From the time of Anne McCaffrey and her Pern books, people riding dragons have been a popular trope.

Part of the appeal of this book is that it reads more like historical fiction (although in a different world) than fantasy or even science fiction. The authors don’t spend a lot of time world-building, but drop the reader straight into the narrative where Trysten, a young girl, wants to follow in her father’s footsteps. Unfortunately, he is a dragonrider and, in her society, women cannot and do not ride dragons.

There are a few subtle hints of magic, but it seems to be a natural presence of the environment than obvious sorcery at work. It is obvious that dragons are intelligent, but they also remain something of an enigma to both their riders and the reader. For example, there are no long telepathic conversations between rider and dragon as there are… show more.

Once you read the opening scene where a Tupperware party hilariously goes up in flames, you won't be able to stop reading. 

Author Denise Grover Swank is best known for her women's fiction, and her experience in crafting realistic characters and relationships shines in this book. This book is the whole package of fun and magic. 

Let It All Burn also helped inspire the elemental magic in my own book!

I admit this one is a stretch, but the writing and premise are superb and worthy of recommendation. Many experiments have been done trying to prove or disprove telepathy and telekinesis, which are the magic in Rossano’s Talented. Quantum physics is moving in this direction. All our speculations may predict the future!

I am impressed with the family system in these books. The seventh son is special. The seventh son of a seventh son (Sept Son) is a ruler. Suddenly a daughter is born and blows everyone’s expectations and ambitions to smithereens. She has powers like a seventh son. Her love for the Sept Son threatens the kingdom.

I love all of the Pern novels, but I’ve chosen this one because it features my favorite dragon and human characters. What I enjoy most about the Pern books is their setting in the future, when humans have settled in an alien world.

Some of the humans form a telepathic bond with a native species which look like dragons, and work with their dragons to preserve life on Pern. I would love to live on Pern and to be the rider of a gold dragon!

Having enjoyed Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series, and again finding a horse on the cover, I remember picking up this story at Waldenbooks. (Oh look, I’ve dated myself again!). In this case, the book requires a content warning for mental health issues and self-harm, but the heroine struck a note with me, and when she befriends a telepathic horse and goes on adventures, I was hooked. 

The Chrysalids – my inaugural dive into science fiction in the late sixties – hooked me from the first paragraph.

Wyndham creates a dystopian world of post-nuclear destruction where genetic mutations abound, and if discovered, culled from a civilization steeped in a stark biblical ideology. The Chrysalids track protagonist David Strorm as he safeguards his six-toed friend, Sophie, and ultimately connects with a band of telepaths offering new world hope.

I loved this book because of its adolescent hero and his defiance against a society that was morally corrupt. 

K.F. Breene is one of those authors that once you read one of her books, you need to binge on the rest. Her heroines are strong, sassy, deeply flawed, and honestly don’t give a crap.

The dialogue in these is great, and there are laugh-out-loud moments that keep you turning pages.

Anne's world of Pern has yet again been a favorite since I was in high school. I am obsessed with her world of Pern. Her writing makes you feel as if you are really there on Pern.

Have you ever wished you could read the mind of someone you love? Medieval theologians liked to speculate about heaven, but only Dante dared to imagine its social life. I’m especially struck by how he represents telepathy as a celestial way of life. The blessed not only see God; they also see him in one another, so their minds are completely open to each other’s thoughts.

In a realm where envy is impossible, purity of soul enables a spiritual intimacy that models what community might look like in the city of the redeemed. 

It is a truism that Science Fiction dates itself. SF stories that were written only a few years previous often fail to foresee technological innovations ̶ cell phones, GPS, gene-splicing ̶ that seem obvious and inevitable to hindsight-blessed present-day readers. Those disconcerted by such, let us call them “backwards anachronisms,” should find Quantum Thief a welcome relief for decades to come, because the novel is set so far in the future that hi-tech things like, say, cell phones seem quaint curios out of far-distant days of yore. Long-distance communications in Quantum Thief are effected by something more like telepathy (although the word is never used).

“Quantum” is the operative term in this novel, make no mistake.

Be forewarned: Quantum Thief is chock-full of coined terminology. But have no fear. You have a choice. Either use the online glossary - or you can just read for the story and absorb the… show more.