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
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/The_Rowan
title: The Rowan