Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Thoughts on...Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

I'm not sure I can accurately review this title. You see, my high school graduation was 29 years ago and this is a book (not just the title-the book) I read while in high school. The whole series is comfort reading for me and I re-read them last year as well as this year.

The best I can do is tell you more about the book then amazon does ;)

"There's nothing for you to fear from Harpers" said T'gellan, rider of Bronze Dragon Monarth to Menolly, Petiron's lost apprentice.

Wait. maybe that's not the best introduction ;) Pern is a earth colony that has had all contact severed. The space travel is unheard off and the planet has gone back to a class system.

People live in cities called Holds with a main person in charge, the Holder. Several Holds look to a Lord Holder. There are apprentices, journeyman and Masters of crafts, such as ship building, mining and teaching. Masters are over city-like places called Halls, with one Master leading the others.

Most teaching is done by a Harper and is musically taught. Harpers are men.

That is way too simple. It doesn't say anything about Thread, a dangerous eating-everything-but-solid-rock organism that falls from the sky on a recognisable rotation. Nor about Dragons, yes, flying, fire-breathing dragons that flame the thread from the sky at great risk to themselves and their riders.

Menolly grew up in an island sea hold. Fishing was their main livelihood but Menolly was a square peg trying to fit into the round hole of her world. She is tall for a girl, too musically sensitive for a girl, and the last one able to teach when the Harper dies. This shouldn't be the problem that it is but the Sea Holder, for lack of a better term, has a stick up his butt about women harpering. Is embarrassed to have a young girl lead the teaching and beats her when she writes her own songs.

After injuring her hand gutting fish, told not to sing with the others, she runs away and impresses nine Fire Lizards (pet-sized dragons).

Menolly ends up at a Weyr (where the dragons live) where she is discovered by the Masterharper and whisked to the Harper hall.

Book two, this book, starts with her landing at Harper Hall.

The book spends a week with Menolly fighting envy, backstabbing, fist fights, the same attitude of her father, all to find her place in the hall. True friends are introduced and....

maybe amazon got it right, "Pursuing her dream to be a Harper of Pern, Menolly studies under the Masterharper learning that more is required than a facility with music and a clever way with words."

One of the nice things about the trilogy is that it follows along with the rest of Pern, we are not isolated at the Hall but events around the world impact the story. As well as the story impacting the rest of the world and at the end of the week, she and her Fire Lizards have settled in.

This is not a good place to start reading the series from try Dragonsong, or better yet, Dragonflight.


Disclaimer: This title is from my personal library. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of amazon


Dragonsinger
Pern's Harper Hall trilogy
by Anne McCaffreyr


publisher: Spectra/Bantam
format: Mass Market paperback
genre: fantasy
age range 12+
256 pages


Product Description:
Pursuing her dream to be a Harper of Pern, Menolly studies under the Masterharper learning that more is required than a facility with music and a clever way with words.



copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2011

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In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Book Dragon's Lair. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won in some kind of contest, or received in exchange for an honest review.