Ann McCaffrey's Pernrigers Dragonharper

I read Dragonriders of Pern for the first time in 1979. My soon to be husband still had his US Navy enlistment to fulfill before we got married. His nuclear submarine was in drydock at Norfolk Virginia. He invited me down for Thanksgiving weekend that year so we could finalize our wedding plans. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, my fiancee and his two roommates all wound up having duty most of the weekend. I had come down from Frederick Maryland by bus and didn't have my drivers license yet so I was more or less stuck in their apartment alone all weekend. One of his roommates enjoyed science fiction/fantasy genre as much as I did. I found his book club edition with all three volumes in it. Once I started it, I was enthralled for the weekend. I read far into the night for two nights. I love Pern and I have every book in hardback with dust jackets and many are first editions. I even have the two slim volumes that were released as special editions for the Sci-Fi Book Club The Dolphins Bell and Rescue Run. Both of these tales were incorporated into the book The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall containing four novellas. I don't know about any one else but when Robinton died in All the Weyrs of Pern I felt devastated and cheated. I was very glad when Anne wrote The Masterharper of Pern. This book too gave us insights into how Robinton's character developed. Somewhat neglected as a child by his perfectionist father Petiron, if Robinton had not had his delightful, sweet mother Merelyn and the rest of the Harper Hall masters in collusion with her to keep the young Robinton's musical genius a secret from his father, you get to understand how he became the most respected and beloved leader on Pern. Lords Holder and even the weyrleaders and weyrwomen did not fail to consult him with all matters regarding Pern. The few times they did, they found out the hardway that Robinton was a force not to be reckoned with. I thought this book was good and gave us more insights into Robinton's character. I know that most of us who are long time fans of Anne McCaffrey, her dragons and her Pern do not like to think of any other writers trying to come in and usurp her place but, Anne has worked with Jody Lynn Nye on several other projects so Jody has a good grasp of Pern. I have been enjoying the books that her son Todd has written. He is giving us some of the past history of Pern that we haven't read before. No one is trying to take Anne's place as the "Senior Queen Weyrwoman of Pern" (as I call her), no one ever could. I find getting a new twist on things refreshing. I continue to reread the whole of my collection of Pern novels. I have them all on electronic book format and I have them all on audio books. I've made sure that come what may, I will not be deprived of the stories of the planet Pern. There are so many different ideas that I would like to see someone carry thru for instance what happened with the original colonists after their firs

The unasuming Harper is and will always be my favorite character in the McCaffrey books... The book shows the sadder parts of his life and how it changed him into being The Harper instead of just a harper. If you love the story of the dragon riders, you will love this book.

Anne McCaffreys Pern is a complex detailed world all her own. For anyone to attempt to compare with hers would be a feat in itself. This book was good, the plot was interesting, if a bit on the plain side, however it just does not compare to the eloquence of McCaffreys writing.