Acorna's Rebels (Acorna Series #6) » (Reprint)

Anne McCaffrey, a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner, is one of the world's most beloved and bestselling science fiction and fantasy writers. She is the author of the hugely successful Dragonriders of Pern series and makes her home in a castle in Ireland.

Acorna's people, the Linyaari, have begun reclaiming their homeworld from the ravages of the brutal Khleevi. But the first wave of explorers has unlocked a larger mystery about the origins of the Linyaari — one that has led Aari, Acorna's beloved lifemate, on a dangerous journey from which he may never return.

Setting off on a quest to find Aari, Acorna and her friends — Captain Becker, Mac, Nadhari, and RK — are forced to crash land on the beautiful and barbaric exotic jungle world of Makahomia, home of the mysterious Temple Cats. But an evil scheme threatens to destroy the sacred felines. To save the cats, Acorna will lead a band of rebels on a journey into Makahomia's temples and hidden sanctuaries.

And there, within one sacred shrine, she will discover shocking information that could lead to Aari . . .or to disaster.

Publishers Weekly

McCaffrey (the Pern series) and Scarborough (The Healer's War) offer another readable, lightweight cross between fantasy and SF in their latest novel about Acorna, the Unicorn Girl. A member of the Linyaari, a humanoid race with horns in the middle of their foreheads, Acorna continues to hunt for her beloved life-mate, Aari, who disappeared in Acorna's Search (2002). She travels aboard the starship Condor to the planet Makahomia, which she finds in the grip of a plague killing the sacred Temple cats. Acorna fights a desperate rearguard action against the plague with her horn's healing power, but the mystery clearly lies deeper. With the aid of both Condor shipmates, who include the Temple cat Roadkill (aka RK), and local Makahomians, among them shape-changing priests who can turn into cats, Acorna strives to prevent disaster. She ends up somewhat closer to Aari's trail through space and time, but clearly with several books worth of adventures to go before she reaches him. While it's not up to the highest level of either author's work, this installment will certainly engage long-time readers of the series. And don't overlook its being a feast for cat lovers! (Feb. 1) FYI: Scarborough's The Healer's War won a Nebula award. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.