I felt that there were some mistakes when comparing to the last book, and too little of Petaybee for my liking, but the end was interesting and I loved reading about the Twins new friends and different cultures. Fun, light read.

These kids are way too smart for 10-year-olds but the story is fun so I kinda don’t care. Loved the Hawaiian references!

Classic Anne McCaffrey

Read again 6 years later

I love her Dragonriders of Pern series, as well as The Ship Who Sang, so was game for another sci-fi offering. I just couldn't get into it.

I hold up novels linked to Anne McCaffrey to a pretty high standard, and this one didn't meet it. However, it seems like a decent book, with good twists. Just beware, this is the start of a series, and the ending leaves something to be desired as a stand-alone book. The sentiment "it was ok" is on the dot.

I really enjoyed the first Petaybe series and was looking forward to this one. I knew going in that this was the first book in a trilogy but usually it's the second one that lags. The characters and situations are intriguing but it feels like the running start before really jumping into the story. This book was entertaining in its own right but still felt like set up for the rest of the series.

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this series earlier since I enjoyed reading Anne McCaffrey books including those she wrote with Elizabeth Scarborough for many years.

In this one the main characters are living on a terraformed planet that is cold most of the year. This story emphasizes one family. The father can change into a Selkie, a seal, as can his twin children, a boy and girl. The twins can also communicate with other animals telepathically when they are in seal form.

Unscrupulous scientists want to capture and experiment on animals including the twins if they can catch them. To try to move the twins to safety as they are too reckless, they are sent off planet to learn more about to relate to more humans, not realizing they could be placing them in danger.

This is a well crafted plot. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook.

Update: I was able to finish this, barely, oh my goodness it was sure riding the maudlin line of cuteness with plenty of manufactured tension. This tale is told POV babies and children. An odd mixture of still relevant (even more so than when written?) and feeling kind of dated. That's a Sci-fi fantasy for you.

******

I just finished a book with Selkie lore (Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry) and so thought I'd go back to this series (because Selkies), which I haven't touched in a couple of decades. Petaybee is a sentient planet (swoon for that idea!) and oh how the animals are telepathic, I mean come on, there are giant cats as best friends.

What's not to love about this? Maybe a little dated but aren't we all.

Very odd book! Makes you think, but you think about things in such a distorted way I am not sure it accomplished what the author intended its meaning to be. Good writing style but wont read again

Interesting story.

It's always good to visit a place you enjoyed for the second time. You anticipate more of the same and hope you won't be disappointed.

After reading the Petaybee series, I was thrilled to learn that there was also a Twins Of Petaybee series, and having read the first installment, I was not disappointed. The sentient planet now has two more unique residents, Ronan and Murel Shongili, the selkie twins. They and their father Sean can transform into seals when in water, and they use their gifts to explore freely.

I enjoyed watching three years of the twins' lives (from age 7-10) and how they had to pick up the fight their parents began to protect Petaybee from the Company who only wants to exploit it. It was also good to see familiar characters like Colonel Yanaba Maddock-Shongili, Sean Shongile, Clodagh and of course Nanook the track cat and Coaxtl the clouded snow leopard.

Those two are the only reason why I can't give five stars. Those blasted cats kept changing genders every ten pages! In the previous series, Nanook was established as a black MALE track cat. Coaxtl was a FEMALE snow leopard, and even thought once on how she could tell that Nanook desired her for a mate. When we were reunited with them as babysitters for the infant selkie twins, both of them were male. Then Coaxtl went back to her correct gender and Nanook followed her! By the time the book ended, I didn't know what they were :-). Ah, the perils of writing a series.

I also didn't like that Diego Metaxos barely got mentioned, and Bunny Rourke slipped through so fast I almost missed her. I saw a fleeting reference to Bunny's baby- I can only assume that she and Diego got married and this is their offspring because it was never mentioned. When you create a series that captures the imagination, you have to keep up with the folks you teach your readers to love.

That notwithstanding, I'm off to read the other two in the trilogy :-)

Read these books a long time ago. Still an enjoyable read.