Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF) [Mass Market Paperback]

Anne McCaffrey (Author), Margaret Ball (Author), John Ennis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 1999

"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...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 that 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 other 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, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Introduced in McCaffrey and Ball's Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (1997), the eponymous unicorn-horned girl of mysterious origins was found in a jettisoned spaceship's escape pod by kindly asteroid miners, and raised to young adulthood in secret in order to keep unsavory space businessmen from exploiting her superior intelligence and psychic abilities. This second book in the series finds Acorna determined to escape the protective bubble her friends have built around her and to set off across space in search of her people. Her trip stalls early on, however, when trouble with her ship forces her and her space-pilot partner, Calum, to land on Rushima. There they find starving colonists, victims of a nefarious band of Starfarers who used stolen meteorological technology to wreck Rushima's weather when the colonists wouldn't submit to their extortion plot. Acorna and Calum are captured by these Starfarers, then rescued by rebel Starfarers and caught up in a small-scale civil war. Meanwhile, Acorna's people, the Linyaari, are seeking allies in their war against the evil, insectiod Khlevii?who just happen to be headed toward Rushima. Despite brief moments of mild humor, the novel struggles under the weight of stereotypical characters, a predictable plot and an excess of backstory. Only faithful McCaffrey (the Dragonriders of Pern series) fans are likely to enjoy this weak series entry.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins (June 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061057908
• ISBN-13: 978-0061057908
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne McCaffrey, the Hugo Award-winning author of the bestselling Dragonriders of Pern® novels, is one of science fiction's most popular authors. With Elizabeth Ann Scarborough she co-authored Changelings and Maelstrom, Books One and Two of The Twins of Petaybee. McCaffrey lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book you will EVER LAY EYES ON!!!, September 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF) (Mass Market Paperback)

In Acorna The Unicorn girl, Acorna is a baby, found by her'uncles' Calum, Gill, and Rafik. They noticed the young foundling hadonly two jointed fingers and oddly shaped feet, along with a small horn in the middle of her head. She was able to heal people, and purify plants and water. In 'Acorna's Quest', Acorna is now an adult with her species, and Acorna and Calum, the mathemetician of the three miners, are setting off to find Acorna's home planet. Almost directly after Acorna and Calum leave, four of Acorna's people, one of them being her aunt, arrive at Maganos Moon base, Acorna's home! The Linyaari, as they call themselves, speak with Acorna's caretakers and tell them of a horrible enemy, the Kleevi, which are hurtling towards this sector of space. The Kleevi have captured and tortured so many Linyaari in the years preceding. The Linyaari are also searching for a young one of their race that they lost long ago. Will Acorna meet with her ancestors? Will the Kleevi reach Acorna and Calum before Rafik, Gill and the Linyaari can? Find out in 'Acorna's Quest'. This book has beautiful writing style, seamless plot, and although it is sci-fi/fantasy, it doesn't have so much scientific garbish that you can't understand. The charming Linyaari, and Acorna's tearful departure to come make waiting to read the next book as torturful as the Kleevi could ever be!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Escape from Reality., January 14, 2005

By 

Naomi DeBruyn "faecanuck" (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF) (Mass Market Paperback)

In the first book of the series, we meet Acorna and come to know both her and her situation, which began something like this...

When three asteroid miners were just beginning one of their long collection terms, they discovered an escape pod floating in space. Calum, Gill, and Rafik had no idea what lay inside, and were surprised to find a humanoid occupant. She wasn't human, though, the hooves, and single horn protruding from her forehead proved that. Acorna, as the miners took to calling their new ward, was a very special creature indeed.

The horn gave Acorna abilities that human mythology is fraught with. She could purify air, water, and even heal grievous wounds. She also grew from an infant to the equivalent of an adolescent girl in one year, with a maturity and intelligence that constantly surprised her guardians. These three gruff single men came to love Acorna as if she were their own, and together they saved the planet Kezdet from the mysterious "Piper," and set the enslaved children free.

In this second instalment, Acorna has been plagued with dreams of finding her own people, and quite understandably wants to know where she is from and what she was doing floating through space on her own as an infant.

Calum, Gill, and Rafik are torn between their desire to protect Acorna, and that of helping her to find her people. While Calum and Acorna plot out the most likely course and prepare themselves to journey off and find her people, everyone else is reluctant to allow them to leave. Delay after delay is keeping their space ship docked, and the pair have had enough - they leave as they are.

Naturally, as soon as the pair leave orbit a strange ship arrives. The occupants are the Linyaari, Acorna's people. They are traveling the galaxy warning other life forms of the deadly and violent Khleev who demolish everything they come across. Acorna cannot be reached, and the race to save humanity is joined by the need to find Acorna.

Acorna has her hands full trying to save a planet from a horrible wrongdoing, and a ship full of Starfarer's children who have been boarded and held hostage by some very devious criminals from another planet. Acorna has no idea that her dream of being reunited with her own kind could become a reality, and much sooner than she would have expected.

As in the first book of the series, this was a wonderful escape from reality, with enough fantasy elements blended with the science fiction to keep any reader content. The story is strong, the characters memorable and very appealing. I am looking forward to the next title in the series, and wondering what could possibly be facing Acorna this time.

Review Originally Posted at LinearReflections.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great sequal!, October 7, 1999

By 

Lizzy (Tallahassee, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acorna's Quest (Harper Prism SF) (Mass Market Paperback)

Well, I read the first one long before this one came out. By the way, the first one's a wonderful story as well. When I heard there was another one I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I've read them both over and over. Each time I still enjoyed the plots and characters just as much as the first time. Pretty soon I'll have them memorized. :0}