Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved—saved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner—male or female—to share her exhilirating excapades in space!Her life was to be rich and rewarding . . . resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest … wildest dreams of mere mortals.
Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructable, Helva XH-834 antipitated a sublime immortality.
Then one day she fell in love!
more
All of the checked boxes are correct even if, a bit, contradictory. It’s a fantastic story of an isolated(ultimately introverted?) mind that controls a machine.
I first discovered Ursula K. Le Guin when I read ‘The Lathe of Heaven’. She has never disappointed.
read this years ago, so dated, but really good
I love every book this ever wrote!
Great Read
This book and any others in “The Ship…….” group of books are to be treasured and passed on to those who haven’t read them yet.
Simplistic but entertaining.
Not my favorite novel by this author…I have ready MANY of her books. This one just didn’t keep me reading straight thru. =(
It was nice to read a sci fi novel that didn’t involve a war or a constant battle. Not that there weren’t challenges, but all of what happens here is seen from the perspective of an intelligent ship, not the participants. Not as boring as you may now be thinking. In the future presented here, people born with tragic deformities have an opportunity to become useful as the brains of an interstellar ship. An interesting premise, which leads to the main narrator of this story of stories.
A delightful story that examines the morality underlying the use of a “defective” person to control a ship. It was a pleasure to read.
Too great to be tragic, but it does have the capacity for tragedy. Great for limited time readers. Each section is like a mini-novel. While the main character is the same, the minor ones change in each section offering the reader a chance to skip a section and not miss out on sequential plot points.
One of Anne’s classic works. I love Helva and thoroughly enjoyed rereading this after a decade or so.
Zero disappointment.
OK, so I found the premise of this book to be so interesting, I read it at once sitting. Not all the worlds the ship goes to seem different from life on earth, but it was well written and the plot kept me going. Really enjoyed it.
Excellent writing, superb story.
Old fashioned sci-fi with heart.
The beginning of a great Anne McCaffery series. Her series are always interesting, each book is a “stand alone”, but makes you want to read the next book in the series.
Very entertaining. The first of Anne McCaffrey’s brain shop books. A definite must-read for all
Unique Sci Fi Brain Brawn ships.
Great character development and fascinating view of the universe.
I think your email sucks you can’t get it to load on the phone you can’t get it to accept what you want to put down I thought the book was wonderful I read it many times I’ve reread it two or three times after the first time I liked it so much and I would recommend it to anybody
McCaffrey never disappoints