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Summary: First in a wonderful series.
Review: Psion is a neccessary first stop, to touch base with Vinge's marvelous character Cat, before moving on to the even more brilliant 'Catspaw'.
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Summary: Psion
Review: Psion is about a penniless orphan boy named Cat because of his strange appearance. For his entire solitary life Cat is discriminated against for reasons unknown to him. But one night he is caught by government officials, and instead of selling him into legal slave labor they send him to an institute for psychics. There he is told he is an exceptionally powerful telepath because rather than having a remnant of alien blood as do the other psychics he is half alien, which accounts for his catlike pupils, and the government wants his help in catching a renegade psychic who sells his power and wants to destroy those in power. This from the people who insult, abuse, mistreat, and cheat him and his kind whenever possible. When Cat is sold into the slavery by the people he had only just begun to trust and is then recruited by the feared Quicksilver he has to decide which side he's going to choose. Whether he is going to join Quicksilver and have riches rather than derision or whether he will risk his life and try to trick Quicksilver for the people who betrayed him and the empath who was the only one who ever cared. Only.... While he is there, he meets the other half of the family tree.If you can get this book do it. You certainly won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Psion
Review: Psion is about a penniless orphan boy named Cat because of his strange appearance. For his entire solitary life Cat is discriminated against for reasons unknown to him. But one night he is caught by government officials, and instead of selling him into legal slave labor they send him to an institute for psychics. There he is told he is an exceptionally powerful telepath because rather than having a remnant of alien blood as do the other psychics he is half alien, which accounts for his catlike pupils, and the government wants his help in catching a renegade psychic who sells his power and wants to destroy those in power. This from the people who insult, abuse, mistreat, and cheat him and his kind whenever possible. When Cat is sold into the slavery by the people he had only just begun to trust and is then recruited by the feared Quicksilver he has to decide which side he's going to choose. Whether he is going to join Quicksilver and have riches rather than derision or whether he will risk his life and try to trick Quicksilver for the people who betrayed him and the empath who was the only one who ever cared. Only.... While he is there, he meets the other half of the family tree. If you can get this book do it. You certainly won't regret it.
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Summary: Psion
Review: Psion is followed by a short story in Pheonix in the Ashes, Catspaw, and then Dreamfall.
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Summary: What more can one say? "AWESOME!"
Review: This book has to be one of the BEST books on telepathy and futurism.Vinge is the Master at Spinning tales of the Future and the Kind of would-be-but-broken hero. Her concepts of telepathy and how she tells/explains them rivals Anne McCaffrey's own Talent series. But how she explains the power structure of the future and how the combines and the FTA rely on tellhassium is ingenious! One of the best I have read in a LONG time.
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Summary: science fiction at its best
Review: this is an excellent example of science fiction that is not too technical, not too violent, but tells an intriguing story. a little reminescent of the hyperion series in that the moral seems to be that there is good in the world but it comes at a high price. yes, the hero can save the day, but only at the expense of personal suffering. very definitely one of the better authors out there
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Summary: IT WAS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIME
Review: THIS IS THE 2ND IN A SERIES OF 3 BOOKS THAT SHE HAS WRITTEN ABOUT CAT. A HALF-BREED WHO HAS THE BAD LUCK OF GETTING INTO TOUGH SITTUATIONS. PSI PUTS CAT AT THE HAND OF A FEDERATION TASK FORCE THAT IS TRYING TO CAPTURE THE TERROREST KNOWN A QUICKSIVER. IT IS VERY GRAPHIC IN ITS BRUTALITY.
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Summary: Fun, if fluffy reading
Review: This story explores the use of the telepathy rather nicely. Mrs. Vinge imagines a compelling plot and her characters are original and many-dimensional.
Unfortunatly, Psion falls victim to a common trend in 1980s Science Fiction- cliches and stupidity.
The author apparently feels compelled to stick certain things in the book, even if they don't always fit. The hero's love intrest is taken by the hero's enemy, the hero is hurt seriously and cared for by the love intrest, the hero kills someone, ect.
Also, Mrs. Vinge's book is a light read. There are plot twists, but the book doesn't make on think. The subject of telepathy could be used to explore certain tendancies of human nature, or privacy laws. But it isn't.
All in all, a well rounded book. Read it on vacation or on the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, if fluffy reading
Review: This story explores the use of the telepathy rather nicely. Mrs. Vinge imagines a compelling plot and her characters are original and many-dimensional.
Unfortunatly, Psion falls victim to a common trend in 1980s Science Fiction- cliches and stupidity.
The author apparently feels compelled to stick certain things in the book, even if they don't always fit. The hero's love intrest is taken by the hero's enemy, the hero is hurt seriously and cared for by the love intrest, the hero kills someone, ect.
Also, Mrs. Vinge's book is a light read. There are plot twists, but the book doesn't make on think. The subject of telepathy could be used to explore certain tendancies of human nature, or privacy laws. But it isn't.
All in all, a well rounded book. Read it on vacation or on the beach.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth it, to get to Catspaw
Review: Warning: This book is not as good as Snow Queen. It has a lot of the same lovely, anthropological attributes that Snow Queen shines with, but certain elements (ie the cardboard villain Quicksilver) are not as well conceived. I do highly recommend this book for two things, which are 1) Cat. He is a great character and this book is spoken in his own unique voice, and 2) 'Catspaw,' the sequel to this book, is full-on excellent, and you will enjoy it more if you read this book. The other complaint I have is the cover art. I mean, who is that supposed to be? Cat is a teenager in this book, and that dude looks 40. The original cover art was uglier, but at least it looked like Cat. The cover art for 'Catspaw' was so much better--did Micheal Whelan do this one too, and if so, was he half-asleep?
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