The Planet Pirates

Planet Pirates #1-3

by Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon, Jody Lynn Nye

THE PLANET PIRATES ENSLAVED SASSINAK AND DESTROYED HER WORLD...A FATAL MISTAKE! The Planet Pirates traces the careers of two remarkable women, and a few men, Fordelition, Dupaynil, Aygar. Sassinak escaped from slavery to freedom, and then used that freedom to fight the evil that had wrecked her world, first as a cadet, later as a captain, and finally as an Admiral of the Fleet. Lunzie, one of the galaxy's greatest healers, is Sassinak's great-grandmother, but in actual years she is her junior; Lunzie spent nearly a century in coldsleep waiting for rescue when her ship was destroyed. Imagine their mutual surprise when Sassinak rescued her. How together Sassinak and Lunzie save first a world, and then a confederation of worlds, and almost in passing establish amity between the genetically engineered Heavy Worlders and normal humanity, is the story of The Planet Pirates.

Contents:
* The Death of Sleep [Planet Pirates • 2] (1990) / novel by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye: Like every other citizen of the Federation of Sentient PLanets, Lunzie Mespil knew the so-called 'planet pirates" were capable of terrible things. But,also like every other citizen of the Federation, she never in her heart of hearts believed anything would happen to her. When pirates attack the space liner in which she is a passenger Lunzie didn't panic. She kept her head, made it to a lifeboat and she isn't too worried; she will spend a month or two in cryogenic stasis awaiting inevitable rescue, and the proceed with her life. Only it might not be a month or two.
* Sassinak [Planet Pirates • 1] (1990) / novel by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon: 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.
* Generation Warriors [Planet Pirates • 3] (1991) / novel by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon: The list of people who will save the galaxy is not a long one, but together the might and wisdom of them cannot be thwarted. Lunzie, Fordelition, Dupaynil, Aygar and Sassinak work to stop disaster.

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Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space, Military Fiction

890 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Anne 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.

Reviews

[uh8myzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up without any real thought at a time when I was having to travel six hours on a train twice a week. I was waiting for the train and had finished the book I was reading, so I needed another, and so, with very little to spare, I grabbed it. I had only read one book (Nimisha's Ship) at this point, and had liked it, and I could not find anything else in the train station store that was even remotely interesting, so with no time left, I grabbed it and I'm glad I did!

One of the things I tend to enjoy most in a novel is well developed characters and Anne McCaffrey is excellent at this. I was hooked on the first book and read the entire Omnibus through in just a few sittings. This impulse buy turned out to be a blessing, and I have since lent it to friends who all say the same thing... Awesome.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep, this is the one I own. Love these stories.

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was..... disappointing to say the least. I did like it, but the ending wrapped up too neatly and certainly much too quickly.

As I child, I absolutely knew who Anne McCaffrey was; scifi fantasy has always been a favored genre. However, as voracious a reader as I was, I somehow managed to read Pern almost exclusively when I was devoting any time to her at all among the myriad of other authors I had discovered. Her other series I have read are Catteni, Crystalsinger and some of Petaybee. That there were other works was just a vague notion so when I came across The Ireta Adventure I was quite happy to settle down with it and much enjoyed it. This, of course, led to the discovery of Planet Pirates. I was excited to learn more of Lunzie and meet Sassinak.

Reality, however, did not merge with expectation. Lunzie spent so much time sleeping that she stayed quite flat even with all the time we spent in her head. I must say I didn’t like her much for all that I wanted to. As for Sassinak, her I did enjoy meeting and wanted to know more of so that odd twenty year gap in her career was disappointing. There were inconsistencies, contradictions and other gaps noted throughout all three books where things just happened and because there was no lead in it was completely out of left field.

However, the biggest disappointment for me was as I already mentioned: the hurried ending. This omnibus is almost 900 pages long and the ending was wrapped up in less than 50. That it was so rushed left it all a bit of a muddle with unanswered questions other than the knowledge that the pirates were, of course, routed.

[Robert Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

+++Three complete novels make up this trilogy: The Death of Sleep, Sassinak & Generation Warriors. A terrific space opera following the life and cold sleeps of Lunzie Mespil. She never saw her daughter Fiona again after she left her with a reliable friend to take a job necessary to give them food & shelter. The mining platform on which she is working as medical doctor is struck by an asteroid and she enters her first cold sleep lasting over 60 years. Once again working as a medical doctor with an exploratory expedition she is involved with a mutiny and again goes into cold sleep for over 35 years. The Fleet Cruiser which is involved in her rescue & revival is the Zaid-Dayan commanded by her great-great-great granddaughter Sassinak who is older than Lunzie in real (awake) time. Sass has gone through her own life of trials by constantly striving and always believing in herself, an attitude given her by her foster father and mentor Abe. Orphaned and enslaved by planet pirates Sass was able to survive because Abe who was also a slave instructed her in how to do so. Then when they were freed he arranged for her to be educated and enrolled at the Fleet Academy. Finally the entire crew & friends: Sass, Ford, Arly, Tim, Dupaynil, Aygar, Admiral Coromell, the underground dispossessed, student idealists and Fleur all helped to circumvent and invasion by a Seti fleet, clean out a totally corrupt system of government, find justice and reparation for heavy worlders and other oppressed minorities.+++

[Susan Sarabasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this 3 book collection.
Sorry to have it end, actually.
Pirates, heavyworlders, cold sleep and great strong women.
The first book was written by Anne and Jody Lynn Nye. Excellent collaboration.
The second and third were by Anne and Elizabeth Moon. One can tell the second is Elizabeth’s early writing as there are some gaps and odd jumps in style and continuity.
However by the third book, Elizabeth has hit her stride. Didn’t want to leave those folks I had grown to know and like.

[David Groves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a little difficult at first. It starts off slow and boring, but picks up pace as you go. If you stick with it, Anne McCaffrey paints a vivid picture in your mind, a sprawling universe that has so much storytelling potential. After reading this McCaffrey quickly became one of my favorite authors.

[Douglas Milewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

In good news, this book unites all the Planet Pirates book. That's the only good news. I hope that you bought it used, because if you bought it new, you're going to hate yourself. If you've read ten pages, then you know what you're getting info, so if you don't like the beginning, know that it gets no better.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own almost every book Anne McCaffrey wrote. She had a gift for creating engaging characters that made the plot sing. This series, co-written with Jody Lynn Nye and Elizabeth Moon, is great. If you haven't read it, hopefully your public library will have them.

[Robert Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a detailed review and chat check out:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC82t...

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, good read for all writers. You will feel buoyed and validated in Goldberg’s hands.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I completely change my mind on a series, so want to change my scoring down a lot)

3.5* -- Just re-read the series (January 2026). -- Book 1 I still rate at 4*, but the next two lose points due to weird world building choices and the timeline not making sense. (I clearly forgot these points when I was going through adding books I recalled liking!)

World-building = eating of animal flesh (including fish, but unlike animal flesh authorities 'look the other way') is prohibited, its a main plot point throughout the books. Fine, this works, but what doesn't make sense is wearing of / using animal hide / fur is fine as is hunting and fishing. --- Um, as a vegetarian that makes no sense! It's wasteful to not eat the meat and honestly I'm more inclined to give 'hunting for the table' a pass, than trophy hunters.

Timeline = the length of time that Lunzie was in coldsleep on the planet, 43 years, doesn't work because Sassinak is said to be 10 years older than Lunzie's physical age of 36. It's Lunzie who uses the term sassenach to Lona, who is clearly Sassinak's mother, when talking about her own mother. Lunzie who loaned Lona and her boyfriend the money to be able to join a mining colony... That's why Lona named her daughters as she did, Lunzie helped her escape to the life she wanted. But 43 years is less than Sass' age and length for pregnancy / time to travel to the planet even if they tried for a child as soon as they got there.
Also the planet coldsleep being say 53 years, not 43 also works better with only one mutineer still being alive, and two generations born on the planet.

First time read the author's work?: No

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes -- One of my favourite authors, I tend to rate her series at 4 or 5 stars.

--------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took a break from reading Elizabeth Moon's Familias Regnant series to read this, because in a way it was (I speculate) the inspiration for the Familias Regnant series - spaceships and high society. (In space.) Sassinak, the middle book, was one I enjoyed a great deal when I was younger. I'm honestly not sure if I'd ever read The Death of Sleep or Generation Warriors before. I want to say yes, but I'm not sure. Overall: I think this was good but terrible, if that makes any sense. Some of the characters were interesting in the sense of not being too perfect. But they were very irritating, and the wrapup seemed a little too pat. Addressing each book specifically:

The Death of Sleep - So much of this is having to be inside Lunzie's head and deal with her bigotry/fear toward heavyworlders. (People who have been genetically modified to live on high-gravity worlds.) It's kind of ... awful, really. Probably realistic, but not pleasant.

Sassinak - The title character is kind of a badass Sue, if there is such a thing. Skipping over ~20 years, from her first cruise as an ensign to her becoming the captain of a cruiser, was kind of disappointing. And the scene on the bridge where she's reminding her executive officer/lover that he's seen her nightmares in front of the whole bridge crew made me cringe.

Generation Warriors - I hate to admit that parts of this were boring and I just wanted it to end, but I did. Some characters who previously weren't that well developed were used as viewpoint characters, and I don't think it worked well.

[Kat Heatherington · Rating 2 out of 5]

i remember really enjoying these when i was 12 or 13, and i think they probably were good for me at that age. unfortunately, they don't stand up as novels for adults. Sassinak and Generation Warriors both have some excellent character development (and some less-excellent as well, but all the viewpoint characters are very well composed, and several others), the writing is still fairly inattentive and simplistic. scenes lack transitions, and too much is glossed over too quickly. the whole thing reads like it was written on a deadline. and (SPOILER ALERT) the ending of all three of these novels is a flat-out deus ex machina, with the alien Thek taking the place of god in the machine. ker-chunk. well, the Thek are here and they just did everything to wrap up those bad guys, so i guess we all get to go celebrate some personal growth now, ta da. VERY flat ending, particularly of Generation Warriors, which was otherwise the best of the lot in terms of plotting.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

In it's own genre.

The Planet Pirates Omnibus is a prime example of the Sci-Fi section in a underfunded library, in it's own separate spinning metal rack, deemed unworthy of placement among the shelves. The often musty paperbacks that fill this section are often science fiction stories from the 80s and 90s that lack serious world building, plausibility or grimness of today's novels, but are endearing all the same. Ethan of Athos would be another example of this subgenre.

I picked this omnibus up randomly during a vacation and read it cover to cover within the week. Once you look past the the obvious violations of physics (indeed that is the point!) it becomes an excellent example of a story where the world/society/universe isn't doomed by the machinations of technology, aliens, or our own miscalculations or stupidity.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have much more to say about this series than what I wrote about the individual books. Plagued by wordiness, a society and philosophy that no longer seems relevant or interesting, and characters who don't seem to act or feel real; a storyline that is not nearly ambitious enough, boring and bogged down in details; writing that makes these respected and experienced storytellers feel like rank amateurs. I think I'm just not cut out to enjoy McCaffrey's books, but I'm sure some people are. The same goes for Elizabeth Moon. However I can only give my opinion based upon my own reading of their books, so take it for what it is: I can't recommend this series to anyone except perhaps avid fans of Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to find this at a used book store because I recently discovered the short Dinosaur Planet series and, as this has some of the same characters, I was looking forward to reading more. Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet up to expectations. The ending wrapped up WAY too fast, especially after reading all this build-up from the first two books, intrigue, plots, galaxy-wide conspiracies.....and then in a chapter, it's over. Some parts were fun to read and it mostly held my attention. All in all, as a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, it was nice to branch out and read some of her other works, but I probably won't be picking this up again anytime soon.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness it's over; should not have been the thought mainly going through my head.

While these books did offer a different (one might even say better) perspective on Dinosaur Planet/Dinosaur Planet Survivors; most mysteries were tied up nicely, and the ending is satisfying enough in regards to that - still, there was so much that could have been done here with the two main characters that simply was not.

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy came from the Rio Grande Valley Library system. City of Albuquerque. Hardback. The story came together too smoothly. An Ann feature. The first part was too touch feely. A Jody feature. The last parts were very martial. An Elizabeth feature. Cheesy as and yet a ripping yarn. So many future branches explored. 890 pages of good read.

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, yet long novel. Ups and downs. It has nostalgic points for me. I finished it! Nothing too amazing. Some interesting themes, pretty standard sci-fi plot. I started this is 6th grade and then put it down to finish 5 years after I graduated from college. Go figure.

[Martina the Book Fairy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omnibus containing 1)Sassinak 2)Generation Warriors & 3)The Death of Sleep.

This is one of my favorite space opera series of all time! Fans of space opera should definitely make this a priority and fans of futuristic romance author Linnea Sinclair should give it a try, too.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three books in one, which saves time trying to track them down individually. I really liked the two main characters and their stories. My only complaint is that the last book felt rushed and could have been written better. On the whole though it was entertaining and fun.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Planet Pirates
McCaffrey, Anne
a compilation of the series including many of the adventures of Sassaki and her historical expanse over generations, and how she fought against the people who tried to take over the universe.

[Sally Studley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad and depressing, it was so realistic. Got you into the main character's plight very seemlessly. I love Anne McCaffrey's writing style, and this does not disappoint. Just be prepared, it is not sunshine and rainbows. It is far more realistic science fiction.

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notice I rated this fat book lower than the individual stories, While it is nice to get all three together it is to wordy. However the only copy of Book Two in the Norfolk Library system is this one so I had to check it out.

[Opal · Rating 3 out of 5]

another one of those books where I like the world more than the actual story.

[Naomi]

very interesting series. i love sci-fi, and strong female lead characters. this was very interesting to read.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Sci-Fi books of all time.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK

[Norman Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Passable space opera"," in the same universe as McCaffrey's "Dinosaur Planet" novels

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

over all a decent action flick that kept me on my toes during my morning commute. love the development of the characters and how we got to see them grow