This book ends a series even as it sets a new stage. Pegasus in Space is the final book in The Talents series by Anne McCaffrey. It picks up not long after the end of the previous book with the building of the Padrugoi Space Station coming to a close. Peter is still working on training his skill and talents as he starts dreaming of working in space, helping to grow the future expansion of humanity. At the same time Amariyah is an orphan girl who was rescued from the flooding in India and seems to have an unknown talent, though she is rather obsessed with her gardening. As each works on exploring their talents they are subtly guided by older talents to push the boundaries of what was thought possible as each continues to grow older and more skilled. Together they may just push humanity into a brand new frontier with unknown boundaries and with an even brighter future.
This book brings to an end the storyline focused on the growth of the talents and their ability to be a functioning part of society. With the explosive growth of Peter’s skills we see how they are setting up for an incredible future for humanity that is heavily reliant on this skillset. It creates an interesting premise for a world, this idea that parapsychic skills are not only believed in but are viewed as normal and even valuable all while within a fairly normal and stereotypical world. I really like the idea and the way this world functions. One of the things that was really interesting is just how diverse these skills can be. Amariyah’s skill is rather interesting but also rather unusual so it really highlights the diversity and power level of these skills. However, even this story that is set in a world where these powers are accepted still pushes the notion that these powers are based in part in belief. Peter must believe in his own strength but also must be pushed to accept that there are no boundaries to what he can do. Limits seem to be predominantly self-applied so it creates this interesting set up for how the talents work. I think this creates a pretty unique setting and culture for the story. Another thing that I found rather fascinating is the genre of the story. It is obviously science-fiction due to its focus on expanding space exploration but it does so almost exclusively by pushing for expanded use of these talents and their skills rather than on continuing to improve spacecraft and other similar resources. You don’t typically see science-fiction based around exploring space without a lot of spaceships yet there is relatively few in this story and few of them move around on their own. I like how this is all blended together to create such an interesting story. However, we also see a lot of character growth in this book though as we see Peter continue to grow in skill but also in maturity as he comes into his own over the course of the book. He ends up being able to do things that would not have been thought possible for the version of Peter that we met in the previous book in the series. There is a lot of fascinating elements in this story that made it really enjoyable to read. I am happy giving it four out of five stars.
This is a science-fiction novel primarily aimed at an adult audience. If you happen to be a reader who enjoys science-fiction then I recommend you consider trying this book as it is pretty good. Keep in mind that it is the third book in the series and you should probably consider reading the previous two first. It probably would not be required but it would definitely be helpful if you did. In terms of age range this book is aimed at adults but there is nothing in it content wise that would make it unsuitable for young adult or teen readers. There is little violence or other potentially mature content though there are some rather oblique and subtle references at times. Nothing that should be a problem though. The book itself is good and I did enjoy reading it so I hope you will consider reading it though it probably won’t hold a lot of appeal for readers who don’t enjoy science-fiction. As always feel free to share your thoughts about the book in the comments.