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Maelstrom (Book Two of The Twins Of Petaybee) by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
01/02/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 237 page hardback. Price: $23.95 (US), $29.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-47004-1 Pub: Bantam Press. 237 page hardback. Price: £17.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-593-05613-4. Buy Maelstrom in the USA - or Buy Maelstrom in the UK  check out website: www.delreydigital.com , www.randomhouse.com , www.annemccaffrey.net and www.eascarborough.com
'Maelstrom' follows on directly from the first book 'Changelings', reviewed also this month. Petaybee is a sentient planet, even if how it speaks can only be interpreted by its inhabitants. Those born there, especially when they reach maturity, find themselves bound to the planet and unable to leave. Saying that, there's a rather odd paradox where this might have come from if you examine the more alien shape-shifting deep sea otters but more of that in a while.
Unlike the first book, this story stays pretty much on Petaybee although it does start off with the rescuing the inhabitants of Halau, primarily the turtle folk, the sharks and human colonists besieged by a meteor storm. Things aren't helped there by a Corps, starship ran by Colonel Cally, who is happy to stand by rather than help save the inhabitants. Counceller Madame Marmie Algemeine pulls rank which riles Cally but the rescue takes place and everyone returns to Petaybee. No one really recognises the danger that the sharks present to the world at first. Petaybee allows the killing of its inhabitants for food and in the long term, the sharks also face being the prey of the Orcas so I guess things are likely to even out.
As the turtle Halau prefer the warmer climes, the twins Ronan and Murel, in seal-form swim along as the humans colonists follow by ship. A tired Murel with the Sky Otter (so named because he's the only otter to have been in a helicopter) rests on an iceberg when they are surrounded by hungry Orcas who wouldn't mind adding otter to their diet. She calls her brother for help and all three are pulled into the depths by the deep sea otters and held prisoner there. Things aren't helped when the son of the lead deep sea otter goes out to investigate and gets eaten. It is up to the twins to become the voice of reason.
Meanwhile, Marmie is finding her own problems when Cally brings a couple other councillors and has her arrested and imprisoned.
The book cover pays special interest to the fact that authors McCaffrey and Scarborough borrow heavily from Celtic and Inuit mythology for these stories and adding South Sea Islanders into the mix. Truth to tell, without the Irish accents, I doubt if any of this gets in the way of the story. I still hold to the idea that these books are more for a teen-age an opposed to an adult audience. Us adults will recognise some things ahead of such an audience but you're not going to stop and look anything up along the way.
All the characters hold their own within the confines of the story and just when you think you might see a resolution, it ends waiting for the next volume...which looks like something to wait for. The story does follow certain predictable patterns but I'm a seasoned reader, I expect these things. Saying that, new readers are going to care for these characters and want to read more which is the important thing.
GF Willmetts
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