CLOUDCRY

Three incurably ill patients, escaping into the unexplored jungles of a quarantine planet, discover two primitive humanoid species, the magnificent deserted temples of a long-dead race of mighty sky-dancers, and a savage humanoid girl who seems to be a throwback to the sky-race. The girl's gradual mastery of her hereditary powers is played out against the plight of the two sick humans and the atavistic reversion of their companion, a birdlike alien. Compared with Van Scyoc's intriguing, uneven Starmother (1975), Cloudcry is a painful stylistic regression: ""The mountains were a series of fractured spines this morning, anesthetized by haze, their recovery a distant prospect."" It's a pity, because this author continues to come up with ideas of some power. Watching her work them out is like listening to a gifted singer with pitch problems.