The Tower and the Hive

Anne McCaffrey

The telepaths of future Earth are necessary for many duties in the struggle against the Hivers. The strongest telepaths who can be found are not only manning all the new shipping towers on new colonized planets and the Mrdini planets, but also helping in the quest to identify the Hiver planets. They do not want to destroy the Hivers, but neutralize their quest for already inhabited planets.

This novel follows the third generation of the Raven and Lyon families as the search continues. There is political dissent on Earth due to the strength of the families due to their talents. There are humans who object to any alliance with the Mrdini. There is a faction who believe the Hivers should be completely destroyed. There are others who believe the few Hivers held in captivitity should be released. It is politics as usual for humans, just on a planetwide scale instead of a countrywide scale.

As enjoyable as this read is, do not read it without reading the others in the series first. A synopsis is provided at the beginning to bring it up to its current time. Yet it is only a synopsis, and leaves out all the character building that make these novels so good. This book can stand alone, but is much better as a part of the series.

The Rowan
Damia
Damia's Children
Lyon's Pride
The Tower and the Hive