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Summary: loved it the first time i read it!
Review: Anne McCaffrey is by far a very talented writer. And the Rowan is one of her best. It explores a lonely childhood with heart. It makes you cry in spots and makes you cheer in others. I have read and reread this book . I can find someting I missed in reading it the time before every time i've read it.I also have Damia, Damia's Children and Lyon's Pride and have enjoyed them all. It ranks up there with Roddenberry in exploring space and our REACTION to it and the beings in it.
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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
Rating:
Summary: for the most part, very good
Review: For the most part, I liked this book. This book first follows the life of the child known only as the Rowan as she grows into adulthood. The Rowan is a powerful telepath and telekinetic and she is trained accordingly. Unfortunately, her abilities tend to set her apart from others, and she's often lonely. I enjoyed the book, at least until the point where the Rowan is telepathically contacted by Jeff. It's a love at first sight situation, only the Rowan doesn't even have to see Jeff before she falls in love with him. The suddeness of her attatchment to him bothered me, especially since I didn't always like Jeff. Also, Anne McCaffrey dealt with the threat of alien invasion almost too quickly and neatly. For those reasons, I'm giving this book a four instead of a five. However, in spite of the fact that I didn't always like the second half of the book, I thought the first half was wonderful. Anne McCaffrey handles mental abilites and the impact they would have on society very well, and I enjoy reading about her telepaths more than I do anyone else's. This is definitely a worthwhile read and reread.
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Summary: Response to feminist complaints
Review: I just wanted to respond to all of those outraged women who say that the Rowan is a "woman hater" (to quote one reviewer). They complain because the Rowan decides to marry and have children thereby "losing all her power". The Rowan does not lose any power, she does not quit her job, and when you read later books you see that she remains one of the most powerful people (male or female) around. Every one still respects her and her husband does not control her. She merely gets the added joy that children can bring. Don't worry that this is a story about a woman who has power and career and then gives it up for a domestic life because this is not that kind of story. She has power, freedom, a career, a loving supportive husband and wonderful children. I believe the Rowan is a wonderful example of a woman who has a demanding job but still is able to experience the joys that being a mother can bring.
This is a wonderful story with engaging well devoloped characters. I reccomend it whole heartedly
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Summary: THE ROWAN - A LOOK AT A FACINATING POSSIBLE FUTURE
Review: I like to read fantasy fiction but had never thought of sci-fi fantasy until the day I went wandering through the public library looking for something different instead of the usual romantic mystery novel I usually read. The first thing that caught my eye was the cover of the book which showed a remarkable looking women and after reading the synopsis I thought it sounded different. When I got home I decided to take a quick glance before cooking dinner. Once into the book I couldn't put it down and I was hooked. The Rowan is a facinating girl and later woman with amazing powers and a strong will of her own which she exibit as a baby when she lets the whole universe know she is alive, trapped and hungry. From this point on the universe is not the same. It tells of her growing up and her loneliness. I especially loved the way Anne McCaffrey introduced the love of her life and our first encounter with the unusual deadly enemy the universe encounters. The Rowan has everything we love; a great heroine and her love, suspence and the feeling that this type of future could be waiting for us. This was the first Anne McCaffrey book I had ever read. I couldn't wait to read the sequals and because this book had been out for a while I was able to go right into the future books of the series. When I caught up to the latest it just drove me nuts waiting to see what was going to happen. I WAS HOOKED AND YOU WILL BE TOO. The ROWAN is an amazing woman and she is there through the whole series with her amazing future. If you have never been interested in science fiction or fantasy I guarantee you will be hooked by this book and of course, just like me hooked into all Anne McCaffrey's books and I was amazed to discover how real these books seem. I have read the Rowan 3 times and am now ordering it and all the series in hardcover so my daughter can enjoy them the way I have and will continue to in the future. I only buy hardcover books when it's a series I feel strongly about and The Rowan is one of these books!!!!
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Summary: What A Wonderful Love Story!
Review: I loved the whole book. There wasn't a part I didn't enjoy! I've read and reread The Rowan so many times I've lost count! My favorite part is when Rowan falls in love with Jeff Raven. For us regular folk, falling in love is a long and often painful experience. We learn who they are and what they stand for, over a very long time period. And more often than not, we are fooled. But with the Rowans and Jeffs mind merge, they know every thought and feeling each has ever had. They know instantly what kind of person each is and what they stand for. There are no secrets. It takes time for us to fall in love because it takes time to learn what kind of person each is. But to know in an instant...Wouldn't that make falling in love a whole lot safer? I think Anne did a wonderful job with the romance part of the book. (she did great on the other too, but Ijust loved this part the best) She took all the months and sometimes years it takes to really know someone and showed us what it would be like if we knew everything in an instant.
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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: I LOVE this book!!!
Review: The Rowan is my favorite science fiction book of all time. I can't tell you how many times I've read it. I own three copies, a new paperback, a paperback that's falling apart and a hardcover that took me forever to find. There is something about this book(indeed, about all Anne McCaffrey books)that reaches out and grabs you and makes you think, Oh, why can't I just leap into this book and meet those people! The book is set sometime in the future and humankind has spread out into space with the aid of the Talented, people with incredible mental abilities, like telepathy, telekinesis, and clairvoyance. The Rowan was the victim of a terrible accident as a child and a whole planet heard her telepathic cries for help. She has the potential to be the most powerful Prime Talent ever. As she grows into her amazing abilities, she grows away from others. She discovers that her powers isolate her from everyone around her. One evening, a telepathic distress call from an unknown Talent of Prime ability shakes her whole universe. And that's how she meets Jeff Raven, a charismatic young man from distant Deneb. The Rowan stands beside him against a mysterious alien threat to his planet and realizes she never wants to leave him, that she loves him, and he will move solar systems to have her in his arms. These characters are wonderful! The romance between the Rowan and Jeff Raven is so touching, yet it is written in such a way that it's not too sweet. It's practical and forthright, a wonderful narrative. And let's not forget gruff Reidinger and gentle Afra and Rascal, supporting characters that make the book what it is. I've read the entire series and not one measures up to this one. If I could, I would beg Anne McCaffrey not to end it with The Tower and the Hive, which I think is the last. The Rowan is the book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer. Read it. Read it many times and find in it what I've found. It's a wonderful story.
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Summary: I LOVE this book!!!
Review: The Rowan is my favorite science fiction book of all time. I can't tell you how many times I've read it. I own three copies, a new paperback, a paperback that's falling apart and a hardcover that took me forever to find. There is something about this book(indeed, about all Anne McCaffrey books)that reaches out and grabs you and makes you think, Oh, why can't I just leap into this book and meet those people! The book is set sometime in the future and humankind has spread out into space with the aid of the Talented, people with incredible mental abilities, like telepathy, telekinesis, and clairvoyance. The Rowan was the victim of a terrible accident as a child and a whole planet heard her telepathic cries for help. She has the potential to be the most powerful Prime Talent ever. As she grows into her amazing abilities, she grows away from others. She discovers that her powers isolate her from everyone around her. One evening, a telepathic distress call from an unknown Talent of Prime ability shakes her whole universe. And that's how she meets Jeff Raven, a charismatic young man from distant Deneb. The Rowan stands beside him against a mysterious alien threat to his planet and realizes she never wants to leave him, that she loves him, and he will move solar systems to have her in his arms. These characters are wonderful! The romance between the Rowan and Jeff Raven is so touching, yet it is written in such a way that it's not too sweet. It's practical and forthright, a wonderful narrative. And let's not forget gruff Reidinger and gentle Afra and Rascal, supporting characters that make the book what it is. I've read the entire series and not one measures up to this one. If I could, I would beg Anne McCaffrey not to end it with The Tower and the Hive, which I think is the last. The Rowan is the book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer. Read it. Read it many times and find in it what I've found. It's a wonderful story.
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Summary: Entertaining Read. Romance Difficult to believe
Review: The Rowan is the tale of an orphan girl, who has grown up on an Alien world in the care of her mentor, a cantankerous older woman named Seglenn. (I have listened to the audio version of this book, so please forgive me if the character names are not spelled exactly right). Both Seglenn and the Rowan are high-capacity telikinetics, capable of moving freight from one sector of the galaxy to another. The Rowan is a difficult child, incredibly independent, self-centered, and opinionated. She is constantly at loggerheads with her mentor Seglenn, over procedure and protocol. Nevertheless, she is an altruistic child, who shoulders the burden of her responsibilities quite well, (even though in my opinion she never really treats Seglenn very well). While I enjoyed "The Rowan," I found several things to be quite unrealistic. First, Rowan's romantic involvements, (Tourian), and second with Jeff Raven. Both romances were 'love at first sight' type situations which seems to work out exactly as SHE intended. I mean Hello? Girl, tell me your secret, because in real life, things never seem to work out EXACTLY the way you want! I found it difficult to believe someone as intelligent and as self-centered as The Rowan would fall so IMMEADIATLY and totally in love in a matter of hours. The Rowan went from Fiercely independent to Fiercely co-dependant in a matter of weeks. Hard to believe. Second, I was disappointed that the Rowan, was almost super-human. I found it hard to believe that a girl who was sheltered, sedentary, would be so much better at everything than the other characters. (Prettier, Smarter, Etc.). And why couldn't these people with such obvious telikinetic abilities use these abilities to make childbirth a heck of a lot easier by just zapping the child out of the womb? I just couldn't figure this one out. Also, while I am not really opposed to romance in my sci-fi, I could've done without the excessive rhapsodizing about the 'joys of motherhood' towards the end. Overall, a light, entertaining read with a lot of 'fairy-tale' qualities and happily-ever after elements, that will appeal to most readers, even though some more Jaded readers might be rolling their eyes.
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