Power Play (Petaybee, Book 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

Anne McCaffrey (Author), Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1996

Petaybee was growing up. Day by day, the sentient planet--like any child--was learning to recognize and understand the meaning of outside stimuli, to respond to those stimuli, to communicate its own needs and desires...even to use human speech.
Yanaba Maddock had appointed herself defender of her adopted planet, and she had even succeeded in proving its sentience to all the nonbelievers. But despite all her efforts, few outsiders truly cared for the feelings and intelligence of what they perceived to be a giant hunk of rock--or a mere oddity to be gawked at.
Then Yana was kidnapped. The price of her freedom--the planet itself.
But the only one who could speak for Petaybee was Petaybee--and no one knew what a living planet could do once it found its voice...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This final volume of the trilogy that began with Powers That Be opens with the marriage of Yanaba Maddock, administrator of the sentient planet Petaybee, to geneticist and selkie Sean Shongili. The pregnant Yana soon has to travel off-world to defend Petaybee's interests before a skeptical galaxy, leaving the planet open to devious exploitation by such predators as old enemy Torkel Fiske. The narrative shifts focus between the primitive but honest planet and the glittering space city of Gal Three as travails mount at both locations. Yana and two young friends are kidnapped by pirate Onidi Louchard; pilgrims and treasure seekers flood Petaybe. Throughout, the story oozes with the same sentimentality and one-dimensional characterization that afflicted the previous volumes. McCaffrey and Scarborough are capable of better, jointly as well as individually.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The third novel in McCaffrey and Scarborough's series about life on the sentient planet Petaybee follows The Powers That Be (1993) and Power Lines with what may be the riveting saga's most exciting episode yet. Petaybee plays an even bigger role in events this time, for it develops not only a direct means of communicating with humans, but also a sense of humor as it continues to mature (a planet awake barely 200 years is still a baby). This volume begins with the marriage of Yanaba Maddock and the selkie (man-seal) Sean Shongili and concludes with the births of their selkie twins, but the conflict between those who would protect the planet and those who would exploit it continues to be at the heart of the plot. The writing and characterization as well as the infusions of Celtic and Inuit lore remain of high quality. There are also resolutions here that wrap up the series, but readers sad to see it end will note that Yanaba wonders at the conclusion what Petaybee had in mind for her children, thereby making an opening, perhaps, for more to come. Sally Estes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (March 31, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345387813
• ISBN-13: 978-0345387813
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Adventurous climax to the " Powers that Be " trilogy, November 7, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Power Play (Hardcover)

In this book Anne McCaffrey has once again proven that she is a master. Petabee once a slumbering ice ball,awoken by a terraforming process , performed miraculous healings and made it known that it was sentient is once more in danger when on their way to testify on Gal-3 Yanaba, Bunny, Diego, and Marmion d'Revers are kidnapped by space pirate Onidi Luchard the ransom Petabee. Planet side sean is trying to handle the immigrants , hunters, and Drug companyies that were landed by the mysterious PTS transport system.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just grab some dolls and play house., June 15, 2009

By 

Leah Cooper (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Power Play (Petaybee, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is where I gave up on Anne McCaffrey's writing. The books full of adventure that I loved as a kid have slowly morphed into sentimental soap operas that revolve around pregnancy, adorable babies, pretty marriages, children, the building of little towns, adorable grandchildren, cute fuzzy animals, more pregnancy... I just can't take it anymore. Nothing of consequence happens in this book, beyond successful colonization and breeding.

And what kind of a name for a planet is "Petaybee", anyway?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Youth, November 29, 2008

By 

Cynthia H. Grossman "SilkySilver" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Power Play (Petaybee, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

While this series began with a story about adults, it has become a series about children.