[.ca] Damia (ISBN 1590865804)

rehash:
I LOVED the dragon rider series. 20 years ago I had read everything that McCaffery had ever written. Lately it seems like each McCaffery book I read is more of a disappointment than the last. This book is nearly identical to The Rowan. The plot is recycled. The characters are two dimensional. McCaffery doesn't put any effort into her writing anymore.

good book:
This book first tells the story of Afra, who we met in The Rowan, and then goes on to tell Damia's story. I don't think that this book has the same plot as The Rowan at all, although there are a few similarities. If you were intrigued by Afra in the first book, you'll love him in this book. It was wonderful to find out more about him. Damia's childhood makes for an entertaining read, moreso, I think than the Rowan's. However, the Rowan was much more mature as a teenager and young woman than Damia. Teenage Damia is spoiled and annoying, and it's a wonder Afra could ever put up with her. That was one of the reasons I gave this book a four instead of a five. The other reason is that the whole Damia and Afra relationship seemed very strange. Afra never seemed to be very upset by the fact that he was falling in love with the same person he used to babysit. However, in spite of those two things, I really enjoyed this book.

My favorite McCaffrey book!:
This book is great!Reading about Rowan and how her children grew up is really interesting.Reading about Afra's childhood and his life afterwards,as a work partner with Rowan,is captivating,and makes one identify with him in all he went through.Damia's childhood fit in very well with Afra's story(or maybe I should say it the other way around),and the life and adventures of Damia hold one's attention.Damia's quick and painful maturity leads into a whole new story,both personally for her and for the humans of the Nine Star League.(I am not giving away the plot!)All in all,a great book about the heroes and their relationships.Read and enjoy!

How great is this book?:
I believe that this book is one of a kind. Very rarely do we find the second book of a trilogy with equal (if not greater) quality. Anne McAffery not only tells us about descendants of the great and powerful Rowan, but of one of the charachters that we hardly knew anything about, Afra.

A little disturbing, but rewarding overall.:
The Lyon family of "methody" Capella are Talented folk. This means that they possess telepathic and telekinetic abilities in varying degrees and combinations, although none has the power of a "Prime." Young Afra chafes under the emotional repression and strict propriety of his home-world, and delights in his beloved older sister Goswina's brief apprenticeship to the Rowan - the most powerful Prime Talent known to FT & T. As a young man, Afra has his own chance to work with the Rowan. He and that lonely woman strike up a rare and wonderful friendship, destined to endure throughout their lifetimes. But romance isn't part of their synergy, and both yearn to find it with other partners. Which the Rowan does, eventually, with an equally powerful but untrained telepath from Deneb: Jeff Raven. Whom she marries, and partners with when FT & T's "Talents" are the only viable defense against an alien invasion. The Rowan and Jeff Raven produce a family of Talented children, including a daughter named Damia. From childhood, this third in their brood proves herself the most Talented human yet born. She's also temperamental, strong-willed, and unpredictable; and the most important person in her life, from its earliest hours, proves to be her mother's friend and colleague Afra. Although this book includes some thrilling passages of interstellar conflict carried out by telepathic and telekinetic means, the romance of Damia Gwyn-Raven and Afra Lyon forms its heart and occupies most of its pages. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this romance. The author handles Afra's transition from parental figure to suitor in Damia's life well enough, and there is certainly nothing wrong with a grown woman (even a rather young one) choosing to marry an older man. Nevertheless I came away with residual discomfort, because even McCaffrey couldn't quite convince me that this close friend of Damia's mother (in an emotional sense, her uncle) had any business sharing her bed. I loved the "coonies" and the Barque Cats, though! And since I've read the rest of the Talent series already, I know that Damia and Afra's marriage is destined to mature into a genuine and healthy partnership. So I would advise other readers to be forewarned that "Damia" may disturb them a little, but I recommend it just the same.