retro friday – crystal singer

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville that focuses on reviewing books from the past. These can be old favorites, under-the-radar treasures that deserve more attention, woefully out-of-print books, and so on. Everyone is welcome to participate!

When I wrote earlier this summer about one of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books, the reaction was swift and enthusiastic.  Many sci-fi and fantasy readers cut their teeth on Pern and its dragons.  However, aside from her short story collection Get Off the Unicorn, I hadn’t read anything by McCaffrey that wasn’t set on Pern.  And as any Amazon visitor knows, once you’ve browsed or bought a title, you will be bombarded by that author’s backlist for all time.  This is how I discovered Crystal Singer, published in 1982, and the first in a series by the same name about Killashandra Ree and the world of Ballybran.

Her name was Killashandra Ree. And after ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Until she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild who could provide careers, security, and wealth beyond imagining. The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra the risks were acceptable...

Killashandra Ree has spent ten years of her life studying to become a vocal soloist, and she has her heart set on fame and lasting renown.  When she is told after her final exam that she doesn’t have the talent to realize her dream, she is absolutely furious.  Amid anger, disappointment and shock, she is forced to consider, for the first time ever, what she might do other than perform.  It is then that a coincidental meeting introduces her to a member of the secretive Heptite Guild, and the possibility of a future on a planet both puzzling and perilous.

McCaffrey is known for her world building prowess, and she does not let the reader down with Crystal Singer.  The Heptite Guild, Ballybran, and Killashandra’s home world are portrayed in such careful detail that they become characters in their own right.  Ballybran itself is a marvelous, mysterious and dangerous world, and I believe I could read a book on its history, geography and geology very happily – and I mean that.  It’s amazing what McCaffrey is able to do with description, as well as somewhat terrifying.

In Killashandra Ree, McCaffrey has created a character who views herself as set apart from others.  Killashandra is headstrong and stubborn, extremely talented and intelligent, and yet unhappy with the direction her life has taken.  Her innate determination to be the very best is what leads her to life as a crystal singer, and that stubbornness and bullheadedness carry her on toward her goals.  Killashandra isn’t immediately likeable, but she is such a hard worker, and so curious and passionate about every aspect of life, that you begin to see charm amidst the struggle.

The coming-of-age aspect of the story, combined with the peculiar planet and the unraveling of its mysteries, places Crystal Singer firmly in the camp of YA/adult crossover sci-fi.  While I enjoyed the book and felt a strong compulsion to see it to the finish, it was not a runaway favorite.  However, the strange life of crystal singers, and especially Killashandra Ree, will haunt me for a long time.

Recommended for: fans of Anne McCaffrey, those who liked Sharon Shinn’s angel books and Alastair Reynolds’ Terminal World, and anyone who knows that (or would like to discover if) sci-fi with extensive world building is their cup of tea.

retro friday – dragonsong

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville that focuses on reviewing books from the past. These can be old favorites, under-the-radar treasures that deserve more attention, woefully out-of-print books, and so on. Everyone is welcome to participate!

Many a woman who found her love of reading early will fondly reminisce about her ‘horse period’ – when she read anything she could get her hands on that had to do with horses, such as the Marguerite Henry books (Misty of Chincoteague!) and Black Beauty. There’s a smaller and more select group that can reminisce about their ‘dragon period.’ I say this because I know: I went through both. However, unlike horses, my love of dragons and dragon-lore has lasted well into adulthood. And those early dragon books that I devoured were written by the likes of Jane Yolen, Patricia C. Wrede and Anne McCaffrey.

Forbidden by her father to indulge in music in any way, fifteen-year-old Menolly of Half Circle Hold on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the legendary fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

Dragonsong is the first book in McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy, a set of sci-fi books for younger readers – today we’d probably call them middle grade. The series is set on the planet Pern, where colonists fight the life-threatening Thread that falls from space with dragonfire (it’s all explained in less fantastic terms than that in the book, trust me). The story follows gifted musician Menolly, youngest daughter of the head of fishing-centric Half Circle Hold, as she struggles against the restrictions of Hold life and traditions that state that women cannot be Harpers. The injustice finally becomes too much and Menolly flees, only to discover a nest of fire lizards, a new life, and a destiny that will take her far from anything she has ever known.

Oh, this book. I must have gotten it at a Scholastic book sale or similar, because I distinctly remember that I bought it because: DRAGONS! and also because there was a $1.99 sale sticker on the front cover. And then, after I was swept into the world of Pern and dragons and fire lizards, I discovered it was the first in a trilogy and had to read the next two immediately. Thank goodness for libraries.

The main thing I remember feeling when I read this as a child was just how unfair life was for Menolly. Rereading it now as an adult I still feel the injustice of her situation, even to the point of tears – but it is tempered now with knowledge. Menolly’s life is narrow because she lives on a colonized planet, in a very traditional community, and there are no options for, or knowledge of, anything different. Her family forbids her musical tinkering not solely out of spite, as I thought when I was younger, but out of fear. Half Circle Hold is a patriarchal, sexist society that doesn’t know how to change for the better, so it keeps a stranglehold on Menolly. And it is that attitude that eventually forces her flight into the unknown.

Of course, that flight is what saves Menolly, but it also breaks her spirit and effectively cuts her off from the past. This is one of the clearest examples I can think of in fantasy and science fiction of leaving the past and pushing into the future. It’s an effective narrative to be sure, but I now also think of it as a metaphor for all sci-fi: leaving the repressive, traditional world of the past and pressing on into the future and new and greater heights.

But I mentioned dragons! Well, I’ll deliver (to a degree). Menolly encounters fire lizards, the dragons’ smaller cousins, and these tiny creatures are not only her personal salvation, but they are also her introduction to the life she was meant to live – with enlightened friends and the possibility to follow her musical dreams. I won’t say any more about the book, as you should just read it yourself. It’s wonderful, and for all ages.

Recommended for: fans of adventurous middle grade fiction, those who enjoy (or would like a well-written introduction to) science fiction and fantasy, and anyone who missed their ‘dragon period’ and needs to make up for lost time.