Creepiest Cradle-snatcher?

[Kath]

Sascha Roznine knew he was falling for Tirla when she was twelve. Afra Lyon had an unrequited thing for the Rowan which transferred to Damia almost from the start. Other Talents were often at risk from the attentions of mysterious mature strangers - Sodan, for instance, or Prince Phannibal.


So, whose attraction was the least appropriate?

How does this relate to Anne's apparent attitudes towards female sexuality in her fiction - that a 'good' woman should be safely married off (or the closest equivalent when it comes to pern or the Ship books) if she's to indulge in carnal relations without becoming an Evil Antagonist?

Does Damia's succession of sexual angst issues and relatively early partnering to Afra reflect Anne's more realistic portrayal of teen sexuality in later novels, which still had to be countered by a youthful safe marriage?

How much leeway should there be in the Talent books given the nature of mind-to-mind contact involving the characters? Contrast this with other books involving psi-powers, e.g. Julian May's Galactic Milieu trilogy (which has a wonderfully believable range of sexual relationships and characters) or Bradley's Darkover novels (where no-one can screw anyone without the prospect of future angst). What about other books I haven't mentioned?


Please share your thoughts!



[Inspired by a recent re-read of Pegasus in Flight, during which I revisited my frustration at Anne's incredibly limited range of options for female relationships.]

[Bamy]

Phannibal is by far the creepiest, mainly because of his tendencies, but marriage wise I would say Sasha. Afra waited until Damia 'saw' him.

[Kath]

Another question: would the Sascha/Tirla plotline have been more obviously creepy to the readers if one of the books two major plotlines hadn't been busting a pederast ring?

And is a (future, in Tirla's case) mature and sexy telepathic lover the Talent equivalent of a flying telepathic pony *cough* I mean dragon for the teenage female part of the reading demographic?

[Bamy]

Probably

:giggle:

[Keita]

Sascha Roznine, definitely. Afra wasn't in love with Damia until she hit 16, and even then, he waited. Sascha on the other hand...okay, so he too waited, but still...it did creep me out. Falling in LOVE with a 12 year old? What is there to fall in love WITH at that age?

A more conventional "huge age gap" thing occured in David Eddings's "Elenium" novels...only in reverse. Queen Ehlana set her cap for Sir Sparhawk when she was 6 and hunted him relentlessly, not even considering any other choice until she had him caught. Poor Sparhawk didn't have a chance! :giggle:

[spellwight]

How weird is it that I just finished reading those Pegasus books, too?

Sascha did have (conveniently his one and only) precog of marrying Tirla. When you know the outcome, why wait? And "Tirla was never young." I found it more interesting that she completely dropped off the map. How did she adapt to the family atmosphere when she went to the foster family? What sort of career, if any, did she have as an adult? The entire second book is about these kids and then it was like Anne said eenie-meenie and Peter gets a life, and Tirla gets marriage and twins. What a waste. Or, as you say, no imagination for other opportunities for women.

[Kath]

How weird is it that I just finished reading those Pegasus books, too?

Yeah, that is weird!

Sascha did have (conveniently his one and only) precog of marrying Tirla. When you know the outcome, why wait?

To avoid stifling their growth? A pre-cog of a marriage doesn't rule out a later divorce (except in Anne-land...)

I found it more interesting that she completely dropped off the map. How did she adapt to the family atmosphere when she went to the foster family? What sort of career, if any, did she have as an adult? The entire second book is about these kids and then it was like Anne said eenie-meenie and Peter gets a life, and Tirla gets marriage and twins. What a waste. Or, as you say, no imagination for other opportunities for women.

Indeed.

Actually, there's some pretty decent Talent fanfic out there, for those people who are into fanfic. Here's the author's link. (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/97624/Portalvast_Magus)

[granath]

Sasha was worse than Afra, for reasons already said above. However, one shouldn't forget that he was a precog, and didn't fall in love with the 12 year old. He fell in love with the future young woman, and while 16 is pretty young for our standards, Tirla had been responsible for keeping herself fed, clean, healthy and alive since her pre-teens. So the standards we'd apply to a pampered teen who's barely let out of her parents' sight unless she's at school certainly don't apply. Standards in developing countries are closer, and in many cultures a 16 year old girl is in her prime when it comes to catching a husband.

[persephone]

It's pretty creepy in both cases, though. I went with Sasscha because Afra fell in love with a 15 year old, not a twelve year old. Still.