⭐-> max of 10

Alien Earth - Megan Lindholm

• single-book novel
• 8⭐

From goodreads:

Over successive generations the Conservancy has re-adjusted man to make him so environmentally-friendly that he no longer breeds or leaves any trace of his existence. However a depleted gene-pool now means that a dying Earth has to be repopulated, quickly.

Somewhat heavy-handed on the "don't fuck up the world, you idiots!" at times and has a couple of obvious easily-seen-coming tropes, but overall a good read and a nice reminder.

Anne McCaffrey

Each of these is roughly around the same length, with some perhaps a hundred or so pages longer than the others. maybel... 400 on average as a likely poor recollection?

Brain & Brawn Ship series (w/ others)

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#/The_Brain_&_Brawn_Ship_series]
• 5-7 in the series
• 5⭐

Decent, quick reads. Worth reading the first at least. I've read 3 of the series, maybe 4. Had some interesting exploration of "what means be human", but nothing particularly memorable aside from the concept (the consciousness of a ship, paired with a physical pilot/steward).

Crystal Singer series

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#/The_Crystal_series]
• trilogy
• 7⭐

Not as Sci-Fi as some on this list, but still counts in my eyes. Trilogy of short stories following Killashandra, though as I found out you can actually read book 2 first without much issue.

Seems more a story about the character's life within the universe than it is about the universe itself. Enjoyable. Probably has political commentary that I missed.

Honourable mention: Nimisha's Ship

• apparently is part of this universe too, according to ISFBD / Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• single-book novel
• 7⭐

Exploration! I dunno, this was a nice read that had a lot of that uncertainty in exploring The New.

Talent / Tower and Hive series

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#/The_Talents_universe]
• 3 books / 5 books
• 7⭐

Talent series has 3 books, can be kept separate from TaH series (which has 5); Talent series is a precursor / origins story, TaH a story of events long in the future containing the same power systems.

The talent series kinda reads like alternate history now, which is cool. Tower and the Hive reads as more "pure" Sci-Fi; it has space-based megastructures, strange powers, control panels, alien antagonists and still that sense of further discovery.

Petaybee universe - Powers Trilogy

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#Powers_trilogy]
• 3 books
• 7⭐

There's another trilogy set in the same universe that I've not read. This trilogy was cool, though. Somewhat less pure Sci-Fi-feeling than some other entries, though that could be due to its being based on a single planet. Got some powers, got some cats, got some... snow? I think there was snow.

Catteni sequence / series

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#/The_Freedom_series]
• 4 books
• 8⭐

Good stuff. Four books following the same group of characters as they, for lack of a better memory, flee oppression and discover a new life. Not read for a long while but I remember liking this series.

Acorna universe - Acorna series (w/ others)

• (wikiwand link)[https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Anne_McCaffrey_bibliography#/Acorna_universe]
• 7 in the first series, 3 in the second
• 8⭐

Another set I liked a lot, despite only having read the first 5 of the first series (it took too long to find a copy of Acorna's Rebels and I lost the will to read anything shortly after). Similar in overall threat level to the Tower and the Hive series, this series follows Acorna as the central protagonist (who'd have thunk it given the book titles, right?). General Sci-Fi themes abound, likely with additional, more important overtones, but those were lost on early-20s me.

• (wikiwand link)[]
• ⭐