Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF)

Anne McCaffrey

ISBN 10: 0061057908 / ISBN 13: 9780061057908

Published by Harper Collins, 1999

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00081104766

Synopsis:

"I must find my own kind!"

Found as an infant drifting in space, Acorna, the Unicorn Girl, has become a young woman. She still has her tiny, translucent horn, and her "funny" feet and hands. And, she still has her miraculous ability to make plants grow and heal human sickness.

But Acorna has strange dreams of a gentle folk who mind-speak by touching horns. With her "Uncle" Calum, one of the three grizzled asteroid prospectors who rescued, protected, and raised her, she sets off to find her people. No sooner does she leave than a mysterious craft appears, piloted by the Linyaari, a gentle race with telepathic powers.

The Linyaari are roaming the galaxy, spreading the alarm about the deadly Khleev--And searching for a beloved little girl they had given up for lost, long ago...

Review: This SF team's earlier novel Acorna introduced the alien girl Acorna, an orphan rescued and reared by space-faring humans. Though generally human-shaped, she shares some features with the unicorn of myth--notably, a forehead horn which can heal and purify. Now Acorna blasts off with human friends in search of her own race, who shortly turn up looking for her. These gentle, horned nonhumans are fleeing further aliens who are wanton murderers and torturers that resemble huge cockroaches. Meanwhile, a starship full of dispossessed human miners picks up a scientist whose devastating system of planetary weather control inspires some on-board criminals to stage a coup and use the weather machine to blackmail whole planets: Acorna stumbles into this conflict. Meanwhile, a spacefleet of killer roaches is on its way.

These storylines mix romance, light comedy and some violent action which is generally downplayed or dealt with offstage. Of course the verminous villains find humanity a tougher proposition than nice unicorn-folk, and complain bitterly: "They are barbaric and vicious beyond belief; when attacked, they actually fight back!" Happy endings emerge, with room for more sequels. Overall, Acorna's Quest feels like a romping, uncomplicated SF adventure intended for younger readers--and Anne McCaffrey devotees. --David Langford

Bibliographic Details

Title: Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Soft cover
Illustrator: John Ennis
Condition: Good