Harper Hall of Pern

This edition is all the books in The Harper Hall Trilogy, which is made up of Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. The cover art is beautiful. It was so nice to find all three books in one edition and it was even better to revisit Menolly, Piemur, Robinton and all the other characters I fell in love with as a teenager. Anne McCaffrey weaves wonderful stories and Pern is by far my favorite of her worlds to visit.

I love this author. She has a fantastic sense of the imagination to lose yourself from your everyday grind in life.

These 3 Pern books, other than the trilogy of Dragonquest, Dragonflight, and The White Dragon, plus The MasterHarper of Pern are my favorite Pern books. I wish there were more Pern books about the regular people and the Harper Hall itself. I absolutely love the dragons and dragonriders, but I also love the Harpers and the Craftspeople. If you're looking for Pern books to get a teenager, or anyone, and are confused; I recommend the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy(Dragonquest, Dragonflight, and The White Dragon), along with the Harper Hall trilogy.

The Harper Hall of Pern is an omnibus edition of the Harper Hall trilogy, including Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums. It follows the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy.In Dragonsong, Petiron, the old harper, has died and only Menolly, the youngest child of Sea Holder Yanus, can properly sing the deathsong to honor him. Yanus is scandalized that a girl should perform the role of a harper, but gives in to the inevitable. Moreover, Menolly is the only one available to instruct the children in the Teaching. When the new harper arrives, however, Yanus and his wife try to keep Menolly from his attention. Disconsolate, Menolly starts taking long walks and finds a fire lizard nest about to be swamped by the tide. She helps save the eggs and returns later to witness the hatching and impresses some of the the hatchlings. Now Menolly has nine young fire lizards attending her.In Dragonsinger, Menolly and her fair of fire lizards have been called to Harper Hall because of her songwriting. She has been accepted as the Master Harper's apprentice and soon finds several friends there, dull-witted Camo, who is fascinated by her fire lizards, quick-witted Piemur, who is fascinated by everything, but the foremost is Robiton, the Master Harper himself. Nevertheless, she also is the target of jealousy and prejudice from some of the residents. In Dragondrums, Piemur, who is the pampered lead soprano in the Harper choir, finds that his voice is changing. Moreover, he is no longer the Voice Master's special student. The normally cheerful boy is desolate, but he soon perks up when he is told that he is now apprenticed to the Master Harper himself, working with Sibel and Menolly and maybe even going to the Southern Continent.This trilogy concentrates on a different segment of Pern society than the previous novels. The Harpers are the teachers and messengers as well as entertainers. Moreover, Robinton uses them to spread new ideas and to spy out problems that haven't been reported by the Holders.Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and anyone who enjoys SF tales of young people with a zest for life.

This is a tale of the struggle a talented individual who is not allowed to practice her skills because of a too rigid social structure. She escapes and flourishes because of the kindness and open-mindedness of others, not to mention her own abilities to survive where many would give up and be relegated to what others would decide for them. This is a story that fills your heart with pride for the characters as the conquer the obstacles set before them. It also proves that it pays to keep an open mind when dealing with others. Recognize their abilities and let them take that ability as far as they want. Never let ideas and rules that might have been established long in the past dictate what is best for an individual who can be better than what would otherwise be a poor life.

This companion trilogy opens the door on the culture and workings of Pernese society. Many questions from the Dragonriders Trilogy are answered here and the groundwork is laid for the rest of the books in this wonderful series. Anne McCaffrey demonstrates her mastery of the intricate and subtle plot lines necessary for this type of literature. With precise detail she somehow manages to avoid the dry technicalities that pervade Sci-fi/Fantasy Fiction. Excellent and compelling reading that commands keeping your week-ends free until the book is finished.