Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

If you have read other books of the Pern series, you may have come across the ballad of Moreta's ride. This engaging and well written book details the life of the legendary weir woman during a dangerous epidemic sweeping the land. It is a rich tale, spun full of love, mystery, and courage, and I enjoyed reading it.

I read this book once, years ago and bought it again to fill out my Pern Collection. I bought it again because the Pern storyline is one of my favorites. I suggest reading it in Chronological order, but it isn't really necessary because each story is, by itself, thrilling and adventurous. Take your time and enjoy!

This entry into the longrunning PERN series is set 1500 years after the events of DRAGON'S DAWN and 900 years before the events of DRAGONFLIGHT, DRAGONQUEST, THE WHITE DRAGON etc. At this time the people of Pern have settled the Northern continent and developed a society very like medieval Europe, Lord holders control (held) large tracts of territory supervising farming, mining or fishing settlements. The skilled crafts are organized into automonous Halls and all of Pern supports the aristocracy of the Weyrs, who, with their dragons protect the planet from the periodic invasion of Thread, an alien lifeform that devours every living thing with which it comes in contact. By this time the Pernese realize that they have lost knowledge and skills that their ancestors possessed and are eagerly planning exploring the mysterious Southern Continent at the end of this current Fall of Thread, inabout 8 years. As the story opens Moreta, rider of a Queen dragon, is enjoying herself at a Gather (party). Unfortunately a flu virus had been inadvertantly been introduced into the population and quickly spread through out the population, both human and equine. The various segments of Pernese society work together to combat the now dual threat of virus and Thread in order to save the planet with Moreta thrust into a center role. As always with this series the main interest, at least for me, is the basic premise. Since there are books about a later time obviously disaster was averted, Moreta has become a legend and therefore her ultimate fate is pretty much known to any fan of the series. What is exciting is that McCaffrey has created an entire new world. Each book gives the reader a glimpse into this world from a slightly different viewpoint or time. The characters are all so well written, so consistent within the rules of this new world that the whole thing comes to life. Each character, human or dragon, is an individual complete with virtues and flaws, often with a history that drives their actions. The interactions between the various segments of the society are well thought out and totally consistent - and familiar to anyone who has ever tried to get a large organization to cooperate on an important project! For fans of the series, this is obviously a must read. For anyone who is new to the series this would be an enjoyable read although it would be easier to 'get into' the series with some of the earlier books - either in the sense of written first (DRAGONFLIGHT) or chronologically to Pern (DRAGONSDAWN).

This novel is a novel of earlier pern. For those of you out there who had heard of Moreta, and wanted to know more, this book is for you! Unfortuneately, it doesn't include the words to the ballad about her, but this is still a great book! This book is a very good story about one of pern's most famous heroines: Moreta. The book combines lots of action, love, and excitement to create one of the best pern books yet available. The ending is sad, but it also explains why there was a ballad written about it in the first place. In short, a wonderful addition to the pern series, fans are sure to love it.

Moreta is Weyrwoman at Fort Weyr with Sh'gall as Weyrleader. Moreta loves Orlith, her dragon queen, and would do anything for her, but she does wish that someone else had flown her during her mating flight. Sh'gall is a very able weyrleader in the air when fighting thread, but he does not do as well with people. Moreta is sure that they will go together to the Ruatha Gather, after all it is Lord Alessan's first gather as a Lord Holder and everyone will be there. However, Sh'gall decides to go to the Telgar Gather and to see the strange cat that was captured in the ocean and put on display there. Desdra, Moreta's anxious housekeeper insists that Moreta cannot go without Sh'gall and that it is a terrible slight to her mistress, but Moreta wouldn't miss a good gather for the world!Moreta has a wonderful time at the gather with Lord Alessan. They are both avid racers and enjoy watching the runnerbeasts compete. When one of the runnerbeasts suddenly collapses, no one is sure what is wrong with the beast, but the fun of the gather continues. Moreta lingers at Ruatha Hold, but is finally forced to leave. She is awoken in the early morning hours by a frantic Sh'gall claiming that Masterhealer Capiam has diagnosed a plague that the wild cat brought over with it from the Southern Continent. All of Pern is in a panic as news of the unknown illness spreads. All too soon there is no hold or weyr that is untouched by the unknown ailment. But Moreta is a healer and she is determined to help in whatever way she can. She continues to urge the dragonriders to take care and helps unite multiple weyrs to fly thread together, as well as help care for the sick and wounded. When Masterhealer Capiam finds a cure, Moreta is thrilled and ready to do whatever is necessary to give the vaccination to everyone on Pern before a second wave of the mutated virus spreads more death. She cannot understand why some weyrleaders simply refuse to see the truth and will not help take the medicine to the far-reaching holds. Moreta cannot bear to see people die unnecessarily so she secretly arranges for dragonriders from all the Weyrs to help. When part of her plan falls through, Moreta has no choice but to go and help deliver the vaccination herself. But she cannot rider her beloved Orlith because she is guarding her clutch. When she borrows her mentor's queen Holth, the tragedy begins...I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I first heard of Moreta's Ride in Dragonsinger when Menolly leads the ballad with her fire lizards. I knew that this book was going to have a bittersweet ending, but I love the Pern series so I thought that I would give it a try. I thought that Moreta was a great character - strong, but not overpowering. She tried to make the best of her situation and found joy and love in unlikely places. I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between Moreta and Alessan, but I felt so sorry for Alessan for having to deal with so much tragedy and s

In my opinion, Moreta: Dragonlady Of Pern is AM's best Pern book ever. It's incredibly sad and sweet, and left me sobbing for days afterward. It finally explained the whole Moreta's Ride ballad that I kept reading about in the other books as well, which was very nice. The characters are believeable, the plot is wonderful, and (as far as I could tell) all the loose threads tie together in the end. This is a book that any AM fan will not want to miss!

Or maybe "Dragonflight"? It's really close, either way. This is a beautiful book! Interesting, tragic, epic, romantic, beautiful, it's a nice breather from the escapades of F'lar and Lessa and really adds depth to the whole series. It's like an historical novel, in a sense. Moreta is an awesome heroine. Wow--a McCaffrey heroine who's blonde and is neither drippy nor evil! In just one novel, McCaffrey brings a lot of characters to life. Alessan, Moreta, Capiam, Leri, K'lon, (especially) B'lerion, and the dragons themselves are very real, without being retreads of old characters as McCaffrey has a tendency toward. A plague ravages Pern...an interesting and unusual gimmick for a sci-fi. At it's heart I think this book is a sweet, poignant, tragic love story on several levels: between Moreta and Lord Alessan, between a Weyrwoman and her dragon, between readers and a fascinating and beautiful world and its denizens. Recommended highly!!