truly got to me was the rules set down about time travel in the previous books were basically ignored and tossed aside. It seemed to me that two books back, "Acorna's Search" if I remember correctly, it was basically established that even though you didn't know you were going to effect the past you already had. As established by the rock paintings already being there about what Acorna had done in the past. Here in "Triumph" that is ignored with people and objects suddenly appearing where they should have easily already been discovered.

Also I am confused as to why people bother to appear later on in the time stream from when they left. Why didn't Grimalkin just appear right after Aari left Acorna the first time? Why wait all those many months? Though I must thank him because I enjoyed "Acorna's Rebels". They explained this away with the double helix which only makes a moderate amount of sense considering all the other time sliding they did. The concept of time being a double helix, while interesting, seems to need more thought to it.

All in all I enjoyed this book and the entire series. It became a bit heavy in the story book ending feel but was still enjoyable, I just wish a few more of the concepts were either explained or atleast stuck to in their original forms. It does seem to me with so many unanswered questions that we might see further works in this world maybe centered around a second generation? That I think I shall enjoy reading. But even if not it was a fun, if sweet, ride while it lasted.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good reading
Review: Over the past few years, Acorna has won the hearts of fans around the world. Sweet, yet strong, she has faced down aliens, healed, and searched for her past and her future. Yet, she has been a tragic heroine, for in the quest for freedom, she lost her lifemate, Aari.

Fortunately, in her universe, time is something to be bent, and through the magic of alternate realities, Acorna and Aari get a second chance. The problem is, Aari seems to have no memory of their love other than a dry recitation as if he is reading a script of who he is supposed to be. As heartbreaking as that change might be, there are direr matters at hand, the insectoid aliens who have caused Acorna's people so much pain are once more a threat, and thieves have stolen a treasure that must be recovered.

**** As with the Pernese stories, domestic dramas weigh equally with planetary crises to create a well rounded story. Fans of action, adventure, intrigue, and romance each have something to appreciate herein. Subtle humor poking fun at this current timeframe lighten the mood appreciably. While you may be sad to see this saga end, since Ms. McCaffrey's stories are among the most re-readable written, it is nothing to be too disheartened about. ****

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fne end to tis great series
Review: The Ancestral Hosts are near immortal shapeshifters, who rescued the Ancestors (unicorns) from earth because they were hunted to near extinction by humans who wanted their magical healing horn. The hosts mixed their DNA with that of the Ancestors leading to the creation of the Linyaari race. They made their home on Vhiliinyar until the insectoid race known as the Khleevi destroyed their home world. Acorna, who as a baby was found and raised by three space miners, finally is reunited with her people and meets her lifemate Aari.

Together they help to rebuild and terraform Vhiliinyar but below the surface of the planet they find a room meant for time traveling. Aari becomes lost in time and space and when he returns he is different and Acorna keeps her distance from him. After rescuing a previously unknown sentient race, Acorna begins to believe that Aari is really an Ancestor host that he traveled with and the real Aari is trapped on Vhiliinyar in the past during a Khleevi attack. A rescue mission is mounted but will they be in time to rescue Aari before the Khleevi torture him once again.

The Acorna novels are great space opera filled with non-stop action and enough romance to appeal to fans of that genre. Fans of Star Trek, Star Wars and Lost in Space will find ACORNA'S TRIUMPH a wondrous delight and a fitting end to this breathtaking series. Readers who liked this book will want to read the previous six works in this series starting with the aptly named ACORNA.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fne end to tis great series
Review: The Ancestral Hosts are near immortal shapeshifters, who rescued the Ancestors (unicorns) from earth because they were hunted to near extinction by humans who wanted their magical healing horn. The hosts mixed their DNA with that of the Ancestors leading to the creation of the Linyaari race. They made their home on Vhiliinyar until the insectoid race known as the Khleevi destroyed their home world. Acorna, who as a baby was found and raised by three space miners, finally is reunited with her people and meets her lifemate Aari.

Together they help to rebuild and terraform Vhiliinyar but below the surface of the planet they find a room meant for time traveling. Aari becomes lost in time and space and when he returns he is different and Acorna keeps her distance from him. After rescuing a previously unknown sentient race, Acorna begins to believe that Aari is really an Ancestor host that he traveled with and the real Aari is trapped on Vhiliinyar in the past during a Khleevi attack. A rescue mission is mounted but will they be in time to rescue Aari before the Khleevi torture him once again.

The Acorna novels are great space opera filled with non-stop action and enough romance to appeal to fans of that genre. Fans of Star Trek, Star Wars and Lost in Space will find ACORNA'S TRIUMPH a wondrous delight and a fitting end to this breathtaking series. Readers who liked this book will want to read the previous six works in this series starting with the aptly named ACORNA.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Abrupt, choppy, and in the end . . .
Review: The one word I find that comes to mind to describe this book is, unsatisfying. I've loved the Acorna books since the very beginning, but I've found that the last few were disappointing, and Acorna's Triumph was no exception.
The story was light, and missing the detail and emotion that I'd grown to expect from the Acorna series. The storyline itself was so flighty, jumping around from one time to another with no purpose, but rather with the randomness of a bad dream. The ability to move from time to time so easily cheapened all of the struggles that the characters had gone through before.
And was it just me, or were there some strange gaps in the story?
Okay, here I'm going to mention a few things that may spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet. Sorry, but I feel I must.
The fact that characters such as Aari's brother, and Acorna's parents even! were brought back in with such casual disregard for how their deaths had shaped the story up to that point was shocking to me. That, and other events that had no point but bringing in a few seemingly random characters to be used for one transparent purpose or another, made it feel like the Authors were trying up loose ends, and neatening everything up for a fairy-tale happy ending. And the reason that was so disappointing to me was that the Acorna series had never been a run-of-the-mill fairy tale, where everything is always perfect.
And now, the thing that bothered me the most. Throughout the whole series, Acorna has always been in charge of her own destiny. But suddenly, there is an unseen manipulater behind the scenes, making everything just the way he wants it.
It just seems to me that maybe the series was simply running out of steam, to use so many obvious shortcuts to bring things to a happy conclusion.
But you'll notice at the top, I gave it three stars. And that's because, in spite of everything, I still love Acorna, her people, and her world.
Plus, I have to admit, sometimes I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Even if it's missing some of the trials and triumph that I'd enjoyed, and respected, in the books preceading it, there's still something about Acorna' Triumph that makes you smile.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Abrupt, choppy, and in the end . . .
Review: The one word I find that comes to mind to describe this book is, unsatisfying. I've loved the Acorna books since the very beginning, but I've found that the last few were disappointing, and Acorna's Triumph was no exception.
The story was light, and missing the detail and emotion that I'd grown to expect from the Acorna series. The storyline itself was so flighty, jumping around from one time to another with no purpose, but rather with the randomness of a bad dream. The ability to move from time to time so easily cheapened all of the struggles that the characters had gone through before.
And was it just me, or were there some strange gaps in the story?
Okay, here I'm going to mention a few things that may spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet. Sorry, but I feel I must.
The fact that characters such as Aari's brother, and Acorna's parents even! were brought back in with such casual disregard for how their deaths had shaped the story up to that point was shocking to me. That, and other events that had no point but bringing in a few seemingly random characters to be used for one transparent purpose or another, made it feel like the Authors were trying up loose ends, and neatening everything up for a fairy-tale happy ending. And the reason that was so disappointing to me was that the Acorna series had never been a run-of-the-mill fairy tale, where everything is always perfect.
And now, the thing that bothered me the most. Throughout the whole series, Acorna has always been in charge of her own destiny. But suddenly, there is an unseen manipulater behind the scenes, making everything just the way he wants it.
It just seems to me that maybe the series was simply running out of steam, to use so many obvious shortcuts to bring things to a happy conclusion.
But you'll notice at the top, I gave it three stars. And that's because, in spite of everything, I still love Acorna, her people, and her world.
Plus, I have to admit, sometimes I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Even if it's missing some of the trials and triumph that I'd enjoyed, and respected, in the books preceading it, there's still something about Acorna' Triumph that makes you smile.


<< 1 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates