Acorna: The Unicorn Girl

Rating:
Summary: Really Good Book, Really Odd Name
Review: I picked up this book one day from my local library and truly enjoyed it. I was up nearly all night reading it (which did not help me in my college classes admittedly ;( half asleep) but it was to a fun cause. The book about a child name Acorna follows the myth of an abandonded child raised by those not of her kind to lead a life of greatness. Her 'adoptive' uncles provide vast amusement throughout the novel. This is not McCaffrey's best and the world reminds me a bit of her Pirates series with the dealing of slavery. I do admit that one big problem was the title, every time I passed the book in a store I said to myself, "Acorn. . .a?" and laughed :o. It makes some sense when you read the book, but can you imagine leaving with the a name like that? Good thing she didn't have to go to school, the teasing would be horrific. :p

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball team up for a honey of a book with a surprisingly good plot. Three miners, Calum,Gill,and Rafik,come upon an alien escape pod. Inside they find a small and unusual child.She has silver hair, and her hands and feet seem rather odd. But the real surprise is the tiny horn in her forehead. They call her Acorna, and she can purify air and water. She grows older, and learns very fast, offering many laughs along the way.When the miners, and Acorna return to their base, Acorna falls prey to scientists who consider her an oddity and wish to remove her horn and study her.With the help of new firends, they flee with Acorna into space. Lodging with Rafik's uncle, Hafiz, they strike a bargain to change the identity of their ship to escape those persuing them.But Hafiz wants Acorna, and so nce again they flee, ending up on Kezdet, the last place they want to be. Kezdet harbors dark secrets, and dangerous trade in child labor. With the help of Delzaki Li,a business man, they company hartches a plan to free the children and establish a new life for them. While ACORNA does not have as much detail, nor is as ralistic as the PERN series,it leaves one satisfied.I can't wait to read the other ACORNA books,ACORNA'S QUEST and THE UNICORN GIRL.

Rating:
Summary: Acorna
Review: Acorna's parents died to give her a chance to escape the Khlevii invastion. They sacrificed themselves and set her on a space pod out for someone else to find her. That someone is Calum, Gill, and Rafik. They are three space miners out mining when they find a strange pod floating randomly in space. Taking it aboard they learn to love Acorna as their own, but there are those who would wish to hurt her as she is the only one of her species ever made known to the world. For Acorna has special unicorn powers. She can heal people, she can detect poisons, and a few other abilities. Acorna also has the softest heart around, she can't stand to see other people in pain. So when Acorna hears that children are being abused with hard labor on a planet called Kezdet it's Acorna to the rescue. But how can she help when there are thousands and thousands of children in need and she can't get to them?

This was a wonderful book, I couldn't stop reading to the very end.

Rating:
Summary: another aspect of of Acorna the Unicorn girl
Review: The fact that I found this book to be of quality that is to be expected from Anne Mccaffrey is at the moment irrelevant to my comments. I am a long time fan of Anne Mccafrey. The Restoree is one of my all time favoroute books. I enjoyed Acorna from an aspect that is not enjoyed by your avarage english speaking readers.I happen to come from from Hungary. My native language is hungarian. Most of the book takes place on a planet called Kezdet. Kezdet is the hungarian word for beginning. In the beggining when I started to read this book I thought it was just a coincidence. I wasn't.I really enjoyed how the writers used the hungarian language and expressions in writing this book. I am about to provide a little dictionary for anybody who reads this review. anyag-material czerebogar- a particularly loathsome kind of beetle. farkas-wolf maganos-lonely And of course these are only a few examples. My favourite happens to be the name of one of the minor characters. The girl called Irodalmi Javak. The literary transaletion happens to be: Irodalmi- Litarery Javak-patents Essentiall her name means literary patents. The fascinating part of it is when reading this name the feeling of it not unnatural. All I could see in my minds eye is a fragile but strong girl with a name that suits her admirably. Incidentally most of the names of the characters from that planet actually probably came from hindi not from hungarian. I could recognize the origin because I lived in India also for a little while. I was at that time busy learning english so I could not understand those names that came from that source. I would love to learn their meanings also. My review does not have very much to do with the undoubted quality of this book but it added a lot to my enjoyment of it that I wanted to share with other readers. I do not know how long I can wait for the second part of it to come out in paperback so I can afford to buy it. I hope that by an incredible chance Anne Mccaffrey would be able to read a very personal message from me to her. All my life I wanted to write books. I never tried to publish anything that I wrote because I did not feel that they were up to a standar that I would expect from myself but you are definitely one of my stars to steer by.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed...
Review: As a fan who has been enjoying McCaffrey's stories for over 10 years, I found this book to be far below what I've come to expect from her writing. The various series she has published - from Pern, The Rowan, Crystal Singer, Dinasour Planet, even Freedom and Brain Ships - are all well written and utilize a similar style and level of competence. The stories on Acorna, however, seem to be written by someone else entirely (her son, perhaps?). I don't know how to describe it other than by saying it is far below her usual standards, with childish dialogue, nonexistant plot, and flat characters. If you don't like this book, don't give up on her; go read one of her other series (Dragonsinger is a great intro to the world of Pern), because she really is a talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: Yay another Anne McCaffrey world to adventure in!
Review: I'm a devoted fan to Anne McCaffrey despite her tendency to skim over details that might make her fiction more substantial. She's fun, heart-warming, and tells a good tale. Plus, she lets the girls be the heroes of her stories. My favorite is still the Dragonriders of Pern (read it four times now), but this book was good enough to get me hooked on this series. Acorna is a light read, a sweet protagonist, a new world to explore.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, McCaffrey does it again
Review: I am very happy with this new series about acorna, again McCaffrey makes a world for us to which we can go at the turning of a page. She is able to get the atmoshere of the space, and the home world of acorna (kornya). As a orphan she is found in space by some rough neck space cowbaoys, who have their hearts in the right place. as a result she rows up with serveral knowledge about minerals...always useful!
Acorna then goes on to capture our hearts in the other books about her. A thrilling read...much enjoyed!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am sorry to say, but this is one of the weakest McCaffrey books I have read. Most of the plot is conveyed via clumsy dialogue, and the plot seems to be jerked around in a way that is contrived and too coincidental to be believable, even for fantasy. The ending is just as flimsy, and left me asking "¿that's it?" If you would like to read a good McCaffrey book, look to the Crystal Singer series or the Dragon series. If you see this one on the shelf at the bookstore, leave it there.

Rating:
Summary: Three Men and a Baby Unicorn Girl
Review: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl is the first in the Acorna series. Fleeing from the torture cells of the cruel Khevii, the couple had rigged their ship to explode when the pursuing ship is close enough. However, they also put their baby into a survival capsule and programmed it to eject just before the explosion so that the Khlevii would not be able to capture it.

In this novel, Gill, Rafik and Calum are prospecting in an asteroid belt when they discover a metallic pod broadcasting a distress call. They bring it aboard the Khedive and find a baby within it. The youngling differs from human babies in that she has a large bump in the middle of her forehead, one fewer joint in her fingers, and larger and thicker toes. She also has silvery hair and eyes and teeth strong enough to mark the metal cup when she is given water. Although refusing to eat meat, she happily stuffs lettuce, chard, carrots, and radishes in her mouth and chews with her strong teeth.

The men are busy mining an asteroid, so they postpone taking her back to the base until they have a full load. As Gill says, "How much trouble can one toddler be?" After she has disrupted hydroponics for the third time, they enclose it in netting to keep her out. She stays as close as possible to one or another of the men, which complicates the doing of their tasks. She is growing by the hour and then she learns to talk. Luckily, she learns how to draw and is content with drawing lines and squiggles on old printout sheets; she also learns the programming language on the front of the sheets. She loves baths and, when she drinks her bathwater, they discover that the water is no longer soapy and dirty, but crystal clear. Moreover, the air has been low in carbon dioxide despite her preference for broad leaf plants.

The men have discovered that the bump on her forehead has become a horn and unicorns are supposed to purify water. That suggests a name, but they reject "Una"; then Calum proposes "Acorna" and this passes by acclamation. After some initial confusion, they baptize her Acorna and argue other who will be her godfather, finally agreeing that all three will accept the responsibility. Of course, that means that they have to discuss everything at the top of their lungs while Acorna is asleep (they have discovered that the only thing that awakens Acorna is an alarm hooter, which causes her to promptly flee her hammock and stand by her escape pod). Acorna is learning things at a fabulous rate and her godfathers are having a wonderful time, but then they return to the base.

This novel is a pure romp af a tale. It is definitely not hard SF nor is it difficult reading, so it would be suitable for older children or young adults, but was also enjoyable to this more mature reader. The first volume is probably the best in the series, but the sequels are also pleasant reading.

Recommended for McCaffrey and Ball fans and anyone else who enjoys light SF yarns with a touch of comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Not suitable for pre-teens; good light reading for others
Review: I am a big McCaffery fan, and read these books with interest, but unfortunately not before I had given a set to a 12-yr old girl relative. Had I done so, I would not have given them as a gift.

These books have some pretty strong sexual connotations and situations not suitable for pre-teens, including references to child abuse, prostitution, exploitation and s-m practices including very suggestive dialog between unsavory characters.

For more mature readers, they are an entertaining though unchallenging adventure.