Nimisha's Ship [School & Library Binding]

Anne McCaffrey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

While testing her Mark 5 prototype space yacht, things start to go badly wrong for Nimisha. She is sucked into a wormhole and is thrown out again into an uncharted dimension of space, and it appears as if she is not the first to have suffered this fate. From the author of DINOSAUR PLANET, THE DOLPHINS OF PERN and FREEDOM'S CHALLENGE.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Parts of Nimisha's Ship are reminiscent of the melodramatic intrigue and romance among lords and ladies in Anne McCaffrey's first SF novel, Restoree (1967). Here, though, danger and drama are downplayed while the course of true love--plus the joy of friendship--moves to center stage. Nimisha, heir to her mother's wealth and high status, tomboyishly prefers the spaceship yards of her absentee father. She sneaks off to work with him and emerges as a gifted ship designer. One day, testing a splendid new space-yacht, she falls through a wormhole to a far-off region of the galaxy. This contains a planet of unfriendly beasties--mostly leathery-winged avians, easily shot down by Nimisha's yacht AI--and stranded wormhole victims: a haggard human party easily put right by medical treatment, and midget aliens who are easily befriended. Romance soon blooms for Nimisha, and she settles down to have the nicest human castaway's babies (twins, then triplets). Meanwhile, rescue missions are on the way, one by the long, slow route and one by accidental wormhole encounter. Happy family reunions follow, with a certain twinkly charm but no real suspense or surprise. It's a comforting, unthreatening read: McCaffrey addicts will love it, but newcomers may prefer to start with her tougher, grittier SF adventures like the classic Dragonflight. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The magic of McCaffrey's alien planetscapes and exotic space creatures, familiar from such novels as Dragonriders of Pern, is absent from this flimsily SF-clad romance, set on luxurious Vega III centuries into human galactic domination. Upon Lord Tionel's death, his precocious genius daughter, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense, takes charge of his famous shipyard and test-flies his cherished Mark V space yachtAstraight into an unexpected wormhole that flings her onto an unknown planet. While bearing five children in three years to Jonagren Svangel, a conveniently also-stranded hunk, Nimisha spunkily triumphs in one maudlin adventure after another, but she finally dissolves into a postpartum "leaky ula-ooli-la" when located by a previous lover and her own adolescent body-heir, Cuiva. Not even Nimisha's inexhaustible supply of hooting alien babysitters and Star Trek-like cybernetic shipmates Helm, Doc and Cater can compensate for the vapidly predictable teeny-bopper plot and cellophane-thin characterizationsAthere's not one redeemingly vicious villainAthat bloat this lost-in-space operetta, a leaky ula-ooli-la if ever there was one. Science Fiction Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• School & Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613221001
• ISBN-13: 978-0613221009
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,991,933 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

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, June 14, 2003

By 

Natalie (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nimisha's Ship (Mass Market Paperback)

I disagreed with many of the reviews already on this site; first of all, it would be nice to see a review from someone who could spell the name of the book/the main character correctly. In this recent novel by Anne McCaffrey,the main character is a lady of high birth, Nimisha. She is different from her peers in that she loves mechanical things and spends more time working with her father on ship design than with her mother and fashion. Of course, this is not an unusual premise for McCaffrey, however in this story she creates a new twist. After Nimisha's noted father passes away, she inherits his company to the anger of his son, who thought that he should have gotten it. She continues in his tradition, testing and creating ships, and eventually conceives a daughter. Soon after this, she gets stranded alone after an experimental flight goes wrong, and she must survive and try to get back home. Being Nimisha, she can't help exploring the planets around her while waiting to be rescued, and what she finds is truly terrific. Meanwhile, while Nimisha battles hostile planetary creatures and makes friends with some aliens, attempts are being made on her daughter's life in order to regain the company.
This complicated story definitely makes for an enjoyable read. Nimisha is a very complex and endearing character, easy to relate to. I never found this book boring or devoid of action, and the characters were all extremely believable. I highly recommend it, however some of the more hard-core science fiction fans may not be as interested in it as I was.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, August 4, 2001

By 

Patricia Walker (Lisbon, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nimisha's Ship (Mass Market Paperback)

I put off buying this book based on all the negative reviews and picked up a hardcover at less than paperback prices just a few weeks ago... read it in one sitting which I hadn't expected after all the comments about no conflict/suspense....and found it very enjoyable although not my favorite book by Anne - and I've read most of them.

I enjoyed reading all the background provided in the first part of the book and getting the feel of a new SF society - these were up to Anne's usual high standard in my opinion. I also did not think the characters are one dimensional or flat as some other reviewers have mentioned, maybe more subtle. Perhaps it is because this book is meant to be the first in a series - and more development will occur later. Regardless, I enjoyed meeting all these new people although I'd have like more on the Sh'im individuals.

This book is not for someone who likes SF books with lots of violence, running battles and other ACTION to make it move along, but it should satisfy otherwise.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad..., January 31, 2003

By 

Victoria (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nimisha's Ship (Mass Market Paperback)

First off, this book is not to be compared with books in which every ten pages someone is off in a bedroom somewhere, or battling the evil forces and putting themselves in extreme danger only to be saved with 30 seconds to spare. It is a story about family. It is a simply written, gentle story involving social-ranks, family ties, survival and love. Unfortunately, the cover-art on my library's hardcover version is selling the book to the wrong people; it depicts an action scene which never occurs in the book. 'Nimisha's Ship' is a easy-to read story which is aimed at the gentler side of readers, not always Anne McCaffrey's style. However, it IS very nice to read.