# 2026-09-19 - The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
       
       I bought this book for $1 at a thrift store.  I haven't read
       The Rowan before now, but i've read other books by Anne McCaffrey.
       As a high school student, i read all of her books that i could get my
       hands on.  This included the Pern series from Dragonsdawn, through
       the first two trilogies, and finally Moreta.  I'm lucky that i was a
       diligent student in college, or i could have been distracted by
       PernAngband and PernMUSH.
       
       When i began reading The Rowan, it seemed eerily familiar.  I wasn't
       able to let it go, so i scanned through the table of contents of my
       pulp magazine collection.  Eventually, i found a short story by
       Anne McCaffrey with the same characters Rowan & Raven.
       
       That short story was The Lady In The Tower [1].  According to the
       introduction, this was the author's first published work.  So i
       imagine that it was special to the author.
       
       Unsurprisingly, i enjoyed reading this book.  As in C.S. Lewis's
       Space Trilogy, travel between planets is achieved by psionic powers,
       not by technological advances.  Most humans don't have the "Talent"
       and almost none have what it takes for interstellar travel.  The ones
       who do are treated like royalty.
       
       The story features much drama and psychology, which keeps it
       interesting.  This author likes to write about attractive, eligible,
       gifted, single young women who have untimely white hair.  Guess what
       the protagonist is like?  Of the many cliches in Japanese anime and
       CRPG's, it's common for the protagonist to be an orphan who has
       amnesia.  This protagonist happens to be an orphan who has amnesia
       resulting from early childhood trauma.
       
       I thought i got my money's worth, but i do not feel inspired to read
       the sequels.
       
       author: McCaffrey, Anne, 1926-2011
 (TXT) detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/The_Rowan
       tags:   book,fantasy,sci-fi
       title:  The Rowan
       
       # Footnotes
       
 (HTM) [1] The Lady In The Tower by Anne McCaffrey (1959)
       
       # Tags
       
 (DIR) book
 (DIR) fantasy
 (DIR) sci-fi