Restoree

ANNE MCCAFFREY

Goodreads synopsis: SHE WAS A RESTOREE

KIDNAPPED  Torn from Earth by a bizarre and nameless black force, Sara had no idea where she was or why she was in a beautiful new body...

ENSLAVED  Controlled by brutal guards and tamed by terror, she could not comprehend her role as a nurse for a man who appeared to be an idiot...

AWAKENED  But once she discovered that the plane she had been brought to was Lothar and that the man she was caring for was its Regent, Sara knew they had to escape -- and fast.

And when they did, they became fugitives on a world of multiple evils -- bound together on a daring adventure that would either join them for all time...or separate them forever!

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Del Rey Books, 1982.

How acquired: Book Mooch.

First line: The only warning of danger I had was a disgusting wave of dead sea-creature stench.

My thoughts: When I was young, late teens/early twenties I think, I devoured all of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, but I never read any of her other books. About ten years ago I did read one of her non-science fiction/fantasy books, THE LADY, which I enjoyed. But after starting a reread of the Pern books, I decided I wanted to branch out and began collecting everything of hers I could find. RESTOREE was her first published novel, so it seemed like the perfect place to start.

The writing put me in mind of Mary Stewart, though I haven't read anything by Stewart in several years. Sara is walking in Central Park one minute, then the next minute she is nursemaid to a nearly catatonic man on a different planet, with her memories of the events in between hazy. For the first part of the book I was completely captivated as Sara becomes more aware of her surroundings and the man she is caring for, and then as she and Harlan escape from a sanitarium and travel to (relative) safety. After that, some of the fascination wore off as Sara found herself involved in the politics surrounding Harlan. But towards the end it picked up again, and overall I really enjoyed it.

I'm on a quest now to read all of Ms. McCaffrey's other books, preferably in publication order, which should probably take me about ten years or so!