Got this recently from Bookmooch.com so that I can complete the set.

A right good SF romp with a neat little physiological, Gaia-like twist. What would you do if the planet you were living on turns out to be sentient?

I really did like the set-up here. The cold planet where you have to be quite tough to survive. The psychic animals. A rather steamy love story. An action packed plot. Singing. And some unicorns - sort of!

The only thing that stopped me loving this as much as McCaffery's PERN novels and giving it top marks, is that the baddies are just a bit too bad. Talk about stereotypical soldiers, following orders, while the higher ups are only interested in profit and exploitation. I honestly couldn't quite buy into the fact that a space-faring civilisation would be so close-minded when discovering something so new and amazing.

But, looking forward to reading the rest of the series to find out what happens next.

Off to the other side of the world as on a fellow bookcrosser's wishlist - enjoy

Arrived from WAY up north, thank you. Now I can read the entire series as I have the rest of the books and was just waiting for the first.

Very quick read, just like other Mccaffrey books. Yeah the goodies and the baddies are very obvious, but when you want to read a quick but complete story, Mccaffrey will do that.