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Planet Pirates

by Anne McCaffrey

The Planet Pirates series by Anne McCaffrey has 3 known books (3 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with Sassinak (1990).

Books
3 known books (3 novels)
Published
3
First published
1990
Status
completed
Shelved under
Science Fiction
Start here: Sassinak (1990) — then read straight through in publication order.
Book one
Cover of Sassinak
Sassinak (1990)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Sassinak

    Novel
    Sassinak opens the Planet Pirates trilogy, co-written by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon and published in 1990 at 346 pages. It's followed by The Death of Sleep, the second of the trilogy's three books.
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  2. The Death of Sleep

    Novel
    The Death of Sleep is the second Planet Pirates novel, co-written by Anne McCaffrey with a different collaborator, Jody Lynn Nye, and published in 1990 at 270 pages. It follows Sassinak and precedes Generation Warriors, which brings Elizabeth Moon back as McCaffrey's co-author for the trilogy's close.
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  3. Generation Warriors

    Novel
    Generation Warriors closes the Planet Pirates trilogy, published in 1991 at 345 pages and co-written by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon, the same pairing that opened the series with Sassinak. It follows The Death of Sleep as the trilogy's final book.
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Key facts about the Planet Pirates series

The Planet Pirates series has 3 books on our list. Since all 3 are out now, you can read the whole list today.

Start with Sassinak, since it opens the publication order in 1990. The Death of Sleep is book 2, from 1990. Generation Warriors is book 3, from 1991.

Each title links to its own page, while the list keeps them in date order. Each book page shows its dates and editions. Since the catalogue marks the series as complete, we list no next book.

The books came out between 1990 and 1991, while their length runs from 270 to 346 pages. That is a run of 1 year.

Anne McCaffrey has 70 books on our list. Additionally, they write Dragonriders of Pern, Doona and The Brainship Series, plus 6 more series. We shelve the books under science fiction.

About the Planet Pirates series

The Planet Pirates trilogy grew out of a shared-universe experiment: Anne McCaffrey developed the premise, of interstellar piracy and a genetic-plague conspiracy threatening the Federation of Sentient Planets, and then co-wrote each of the three novels with a different collaborator, following two women whose lives are upended by the same conspiracy from opposite directions. Sassinak (1990, with Elizabeth Moon) follows a girl sold into slavery by pirates who grows up to become a decorated Fleet commander hunting down the same pirate networks that destroyed her colony. The Death of Sleep (1990, with Jody Lynn Nye) runs in parallel, telling the story of Lunzie, a doctor whose faster-than-light travel has left her stranded generations out of her own time, as she stumbles onto evidence of the plague conspiracy at the trilogy's center.

Generation Warriors (1991, back with Elizabeth Moon) brings Sassinak's and Lunzie's separate investigations together — the two women turn out to be aunt and niece — for a joint assault on the conspiracy's source. The trilogy's structure, with McCaffrey rotating collaborators across installments while keeping the overarching plot continuous, is unusual even within her own extensively co-authored bibliography, and gives Sassinak and Lunzie distinctly different voices depending on which co-writer is driving a given book.

Frequently asked questions

What order should I read the Planet Pirates trilogy in?

Publication order: Sassinak (1990), The Death of Sleep (1990), Generation Warriors (1991). The first two books follow separate protagonists whose stories converge in the third.

Why does the Planet Pirates trilogy have different co-authors per book?

Anne McCaffrey developed the shared premise and co-wrote each book with a different collaborator: Elizabeth Moon on Sassinak and Generation Warriors, and Jody Lynn Nye on The Death of Sleep, which follows a different protagonist running in parallel.

Are Sassinak and Lunzie related?

Yes — the trilogy reveals partway through that Sassinak and Lunzie, whose stories run separately for the first two books, are aunt and niece, and Generation Warriors brings them together.

How many books are in the Planet Pirates trilogy?

Three, published in 1990 and 1991.

Is Planet Pirates connected to Anne McCaffrey's other series?

No, it's a standalone trilogy set in its own Federation of Sentient Planets universe, unrelated to Pern or her other series.

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