Dragonheart

I did not care for this particular title. It had a slow start, a slow middle and only the last 20% did it seem more a pleasure than a chore to read. In fact, the only reason I did not stop without finishing it is because I want to read all of the books of Dragonriders of Pern. I think it was less enjoyable because McCaffrey wanted to strongly establish a new timeline in Pern, one he had already initiated. But I feel like he tried to cover too much. Because of this, he had what should have been a trilogy with each having it's own tight story to tell. This read like an overview with an artifice to hold things together. Fiona impressing a queen and the challenges of learning the rigors of Weyr life would have served as one. The development show more of Igen Weyr for recovery of badly injured dragons and dragonriders with the association with the Traders being a second part and the creation of the Watchwher and Gold Holds the final installment. It almost came across that McCaffrey wanted to get all things covered out there, but his real interest was on another project. So, yeah, publisher, got it done, here it is. I hope his next offerings improve or I will not be continuing to waste my time reading the series. show less

I haven't read a Pern book in about a decade, and I was enjoying this YA story, until the scene with the queer blue rider giving a teenage weyrwoman advice on conditioning her hair! Then the teen weyrwoman fretting about her weight?! Suddenly I was reading a tokenistic cookie-cutter high school romance with a Pernese backdrop. Bah.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Dragonheart by Todd McCaffrey is the 21st book in the Dragonriders of Pern series.

I've been a fan of the series since I discovered them in the late 1990's. I must admit that I was a bit leary when I heard that her son, Todd, was starting to take over the series. I wasn't a huge fan of the first couple of books that came out under his name, but this one I really love. Fiona and T'mar have become two of my all-time favorite Pern characters and this book really showcases their characters and their development.

In this book, we see Fiona go from a Lord Holder's daughter to a Weyrwoman. We see her develop through her early teen years trying to adjust not only to the changes in her own body and feelings but also the show more changes in her life brought on by impressing a dragon. T'mar is an older bronze rider whose path crosses with Fiona's many times after she first becomes a weyrwoman. Then, they both find themselves back in time at an abandoned weyr which allows their relationship to grow and develop in new ways.

I highly recommend this installment of Pern's story. show less

This is another story from the early days of Pern. Fiona, who is the Lord Holder's only surviving child after plague ravaged the population, impresses a queen dragon Talenth and her life changes. Now she is the youngest of three weyrwomen at Fort Weyr. While she spent her life in the Holds, now she has to change her thinking. Luckily, the skills she learned as a Lord Holder's daughter translate nicely to that of a weyrwoman who cares for the needs of the dragons, dragonriders and other people of the weyr.

Fiona love her bond with Talenth and loves being able to care for her. Those around her notice that she and the others who impressed dragons at the latest hatching are different. They seem overly sleepy and dreamy. No one is quite sure show more why.

Thread is soon to begin falling in its 50 year cycle and dragons are getting sick. Everyone is rushing to try to find old records to see if there are any clues to what might be ailing them and what can be done to cure them. Between injuries from threadfall and the illness that is killing dragons, the dragonriders are quickly seeing that something has to be done or Pern will be lost.

Fiona, Talenth, the weyrlings, and the wounded dragonriders are led back some years into the past by a mysterious woman riding a queen dragon. This will give the injured a chance to heal and the wyrlings and Fiona a chance to grow so that they can be ready to fight thread when they return. They will be spending three years in the past but will return only three days after they left.

What was most interesting to me was the way Fiona comes into her own as a strong leader. I also liked how she met and worked with people she knew in the present. I liked the way she forged a new relationship with the traders who travel Pern.

While I'm not usually a big fan of stories involving time travel, and I have some questions about this one, I think it worked pretty well. show less

This is another Pern book about the time of the second Interval and the third Thread fall. If that sentence did not make sense to you, then you haven't been reading the Pern series of books. This is probably not the place to start, but it is a fine place to continue visiting that world.

I was a bit concerned that I had read some of these books out of order. I need not have worried -- Several of these newer books are happening at basically the same time-period, following the arc of different characters in different Holds and Weyrs. The same characters show up - Kindan, Nuella, and the Weyr leaders, as supporting characters.

This follows the fortunes of Fiona, the 13-year-old daughter of the Lord Holder of Fort Hold, who impresses a gold show more queen dragon hatchling at Fort Weyr. The story is good, but at 500+ pages, did not need to be quite so long. It is a "slice of life" story, but perhaps it could have been edited down a bit. Important things do happen that are related to the other books in this series, which is cool. But at times I wanted the story to just get going. show less

I'm so pleased that Todd McCaffrey is continuing on with his mother's series that I'm willing to forgive some problems in this book. Fiona is the daughter of the Lord Holder of Fort Hold and she and her father are invited guests for the Hatching. When she impresses the Queen dragon everyone is surprised but her experience at the Hold stands her in good stead when she and a bunch of wounded dragons as well as the rest of the weyrlings go back in time to the abandoned Igen Weyr. The process of training the weyrlings was interesting and not something I remember from other books in the series. However, I really wanted to know what was happening with the sick dragons and we were just left hanging. I know it will probably be covered in the show more next book but would it have hurt to have some hope. And how does this book fit in with Dragon's Blood? We really need an overall timeline for all the books. show less

I loved the book except for the last 10 pages or so. I felt like it was as if someone had said "Wow, this is great but too long so hurry up and summarize and chop it off." I literally felt like it should almost say "To Be Continued" at the end because it ended so abruptly. I don't want to give too much away with my review but there's just a lot of unresolved things and I felt like it was "Part 1" of something. And I want to know when Part 2's coming to answer my questions!

But I think this one was a bit better than Mr. McCaffrey's first solo work. This one seemed to flow a little more smoothly (until the end of course!). I really enjoyed it and felt that he did better at exploring the characters and showing their growth in this one.

I show more just hope the next installment arrives soon to answer all the questions I have from this one! show less