Anne McCaffrey – Damia’s Children

The third book in the Tower and Hive series, published January 13, 1993
Genre: sci fi romance / fantasy romance
Cover: nice



Damia and Afra Raven-Lyon had reared their children in a brilliant and unorthodox way. All their young had been “paired” when six months old with the furry, one-eyed Mrdinis, the onlt other sentient beings in the Alliance, who could communicate with humans by their “dream messages”. Together, Man and Mrdini worked to create prosperous worlds and guard against the terrible threat of the annihilating Hivers.
And now, in the deeps of Space, Mrdini scouts had crossed the paths of three Hive ships – ships that were giant hulks of cell units, bearing the queens and workers out into space, to breed and multiply and destroy wherever they found a viable planet.
It was the four elder children of Damia – Laria, Thian, Rojer and Zara – all uniquely talented in their various ways, who where to play their part, helped by their life-long Dini friends, in the conquering and investigation of the Alien threat of the Hivers.


There was a Mrdini scout present when in the first book, the mind merge of all the Talents destroyed the enormous Hiver sphere. For the first time in centuries, they found another race that could defeat their enemy without losing lives. When the Mrdini battle a Hiver sphere, it takes many, many lives and ships to defeat it. And so, in the second book, they made dream contact with some of the powerful humans on Deneb, including Damia and Afra.
The contact became an Alliance, and human children and Dini young have been paired ever since, to become more acquainted and help understanding with the other race.
Afra and Damia have a lot of children, and as the eldest, Laria is now ready to go to Clarf, the Mrdini homeworld, and be their Tower Prime. The world is a lot hotter and brighter than any of the Earth colonies, and that takes some getting used to. Her Dinis are excited though, about visiting Clarf, there is a lot of prestige in that.
Thian is assigned as Prime on the First Fleet, to find out where those Hivers are going to, and prevent them from annihilating another planet, as they tried with Deneb all those years ago. Having Talents on board will make an enormous difference. Thian has always been interested in the military, so this assignment is perfect for him and his Dinis.
So when they capture a damaged and abandoned Hiver sphere, there is a lot of excitement back home. A lot of scientists want to study the thing, and find out more about the Hivers and their technology.
But when they capture an escape pod with a life Queen in it, there is a lot of controversy, both on the human worlds and on the Mrdini worlds. The Queen is secured on Heinlein base, on the moon, she won’t be able to escape from there. They want to study her, to learn more about their race, and try to communicate with her. But the Queen doesn’t seem to recognize any other life forms but her own species, nor does she react to sounds or lights to try to get her attention. She is given some of the eggs found in the abandoned sphere, and she immediately starts tending them, trying to breed/create the attendants she needs.
But there are factions wanting her killed in public as her species killed so many Mrdini and humans on Deneb.

It is the Empathic little Zara though, who sneaks away to Earth and from there to the Moon Base, who finds out the first clue about the Queen, that she is slowly freezing to death. Zara has always been too sensitive to go hunting with the other children, which is a necessity on Auriagae, and now it is determined she will be apprenticed to Elizara, the Medic and her great-grandmother Isthia, to become a Medical Prime. She does not have the right temperament to become a Tower Prime, no matter how much they are needed.


Lots of adventures, and multiple story lines to follow and enjoy. I loved learning more about the Mrdinis and their customs. And of course I enjoyed the stories of Damia’s children and how they made themselves a good life in their chosen paths.

8 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian