First Read of 2025!
I'm really, honestly not sure how I feel about The Masterharper of Pern. It was quite good and enjoyable. Didn't feel quite like a ticking off of events that needed to happen, although there was definitely a fair amount of that, but it didn't not feel that way either. I was aware of those events, but wasn't sitting there, just waiting for things to happen. The story around them was engaging.
I was honestly mostly struck by the relatively rapid (although it had about 200-odd Turns to get there) rejection of "common knowledge" across Pern. Or knowledge at all, in some cases. More distant Holds just rejecting any kind of teaching and Fax straight up barring Harpers to prevent knowledge getting to "his" people. That whole bit feels really prescient here at the beginning of 2025, when we have this unfettered access to knowledge, both true and not... I've been saying as I've been reading Pern chronologically how the plague stuff hits differently these days than on my first read... well this rejection of knowledge and truth hit harder. This isn't a reread for me, but as Fax appeared at the beginning of Dragonflight, he wasn't an unknown. But where he was basically a first antagonist for Lessa in Dragonflight, here Fax looms about Pern in an unsettling manner, especially given a reading through the 2025 lens.
Outside of Fax, I did enjoy getting to know Robinton as he grew up. Robinton's always been one of my favorite Pernese characters. I felt his heartbreak, even though I figured it was coming. Such is the fun of a chronological first-read/reread journey. I was definitely less impressed with Petiron, as we're supposed to be. His relationship with his son was just... gross. I knew I wasn't going to like him from the moment Robinton was born. I'm glad the entirety of Harper Hall was on the same page.
For some reason, I'd always imagined Robinton to be about F'lar's age, though that was clearly wrong. Getting used to Robinton actually being a contemporary of F'lon was a fun thing to wrap my head around.
The Masterharper of Pern is definitely one of those books that deepens the context around the earlier books in the publishing order. I was kind of expecting the ending to be where it was, chronologically speaking, but I wasn't expecting it to be exactly what it was. Getting another perspective on that was a bit of fun. Took care of the overall, looming conflict that was Fax, without adding something ridiculous for Robinton himself to overcome. That's actually another thing I liked about The Masterharper of Pern: Robinton didn't have his own "Chosen One" story, really. Not in the way, say Lessa, does later. I mean, given the book title and former knowledge of who Robinton becomes, it was a forgone conclusion from the beginning. It wasn't surrounded by pomp and circumstance or Robinton doing anything especially daring or specific to get the job of Masterharper. He went about his life and just kind of fell into the position. Suited to it, of course, but... yeah. The story of how, without any wild craziness tacked on.
Favorite Line
"That's what I especially love about you, Rob. Your perceptions and understanding. Merdine... was not an understanding man. Not the way you are. And I think -- on balance -- that's very important in creating a good harmony for a long life together." - Kasia
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