All the Weyrs of Pern

For my final Pern novel, I read All the Weyrs of Pern, which returns to the Ninth Pass of the original trilogy. It wasn't the last novel of the Ninth Pass ever written, but many people consider it the last good one, and the synopses of the later ones didn't appeal, so I was happy for it to be my last one too. I did skip The Renegades of Pern because it also sounded dull, but this created a bit of a discontinuity, as All the Weyrs picks up right from the end of Renegades, and it's at the end of Renegades where the Pernese rediscover the original landing site of colonists and make contact with AIVAS, the computer system who guided the original colonists, but I was able to figure out what was going on without much difficulty.

So on the one show more hand, I'm glad I read this. It makes a fitting end to the story of the Ninth Pass: the Pernese don't just solve the problem of the Thread in terms of imminent Threadfalls, but also solve the problem of the Thread forevermore. Plus, an enormous number of changes begin working their way through Pernese society, thanks to the technological and scientific knowledge of AIVAS. There are some neat sequences of the dragons in space and on the Red Star itself, and the book has some satisfying tie-ins to Dragonsdawn and The Chronicles of Pern.

On the other hand, the characters don't really do anything. AIVAS gives them orders, and they obey, repeat, for hundreds of pages. It never really feels like anything is in jeopardy. Some characters are opposed to the changes to Pern society, but only bad, off-stage ones; wouldn't it have been more interesting if, say, F'lar and Lessa, had been more worried about the loss of status for dragonriders in a post-Thread society? But the book is a bit of plod as the characters all work together to executive AIVAS's plan with little conflict. The use of time travel drains even more suspense: you know things are going to work out before they happen because they have to work out based on the predestination paradoxes.

It's funny to read this shortly after Dragonsdawn and Chronicles because AIVAS is so significant here, but only mentioned in a couple brief asides, not even by name, in Dragonsdawn and Chronicles. From this book it would seem indispensable to the colonists, but it doesn't do anything at all in the early books! Also I think the explanation of the Red Star and the Thread we get in this book and Dragonsdawn makes a lot more sense than what we were told about in the original trilogy. No longer do we have a planet somehow reaching through space, but a planetoid disturbing objects found in the Oort cloud. The problem, though, is this new explanation doesn't account for the fact that there is no nighttime Threadfall!

The last Pern book I want to read is the one that doesn't exist. I want to read the book where a vessel from the Federated Sentient Planets comes to the Pern system... and promptly finds itself overwhelmed by a force of teleporting firebreathing dragons tearing it apart from the inside! What would dragonriders be like as a spacegoing defense or exploration force? Where is Dragons in Space!? show less

All the Weyrs of Pern (1991) – Anne McCaffrey

I started reading the Dragonriders of Pern series in the early 1980’s and I still believe the original Trilogy (Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon) are some of the most original Science Fiction of that period, because despite Dragons, it is Science Fiction. The books are part of the small sub-genre of Science Fiction that on the surface looks like Fantasy.

Anne McCaffrey was inspired in part to write Science Fiction due to some of the ways women were portrayed in the genre. She was the first woman writer to win the coveted Hugo award and one of the female pioneers within the genre. After the original trilogy McCaffrey was encouraged by her publisher to write the Harperhall show more trilogy aimed at younger readers. To all purposes after the end of The White Dragon it feels like this is where the story was originally going to finish, the Harperhall trilogy manages to add some more background to the world whilst telling some interesting stories and despite their younger reader tags are great stories for all readers within the world she created. These six books in my opinion are the best of the Pern series but after this there were both sequels and prequels published which vary in quality.

I sometimes like to get my Dragonriders fix and read random books from the series. ‘All the Weyrs of Pern’ is book 11, probably if you’re going to read this you have read the previous books. Most of the pern books can be read in isolation but I would say for this one you need some knowledge of what has gone before in the timeline. The book follows on directly from The Renegades of Pern with the discovery of AIVAS an AI computer left by the original colonists and uncovered all these centuries later. The AI manages to help the crafts and the Holds rediscover information and skills long lost to history but the greatest thing that AIVAS may be able to do is help Pern finally get rid of thread forever.

The plot revolves mainly around well-known characters from the series with Jaxom and his White Dragon Ruth taking a lot of the forefront of the story. McCaffrey as always manages to write in accessible way and her characters are always rounded individuals that you care about. One of the themes followed within the text is the fear of new technology and how people react when they feel their treasured traditions are being threatened. The narrative manages to get you invested in the storyline. One of my high points of the book is a plotline following the Masterharper Robinton throughout and his excitement about the new knowledge, along with the implications to both the planet and him personally. You get to feel both his excitement and his disappointment when others aren’t as excited about the possibilities AIVAS brings to Pern.

I think the books after book 6 lose some focus however Ann McCaffrey does in most cases manage to keep both the prequels and sequels consistent, which can be difficult for authors trying not to go back on themselves. This book does at points suffer from a few too many story threads flying around but it all manages to pull itself together later in the book. Part of the plot does resolve around both the AI and some computer information, at points because of the progress in Computing since the book was written these bits can feel a little dated, overall they do not take away from the book or narrative.

As a fan of her writing and the series I think they’re all worth a read because I still like to follow some of my favourite characters and discover new ones, but it is one of those series that could have been stopped at several points with no detriment to the overall narrative. ‘All the Weyrs of Pern’ is I think one of the best of the sequels taking the History of Pern and the characters in some very interesting directions.

If you’re a Pern fan you’ll be reading it anyway, if not and you are interested as I suggested earlier the first 6 books are where to start. I will caution there is a difference in style between Dragonflight and Dragonquest, if you don’t get on with the former but still like the overall concept give Dragonquest a chance you won’t regret it. show less

It is hard to suspend your disbelief with these books, as some whacky dragon magic is juxtaposed w/ space ships. Some of the science was insufficiently researched. Things w/ lots of mass may be weightless in 0 gravity, but they still have all their mass, hence all their inertia. It is still possible to derive some pleasure from the intricacy of the story and from the adorableness of the white dragon. Next, "Dolphins of Pern"!

Finally, back to the story line! Enough with the repeating and retelling of the same story, LADY!! I swear she got at least three times the mileage out of this series as was necessary. If I'd have been one of the ones waiting breathlessly for the next Pern book to come out I'd have been pissed when it ended up being one of those lame "retelling" books! This one however, was finally back on to the story line and I quite enjoyed it. Even if she did kill off one of my beloved characters. But, he was really, really old so she was going to have to do it sooner or later. I guess I can accept that.

I stayed up way too late finishing it, now I'm exhausted.

Finally, back to the story line! Enough with the repeating and retelling of the same story, LADY!! I swear she got at least three times the mileage out of this series as was necessary. If I'd have been one of the ones waiting breathlessly for the next Pern book to come out I'd have been pissed when it ended up being one of those lame "retelling" books! This one however, was finally back on to the story line and I quite enjoyed it. Even if she did kill off one of my beloved characters. But, he was really, really old so she was going to have to do it sooner or later. I guess I can accept that.

I stayed up way too late finishing it, now I'm exhausted.

There was just too much technical jargon in this book. I like these stories because of the characters and the dragons; I don't care to read scientific details. A general overview would have been enough in my opinion.

The copy of this book that I read didn't have the list of characters at the end like the other books I read in this series and I feel like it was even more needed in this book where there were so many secondary characters. It was hard to keep track of who was who especially when so many of the names are so similar.

I loved the little twist about Jaxom and Ruth going back in time to put the engines on the red star. I didn't see that coming. The abduction of Robinton for being such a big deal didn't last very long. It seemed show more almost an afterthought and really just a reason for him to die with Avias.

Overall an ok book but not nearly as good as the original trilogy. show less

The usual McCaffrey ride with extra twists thrown in. As I was reading this again for maybe the third time, I wonder if the Dragonriders thought they would be obsolete if thread no longer fell? Read this book to find out. Then read her and her son's other offerings. I've never seen another author touch this ladies' brain for spinning a tale that does fantasy, science fiction, romance, and comedy all at once without sacrificing the story in the process.