The Crystal Singer Trilogy

Anne McCaffrey

Once again Anne McCaffrey's imagination amazes me. The Crystal Singer trilogy is one more example of why she is a legend in the science fiction/fantasy field.

Killashandra Ree had high aspirations to be a professional singer. Unfortunately there is a slight rasp in her voice that prevents her from achieving her goal despite her perfect pitch. Another job opportunity is then offered to her.

Crystal mining takes a special person. The crystals that are in high demand throughout the galaxy are only found on one planet, Ballybran. If a person is qualified as a crystal miner, the mines provide a job and security for life and can make the person very wealthy. The catch is once a person starts mining crystal, it is difficult to leave Ballybran.

Killashandra decides to check out the job. She listens to all the negatives, hears all the cautions, listens to all the information provided. She talks to some of the long time miners. She decides to stay if the planet accepts her. It does, and she is now a crystal miner.

This trilogy follows Killashandra as she settles into her new life. She is a successful crystal miner, but she also has all the problems. All three novels are excellent. They are best read in order, yet each is self contained, building but not totally dependent on the previous one.

7/22/2010

Recently a 25-ish new coworker talked about her love of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. She had not discovered this older trilogy yet. I was happy to lend her by three books to give her a treat. She read through them in a little over a weekend. She says the only reason it took her so long was that she had out of town company and had to be sociable. She returned them, wanting more. I'll give her the telepath series next. Then I took the books to reshelve. Crystal Singer didn't quite make it. I'm home on extended leave. Instead it hit my reading table. I just finished it and was entranced all over again.

Killashandra is a good hero character - enough moxie, arrogance, and determination to not give up when knocked down, but has gained enough wisdom to be able to learn a new skill but also from past mistakes. In her first, failed career, she ignored anyone who didn't match up to her talent or was in the way. This time around she has learned the value of friendship. She has to work at it, but makes sure she opens herself up and has to tone down some of her loner or arrogant traits. Actually, the friendship angle is only a small section of her story, putting together the whole. But that is what struck me the most this time. It doesn't matter how many times I've read a book I love (this is the fourth or the fifth?), I still discover something new.