The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

I really loved The Skies of Pern. It was the prefect blend of action and politics and, ya know, general Pern-ness. I did the rest of my review in parts, like the book, so enjoy. Oh, and slight spoilers toward the end.

Part 1

Okay so… this is really hitting close to home, as I have found several of the Pern books to do. Of course there would be a faction of people on Pern who don’t like how quickly tech is advancing. Of course they would form coalitions to try and stop it. Of course this parallels what had happened and continues to happen here on Earth. There’s even spread of disinformation happening! All very real and very close to home these days. I’m honestly crossing my fingers Pern never gets the internet.

I do quite like F’lessan and Tai. F’lessan’s been around in other Pern books, but there hasn’t really been time to get to know him as an adult until now. I like Tai, though she does suffer from orphan-itis. Dead parents and an independent streak a mile long.

Part 2

Probably the most nerve-wracking bit of writing I’ve come across in a while. Riveting, as well. Nothing like a natural disaster to get the blood pumping. I felt every moment of those emergency evacuations. Kind of wish we had dragons here for that sort of thing.

I honestly got choked up a couple times during this section. If that doesn’t tell you how well it’s written, I dunno what will.

Part 3

Rebuilding, thwarting Abominator plans, and creating a dragon rider-centric Crafthall.

Tai’s experience with F’lessan was interesting, if only to highlight how traumatizing, actually, it would be to be a dragon rider during mating flights. I really like the F’lessan/Tai relationship. F’lessan does his very, very best to get consent from Tai during that mating flight and it’s pretty damn cool, considering how consent during mating flights has been previously portrayed.

The thwarting of the Abominators at the Printer Crafthall was kind of fun. Gotta love a bit of helpful skullduggery.

Part 4

I do think it’s kind of funny that “we’ve” discovered dragon telekinesis after Aivas wanted to use it on the engines (or whatever his plan was) in All the Weyrs of Pern.

There we go again, friggin’ dragons making me cry. I love Pernese dragons so, so much. The Monaco riders showing up to help Golly fly again was also a tear-jerking moment.

The demise of the “villain” of the piece was anti-climactic. Not that I was expecting something drawn out, but… yeah. Oh well. I should probably be disappointed that (unless Todd McCaffrey decides to continues into the “present” Pern) it doesn’t seem like we’ll get an ending to the Abominators completely, buy… I’m really not. This sort of thing probably wouldn’t go away completely anyway, if the current Neo-Nazi movement is any indication. I do sort of wish Toric got his ultimate comeuppance, but I’m happy to see the back of his character.

Favorite Lines

"And those are happy to believe easy lies rather than complicated truths," - Lord Jaxom

"Since when has the middle of the night been free of trouble!" - Master Idarolan

"The written word has a power all its own, that rumor can never replace. So you publish truth. The Abominators circulate rumor. A person can reread words and reestablish truth. Rumor can't be caught, can't be traced. It may be more fun to pass along but a book, a sheet of printed paper, that's tangible and the sense of it doesn't change when it's passed from hand to hand." - Pinch

The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

So, first, I definitely remember reading The Dolphins of Pern during my last attempted Pern read-through. I remembered bits of it as I started this reread and those were mostly the ending bits with Readis. I'm pretty sure I only remembered him setting himself up in the caves to be around the dolphins and the part about him going to school in Landing and that's it. Boy, was I surprised at the rest of this book.

The Dolphins of Pern was absolutely delightful. I don't think I've had this much fun reading a Pern book since Dragonflight. The dolphins are absolutely spot on and just wonderfully realized. I loved everyone's reactions to them and their delight at both talking to and helping the dolphins was infectious.

I was honestly extremely annoyed with Aramina from the beginning. I know parents can be over-bearing in the ways she was, but, as I've never experienced it myself, it comes across in not-great ways. She's realistic, I'll give McCaffrey that, but I really don't like the person Aramina's become. I know a good portion of that is worry, but she's worrying far too much and being closed-minded to boot.

I don't really have much to say about the other characters. Readis' journey is honestly fairly standard, as far as journeys of growth go. He's more or less your bog-standard male protagonist coming of age doing something his parents don't understand. T'lion was also pretty standard. Loved Gadareth, of course. The dragons are often the best parts. Aaand Toric... got what was coming to him. He was honestly the least interesting part of this book and it's no wonder I completely forgot that bit.

I didn't mention this in my All the Weyrs of Pern review because it happened toward the end of the book, but Robinton's passing had me in tears. I don't feel it's super spoiler-y to mention here as it happened mid-book. His funeral was touching and I was in tears again. Robinton was one of my favorite characters and he lived a nice, long life through the series.

So, yeah, The Dolphins of Pern is probably my favorite after Dragonflight. Love the further expansion of Pern... in both the re-addition of dolphins and the technological leaps forward. Love the dolphins. Love the dragons. Just all around love for this book... except Toric and Aramina. Heh.

All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

All the Weyrs of Pern was first of all, very good. Secondly, it displays McCaffrey's writing prowess perfectly. I don't know that there are many writers (at least in my admittedly shallow experience) that could make the shift from what is essentially medieval fantasy to science fiction to smoothly. Mind you, All the Weyrs of Pern doesn't pivot super hard into hard sci-fi, but the pivot is there and is very, very well done. Technically, especially given I'm reading the Pern series in chronological order, this is a shift back to science fiction, but it doesn't really feel that way. The reader is drip-fed what "modern" concepts are required, right alongside Jaxom and the others.

There's also a big element here of the "scary new-fangled" ideas encroaching on the more "traditional" ideas. While the series main characters embrace Aivas and the "new" concepts he espouses, there is definitely a contingent of people on Pern who dislike, distrust, and reject everything Aivas stands for. This comes to a head a couple of times in the book, lending some action and urgency to the otherwise meandering plot (I'll discuss that a bit later). This rejection of Aivas honestly lands really close to home right now. There are a good chunk of real life people who are rejecting even basic scientific concepts based on lack of understanding, which I would argue is what people like Master Norist decide to do in reaction of Aivas.

So, I mentioned a meandering plot despite also heaping praise onto how well done All the Weyrs of Pern is. Yes, the plot does meander, but a lot of that meandering is needed to advance said plot in a realistic manner. We've got Aivas' plan to rid Pern of Thread that takes leaps and bounds in knowledge. We've got F'lessan rediscovering Honshu, which was a nice little diversion. We've got the bits involving the running of Pern well outside of Landing, where outside views on Aivas were expounded upon. It's all very well meshed together as to be engaging the whole way through. All that meandering also made Pern feel much more lived in than it ever has before. We get more than just the main characters' perspectives and a glimpse as to what everyone else on Pern is doing outside of Landing.

I do have a couple small gripes, a few of which are probably due to the time between writing The Renegades of Pern and All the Weyrs of Pern. Eastern Weyr is just suddenly established and not a one of the characters acts as though it didn't exist in previous books. Not super disconcerting, just suddenly: Eastern! Jancis and Piemur's relationship is much more established than it was at the end of The Renegades of Pern despite All the Weyrs picking up right where Renegades left off. The big one, which got a good paragraph of ranting in my notes, was the discovery of apparently perfectly viable fuel at Honshu. It broke my SOD very hard, even knowing it probably was so fuel we haven't even conceived of in our current Earth timeframe... fuel also tends to break my SOD in things like The Walking Dead so... yeah.

All the Weyrs of Pern really makes me glad I pushed through both initial read and reread of The White Dragon. Jaxom and Ruth are such important characters. The establishment of Cove Hold and all the characters surrounding it were very important as well. You could probably read All the Weyrs without having read the previous books, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Favorite Lines/Excerpts

"Learning is not limited to the young, Master Robinton," Aivas said.

"The parochially minded tend to flog petty issues to a nubbin. The worried assume their problems are uniquely threatening, or that you are omniscient enough to solve any problem put to you." - Master Robinton 

"Ah, but interference was a major factor in Terran politics," Lytol replied. "Spurred by territorial imperatives and, all too often, sheer greed."

"We are altering the fabric of their lives. That frightens people. It always has; it always will." - Sebell

"When a harper is silence, all men should listen harder," Sebell said.

     "You wonder sometimes, don't you, Asegnar," Larad said sadly as they turned to reenter the warm, comfortable room, "why people can be so ornery."

     "I think it has to do with a resistance to being done good to." - Lords Larad & Asegnar

 

     "We're not dealing with fools."

     "No, we're dealing with fearful men, and they're more dangerous." - D'ram & Sebell

"... for when speech is restricted, all men suffer, not just I." - Master Robinton

"People will hear what they wish to hear, and believe what they want to." - Brand

The Renegades of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

The Renegades of Pern made me realize that, unless there are very large deviations from the original text, I don’t enjoy reading of events that have already happened. Or at least, not in McCaffrey’s style. Because I’ve been reading in chronological order, there’s several instances in The Renegades of Pern where the story is re-tread. There was a retelling of Piemur’s arrival in Southern via Sharra, Thella’s version of Aramina’s recuse by Heth, and a good chunk of The White Dragon through Piemur’s eyes. It was alright, but I just read all that elsewhere.

That said, the rest of The Renegades of Pern was alright. I was honestly bored with the second half of Jayge and Aramina’s story, but did enjoy the ultimate ending. Thella was slightly compelling, until she went full-on revenge-girl. Like, I enjoyed that she was willing to strike out on her own and that she managed to mostly do it successfully… but then it was all “they have seen me, they must die” and that was just less fun.

Most of Piemur and Toric’s bits were re-treads of what happened during The White Dragon. That changed during the last few chapters, where more exploring of the Southern Continent happened. That part was interesting. I won’t go into specifics on that, but it was a continuation of Pern’s story that’s looking like a lot of fun.

Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffrey

Really just not a fan of this at all. The stakes just aren’t there for me, especially after reading The White Dragon, which Dragon’s Code takes place during. I don’t think I’ve ever been that big a fan of Piemur’s, so having him as the POV character most of the time is just whatever. Dragon’s Code just isn’t inspiring me to pick it up half the time, so… DNFing.

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

2018 First Read

This book is a ridiculous mix of absolutely nothing happening followed by spurts of ALL THE THINGS happening followed by more of nothing. The pace is ridiculous and it’s hard to get a good reading rhythm going. Not as good as Dragonflight and Dragonquest, which it’s lumped in with, but the boring parts are definitely worth pushing through to get to the more exciting bits.

2025 Reread

So, the thing about The White Dragon is: the pacing is all over the place. On this reread, I’m remembering why I DNF’d The White Dragon in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, the story is good and rewards reading, it’s just that it goes from an adventure to lots of talking to some more adventure to more talking to… you get the idea. And it’s not really until the last 100-or-so pages that the big, Pern-changing discoveries are made… but that would be telling. 🤫

Anyway… by far, the star of The White Dragon is the White Dragon himself: Ruth. Ruth really distinguishes himself over the course of the story, honestly showing more intelligence than even his parents. Ruth is also quite funny, at times. He’s indispensable as a fire lizard interpreter, too. There’s a constant worry about his sexuality, weirdly enough, that I found, well, really just weird. I guess for more sexual beings than myself, worrying about whether or not the “runt” dragon was ever going to mate is worthwhile, but… yeah. Felt weird to me.

I quite like Jaxom and “watching” him grow up. He and Sharra make a nice couple. I like her, too. She’s, I think, what I would have liked Mirrim to turn out like… which was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Mirrim’s descent into, basically a shrew personality-wise, wasn’t great. But hey, it takes all types to make a world.

So, yeah, The White Dragon is definitely worth the read, even if it admittedly took me a few tries to actually get through it. I will add that doing the reread was also a lot of waiting for things to happen. Just soldiering through the more boring parts to get to the fun or interesting parts. But definitely worth it. 

Random Continuity Error

So there's this whole part where people talk about Robinton not being able to sail... except that in The Masterharper of Pern, he does sail. Manages to keep him and his unmentioned wife afloat for the entirety of their sickness and the storm or whatever... but yeah, not mentioned in The White Dragon at all. Yay for publication retcons.

The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye

For any nerd who loves Pern and wants to know more about it in detail, The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern is the book for you. Do be warned, if you haven’t read through the series, there are spoilers for pretty much all of it in these pages. It also does read mostly like a text-book, so be aware of that.

I vaguely remember a bunch of info from this book, so I must have read it, or one of the other text-book-like Pern books when I was in college (that’s when I last tried to read a bunch of Pern books). I really liked a good number of the illustrations, especially those of specifically Pernese origin.

The main reason I’m reading this book ( ya know, other than loving Pern) is to review the short story, “Impression.” So here’s that:

A very sweet story. Really hammers home how Impression feels. F’lessan and Golanth are adorable. I kind of liked the little detail about the Candidates being barefoot during the Hatching. Little weird, but a bit of world-building I’d never even thought about. I also appreciate the description of Golanth’s hide.

My notes:

• The ships look quite interesting, based on the drawing of the Yokohama. Not at all what I ever pictured.
• Crawlers give me distinct alien vibes, though I cannot for the life of me remember the particular alien I’m remembering.
• Wherries remind me of gryphons.
• The grubs honestly look very silly… and not like any grubs I imagined. Too furry.
• This Wher illustration honestly looks like a very muscly man in a suit.
• I found the “Training and Fighting Dragons” chapter really neat. Todd Johnson/McCaffrey’s writing style is really on show here.
• Robinton’s retconned wife is not mentioned in the blurb about him… or rather, it’s said he never married.
• Harper sand-tables are neat!
• Well that’s a lovely little paragraph… “The Healercraft doesn’t have the technology to sustain defective humans. After twenty-five centuries on Pern, the race has been bred clean of most defects.” Uhm… gross.
• I like the little biographies/stories we get about rando Pernese people throughout this book. Makes the world feel more complete and lived-in.
• Wow, let’s pretty much word-for-word repeat how the buildings at Landing looked not even a whole page later…
• If you are ever interested in just how much information authors have about their worlds that will probably never make it into the books, I beg you to take a look at the list of Dragons and their Riders contained in this book. It’s a lot.

Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

As I'm sure is just going to be a thing with this trilogy, due to when I purchased them, I will start my review by commenting on the cover. I have the latest batch with covers by Stephan Martinière. Dragonsinger features an iguana with wings. Pretty sure it's supposed to be a fire lizard, but it's honestly way too big and ugly. Thanks. I hate it.

So, largely, Dragonsinger is your bog-standard new-special-student-of-exclusive-school story. Menolly arrives at Harper Hall basically with nothing but loads of talent and her fire lizards and gets thrown into the thick of things immediately. She even encounters the annoyances of a bully and an apparently jealous adult. Piemur and Camo are her new bestest friends, which is good. I like both of them. Though I will note that Camo is definitely autistic and/or has Downs Syndrome, it is not clear. McCaffrey refers to him as a "lackwit" mostly. So, ya know, just be warned about that. Dragonsinger was written in the 1970s.

I found Menolly's first couple of days at Harper Hall to be interesting. It makes sense that she needed to be assessed, so being shuffled around to the different Masters made sense. What made somewhat less sense was that none of the adults in charge of Menolly decided to tell her where she needed to be after all that. Technically, Dunca was supposed to have relayed a message, but Silvina or Domick really should have, I dunno, hunted Menolly down to make sure she was where she was supposed to be. Made me think a little less of them, to be honest.

Speaking of Dunca... I hate her. I knew I was going to hate her from the moment Silvina opened those shutters. Dunca is clearly intimidated by Menolly and afraid of the fire lizards... among a myriad of other things, I'm sure. It's probably not a good idea to have her in charge of the fostered girls when she fosters such petty environment for them. I wish we could have "seen" Silvina's dressing down of her. I would have loved it.

I honestly felt as though I were being dragged through the story at such a quick pace. It does take place over a week and it was a whirlwind of Menolly, so I suppose that's fair. Menolly doesn't really have much time to rest, so the reader doesn't really get that either. That said, the characters are vibrant and the story is well-crafted within that whirlwind. The really important thing is Menolly finally receiving the explicit support she needs to thrive.

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

2025 Reread

First, I must complain about these Simon & Schuster re-release covers by Stephan Martinière. I find them quite dreary and the dragons are straight-up ugly. I know everyone has their own way of depicting dragons, but the Pernese ones are rather distinctive around the head shape... which these dragons don't have. I don't like them at all.

Secondly, there is overt emotional and at least once instance of physical abuse contained within these pages. Menolly's family is less than enthused about her playing and musical talent. Her father, Yanus, is a curmudgeon through and through. Her mother and sister are basically encouraged to bully Menolly. It's all very distressing and no wonder Menolly ends up running away from home. I can't help but thinking, though, that Petrion could have mentioned, at least to Menolly, that his wife had been Mastersinger (as seen in The Masterharper of Pern ). Perhaps if he'd mentioned Merelan to Yanus, Menolly would have had a better time of it. Menolly definitely would have had more hope... But then there's the Publication Order to consider... Merelan might not have been conceived of until that full 2 decades later. *le sigh

That said, although Menolly's story is depressing at times, Dragonsong is very good. Menolly is an awesome protagonist who never quite gives in to the adversity she faces. It's also not too much of spoiler to add that fire lizards abound. Menolly really comes into her own when surrounded by her fair.

I liked getting more Mirriam. She was mostly in the background of Dragonquest, being Brekke's fosterling and all. But here we get to see her becoming friends with Menolly. I think they'd be very fun as a pair, if given more time together.

Dragonsong is a very good follow up to Dragonquest. It expands Pern's world beyond the Weyr, giving us a glimpse of life in a very different arena. So far, one of my favorite Pern novels.

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

2025 Reread Review

Dragonquest is one of those sequels that expertly expands the world in which it takes place. It's also one where a lot happens. I'd forgotten just how much, really. I think it's all done quite well, with nothing feeling out of place or there just for the sake of being there. The groundwork is well laid for each event well before it happens.

There is a time-jump between Dragonflight and Dragonquest, which I think is handled quite nicely. Mostly done through characters expositing at each other, but not in a jarring, info-dump-y way.

In addition to story beats, I feel the character work here is really well done. We get to know several characters very well and add to our knowledge of others. Of note, there's Kylara, Lord Meron, and Brekke. Kylara is truly the worst. She was set up in Dragonflight as a promising Queen rider, which she is, though it is very clear Prideth is the only creature she truly cares about outside of herself. Even then, it does feel like a bit of a stretch and therefore not really surprising when she neglects her poor dragon. Lord Meron, connected to Kylara, is definitely the worst among the Lord Holders. He's greedy and gross. Brekke, we get to know the best, I think. She's attached to F'nor and quite sweet and capable as a Weyrwoman. I would expound upon her story here, but I do think that would venture into the spoiler territory I'm trying to stay out of. Suffice to say, the poor woman suffers the worst trauma any dragonrider could and seems to come out alright on the other side... eventually.

I also absolutely loved getting more with Masterharper Robinton and Mastersmith Fandarel. Robinton is a delight, as always. Fandarel is actually my favorite new character. I just love him to bits. He's definitely of a single mind and funny to boot, even though I'm sure he doesn't always mean to be. He's just a big teddy bear at heart.

F'lar and F'nor get a lot of character work here as well. F'lar's care for the entire planet of Pern is shown in great detail. F'nor is shown to be incredibly caring in his relationship with Brekke.

There's also a good deal with Lord Jaxom, the kiddo Lessa "allowed" to take over Ruatha when she left for Bendon Weyr. He's a sweet kid. His Impression of Ruth had me in tears this time around. Not the only moment to make me cry, but definitely a notable one.

I honestly love Dragonquest. It moves Pern's story forward in understandable leaps, just given the stuff left behind by the "ancients" and rediscovered over the course of the book. I think it's all integrated well with Pern's current tech level. I also think saying much more is going to catapult my review into spoiler territory, so I'm gonna stop here.

Favorite Lines

"It's easier to flatter a man than fight him." - F'lar

"Is age a prerequisite for a loving heart? Does maturity always bring compassion?" - Brekke

Musical Recommendation

I meant to add this at the end of my Dragonflight review, but forgot.😅

I'm not sure how common this knowledge is, but some of the music of Pern has actually been recorded. The music is collected in two albums: The Masterharper of Pern and Sunset's Gold. This reread I decided to go ahead and purchase both albums and am very happy with that purchase. They remind me a lot of the music one might hear at a Renaissance Festival, which makes sense given the general time period-ish of Pern... at least musically speaking. They were produced by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman in collaboration with Anne McCaffrey.

The Masterharper of Pern is mostly comprised of songs from the actual series. The little song/poetry snippets at the beginning of chapters in Dragonflight. I actually found it really neat to be able to listen to how McCaffrey intended the songs to sound. Apparently supposed to be the work of Robinton.

Sunset's Gold seems to be more general Pernese music, but is still really nice to listen to. According to the Dragonriders of Pern Wikipedia page, these songs were "pertaining mainly to the work another Pernese harper, Menolly."

I highly recommend giving both albums a listen. If you don't want to (or can't) buy them, some fans have the music uploaded to YouTube. I think they really help bring Pern more to life than simply reading the books.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

2025 Reread Review

This read marks at least my fourth reread of Dragonflight. I enjoyed it this time just as much as I’ve enjoyed it in the past. Dragons and well-done time travel, gotta love it.

This is a very small bit in the grand scheme of things, but I think it’s kind of funny that F’lar apparently doesn’t know you can check for a pulse at the neck or wrist. Instead: “The dragonman laid a hand, trembling in spite of an effort to control himself, on the woman’s breast to feel for a heartbeat…” This amuses me, because you can’t tell me there haven’t been other riders knocked unconscious during the Games or something. F’lar’s a Wingleader, he should know this shit.

I am very much of the same mind as Lessa, before Ramoth’s first mating flight. No one really tells her anything or lets her do anything, so how is she to know when she’s messing up F’lar’s plans? I know this is the first of the Pern books in publication order, so I do kind of forgive things like Lessa not being expected or allowed to take control of the Weyr’s inner workings. I do find it a little weird that Jora’s behavior was what R’gul and S’lel based Weyerwoman behavior on… surely they knew the woman before Jora? Or someone had to have… C’gan, maybe? Just seems odd.

Robinton’s dressing down of the Holders and Craftmasters was inspired and a long time coming. Pretty sure this scene, his first in the publication-order, was where I fell in love with Robinton. Same with Fandarel. My two favorite Craftmasters.

I very much dislike F’lar’s tendency to shake Lessa. It’s passed off as an endearing thing, especially when he does it at the end of the book, but… no. Feels icky overall.

I still really like the time travel bits here. Reading/rereading chronologically has given me a bit of time travel fatigue, but the way this is done quickly rather than being discussed to death just works. It does work really, really well.

Dragonflight does a fantastic job fleshing out F’lar and Lessa as characters. They’re both clearly their own people with thoughts and opinions and ways of doing things. Just top-notch character work for a relatively short book.

I love Dragonflight. It’s a great introduction to the world of Pern, as it should be.

Random chronological continuity error silliness:

• If the Greens aren’t drilling with Firestone, how’re they preventing them from getting pregnant and laying eggs? Or are we allowing the Greens to chew firestone a few times specifically to prevent this?
• Why weren’t the dragon eggs at Southern Weyr plagued by Tunnel Snakes? That bit’s probably not been thought of until the later published books and I wouldn’t even mention it except that it was a huge plot point in Sky Dragons.

The Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

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

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.

Sky Dragons by Anne & Todd McCaffrey

Overall, Sky Dragons makes a nice change of narrative from following Fiona and Lorana for two books. It was also a lot more fun, as there wasn’t as much doom and gloom hanging over everything. As usual with these last couple (chronologically) books, there is some filling in of the overall Pern narrative through the use of time travel.

Book One: Sky Dragons

I’m actually really enjoying Xhinna, here. She faded fairly quickly into the background during the last two books, especially given her absence from Igen. But here, she seems to be flourishing. I do think it’s a little odd that saving Pern seems to be on her shoulders. I get being the first female Blue rider and apparently needing to prove herself in that regard, but I’m still not sure why saving Pern seemed to end up being Xhinna’s responsibility. Gotta theme those female main characters, apparently.

Okay, so… how’d the cats end up on the islands, exactly? Given where the islands are and that Tuberman’s cats would have been on the Southern Continent… this just doesn’t make sense. This is not explained, but the cats come in handy (no, I will not refer to them as Mrreows) so I guess we’ll just hand-wave that.

I really enjoy Jirana. She’s a lot more plucky and less wispy than a lot of other female-child-seers tend to be.

I was a little put off, late in this part of the book, by how much of the book went by in a play-by-play of the time. Just seemed like a lot of time to spend directly in the action vs how much time needed to elapse for Sky Dragons to match up with the rest of the timeline. Not that there weren’t little time-jumps, but they didn’t seem long enough.

Book Two: The Sky Dragons

Back to business as usual for the Weyrfolk, only, ya know, on an island. Not gonna lie, my eyes were glazing over again when the numbers and logistics came back into the mix. However, hearing about how D’gan dealt with coming back to Telgar was rather amusing.

In Conclusion

Sky Dragons was a nice change of pace, while still sticking to the "gotta save Pern via judicious time travelling" thing that last two-three books (depending on what order you're reading in) have had. I very much liked that this mainly stuck to the one story line, even if I had been a little worried about its length vs the length of the book itself. It was nice not to be overly bored with logistics for once, as well. They were worked in a lot better this time, in my opinion. Definitely a solid Pern entry.

Favorite Lines

"Adults are only grown-up children, after all." - Xhinna

"Girls, as you may have noticed, are dangerous." - R'ney

Dragon's Time by Anne & Todd McCaffrey

I can’t pinpoint what made Dragon’s Time so much better than Dragongirl, but pacing is a big part of this. The pacing was so, so much better. I practically flew through Dragon’s Time.

The time travel is very heavy here, but mostly well done. Lorana’s adventures through time were alright. I think the concept of a Beacon is interesting. Lorana was definitely more relatable here. I particularly liked her first little thing with Tenniz. And “seeing” her be at least somewhat in space was interesting. It was also really obvious to me that F’jian was doing a “Time Traveler’s Wife” kind of thing, which was fairly sweet. Terin’s initial reaction to it was super understandable.

There also wasn’t the dire sort of feeling that Dragongirl had about the state of the Dragons. We didn’t get, or need, up-to-the-moment updates about how many dragons were left. The worry was still there, just not nearly as oppressive this time.

I do like that we get some dragon-switching. It’s an interesting concept, especially in light of the more open attitude Fiona and Telgar Weyr have been promoting.

The last third of the book honestly had me confused. I don’t usually rely on maps, but I wish the islands were included. I guess that’s regarded as a spoiler, which is why the map didn’t appear until after the last chapter. I had a hard time visualizing where the heck Fiona and them were. I would talk more about the goings on there, but I do feel like that’s a lot more of a spoiler.

But anyway, Dragon’s Time was definitely a lot more enjoyable than Dragongirl. That’s the main feeling I’m left with. I’m also relieved, because I do want to enjoy my time reading and rereading Pern.

I've Done It Again!

I'm not re-upping my goal again this year. Just gonna see how many I get through for the rest of the year in a chill manner.