The Ship Errant

Brainship #6

by Jody Lynn Nye

Sequel to The Ship Who Won

Carialle and Keff were the brainship and brawn crew who discovered intelligent life on the planet of Ozran. Now, she and Keff are serving as couriers for the “globe-frogs”, to return them from whence they came. But to get there, they must transit a sector where Carialle experienced a trauma so intense it nearly destroyed her mind. And now all the evidence is indicating that the slime who caused Carialle suck pain in the first place may be the very globe-frogs she and Keff have just become friends with…

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space, Adventure, Ebooks

401 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as ‘spoiling cats.’ When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.

Before breaking away from gainful employment to write full time, Jody worked as a file clerk, book-keeper at a small publishing house, freelance journalist and photographer, accounting assistant and costume maker.

For four years, she was on the technical operations staff of a local Chicago television station, WFBN (WGBO), serving the last year as Technical Operations Manager. During her time at WFBN, she was part of the engineering team that built the station, acted as Technical Director during live sports broadcasts, and worked to produce in-house spots and public service announcements.

Over the last twenty-five or so years, Jody has taught in numerous writing workshops and participated on hundreds of panels covering the subjects of writing and being published at science-fiction conventions. She has also spoken in schools and libraries around the north and northwest suburbs. In 2007 she taught fantasy writing at Columbia College Chicago. She also runs the two-day writers workshop at DragonCon, and is a judge for the Writers of the Future contest, the largest speculative fiction contest in the world.

Jody lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, with her husband Bill Fawcett, a writer, game designer, military historian and book packager, and three feline overlords, Athena, Minx, and Marmalade.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love just about all the Brainship books. They are all by different authors or author mixups though so they have different flavors. This one and it's prequel are both rather fanciful offshoots. Very fun. I love Globefrogs!

[annapi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out a little slow, but it picked up and by the halfway point I was really interested in the outcome. As with most McCaffreys in the later years, things are a little too pat and feel-good but this was still a decent story.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay Nye has a good style, but I got bored early in the story. She wanted to show how boring space travel is? Well, she convinced me.

But after I got past the early part of the story and things started to pick up, the old magic came back. Handling 3 different races and trying to communicate with them should have been difficult, but one race had already learned Standard, thanks to the bad guys, so our intrepid heroes only had to deal with the frogs -- and they'd already done that in the previous book.

Carralle's neurosis with her previous catastrophe (we read about it in the previous book) is still there and attacks her several times in the story, just to remind us what her driving problem is. Keff is as studly as ever and apparently a girl magnet.

The final showdown comes naturally from the set-up, so there's no "magical" things happening here which often spoils some stories.

Worth reading. And once you get into it, engaging.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series and I enjoy the little 'series within the series', as authors were allowed to create their own little corners of Anne's creation.

Nice bit of space opera, maybe even better than the previous book.
Like the leads, the alien races and how the exploring and first contact stuff was handled.

The bad guys are the weakest part of the book, as both the pirates and the mean government commissioner both feel very 'well, we have to have a bad guy. Just put a couple in."

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised at this book, as it was by Jody Lynn Nye alone, rather than a collaboration with Anne, as the previous book was.

The storyline followed on from the previous book, and it took Carielle, and Keff, to the place where, twenty years before, Carielle had suffered a terrible accident.

With them, travelling in their own spaceship, are their new friends, the globe frogs, who are travelling back to the site of their original planet, in the hopes of meeting up with their lost cousins, the Cridi.

As usual, the intrepid pair, along with their new friends, soon get embroiled in fighting pirates, and discovering yet another new species, the Thelerie, or 'griffins', as Carielle and Keff have named them.

Then, into the mix comes the very man who has been hounding Carielle, since she recovered from her accident, Dr Maxwell Cory, the Inspector General, so convinced that Carielle is mad, that he wont leave her alone.

With everything that is happening, it takes much for Carielle and Keff, with the backing of all their new friends, to make things straight again, but a lot can be done when you have friends like these!

I was so relieved that this follow-on story was so good, that it had me hooked from the beginning. The characters were fully formed, and the plotlines went from strength to strength, and it came to a very satisfying conclusion, for me, even without Anne's great touch.

So I go on, now, to The Ship Avenged, the final book in the Brainship series, written by S. M. Stirling, the co-author of The City Who Fought - I'm always sad to end a series but, thankfully, there are still plenty of other series that Anne has written, for me to read!

[Beau N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as good as The Ship Who Won. I really love Carialle and Keff. I'll be sorry to leave them when I start another book.

I love the idea that a species on another planet might have evolved to look like "griffins" - or lions with wings as their description sounded.

Anyway, really enjoyable! Good work, Jody.

4 out of 5 stars.

[Kate H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read the Brainship books in years so I decided it was time for a re-read and I happy to report that they stood up to the test of time. I really enjoyed the story and found myself very interested in the characters in these books. I am super glad I read them again.

[Stefan Johnsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first sci-fi book that I ever bought back in 1998. It was the book that got me into science-fiction as a genre. Reading it again reminds me of why I enjoy the imagination and creativity in this type of writing. Jody Lynn Nye helped me make a fan.

[Emmalee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one really went too far into the fantasy bit for me.

[Puddytatpurr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d not read this one before. Quite enjoyed it

[Wendy Bowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover claimed it to be “fast, furious, and fun,” however, I thought it lukewarm at best…

[Patricia West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye have once again scored with another Brain Ship adventure.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sequel to The Ship Who Won, this book follows Keff and Carialle as they journey to the home world of the frog-like Cridi and encounter pirates and griffins. A fun adventure with a few serious themes woven into the story.

[Kimikimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read these before and I don't think they're very well written, possibly because so many authors have worked on this series. This one is the second book about Carille and Keff, and they go back to Ozran and meet more aliens and solve the mystery of who left Carielle in space to die. Yeah, that's about it. I do like the alien races, but they are designed to be as likeable as possible, all are pretty 2D and seem to lack flaws except for the one played for (bad) comic relief. That all said, I do come back to this series every so often. It's a quick, entertaining story.

[Amelia Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it was an adequate sequel to the other book. I just wish that time had allowed me to finish this book over a two-day period instead of the month or so it took me. The action was really intense and the plot was pretty interesting. Since I spaced out reading it so much I had issues keeping track of a few of the lesser characters, but it didn't really alter my perception of the book. Overall I would recommend this book to any Sci-Fi lovers that really enjoy space-themed books.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Product Description

Carialle and Keff were the ones who had discovered intelligent life on the planet Ozran. Now she and Keff are serving as couriers for the "globe-frogs", to return them from whence they came. And now all the evidence is indicating that the dirty rats who caused Carialle such pain in the first place may be the very globe-frogs with whom she and Keff have just become friends.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book continues the story of Keff and Carialle, who met the globe-frogs on their last adventure. Now they're out to save them, although it turns out they may be the bad guys in the drama. This story strives for a medieval adventure feel. Brain and Brawn often role-play knights and maidens.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it well enough and still like the main characters but I put it down a lot to do other things. I reread sections and when it was finished I did wish to find out how they made out back home. It was amusing in parts and sad in others.

[Linda]

I read this book many years ago (before the WWW) and since there was no way web pages to leave reviews on, I am taking this opportunity to review it now. I do remember that I enjoyed it. Jody Lynne Nye was able to write so this book fit in with Anne McCaffrey's series.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's entertaining and kept my attention throughout. However, the plot twists were predictable, albeit comfortingly so. Great brain candy space opera, but not otherwise noteworthy.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continuation of the brainship was decent. I enjoyed it recommend forpeople who love the scifi techie factor.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ship Errant (Mass Market Paperback)
by Jody Lynn Nye
a great series and continuation of the people and legends began by Anne Mccaffrey i had to continue the series.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this series coupled with anne mccaffrey

[Artreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great next step in the Brainship series!

[Susan]

re-read Feb 1, 2014

[Serena]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old favourite. One I have read more than once.

Set in the world of Anne McCaffrey's Brain ships.

All I can say is "frogs in bubbles"

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely not written by Anne McCaffrey and unfortunately is missing something as a result, it's ok, but a bit of a slog to get through and the characterisations aren't as good.

[Ron Judenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

read

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Ending