Series:

The Acorna

7 primary works • 11 total works

Book 1

Cover of Acorna

Acorna

by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball

Published 11 June 1997
Three old space mining prospectors in their beat-up space ship discover a small pod floating in space. Inside is a tiny girl child, with funny little hooves, a wealth of silver hair growing on her body, and a lump in the middle of her forehead which, as time elapses, grows into a horn. It is a sort of unicorn.

When the old prospectors come to sell their ores on the home planet controversy breaks out. Bureaucrats want to put her in a home and cut off her deformity, scientists want to study her and isolate her, and so the old three kidnap her back on their ship and go roaring off round the universe, having adventures, saving her, and finally having her save all the child slaves on a terrible planet called Kezdet. It is space opera at it's best and will be followed by more in the series, no doubt tracing Acorna to her home planet.

Book 2

Cover of Acorna's Quest

Acorna's Quest

by Anne McCaffrey

Published 3 June 1998

Book 3

Cover of Acorna's People
Welcome home, Linyaari child!' Acorna's quest has paid off. With the help of her 'uncles' and the thousands of humans who love and admire her, she has found her true people at last. And they have found her - Khornya, daughter of the illustrious Feriila and the valiant Vaanye, who was given up for lost after the insect-like Khleevi destroyed their home planet. Abandoned in space as a baby, rescued and raised by gruff human asteroid miners, Acorna is at last among her own. The beautiful healing horn in the center of her forehead and the funny feet and hands that once set her apart now make her one with the telepathic Linyaari, who live on a lush agrarian planet where they pursue their peaceful dreams. Acorna's people welcome her with a lavish costume ball - and an already-chosen mate! But Acorna still has much to do before she can enjoy the home she is offered. The legendary resting place of the lost Linyaari ancestors has yet to be found. With the help of the rogue spacetrader Becker and his cat, RK (RoadKill), Acorna must strive to right an unspeakable wrong and defeat an enemy even more cruel than the Khleevi themselves.
In the search, Acorna and her new friends rescue another survivor, also given up for lost. Most importantly though, Acorna at last uncovers the Universe's most carefully guarded secret - the true nature of the ancient link between the hoofed, telepathic Linyaari and the space-faring humans she has come to think of as her people as well. In all literature, there is no creature more wondrous, no girl more beautiful, no youth more adventurous than Anne McCaffrey's beloved Unicorn Girl. Acorna and Acorna's Quest told of her childhood and early youth. Now award-winning author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough joins Anne McCaffrey to continue the saga of this beloved character in a story that will delight every fan and win new hearts too. Acorna's People is a story for readers of all ages - especially those who have not yet lost (or who still remember) the magic that lives in the hearts of the young.

Book 4

Cover of Acorna's World
Although she has made peace with her Linyaari heritage, Acorna knows that only by returning to the frozen stillness of space will she ever feel truly at home.

Book 5

Cover of Acorna's Search

Acorna's people, the Linyaari, are once more without a home. Though they survived the brutal attack from the cold-blooded Khleevi, the battle left their planet, narhii-Vhiliinyar, horribly scarred. Banding together, the Linyaari decide to rebuild both narhii-Vhiliinyar and their original homeworld, Vhiliinyar. But just as work begins to get under way Linyaari begin mysteriously disappearing - including Acorna's lifemate, Aari.

Searching for Aari, Acorna makes an astonishing discovery: the remains of the subterranean world of the legendary Friends - a technologically advanced society that populated Vhiliinyar before the time of the Ancestors. What happened to the Friends? Where did they go and why has so little remained of their society? Acorna knows that to save Aari and the rest of the missing Linyaari she must begin to seek the answers - a quest that will once again take her deep into the realms of space to find the origins of her people...

Book 6

Cover of Acorna's Rebels

Acorna's people, the Linyaari, have started to reclaim their homeworld from the ravages of the brutal alien Khleevi. But the expedition has unlocked a larger mystery about the origins of the Linyaari people - one that has led Aari, Acorna's lifemate, into a dangerous journey through time and space.

Now Acorna, joined by Captain Becker, Mac, Nadhari, and RK, sets off on a mission to save her beloved Aari. But a crash landing brings the crew to the exotic jungle world of Makahomia, home of the mysterious Temple Cats. Beautiful and barbaric, Makahomia has been blockaded for years to protect itself - and the Federation.

Racing to save the Temple Cats from a deadly disease, Acorna uncovers a plot to destroy the sacred felines and exploit Makahomia's people, and finds herself leading a small band of rebels determined to stop the conspiracy - a quest that takes them into the hidden sanctuaries of that world. But within one sacred shrine Acorna discovers shocking information that may lead to Aari...or to disaster.

Book 7

Cover of Acorna's Triumph
In Acorna's Triumph, Acorna faces her most difficult challenge ever. She has defeated slavers, a deadly international conspiracy, and the vicious alien Khleevi, only to endure the loss of her beloved Aari, distant in both time and space. Now, finally, Aari has returned, and together they can finish rebuilding their home world. But Aari is oddly changed, to the point where he barely remembers Acorna - much less their love - and his actions grow more and more sinister... As Acorna tries to stop a vicious criminal from destroying innocents, a new complication arises. Sensing the Linyaari weakness, the deadly Khleevi return, determined to take back the planet-for good. In this dark time, it will take all of the unicorn girl's courage and determination to rescue Aari and stop the alien menace once and for all.

Cover of Third Watch

Cover of First Warning

Cover of Acorna's Children: Second Wave

Khorii, the rebellious daughter of the near-mythic Acorna and her lifemate, Aari, must contend with an overwhelming legacy to forge a path of her own through a universe filled with new adversaries and adventure.

In First Warning, she became a hero in her own right as she fought to save the universe from a mysterious plague that not even the healing powers of the Linyaari could stop. Now she and her genius android 'brother' must find the malevolent cause of the deadly disease before those behind it cripple the star system.

Cover of Acorna's Children: Third Watch
Khorii, the rebellious daughter of the near-mythic Acorna and her lifemate, Aari, has followed in Acorna's footsteps leading their people from danger, but the pressure to succeed and fulfill a legacy is tremendous. For the deadly foe that has ravaged the known worlds and weakened even her famous parents has launched its final assault, and only Khorii and her newly discovered sister, Ariin, are able to stop the brutal attack. But success is elusive, and fragile, and even time itself may not be enough to help their desperate quest to save their family...much less the universe.