Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011)

My memory of the original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy was that Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern, was my favorite character, carrying me through parts of the book I found less interesting. So it seemed logical to me that I would eventually read this prequel about the life of the Masterharper.

Well, whatever made Robinton my favorite character in the original books, there's absolutely no trace of it here. Like Menolly and Piemur, Robinton is an obnoxious prodigy, able to compose amazing show more music from a young age, and basically better at everything than everybody else. And that's it, that's the book! He never seems to struggle, he just is the best at everything he does. I think McCaffrey doesn't really understand excellence; she seems to think it some kind of effortless superiority. Some of the most excellent people you know work the hardest and struggle the most, but you wouldn't know it from reading a McCaffrey novel. And why does Robinton have to be the best composer, the best singer, the best player? Surely the skills required to be Masterharper are not these technical ones, but the skills of leading men and having wisdom? These are skills Robinton never demonstrates in this book. Why is he picked as Masterharper? It's not clear, he just is. How does he adjust to this new role? As boringly effortlessly as he does everything else.

On top of all that, Robinton can hear all dragons talk, which totally contradicts the depiction of Robinton in the original trilogy. Wow, he's just so so special. Actually, a lot of stuff doesn't line up; Menolly's boyfriend Sebell is aged up by a whole generation here, and Robinton's mother was a harper when the Harper Hall trilogy made clear there were no women harpers prior to Menolly. Why write a prequel if you can't make it join up right?

This book was a tedious, awful slog that made me hate a character who had been one of my favorites. I've seen it said that as the Pern series went on, McCaffrey lost sight of what made it work in the original books. For the readers, Pern was an awesome place you'd want to live, but that hadn't been true for the characters. But as it went on, that became true for the characters too. The Pern of the 1990s has had all its rough edges rounded off, and that loses what made Pern work to begin with back in the 1960s. show less

I was introduced to this series by a friend in high school (the late 70s) and have been a huge fan ever since. I have read the early books several times and was long overdue for a reread when I picked it up again. It didn't take long for me to become immersed in the world of Pern once more. I've read several reviews that complain about behaviors and attitudes, but I look at it through the eyes of when it was written (1968).

People from Earth colonized the world of Pern, but over the years, show more Earth forgot about them. The early colonists had modern technology to help them settle into their new world. This technology became vital when the planet was attacked by organisms the settlers called "Thread." The bioengineers bred fighting beasts called dragons, creatures with strong telepathic links with their riders. Over the centuries, the dragons protected the planet and its inhabitants from the every two-hundred-years incursions. Also, modern technology broke down over the years, and life on Pern began to resemble a feudal society. I loved the descriptions of life on Pern, both in the Weyr and the holds. The small details of daily living and the larger ones of significant events make the world real and believable.

As this book opens, it has been four hundred years since the last attack of Thread. Many believe there will be no more Thread and resent the requirement to support the dragonriders. The current leadership, R'gul, at the only surviving weyr, Benden, believes it is best to make as few demands as possible, keeping the dragonriders out of the public eye. He, too, believes that there is no more Thread. A younger dragonrider, F'lar, is confident that R'gul is wrong and that a new attack is imminent. With a new queen egg about to hatch, F'lar is one of several bronze dragon riders who goes on Search for candidates for the new queen. This eventually brings him to Ruatha Hold and Lessa.

Lessa is the only surviving member of the family who held Ruatha. Ten years earlier, a neighboring Holder invaded and murdered her entire family. Lessa, age eleven, barely escaped and has been living disguised as a drudge, waiting for her chance at revenge. Lessa is clever, intelligent, and occasionally ruthless in her methods. F'lar's arrival sets in motion a series of events that will change her life forever. Even though I know how it turns out, I am caught up in the intensity every time I read the book. F'lar's belief that Lessa is exactly what Pern needs is convincing.

I felt for Lessa as she was swept from the only home she knew to the strangeness of the Weyr. She knew nothing of what was happening, and F'lar refused to explain more than the barest details. When it came time to Impress the new queen, I loved seeing Lessa stand back, observe for a bit, and learn from others' mistakes. When she acts, she does so decisively, and her Impression of Ramoth is described in emotional detail. Here we get the first inkling of the depth of the connection between dragon and rider. But this is only the beginning. As the new Weyrwoman, Lessa must now undergo intense training. A naturally impatient person, she is frustrated by the pedantic instruction provided by R'gul. As convinced as F'lar about the coming Thread, she doesn't understand why he doesn't do anything about the issue because, once again, no one tells her anything of importance. In her frustration and ignorance, Lessa makes some choices that could have ended badly but for a fortunately timed mating flight.

Said mating flight changes everything. The description of the flight is vivid and intense. I loved seeing it through the eyes of the linked Lessa and Ramoth, which gave it extra depth. F'lar's Mnementh became the queen's mate, which caused a change in leadership for the Weyr. I loved watching F'lar take charge and shake things up. He is the firm leader that the Weyr and Pern need, but even he can't magically fix the neglect of decades. I loved watching him gather together the brilliant minds of the time to collaborate on ways to protect the planet. One of my favorite scenes involves Masterharper Robinton and his eloquent smackdown of the skeptics and vocal support of F'lar.

I could feel F'lar's desperation as he worked to prepare for Thread's arrival. The clock is ticking, and he has only a few dragons to use instead of the necessary hundreds. The first encounter with Thread is both terrifying and exhilarating. I felt his pain at the subsequent consequences and despair that they won't prevail. At the same time, Lessa comes into her strength as Weywoman, her early life allowing her to see what must be done. Her belief in the fate of the five missing Weyrs led to a stunning solution. I loved this section with F'lar's fear for Lessa, his hope for her survival, and his reaction to her return. I loved F'lar's surprise for her, and R'gul's reaction was very satisfying.

The relationship between F'lar and Lessa is challenging to describe. At times it feels almost Pygmalion-like as F'lar molds Lessa into his concept of a Weyrwoman. He admires her intelligence, resilience, and determination but is frequently frustrated by her impulsiveness. He tends to be domineering at times which aggravates her stubbornness. Lessa is frequently torn in her feelings for F'lar. She is attracted but wary, a feeling reinforced by the mating flight's results. There are times when she seems to antagonize him deliberately. She also respects his belief in the traditions that herald the imminent arrival of Thread and supports his efforts to bring the Weyr and Holders into line. Though they never overtly state their feelings, by the end of the book, it is clear that they do love each other. show less

I really enjoyed Nerilka's character - we often spend our time in Pern in the Weyrs or headed to the Weyrs, so a story focusing on a holder who stays a holder, though moving to a different hold, was genuinely interesting. The complex cultural norms that are casually mentioned offhand rather than explained outright, such as the fostering system, are part of what makes the world building of Pern so rich and engaging. I like other Pern books more, but this change in perspective is refreshing show more and just the right length to enjoy but not get bored of. I also enjoyed the singular perspective, another departure, at least from those Pern books I've read so far - I liked that we as the readers only knew what Nerilka knew, assuming ignorance of Moreta's Ride. It has been long enough since I last read Moreta's Ride that this was effective at keeping me in the dark on the details, and I feel it does not detract from the story whatsoever.

My main criticism for this book is that the happy ending is a bit too contrived for my tastes, as regards the personal lives of Nerilka and Alesson, to be clear, not as regards the plague resolving, which I thought was well-earned enough in Moreta's Ride and rather not the point in this novel, besides. show less

This was another one of my series-sampling audio listens, to see if I might want to pursue it in print someday.

Audio Narration
The narrator is Dick Hill. I can’t really pinpoint all the reasons why, but his narration didn’t work well for me. His non-dialogue narration was fine as far as I can remember; I think most of my issues were with the dialogue. He over-dramatized some of it, making the characters, even the ones we were supposed to like, sometimes sound psychotic and deranged to my show more ears. I think I wouldn’t have cared for the characters much anyway based on the text, but the narration really didn’t help in that regard.

Story
On the surface of it, this seems like something I should have liked. It seems questionable as to whether it’s fantasy or science fiction, but it reads very much like an epic fantasy story and I’m usually easy to please when it comes to epic fantasy. Somehow this one didn’t work for me, though. The story is set on a planet called Pern which occasionally comes into range of another planet that has deadly “Threads” that invade Pern and threaten all life. Dragons were created to help fight the thready threat, bonded with Riders. The problem is that the threat recurs so rarely, and it has now been about 400 years. People have begun to disbelieve the legends and are no longer prepared to face the threat if it comes again.

The story only moderately held my attention, despite having elements I feel like I should have liked, and I didn’t much care for the characters. Lessa was foolish, irresponsible, and annoying as hell. I wanted to like F’lar, but he was an ass. I might have overlooked the initial rape of Lessa when they were caught up in the dragons’ passion and didn’t have their heads on straight. But he kept doing it! And yet I got the impression that the reader was expected to respect his character. What the hell? And he shook her so much (not in a sexual context) that I guess her brains fell out, based on her behavior. Then Lessa apparently fell in love with him anyway. Rape ‘em and shake ‘em ‘til they love you, I guess. I also grew exasperated with all the time travel paradoxes. This paragraph may have more cuss words in it (all 3 of them) than I’ve used in my previous reviews for the year combined. This is indicative of much annoyance. :p

Some elements reminded me of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, so I couldn’t help comparing the two. I much preferred Temeraire, where I adored the characters and felt more invested in the story. It’s possible that I might have felt differently if I’d read them in the opposite order, and I may have done better with this in print than I did in audio. It’s also possible that I just wasn’t in the right mood for it.

I was going to give it 2.5 stars and round up to 3 on Goodreads, but somewhere in the middle of typing up my rant I decided to round down to 2 instead. I don’t think I’ve ever rated an epic fantasy-ish book this low before. I might consider giving it another try in print someday to see if I like it better that way, but not for quite a long time. show less