Tomes of Starhopping--The Ship Errant

Tomes of Miscellany

Welcome to the land of danger and intrigue, where individuals are legion and non-conformity is the norm. Join me as I explore the many facets of humanity and meet the scum of the earth and its angels incarnate.

W A R N I N G !

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Title: The Ship Errant
Author: Jody Lynn Nye
Publisher: Baen Books
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 1996

When Carialle and Keff landed on Ozran, they discovered not only a lost human colony settlement, but a colony settlement from the Cridi, strange frog-like aliens who barely stood a meter tall yet possessed some of the greatest minds in the explored cosmos. Now the Cridi have asked the brain/brawn team to help them return to their ancestors' homeworld, and the two have taken on three Cridi ambassadors. However, the trip will not be easy. Carialle must pass through a sector of space where she nearly went insane when her partner died and she was left suffering from deep sensory deprivation. Will something happen to her again in that same sector? And why haven't the Cridi searched for the colonies? Why is there so much flotsam and jetsam in the space around Cridi?

The Ship Errant capitalizes on Anne McCaffrey's successful brainship books as well as the talents and skills of Jody Lynn Nye. The end result is a terrific novel that incorporates everything you would expect from an isolated colony communicating for the first time in centuries with their homeworld, the problems that past experiences can produce, and the desire for prominence in profession with the charm and wonder of discovering new species and new worlds.

I guess one of the biggest draws for this book for me was that, unlike other "ship" books, this one brought back characters I had already met, as opposed to introducing a new brain/brawn team with new interests and new situations to extricate themselves from. Instead, this book continued with a plot that had begun--to a limited extent--in one book and further developed the characters.

You don't necessarily need to read The Ship Who Won to understand everything that goes on here, but it helps. Still, The Ship Errant is most definitely a complete novel all on its own.

Rating: Thumbs up! With so many dilemmas to resolve, where's the best place to start to preserve peace and sanity?

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This page posted August 1, 2002.

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