Product Description

Acorna, the unicorn girl, was hidden from the authorities for her own safety and raised by three prospectors. Now a young woman, she and one of her "uncles" decide to try to locate others of her kind, after she has troubled dreams about a strange planet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233458 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 410 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
This SF team's earlier novel Acorna introduced the alien girl Acorna, an orphan rescued and reared by space-faring humans. Though generally human-shaped, she shares some features with the unicorn of myth--notably, a forehead horn which can heal and purify. Now Acorna blasts off with human friends in search of her own race, who shortly turn up looking for her. These gentle, horned nonhumans are fleeing further aliens who are wanton murderers and torturers that resemble huge cockroaches. Meanwhile, a starship full of dispossessed human miners picks up a scientist whose devastating system of planetary weather control inspires some on-board criminals to stage a coup and use the weather machine to blackmail whole planets: Acorna stumbles into this conflict. Meanwhile, a spacefleet of killer roaches is on its way.

These storylines mix romance, light comedy and some violent action which is generally downplayed or dealt with offstage. Of course the verminous villains find humanity a tougher proposition than nice unicorn-folk, and complain bitterly: "They are barbaric and vicious beyond belief; when attacked, they actually fight back!" Happy endings emerge, with room for more sequels. Overall, Acorna's Quest feels like a romping, uncomplicated SF adventure intended for younger readers--and Anne McCaffrey devotees. --David Langford

From the Publisher
A sequel to Acorna, The Unicorn Girl.

From the Back Cover
Found as an infant drifting alone in an escape pod in deep space, Acorna was reared by three young asteroid prospectors who raised her as their mascot, their miracle girl, and saved her from those who would destroy her mysterious powers.

But now Acorna has become a young woman who has dreams of a shining world with blue grass and green skies. She still has the translucent horn in the middle of her forehead, she still has her powers to make things heal, and grow, and purify, but she longs to know where she came from - what world in the galaxy was her home?

With one of her old protectors, she sets off on a quest to find her own kind, but even as she leaves, a strange craft appears in the skies, peopled by gentle and mysterious telepaths who bring not only terrible news of a frightening race of invading space killers, but also the memory of an infant, lost in space, long ago...

Customer Reviews

The characters are worth knowing.
You know what I like about Anne McCaffrey? She doesn't cheat. Even though this is the middle book of a trilogy, you can read it without reading the other two books and be satisfied with the story. As usual, her characters are human (whatever their shape) and her plot works. In fact, she and Margaret Ball fixed the plot so that I couldn't tell how all the pieces would fit until half-way through the book! I like that. This book will stay in my library so that I can read it often. THANKS, LADIES!

If you're a McCaffrey fan you'll love this one,
If you're a McCaffrey fan you'll love this one, it's light and entertaining with lots of scope for the next one in the series

A bit dissapointing but overall a great read!
Acorna's Quest is a fabulous read! It's full of excitement and suspence. When Acorna and her "uncle" Calum go on the adventure of their lives to find Acorna's people they end up in more trouble they dreamed possible. Captured by space pirates, tormented by angry "dirtside" farmers and getting caught in the middle of a war keeps this book suspenseful and most entertaining. Acorna's character is even better developed and improved upon. The book is a little slow at times however and I was dissapointed how quickly Acorna dumped Pal Kendero and of how little romance there was. I give this book 4 stars and reccomend it to all fantasy mavens.