Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey

First and foremost: I am in love with the Appendix of this book. I've never had a proper image of the Holds in my head -- I always imagined them to look like castles -- until looking at this Appendix. My mind is honestly blown at how much the outside portions look like factories. Not exactly the most beautiful illustrations, but I love them anyway.

Secondly, the whole "Rill" mystery at the end of Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern... solved. It felt weirdly tacked on at the end of that book and I think the inclusion of Nerilka's name was either a typo or someone missed changing it in the edit. But anyway...

Finally, Nerilka's Story was a quick, fresh read. I finished it in a few hours. Getting a first-person viewpoint made a nice change. I also quite like Nerilka. She's the kind of person I'd like to think I would be in her situation. Hard-working and more likely to do what is right rather than sit by while people suffer. I also enjoyed getting a Holder viewpoint of Pern in crisis and one that, though colored by tragedy, isn't seeped in it. Nerilka does seem detached from the death of her mother and siblings, but it also feels as though her tale was written through the lens of hindsight. Either that, or she just wasn't actually close with her mother or those particular siblings.

Anyway, I enjoyed Nerilka's Story. Not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was definitely worth a read and a good addition to any Pern read-through.

This Dragonet CANNOT be to scale. There's no way she'd be injuring anyone on her way to Impress. That size disparity made me laugh.