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Summary: The Author is a Bigot--Her Book IS A Woman Hater
Review: McCaffrey is a bigot and this book proves it! Is this book SUPPOSED to be pro-women? Don't think so. In her book the ideal woman meets certain criteria: she dissed any female characters who were insectile, virgins, or fat. Perhaps the author is really a man.Someone in McCaffrey's childhood must have been a hulking nightmarish bully who made her life difficult: her hated characters turn out to be petty and overbearing JUST BECAUSE they are fat. Her writing offended me because my addiction and obesity were forced upon me as a little girl, and I was forced to stay locked indoors. In her book, just how or why the women ended up being fat is never mentioned. But she finds more ways of discriminating against women...a fleet of female alien foes are insectile women from another planet, whose children are captured by humans and taken to science labs for dissection (yikes). And one character, an older woman who has chosen to stay chaste for life, (I paraphrase here) is sent by The Rowan a harsh telepathic message that she is "a shriveled up old virgin"! I'm surprised that a pro-women book would have The Rowan displaying such ardent, feverish hatred towards other women. The universe of The Rowan is a place most women would not be wanted or welcome. I suggest to McCaffrey, just re-title it "Pretty Popular P**ssed-Off Princess With Petty Pink Problems". Happy Bigoted Reading! cuddlygirl, age 26, NYC
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Summary: An Interesting Future has Been Invented!!
Review: Anne McCaffrey's world of the Talents is very interesting and well-written. She has put together a simple story that flows very nicely, has a magnificent pace, and interesting characters that are worth caring about. The Rowan tells the story of an orphan girl- called the Rowan - who has an immense amount of Talent (which can be used to read minds, teleport, and many others). She is found in a horrific mudslide after she blasts her earsplitting mental cries and is taken up and placed in a high seat of power. This is a fascinating story that I do recommend. Anne McCaffrey does have a good deal of talent for storytelling and she puts it to good use. I look forward to the rest of the series! Enjoy! -Taylor
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Summary: A must have for teens to adult age readers
Review: The Rowan begins a series of five books. It is an excellent series and "The Rowan" is the perfect beginning. I have purchased all five books and so love them that I am furbishing my library with the hardbound editions. My 15 year old daughter loves this book also. It bridges the often times hard-to-bridge gap from teen to adult. It was one of my favorites as a teen reader and is still on my list of favorites!
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Summary: Spectacular!
Review: I was surprised that the Rowan was such a great book. Being a huge fan of the Pern series, I'm just starting to read some of McCaffrey's other works. I think that the Rowan would be a great bridge for others wishing to cross over from Pern into other new and interesting worlds. The Rowan is an original story that provides new characters and ideas with McCaffrey's wonderful style. One of my fears with this book was that it would be too "sci-fi" and my right-brained self wouldn't be able to understand scientific mumbo jumbo. I have no idea what gave me this idea, but fortunately I was mistaken! It is just a plesant, interesting read that anyone could easily understand and enjoy.
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Summary: A disgrace to Rowans everywhere
Review: An enjoyable tale through most of the story. Im sorry but if you write a story about a strong woman do not marry her off and breed her. The story was wonderful up untill the point where the character lost all power to become a wife and mother. Please why do people want to read that. Women do that everyday, we dont need to read about it from an author, who usually makes her female characters amazing. I lost all respect for the character when she only cared about her husband and child, and not her career. As I said before the first 3/4 of the book was enjoyable but the last bit ruined it for me.
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Summary: Great start of the series! Read them all and enjoy!
Review: Anne McCaffrey's Talent series are my favorite of all her books.The beginning,when the Rowan is found,really got me to feel for her and empathize with her.After that,the story of her growing up kept me riveted to the book,it was so real.Then the book gently slid into her grown-up life,and it made me both laugh and feel sad with her as she searched for a Talent to work with and a Talent to love.The way it all worked out - Afra,Jeff,Reidinger - is really interesting and exciting.A good book to begin the series and a great series!Enjoy!
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Summary: The Tower Grows Stronger
Review: I picked up the book, unknowing what it was about, my friend told me she enjoyed it so I figured I would give it a try. Within the first hour of reading I was unable to put the book down, even when I was tired. . . I read until 6:00 AM, starting at 12:00 AM, and had finished half of this book, one of the best ones that I have ever read. If you like Sci-fi/Fantasy and are at least remotely interested in ESP. . . then this book "The Rowan" is definately for you.
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Summary: The Rowan
Review: First in an amazing sieries. This followesthe story of an orphain girl Who is destined to save Deneb And evrey planet in FTandT. I love this It has loss and love, accction and drarma
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Summary: I must admit though, I'm partial to Damia
Review: I love the Rowan, it was the first Anne McCaffrey book I ever read. I thought she did a splendid job of the Rowan's aging, it wasn't too dragged out and long. And then, when the book slowed down and she was grown up, the transition was very graceful and fit well. The only part I didn't like, was that some of the Hiver information was confusing, and I extremly dislike how whiny she gets toward the end. Also, the way she treats her children is very odd. Maybe in the future parenting will be distant, but it seemed to me like she favored several children over others. Anne's writing just got a little confused and unbalanced in character portrayel towards the end, but who knows. Maybe she was doing that on purpose to prepare us for the next book. Overall, I thought the book was excellent and very imaganitive, while still realistic.
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Summary: A benchmark for the rest of the series
Review: The first book in the second half of McCaffrey's Talents series, The Rowan gives us all something to look forward to. With a rather cliched orphan-telepath storyline to work with, McCaffrey produces a surprisingly good tale taking us through her life, as she struggles to come to terms not only with who she is, but what she must do - namely, fight off a terrifying alien force with the help of a quixotic Talent called Jeff Raven. With McCaffrey's trademark descriptive prose mixed with her easy divisions of good and evil, it makes for interesting reading as well as a precursor for the better novels in the series.
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