The Books
THE TWINS OF PETAYBEE SERIES
Changelings, Book 1 Twins of Petaybee series (YA)
ISBN-13: 9780345470034 Random House
Publishers Weekly
Those familiar with McCaffrey and Scarborough's first SF trilogy about life on the sentient planet Petaybee will best appreciate this solid start of a new series, which picks up where Power Play (1995) left off. Murel and Ronan, the precocious twins born to Maj. Yanaba Maddock-Shongili, administrator of Petaybee, and geneticist/selkie Dr. Sean Shongili, lead an idyllic, if frigid, life on the icy planet for their first eight years. Protected by their snow leopard and track-cat nannies, they change into seals, play with otters and telepathically communicate with each other and the fauna. When it appears their abilities have aroused the sinister interest of off-world scientists, they're sent to live on a space station with a family friend. Fast-paced adventure follows as the twins thwart their enemies and further deal with their selkie natures. Flat characterization, anthropomorphic animals, sentimentality and simplistic takes on various cultures (including Inuit, Irish and Hawaiian) make this novel best suited for those with a taste for less-sophisticated SF. (Dec.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
VOYA
Twin brother and sister Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili are selkies who can communicate with their sentient birth world, Petaybee. When a visiting scientist observes them transforming, their parents send them to a space station for safety. Following the children to the station, the scientist uses her grandson, their playmate, to gain their confidence so that she can study their shape shifting. The story's pace accelerates as the twins elude capture and set out to rescue their selkie father from an undersea volcano on the planet's surface. This first book in The Twins of Petaybee trilogy continues to chronicle the awakening sentient planet Petaybee and its settlers, who are trying to keep its natural resources from being exploited, that appeared in the Powers trilogy. By focusing on the twins born to Major Yanaba Maddock and geneticist Dr. Sean Shongili, the authors offer protagonists who will mature as the series continues, making it ideal for young adult fans. The treatment of nonhuman characters and assorted cultures is very simplistic, but the trilogy functions well as uncomplicated fast-paced adventure, making it suitable for junior as well as senior high readers. The book is a recommended purchase for junior and senior high libraries. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2006, Del Rey, 288p., Ages 11 to Adult.
—Marsha Valance

Available in mass-market paperback, e-book, and audio book format
Maelstrom​, Book 2 Twins of Petaybee series (YA)
ISBN-13: 9780345387806 Random House
In Changelings, bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough returned to the sentient planet Petaybee with a story of growth and transformation in the face of deadly new threats. The telepathic, shapeshifting twins Murel and Ronan found that Petaybee had plans for them as well. Now those plans begin to bear fruit with fresh possibilities . . . and dangers.
MAELSTROM
Now that Petaybee is forming a new equatorial island, the planet has agreed to harbor a group of new refugees, workers indentured to the powerful InterGal Corporation. But the mission to collect the immigrants becomes a rescue operation when it is revealed that InterGal is doing nothing to help these survivors of a world devastated by a meteor shower. Murel and Ronan set out to persuade the frightened refugees to come out of hiding, leave their world, and bring along their sacred totem animals, the gifted sea turtles called the Honus. But the twins discover that they’ve taken on more than they expected: The Honus are not the only animals sacred to the refugees. There are also the Manos, intelligent sharks who have lost none of their predatory habits–and who cannot be left behind to die.
When the Manos are released into Petaybee’s waters, a tragic misunderstanding endangers the whole resettlement operation. At the same time, the mysterious sea otters who once rescued the twins’ father are suddenly revealed to be much more than they appear to be.
Now it is up to Ronan and Murel, with the intrepid assistance of their river otter friend Sky, to smooth the waters before a maelstrom of revenge destroys Petaybee’s harmonious way of life.
But even as the twins uncover startling new facts about Petaybee’s past that will change everything they thought they knew about the planet, the forces of InterGal are gathering, preparing to strike. . . .
Library Journal
Too young to develop the bond with the sentient planet Petaybee, which prevents adults from leaving their homeworld, the shape-changing twins Murel and Ronan Shongili (introduced in Changelings) serve as ambassadors for off-planet journeys. When a rescue trip to a hostile planet meets with objections from the company overseeing the planet's development, the resulting evacuation of an endangered population takes place under hostile conditions. Once back on Petaybee, the discovery of a heretofore unknown alien race of otterlike creatures poses further problems that only the twins have a hope of solving. Coauthors McCaffrey (the "Dragonriders of Pern" series) and Scarborough ("Powers That Be" trilogy with McCaffrey) continue the ongoing history of the second generation of Petaybee's inhabitants with a story filled with adventure, intrigue, and unexpected twists. Series fans will demand this title, which belongs in most sf collections. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School
In this sequel to Changelings (Del Rey, 2005), twin selkies use their "thought-talk" and shape-shifting powers to help their sentient planet and its inhabitants. Petaybee, the planet, has invited Ke-ola, a sentient sea turtle, and his people to make their home there. The Petaybeans must convince the Federation to allow such a move. The catch is that the Federation is off-world, and people who live on Petaybee for any length of time acquire a symbiotic relationship with the planet. For an adult to leave would mean death. It is therefore up to young Muriel and Ronin Shongili to be the off-world diplomats who can save lives and change worlds. This is the second novel in a planned trilogy that continues the story made popular by the "Powers That Be" trilogy (Del Rey). The story line combines Irish, Hawaiian, and Indian lore to create a rich history that is at once unique and familiar. Teens will identify with the actions and feelings of these shape-shifting river seals as they struggle with their role in Petaybee's transformation.
—Dana Cobern-KullmanCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The young heroes of Changelings (2005) depart the planet Petaybee, then return for more adventure. Twins Ronan and Murel are changelings, able to take seal form on their home planet of Petaybee, which is sentient and adapts to its inhabitants. The book begins with the twins leaving Petaybee on a spaceship as ambassadors to help the people of the planet Halau, who will be relocating to Petaybee. But when they arrive, Halau has been hit by meteors and its settlements destroyed. A rescue is mounted, led by the twins, who turn into seals to rescue people in the water. Halau's people are brought aboard the ship. Back at Petaybee, while trying to help Halau refugees adapt to the odd environs, Ronan is kidnapped by some very strange sea creatures who have masqueraded as deep-water otters, but are actually aliens. Murel and her family have to save Ronan, while trying to keep various intelligent animals in Petaybee's ocean from eating each other-and them-during the search. The characters are somewhat over-earnest and preachy, but the conversations between natural predators and prey make this an enjoyable.
Available in mass-market paperback, e-book and audio book format
Deluge, Book 2 Twins of Petaybee series (YA)
ISBN-13: 9780345387813 Random House
When two award-winning science-fiction masters like Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough collaborate, the results are astonishing. Their master creation is Petaybee, a sentient planet able to guide its own evolution and, with some help from its loyal inhabitants, defend itself against predation by offworlders. Now, at last, McCaffrey and Scarborough return to Petaybee for the thrilling conclusion of the Twins of Petaybee trilogy, the sixth novel of the amazing self-aware world.
DELUGE
InterGal Corporation has long desired to exploit the resource-rich Petaybee. But the planet and its guardians, led by Yana Maddock and Sean Shongili, along with their twin children, Ronan and Murel, have successfully thwarted every attempt by the Corporation to impose its iron-fisted dominion.
Until now.
In a bold two-pronged assault, the predacious Corporation has arrested Petaybee’s leading off-world champion, Marmion de Revers Algemeine, on trumped-up charges, while InterGal’s military arm has dispatched an invading force to subdue the planet once and for all. Marmion has allies within the Corporation who can halt the invasion. but if they cannot be found quickly, it will be too late for Marmion . . . and Petaybee.
While their parents work to foil the invasion of their world, Ronan and Murel are captured and sent to a desolate prison world where an old enemy, Dr. Mabo, waits to continue her cruel experiments on the shape-changing siblings. The twins’ only hope of escape lies in the uncharted seas of the prison planet. But in the murky depths, something else is waiting. . . .
Publishers Weekly
Precocious twin selkies Ronan and Muriel set out for their heroic third mission (after 2007's Maelstrom): rescuing an old friend who's been wrongfully imprisoned. Petaybee has been invaded by troops intending to arrest the twins' parents and others for aiding Marmion de Revers Algemeine's evacuation of the endangered inhabitants of Kanaka. Marmion herself is languishing in the Gwinnet Incarceration Colony. Ronan and Muriel dodge the soldiers and hitch a ride with space-faring deep-sea otters to reach Versailles Station, Marmion's home base, where they hope to beg influential Federation friends for help. Instead they wind up incarcerated with other youngsters at Gwinnet's Camp Neverland and cruelly tortured until their special skills and friends (including Zuzu, a telepathic cat) help them survive a tsunami and volcanic eruption and complete their mission. This concluding volume of the twins' trilogy will primarily appeal to young, animal-loving SF fans. (Mar.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
School Library Journal
The selkie twins, Ronan and Murel, leave their home on the sentient planet Petaybee to rescue a friend only to find themselves imprisoned, with both the Company and an ambitious scientist fighting over custody of them. At the same time, the Company attempts another takeover of Petaybee, drawn by the planet's rich resources, and the twins' parents must join battle to save their world. The final volume of the second trilogy set on a world where everything has sentience brings the fate of Petaybee into sharp relief and focuses on the symbiotic relationships of its characters. The collaborative effort by veterans McCaffrey (the Pern series) and Scarborough (The Healer's War) brings together two consummate storytellers in an adventure suitable for both YA and adult audiences.
—Jackie Cassada

Available in mass-market paperback, e-book and audio book format
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