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Mission Child
Mission Child
Author: Maureen F. McHugh
Young Janna has lived her fourteen years on the icy northern plains of a world that has forgotten its history. Now the arrival of Earthers--descendants of the humans who first settled the planet many centuries before--has violently upset the fragile balance of a developing civilization. The offworlders' advanced technologies and cruel indifferen...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780380974566
ISBN-10: 0380974568
Publication Date: 12/1998
Pages: 385
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 4

4.1 stars, based on 4 ratings
Publisher: Eos
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

althea avatar reviewed Mission Child on + 774 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Stayed up way later than I should have finishing this!

It's not so much "what happened" - actually, the book is fairly low on "plot" - rather, it follows the (rather traumatic and itinerant) life of a woman from a primitive society on a colony planet, from the brink of womanhood to middle age, along the way dealing with issues of gender and sexuality, "appropriate technology," and finding a place to call home.
But the writing is just so good that it feels like a thriller!

I highly recommend it.
reviewed Mission Child on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A powerful fable, a stirring adventure, and a profoundly moving portrait of a lost woman in search of an identity as she walks the narrow fault line dividing female and male, child and adult, dark realty and illuminated dream.
SteveTheDM avatar reviewed Mission Child on + 204 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I bought this book as it was one of the novels nominated for the 2000 Nebula awards.

Essentially, this is the story of a woman's journey from roughly teen age to late adulthood, exploring the definitions of self and home.

Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of story that gets me interested. Disaster after disaster strikes the main character, and then, right at the end, she has a bit of personal growth. Bah. Not my cup of tea.
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reviewed Mission Child on + 47 more book reviews
I did not enjoy this book very much. It was set on a distant planet that had been settled by Earth in the distant past. Some of the story was very imaginative, but over all it was a slow read with little to recommend it.
Shooter avatar reviewed Mission Child on
I thought it was kind of boring, and definitely not as "post-apocalyptic" as I had thought from reading the other reviews. Plus, I felt the author used bad language / cursing for shock value in some places, while in other places her descriptive language was practically nonexistent. In short, I thought it was a bit choppy, a bit plodding, and not nearly as well-written as I had expected from this author.
mpmarus avatar reviewed Mission Child on + 133 more book reviews
Pretty good book. Recommended to me as having a transgender main character, which is kinda true but not. Jan is not TG in the sense we have commonly - it's not really a choice. Can't say much more without giving the plot away!


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