The Rowan
- 320
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Rowan” opens McCaffrey’s “The Tower and the Hive” sequence with an absorbing coming-of-age story about a powerful telepath. An orphaned girl with rare mental Talent grows up as a ward of her planet and trains at the Tower to become a Prime, whose mind can move ships through space. Readers often feel the book falters once a romance takes over; some find the heroine diminished by it, and the flirtatious dialogue hard to take.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Rowan (1990) is a science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey, the first book in The Tower and the Hive series. It is set in the universe of the Pegasus trilogy, against a backdrop of a technologically advanced society in which telepathy, psychokinesis and other psychic talents have become scientifically accepted and researched. Telekinetic and telepathic powers are used to communicate and teleport spaceships through space, thus avoiding the light barrier and allowing for the colonization of other planetary systems.
Reading order · The Talents Universe
Full order & progress →- To Ride PegasusStart hereTo Ride Pegasus–Not ranked yet
- Pegasus in FlightPegasus in Flight–Not ranked yet
- The RowanThis book
7.67.6 / 10 - DamiaDamia–Not ranked yet
- Damia's ChildrenDamia's Children–Not ranked yet
- Lyon's PrideLyon's Pride–Not ranked yet
- The Tower and the HiveThe Tower and the Hive–Not ranked yet
- Pegasus in SpacePegasus in Space–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 63 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 30% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 13 | 21% |
| Hardcover | 6.9 | 50 | 79% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Rowan?
It has 320 pages — shorter than 76% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.
