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The six books of Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Petaybee series are divided into two trilogies: Petaybee and The Twins of Petaybee. The protagonist of the first is Yanaba "Yana" Maddock, a soldier sent to the planet of Petaybee when injuries from a terrorist attack make it impossible for her to continue in the army. In the second trilogy, the central characters are Yana's children, Ronan Born for Water and Murel Monster Slayer Maddock-Shongili.
In all six books, the plot is basically the same: the planet must be protected from Intergal, an interplanetary company that wishes to relocate the inhabitants so it can mine for valuable minerals. Petaybee, however, isn't just a planet- it's a sentient being that has forged a meaningful connection with the settlers, particularly those of the Shongili family. When Yana marries into that family, she comes to understand how important it is that the Petaybeans defend their planet.
The series is not nearly as well known as the McCaffrey Dragonriders of Pern books, but is often considered to be of greater quality, as a whole.
Books in this series[]
- Powers That Be (1993)
- Power Lines (1994)
- Power Play (1995)
- Changelings (2005)
- Maelstrom (2006)
- Deluge (2008)
This series contains examples of:[]
- Action Mom
- Arranged Marriage
- Badass Normal - Yana
- Big Bad - Intergal
- Cats Are Mean - played with
- Cats Are Superior
- The Chessmaster
- Children Are Innocent - 'Cita, oddly
- Closed Circle
- Cool Old Guy
- Cult
- Culture Clash - the cult that raised 'Cita and the rest of Petaybee
- Friendless Background
- Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke - the Shongilis
- Guinea Pig Family - the Shongilis
- Jerkass
- Kindhearted Cat Lover - Clodagh
- Lighter and Fluffier - The Twins of Petaybee
- Locked in a Room
- Long Lost Sibling - Bunny and her younger sister, 'Cita.
- Mama Bear - Yana
- Mega Corp - Intergal
- Menace Decay - Dr. Luzon and Intergal
- Powers That Be - Intergal again
- Precocious Crush - a particularly disturbing example
- Raised by Wolves - 'Cita
- Religious Horror
- Rule of Drama - a staple of McCaffrey's work
- Selkies and Wereseals: The series employs the selkie myth in a futuristic setting. The Shongili family uses genetic engineering to create a selkie (Sean). Sean's kids are natural-born selkies as well.
- Spin Offspring - Murel and Ronan's series
- Starfish Aliens
- Take Over the World - rare justified example
- Touched by Vorlons - Petaybee changes those who live on it
- Blessed with Suck - And after a certain amount of time, those changes mean painful death for anyone who's off-planet for as little as a couple of days.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born
- Villain with Good Publicity - the Intergal corporation