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Planet Pirates #1
Sassinak
Sassinak was 12 when the raiders came. That made her just the right age - old enough to be used, young enough to be broken. Or so the slavers thought. But Sassy turned out to be a little different . . . and bided her time to become the fleet captain of a pirate-chasing ship of her own.
346 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1990
158 people are currently reading
2637 people want to read
About the author
Anne McCaffrey
478 books7,755 followersAnne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 243 reviews
November 4, 2013
Sassinak is a name that's been stuck in my brain forever as code for badass female warrior, so I thought I'd dig this old read out and revisit. Mistake! Avoid! Lightweight cardboard fluff with lazy plotting, an omniperfect protagonist, and chronic bouts of WTF. This book is really four semi connected novelettes, possibly with alternating authorship. The fourth and last section is particularly terrible, baffling the reader with disorienting incomplete exposition, and suddenly terminating the main plot with a meat cleaver of magic alien deus ex machina.
April 14, 2012
I originally picked up Sassinak when it was first published. At the time I had no idea who Elizabeth Moon or Anne McCaffrey were, but hey there's a woman in power armour on the cover and it talks abut pirates and space ships and stuff on the back cover. What could go wrong? Nothing. I thought it was brilliant. Brilliant enough that I grabbed The Death of Sleep and devoured it. I started reading the Paksenarrion books... well you get the idea. I loved it.
A couple of days ago, I finished another book and Sassinak was still there on the shelf. I had such fond memories of it, I thought I'd pick it up again. This was, as they say, one of the classic blunders, akin to starting a land war in Asia.
In my memory, Sassinak was Honor Harrington meets Ripley, with a dash of Sarah Connor. In this re-read, Sassinak and all her fellow characters were soggy cardboard. In my memory, the story was all tense ship combat, cold strategic thinking and exciting moments of discovery. In this re-read, the ship combat was nearly nonexistent (and what was there was boring), the strategic thinking was more in the realm of incredible stupidity (to be fair, in between reads, I spent a lot of time doing military communications; the situation as described would have been easily teased out with the information provided, to say the least) and the moments of discovery were all from a late-act character who seemed to have been written into the story just to provide it.
Should I mention the conspiracy theorist nature of the antagonist? Every ship in the entire fleet is compromised. There's always a conveniently placed saboteur on hand to make sure things go wrong. Why, the enemy must have an entire shadow Fleet ready to slip warm bodies into the proper Fleet. Oh wait, of course we do: our late-act exposition character provides an explanation. I wish she could provide an explanation for some of the other failings of this story.
Oh, and it was over practically before it began. Maybe I'm spoiled by the likes of Jordan or Martin or Weber or Rowling: I expect meat when I bite into a book, and this one didn't have any. There's an entire career between Sassinak-on-the-escape-pod and Sassinak-in-command. Where is that life? What about the other characters? I'm going to summon up the Weber comparison again: he would have cut the camera away from Sassinak for a bit, to let us watch her Exec's mission against the pirates. By letting important action take place off screen, we're robbed of so much of the LIFE of the story!
All in all, at 16 years of age, this was a five star book. Twenty-two years later, it reads as pretty bad fan-fiction. I'm tempted to blame McCaffrey: no matter how hard I try to like them, her books always rub me the wrong way. On the other hand, Elizabeth Moon is the exact opposite, I've reread several of her books and come away liking them better on a re-read than I did the first time (Paksennarrion et al).
Whomever is to blame, I cannot recommend this book to anyone except perhaps the die-hard McCafferey/Moon fan.
A couple of days ago, I finished another book and Sassinak was still there on the shelf. I had such fond memories of it, I thought I'd pick it up again. This was, as they say, one of the classic blunders, akin to starting a land war in Asia.
In my memory, Sassinak was Honor Harrington meets Ripley, with a dash of Sarah Connor. In this re-read, Sassinak and all her fellow characters were soggy cardboard. In my memory, the story was all tense ship combat, cold strategic thinking and exciting moments of discovery. In this re-read, the ship combat was nearly nonexistent (and what was there was boring), the strategic thinking was more in the realm of incredible stupidity (to be fair, in between reads, I spent a lot of time doing military communications; the situation as described would have been easily teased out with the information provided, to say the least) and the moments of discovery were all from a late-act character who seemed to have been written into the story just to provide it.
Should I mention the conspiracy theorist nature of the antagonist? Every ship in the entire fleet is compromised. There's always a conveniently placed saboteur on hand to make sure things go wrong. Why, the enemy must have an entire shadow Fleet ready to slip warm bodies into the proper Fleet. Oh wait, of course we do: our late-act exposition character provides an explanation. I wish she could provide an explanation for some of the other failings of this story.
Oh, and it was over practically before it began. Maybe I'm spoiled by the likes of Jordan or Martin or Weber or Rowling: I expect meat when I bite into a book, and this one didn't have any. There's an entire career between Sassinak-on-the-escape-pod and Sassinak-in-command. Where is that life? What about the other characters? I'm going to summon up the Weber comparison again: he would have cut the camera away from Sassinak for a bit, to let us watch her Exec's mission against the pirates. By letting important action take place off screen, we're robbed of so much of the LIFE of the story!
All in all, at 16 years of age, this was a five star book. Twenty-two years later, it reads as pretty bad fan-fiction. I'm tempted to blame McCaffrey: no matter how hard I try to like them, her books always rub me the wrong way. On the other hand, Elizabeth Moon is the exact opposite, I've reread several of her books and come away liking them better on a re-read than I did the first time (Paksennarrion et al).
Whomever is to blame, I cannot recommend this book to anyone except perhaps the die-hard McCafferey/Moon fan.
January 16, 2016
Reread..
October 18, 2022
Meh. There wasn’t really much here. It felt like too much tech, without it being really technical. That doesn’t make sense? I agree. Skip this one.
July 9, 2016
I wanted to rate this higher than I did... Sassinak starts out well, with a clear writing style, a strong story, and a sympathetic and capable heroine. She is competent, smart, and fair. I like that she befriends people that others have a prejudice against. I also like that she is relatively relaxed in her relationships. They start, and they end, and no fuss is needed on that account.
The reason I'm not rating this higher, is that I started missing more and more about the story, until I really couldn't quite follow in the last part of the book. Perhaps I was not reading carefully enough. On the other hand, I read this the same I read everything else. If I was less attentive at certain parts, it was because they were not interesting enough. In any case, I went back to certain parts when I got lost, and I still couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. What I did get is that the way the traitor on board was finally found came pretty much falling out of the sky. So I'd rate this 3.5 because of its good parts, but I'm rounding it off downwards.
The reason I'm not rating this higher, is that I started missing more and more about the story, until I really couldn't quite follow in the last part of the book. Perhaps I was not reading carefully enough. On the other hand, I read this the same I read everything else. If I was less attentive at certain parts, it was because they were not interesting enough. In any case, I went back to certain parts when I got lost, and I still couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. What I did get is that the way the traitor on board was finally found came pretty much falling out of the sky. So I'd rate this 3.5 because of its good parts, but I'm rounding it off downwards.
October 24, 2017
Once again I am disappointed by the newly published audiobook of an old favorite sf/f book. Maybe Audible Frontiers needs a bit more in their budget for narrators.
Ax Norman did an OK job of reading the book. He did not feature any differing voices for the different characters. Toward the end of the book he began to waver in how he pronounced names - maybe he was getting tired. And Mr Norman's rhythm varied a lot, sometimes fast when it should have been slow and vice-versa.
It was perhaps only my many re-readings of this book that made me hope for better, and that I differed with how Mr Norman chose to pronounce names. The title character in particular, I've always thought of as SASS-ih-nak, not Sah-SIN-ik. Sadly, we can't ask Ms McCaffrey.
I won't be buying any sequels as audiobooks, and definitely not any of Mr Norman's other recordings. In 2013, I've come to expect multiple voices, consistent pronunciations, and timing that suits the story.
Ax Norman did an OK job of reading the book. He did not feature any differing voices for the different characters. Toward the end of the book he began to waver in how he pronounced names - maybe he was getting tired. And Mr Norman's rhythm varied a lot, sometimes fast when it should have been slow and vice-versa.
It was perhaps only my many re-readings of this book that made me hope for better, and that I differed with how Mr Norman chose to pronounce names. The title character in particular, I've always thought of as SASS-ih-nak, not Sah-SIN-ik. Sadly, we can't ask Ms McCaffrey.
I won't be buying any sequels as audiobooks, and definitely not any of Mr Norman's other recordings. In 2013, I've come to expect multiple voices, consistent pronunciations, and timing that suits the story.
June 17, 2021
This is always a good story. Sassinak (I firmly believe this is a variant spelling of Sassenach, from the Scottish term for an English person, and therefore should be pronounced SASS-i-nak) is a strong, clever, smart young woman. Her early exposure to Abervest, a mentor, who becomes her guardian in her years at Fleet Academy, helps her in small and hugely-important ways. I love the way McCaffrey tied the Ireta books into this generational story of Sass and Lunzie, and how they dealt with the planet pirates.
September 11, 2022
Like many other reviewers I wish the last part had stayed on the cutting room floor, which is too bad, bc the rest of it was better than day Honor Harrington or similar.
Tropey and unpolished, but enjoyable enough.
Tropey and unpolished, but enjoyable enough.
September 11, 2024
This book is not very good. It reads like several short stories about the same character stuck together. It is very much a product of its time. The authors (like Heinlein) imagine a world with alternative (progressive?) attitudes to food, sex, gender and race (expressed here as alien races) in a bit of a heavy handed way. I think if I had read it as a young teen in the early 1980s I would have been stoked to see a girl space captain.
October 31, 2015
Amusingly enough, the first time I read this, I wasn't old enough to get the title reference. Love McCaffrey's femme-centric sf normally, but this is a little dry as space epics go.
April 11, 2019
I loved the first half of the story! But I felt at times that I missed some info during the last half!
February 11, 2024
Military science fiction
If you like military science fiction, you might enjoy this novel. To me it reads like sequential vignettes that loosely string together as a type of fictional biography of the FMC, from age 12 onwards, until she eventually becomes the commander of a spaceship. I found myself skimming just to get to the end. Not my cup of tea.
If you like military science fiction, you might enjoy this novel. To me it reads like sequential vignettes that loosely string together as a type of fictional biography of the FMC, from age 12 onwards, until she eventually becomes the commander of a spaceship. I found myself skimming just to get to the end. Not my cup of tea.
October 6, 2024
I tried really hard to get into this book. It seemed like it might be really action packed and interesting, but it just never got there. The characters are very flat and one-dimensional and the plot was pretty dry and boring. It had a few exciting moments, but I can't bring myself to read any more.
2/5 stars, DNF at ~50%
2/5 stars, DNF at ~50%
August 18, 2019
When I finished Sassinak, in only a few sittings, I knew I’d enjoyed it, but felt I’d grown out of it… or maybe it’s just my mood at present. Despite Sass growing up and becoming a 40-odd year old Captain/Commander, she still felt like a teen most of the times.
I think the hallmarks of Anne McCaffrey are all there – strong central female character, finding strong male partners to work with, but being too independent to tie them down for long… or are they coming back? But like many of AMC’s books, especially those in conjunction with Elizabeth Moon, it just ends, without there really being a climax. Maybe I’m looking for too much?
I can’t see me rushing for any of the later ones in the series… although I’d like to reread the Petaybee series some time.
A good lightweight scifi for someone in their teens or twenties
I think the hallmarks of Anne McCaffrey are all there – strong central female character, finding strong male partners to work with, but being too independent to tie them down for long… or are they coming back? But like many of AMC’s books, especially those in conjunction with Elizabeth Moon, it just ends, without there really being a climax. Maybe I’m looking for too much?
I can’t see me rushing for any of the later ones in the series… although I’d like to reread the Petaybee series some time.
A good lightweight scifi for someone in their teens or twenties
June 2, 2013
I can't believe I'm giving an Anne McCaffrey book two stars, but I have to. The last 50 or so pages left me baffled. I felt like I was reading something written in code. It just didn't make sense. Too little was explained for me to understand what was happening. The first two thirds to three quarters of the book was decent, if not masterful. The characters were a little flat. It would have made for decent sci-fi reading fodder, except the ending was unintelligible. Very disappointing since the messages it carries of equality among peoples, strong women are good women, etc., we need to see more of in our speculative fiction. I will continue to read the others in the series in the hope that McCaffery & Moon worked out the kinks in later books.
August 13, 2013
I don't think I've read Anne McCaffrey before. From the cover of some of her books I've seen I thought she was all about fantasy not so much sci-fi. But her writing with Elizabeth Moon worked really well. I've read Elizabeth's work before and loved the Vatta's War series. This book reminded me of that series but with a lot more sex. Although the sex is all behind closed door it's just that it's practically a given when people work together. I didn't see any of that in Elizabeth's previous books I read.
Enjoyable story. I'm planning on reading the rest of the seris.
Enjoyable story. I'm planning on reading the rest of the seris.
June 15, 2016
I read this one for r/Fantasy's Book Bingo. I picked it because I am a big fan of McCaffrey's Pern books and Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion. Both of them are fantastic authors, check them out! I'm afraid to report that this one didn't hold up as I had hoped. There were some jarring time shifts and deus ex machina going on at the end. There were plot issues that could have been solved with current technology; i.e. Apparently they don't have security cameras or DNA testing in the future.
October 5, 2021
A fun and interesting read from Anne McCaffrey. Divided into four parts, I found the first half---the slavers' attack gripping. After Sassinak's rescue, the other part of of the book is fairly conventional military SF. Still quite enjoyable. The ending was a bit rushed. Nevertheless, I still found it quite worth my time---acceptable for any reader over 16.
December 28, 2015
Such a awesome book that it stuck with me for years! Imagantive and way ahead of it's time!
March 5, 2017
Interesting and enthralling space opera.
December 13, 2024
By far, my most popular book review is for Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang where I admit my most reread scifi book is Sassinak. And while that is true, at this point it has been years since I've read it. And since I seem to be on something of an Elizabeth Moon streak, I thought I would pick it up and see what I thought of it now. I have to admit, there were so many of my favorite moments in books which I had forgotten were from this particular book. It is definitely not in my top ten best science ficiton books. I don't think it would be in anyone's. But it has a certain quality which makes it easy to read, totally engrossing, it reminds me of reading horse books in fifth grade. Do you remember? When you would get so lost in a book it was surprising to find yourself on your bed in your own room being called to an ordinary dinner by your mom. When just a moment before you were racing across the plateau with the wind in your hair and joy in your heart. (If you were never a 5th grade girl with a horse phase, I'm sorry for you.) Sassinak is made up of various books, the last of which is a crossover event which only makes sense if you've read the other series involved. If you have, you'll love this mashup. If you haven't, the last book will not work for you. I mean, you can muddle through, but it won't sing. There are so many truly great scifi books I have trouble recommending this one until you've read all those others. And yet it remains firmly planted in my heart and continues to be my personal most reread science fiction book.
July 21, 2022
Sassinak is the series starter in Planet Pirates. Scifi, space opera, military, action.
1POV, 3rd person, past tense. This kindle edition 336 pages, 12th December 2012.
I read this ages ago as print several times, remember it fondly. I had a chance to reread as e-book and enjoyed a lot. I used to read all the McCaffreys and Moons. Great fun. The end part of the book seems a bit a bore these days, but all in all - a great read to my taste still. I'm going to continue with the third title in the series. I remember I loved that a lot, too.
1POV, 3rd person, past tense. This kindle edition 336 pages, 12th December 2012.
I read this ages ago as print several times, remember it fondly. I had a chance to reread as e-book and enjoyed a lot. I used to read all the McCaffreys and Moons. Great fun. The end part of the book seems a bit a bore these days, but all in all - a great read to my taste still. I'm going to continue with the third title in the series. I remember I loved that a lot, too.
May 23, 2019
A very fun read by 2 great female authors. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It was a lot of fun and a lighter read than the Honor Harrington series, which I did not enjoy nearly as much. This is a light read that carries you through the life of the title character covering 30 years from her being captured and enslaved as a child to her first command aboard a Fleet Cruiser.
November 5, 2023
Listened. This was a not-great-but-mostly-OK 2 stars for much of the first 2/3, but man did it degenerate exponentially through to the end. The last 1/3 was a confusing, unorganized soup of random revelations and plot-resolutions with no connection to the earlier text, and some of the most eye-roll-inducing, jaw-droppingly bad sexual innuendo I've ever read.
November 24, 2025
Hated the first half, almost didn't finish, then the end turned it into a strong "meh" read. Not good, not bad, but if I could go back in time and read something different instead I probably would
July 29, 2022
I think I'm finally coming to grips with the fact that distopian-esque futuristic space stories are not my cup of tea. I have only the vaguest desire to continue the trilogy to see what happens next.
August 24, 2017
This has got to be one of the worst books ever written. The characters are so flat they barely exist and the story is so predictable that McCaffrey must have just sat copied a high school writing course word for word.
August 6, 2017
Enjoyed
Enjoyed the read. I'm not sure when it was written but it seemed to be full of some SF tropes. Liked it and will continue to read the series. On to book 2!
Enjoyed the read. I'm not sure when it was written but it seemed to be full of some SF tropes. Liked it and will continue to read the series. On to book 2!
May 11, 2023
For older sci fi I found this to be a fun exploration of how a sci fi society worked. Grounded in an Alien-like corporate aesthetic and coupled with Star Trek's ideal that the 'military' should work for mankind – well, at least in the eyes of the main character – the setting is easy to jump in to and figure out without reams of exposition...But it's an Elizabeth Moon book. So there is reams of exposition anyway.
I love books filled with the small details of how sci fi/fantasy everyday life works, especially when coupled with training scenarios, and this fills that niche really well. Sass is learning and training for the first two 'books' of the story, both as a slave and in a military academy, and the remaining story has a nice focus on how a space ship is run. There's definitely less descriptions of walking places than in The Deed of Paksenarrion (Moon's better known series) but the story does interrupt plots just so Sass can get an IUD or make a friend.
For every small detail, though, it feels like a larger bit of exposition is missing. Alien races receive the vaguest description; events are skipped over mid narrative, especially in book four; and characters are introduced with a book worth of backstory...that happens off page. It feels like the authors became bored with the story once Sassinak herself became a fully realised person and stopped having to grow. Part of this is probably due to the world being so connected to other series – McCaffrey's 'Dinosaur Planet' sits firmly in this universe and connects with the end of this book, and other books in the series were being written at the same time. It's hard to present information that might be or is covered elsewhere again...Except this is presented as a whole new series.
Sassinak is an enjoyable story if you don't mind your sci fi being more of a walk through a world with a single character than an action filled adventure. It was fun, too, to see how the styles of two of my favourite authors interacted – Moon talked about the troubles of the collaboration to Kate Macdonald on her blog and I wish there was a joint interview that survived on the internet from the 90s but alas.
I love books filled with the small details of how sci fi/fantasy everyday life works, especially when coupled with training scenarios, and this fills that niche really well. Sass is learning and training for the first two 'books' of the story, both as a slave and in a military academy, and the remaining story has a nice focus on how a space ship is run. There's definitely less descriptions of walking places than in The Deed of Paksenarrion (Moon's better known series) but the story does interrupt plots just so Sass can get an IUD or make a friend.
For every small detail, though, it feels like a larger bit of exposition is missing. Alien races receive the vaguest description; events are skipped over mid narrative, especially in book four; and characters are introduced with a book worth of backstory...that happens off page. It feels like the authors became bored with the story once Sassinak herself became a fully realised person and stopped having to grow. Part of this is probably due to the world being so connected to other series – McCaffrey's 'Dinosaur Planet' sits firmly in this universe and connects with the end of this book, and other books in the series were being written at the same time. It's hard to present information that might be or is covered elsewhere again...Except this is presented as a whole new series.
Sassinak is an enjoyable story if you don't mind your sci fi being more of a walk through a world with a single character than an action filled adventure. It was fun, too, to see how the styles of two of my favourite authors interacted – Moon talked about the troubles of the collaboration to Kate Macdonald on her blog and I wish there was a joint interview that survived on the internet from the 90s but alas.
May 10, 2016
Sassinak is the story of a 12 year old child whose whole life was turned upside down when her planet was raided by pirates and she was stolen into slavery. Once trained in as a pilot she was sold off to the highest bidder and forced to pilot other slave trader and pirate spacecraft until one fate fulled day, the ship she was on was captured and she was set free by the terran fleet. The information she had been given by another captured fleet officer lead them back to where she had been imprisoned and all those stolen from her planet were set free.
Once free and adopted by the fleet officer she helped rescue, Sassinak began her life as a trainee and cadet in the Terran Fleet, training to become an officer so she would go back one day and find everyone who was responsible for the pirate and slave trade in the galaxy.
Sassinak is a strong, disciplined woman who has taken everything she was ever taught in life and used it to mold her character, her skills and her ability to lead as a Fleet captain. Now with her own ship, she is on the hunt for pirates and slave traders and get a whole load of adventure along the way.
I enjoyed the story and the cross over of characters from other books written by Anne McCaffrey. It definately held a strong sense of going somewhere and the tension and conflict made the going very interesting, but I struggled with the way the story was told. I think because there was so much in the life of the main character that needed telling, it was written by telling what happened rather than describing to the reader what the character's were thinking or feeling at any point. It felt a little too impersonal and felt like brush strokes of story. I didn't really feel being immersed in the story with Sanninak as she was living through everything.
This surprised me as I know that both authors who collaborated on this Planet Pirates sci-fi series have written fantastic science fiction with strong female lead characters, so I expected much more from them in this series.
3.5 out of 5 stars for Sassinak, the first in the Planet Pirates series. I don't think I'll be reading anymore in the series, just didn't hold my attention well enough.
Once free and adopted by the fleet officer she helped rescue, Sassinak began her life as a trainee and cadet in the Terran Fleet, training to become an officer so she would go back one day and find everyone who was responsible for the pirate and slave trade in the galaxy.
Sassinak is a strong, disciplined woman who has taken everything she was ever taught in life and used it to mold her character, her skills and her ability to lead as a Fleet captain. Now with her own ship, she is on the hunt for pirates and slave traders and get a whole load of adventure along the way.
I enjoyed the story and the cross over of characters from other books written by Anne McCaffrey. It definately held a strong sense of going somewhere and the tension and conflict made the going very interesting, but I struggled with the way the story was told. I think because there was so much in the life of the main character that needed telling, it was written by telling what happened rather than describing to the reader what the character's were thinking or feeling at any point. It felt a little too impersonal and felt like brush strokes of story. I didn't really feel being immersed in the story with Sanninak as she was living through everything.
This surprised me as I know that both authors who collaborated on this Planet Pirates sci-fi series have written fantastic science fiction with strong female lead characters, so I expected much more from them in this series.
3.5 out of 5 stars for Sassinak, the first in the Planet Pirates series. I don't think I'll be reading anymore in the series, just didn't hold my attention well enough.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 243 reviews