What do you think?
Rate this book
Pern #19
Dragon Harper
For millions of readers the world over, the name Pern is magical, conjuring up grand vistas of a distant planet whose blue skies are patrolled by brave dragons and their noble riders, a paradise threatened by the periodic fall of deadly Thread. But not all dangers descend from the skies. Now, in their third collaboration, Anne McCaffrey and her son, Todd McCaffrey, spin a tale of a mysterious illness that may succeed in doing what centuries of Threadfall could not: kill every last human on Pern.
Life in the Harper Hall is busy for best friends Kindan, Nonala, and Kelsa. As the only female apprentices, Nonala and Kelsa are the butt of jokes and easy targets for the bully Vaxoram and his cronies. But when Kindan springs to Kelsa’s defense, he winds up in a fight for his life against the older, bigger Vaxoram–a fight that will lead to a surprising friendship.
Meanwhile, in nearby Fort Hold, a clutch of fire-lizard eggs is about to hatch, and Lord Bemin’s beautiful young daughter, Koriana, is determined to Impress one of the delightful creatures. At the hatching, Kindan Impresses a fire-lizard of his own . . . and wins the heart of Koriana. But Lord Bemin mistrusts harpers and will not hear of a match between his daughter and the low-born Kindan.
Then fate intervenes in the form of a virulent plague as fast-spreading as it is deadly. Arising suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the contagion decimates hold after hold, paying no heed to distinctions of birth. In this feverish crucible, friendship and love will be tested to the breaking point and beyond. For with Threadfall scant years away, the Dragonriders dare not expose themselves to infection, and it will fall to Kindan and his fellow apprentices to bravely search for a cure and save humanity.
The price of failure is unthinkable. But the price of success may be even harder to bear.
Life in the Harper Hall is busy for best friends Kindan, Nonala, and Kelsa. As the only female apprentices, Nonala and Kelsa are the butt of jokes and easy targets for the bully Vaxoram and his cronies. But when Kindan springs to Kelsa’s defense, he winds up in a fight for his life against the older, bigger Vaxoram–a fight that will lead to a surprising friendship.
Meanwhile, in nearby Fort Hold, a clutch of fire-lizard eggs is about to hatch, and Lord Bemin’s beautiful young daughter, Koriana, is determined to Impress one of the delightful creatures. At the hatching, Kindan Impresses a fire-lizard of his own . . . and wins the heart of Koriana. But Lord Bemin mistrusts harpers and will not hear of a match between his daughter and the low-born Kindan.
Then fate intervenes in the form of a virulent plague as fast-spreading as it is deadly. Arising suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the contagion decimates hold after hold, paying no heed to distinctions of birth. In this feverish crucible, friendship and love will be tested to the breaking point and beyond. For with Threadfall scant years away, the Dragonriders dare not expose themselves to infection, and it will fall to Kindan and his fellow apprentices to bravely search for a cure and save humanity.
The price of failure is unthinkable. But the price of success may be even harder to bear.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
243 people are currently reading
4902 people want to read
About the author
Anne McCaffrey
478 books7,754 followersAnne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 328 reviews
January 21, 2020
Warning - Spoilers. Also this is a rant and it is brutal, so if you want to see me roast a book, then read this.
Well, this book was not good to put it lightly. I lot of the reviews I see are quite negative and felt the same way as I did towards this book whilst the ratings seem to be actually quite positive. I understand that this is a book in a very popular old school fantasy series and I mean no offence. This is my first book in the world, since I believed it worked as a stand-alone and since I had no books left to read I thought I would just pick it up since it was a short book before I went back to the library and only took a day to read. I have heard that Todd’s writing is nowhere near as good as his mother’s, so I do plan to read Anne McCaffrey’s work in the future.
Let’s begin with the Prologue, which, made no sense since there was no explaining as to what the heck was going on, whilst dumping loads of characters with your typical really hard to pronounce and remember fantasy names and from the get go, it served the book no purpose. In fact, the events of the prologue won’t be mentioned again until towards the end of the book where it is only mentioned in passing. Prologue = pointless.
Then we have the first fifty pages or so, which again, served no purpose in the overall sense of the story. In fact, the book doesn’t even catch up to the blurb until a good sixty pages into the book. This first part of the book is all about dealing with this bully and has the main character being so brave and honourable and blah, blah, blah, because I still don’t know how the old the character is, nor what he looks like and there is no sense in actually creating any characters at all, since we know nothing about them. Essentially, Kindan gets beaten to a pulp, but then becomes a super trained warrior, working to absolute death and training for a week before fighting the guy.
There are many problems with this already, first, he actually needs to properly recover from his injury, lest it be infected or if it opens again, also, if he really was as tired as the book described then a few days in, he would have sores and bruises over his body, as is normal with humans, and he has been going to bed late and working his butt off for a week, then the would be utterly exhausted by the time the fight actually came about. Not to mention that some of the stuff like staring into someone’s eyes until they look away is pretty damn stupid. Also, we also get a case of extreme Gary Stu where he goes from not being able to fight with his left hand at all to having the force and fighting blindfolded like a beast in the space of a day. Also we still don’t know how old he is yet so he might be a six year old kid for all I care.
Kindan wins of course and now the person getting bully becomes the bully since he makes the guy he bet a slave. They also go around talking about honour and a load of rubbish that was completely useless. Also, the bully that we spend so long on dies anyway in the end just like every other character we are introduced to so there is literally no point, except Kindan of course, who recovers.
Next up, we have the love interest, Koriana who at the start comes off as this scared annoying person that spends several dozen pages whinging and going, ‘what do I do’ to Kindan. Then, we have the biggest case of instalove, ever in that there was no chemistry, hardly any conversations between them and we hardly even know what they look like, but her smells nice I guess. Then, one day when they are in the archives(which they spend most of the book doing), they(oh no!), touch each other and voila, they are all over each other. I have heard that they might be like thirteen(not that we are ever told), which like, it just makes this weird. This doesn’t happen, it’s not love, it’s hormones. Then there are all of these instances that just seems to work out so well like, we are going to share a bed and lo behold, it’s going to be too hot so I better take off my hands while I’m at it. Like, Mr Author, really? Koriana dies a full sixty pages in the end so they were in ‘love’ for a few dozen pages anyway, so again, what was the point. Then I did some googling and that apparently Kindan gets the hots for other woman in the future anyway.
So far, the prologue was pointless, the first fifty pages was pointless and the romance was pointless. Now let’s see what else in pointless is this pointless book.
There are these instances where the guys and girls bathe together in the same bath and the whole thing is based on, no peeking, which honesty was a load of cringe. Now maybe this is a world that is very equal and no ones cares about nudity and stuff anymore, well, no it’s not. Women have as much rights as they did in the 1200’s, they are literally married away and are not allowed to have jobs that are ‘manly’ like ride dragons since that would be too distracting but, hey, let’s just have these teenagers bathe together, what could go wrong? At this point I’m honestly wondering what even is going on in the author’s head at this point, this is literally child pornography, but I guess there’s no peeking right since everyone is so honourable and trustworthy.
Then we have the plague and at how the people try to it. So what they do is spend one hundred pages of the book going back and forth in the archives, which we get like description of so I don’t even know what it looks like apart from the fact that it has books in it. What do they find in the archives, oh absolutely nothing, but at least Kindan got himself a girl that’s going to die in about thirty pages. Then, for some idiocy the author thinks it’s a good idea to have characters hold a burning candle among books, not that we were told about this earlier but they were probably doing this the entire time which is such a dumb thing to do. So the candle is dropped onto the books and they burn, so all the time looking in the archives, they have no answer apart from the fact that we found that this plague happened not to long ago and here we have some serious worldbuilding issues. So, a little over a century ago, this plague wiped out a lot of people, but people seem to have no recollection of the event and that apparently everything seems to be running just fine even though populations in this sort of medieval society takes forever to recover from such an ordeal, but the author has completely ignored this. I mean, look at what the black death did to medieval Europe.
Next up, Kindan somehow saves everyone and everyone is talking about him like a god about how he has saved everyone, when, at that point, thousands had died, there was literally no food to go around, his slave and the ‘love of his life’ had died and that he was part of the cause that burned large chunks of there archive, not to mention that he found nothing in the archive, which further brings the question, why where a bunch of kids searching the archive when there where masters around to do the exact same thing? Again, this book making no sense but just to serve the overly no personality characters.
But that’s not all, but the plague somehow just randomly stops because Kindan found out that it would by looking through a dead person’s papers. It isn’t explained at what the plague is, or why it targets specific people or anything, at all, but Kindan somehow deciphered that, oh look, yep it’s over now, with no explanations, not even a bad one and considering it has happened before, what it so stop it from happening again.
Then there’s also how the book keeps mentioning at how the dragon riders can’t help because they have to fight this thing called the Thread and since I have not read any books in the world before, I have no bloody idea as to what the hell they’re talking about. Even though there are other books in the series, an author always need to explain some things, in much less detail obviously, otherwise we will never get anywhere, but enough so that a first time reader will understand. I had to go searching for information online looking for answers such as the characters age, but I couldn’t even find that, but merely speculations since the author never gives any detail, unless it’s on how much kissing they can fit into two pages or describing how guys and girls sleep and bathe together or that you can become a ninja warrior in the space of seven days whilst recovering from a severe injury.
To sum up, pointless prologue, pointless introduction, massive case of instalove that doesn’t matter because she dies anyway, the main character is a hero even though he did nothing useful but searching in the archives that ends up burning down anyway, the plague makes no sense, the world building makes no sense and is very dodgy, and I still don’t know at how the plague actually stopped other than the author said it did. 0.5/10
Well, this book was not good to put it lightly. I lot of the reviews I see are quite negative and felt the same way as I did towards this book whilst the ratings seem to be actually quite positive. I understand that this is a book in a very popular old school fantasy series and I mean no offence. This is my first book in the world, since I believed it worked as a stand-alone and since I had no books left to read I thought I would just pick it up since it was a short book before I went back to the library and only took a day to read. I have heard that Todd’s writing is nowhere near as good as his mother’s, so I do plan to read Anne McCaffrey’s work in the future.
Let’s begin with the Prologue, which, made no sense since there was no explaining as to what the heck was going on, whilst dumping loads of characters with your typical really hard to pronounce and remember fantasy names and from the get go, it served the book no purpose. In fact, the events of the prologue won’t be mentioned again until towards the end of the book where it is only mentioned in passing. Prologue = pointless.
Then we have the first fifty pages or so, which again, served no purpose in the overall sense of the story. In fact, the book doesn’t even catch up to the blurb until a good sixty pages into the book. This first part of the book is all about dealing with this bully and has the main character being so brave and honourable and blah, blah, blah, because I still don’t know how the old the character is, nor what he looks like and there is no sense in actually creating any characters at all, since we know nothing about them. Essentially, Kindan gets beaten to a pulp, but then becomes a super trained warrior, working to absolute death and training for a week before fighting the guy.
There are many problems with this already, first, he actually needs to properly recover from his injury, lest it be infected or if it opens again, also, if he really was as tired as the book described then a few days in, he would have sores and bruises over his body, as is normal with humans, and he has been going to bed late and working his butt off for a week, then the would be utterly exhausted by the time the fight actually came about. Not to mention that some of the stuff like staring into someone’s eyes until they look away is pretty damn stupid. Also, we also get a case of extreme Gary Stu where he goes from not being able to fight with his left hand at all to having the force and fighting blindfolded like a beast in the space of a day. Also we still don’t know how old he is yet so he might be a six year old kid for all I care.
Kindan wins of course and now the person getting bully becomes the bully since he makes the guy he bet a slave. They also go around talking about honour and a load of rubbish that was completely useless. Also, the bully that we spend so long on dies anyway in the end just like every other character we are introduced to so there is literally no point, except Kindan of course, who recovers.
Next up, we have the love interest, Koriana who at the start comes off as this scared annoying person that spends several dozen pages whinging and going, ‘what do I do’ to Kindan. Then, we have the biggest case of instalove, ever in that there was no chemistry, hardly any conversations between them and we hardly even know what they look like, but her smells nice I guess. Then, one day when they are in the archives(which they spend most of the book doing), they(oh no!), touch each other and voila, they are all over each other. I have heard that they might be like thirteen(not that we are ever told), which like, it just makes this weird. This doesn’t happen, it’s not love, it’s hormones. Then there are all of these instances that just seems to work out so well like, we are going to share a bed and lo behold, it’s going to be too hot so I better take off my hands while I’m at it. Like, Mr Author, really? Koriana dies a full sixty pages in the end so they were in ‘love’ for a few dozen pages anyway, so again, what was the point. Then I did some googling and that apparently Kindan gets the hots for other woman in the future anyway.
So far, the prologue was pointless, the first fifty pages was pointless and the romance was pointless. Now let’s see what else in pointless is this pointless book.
There are these instances where the guys and girls bathe together in the same bath and the whole thing is based on, no peeking, which honesty was a load of cringe. Now maybe this is a world that is very equal and no ones cares about nudity and stuff anymore, well, no it’s not. Women have as much rights as they did in the 1200’s, they are literally married away and are not allowed to have jobs that are ‘manly’ like ride dragons since that would be too distracting but, hey, let’s just have these teenagers bathe together, what could go wrong? At this point I’m honestly wondering what even is going on in the author’s head at this point, this is literally child pornography, but I guess there’s no peeking right since everyone is so honourable and trustworthy.
Then we have the plague and at how the people try to it. So what they do is spend one hundred pages of the book going back and forth in the archives, which we get like description of so I don’t even know what it looks like apart from the fact that it has books in it. What do they find in the archives, oh absolutely nothing, but at least Kindan got himself a girl that’s going to die in about thirty pages. Then, for some idiocy the author thinks it’s a good idea to have characters hold a burning candle among books, not that we were told about this earlier but they were probably doing this the entire time which is such a dumb thing to do. So the candle is dropped onto the books and they burn, so all the time looking in the archives, they have no answer apart from the fact that we found that this plague happened not to long ago and here we have some serious worldbuilding issues. So, a little over a century ago, this plague wiped out a lot of people, but people seem to have no recollection of the event and that apparently everything seems to be running just fine even though populations in this sort of medieval society takes forever to recover from such an ordeal, but the author has completely ignored this. I mean, look at what the black death did to medieval Europe.
Next up, Kindan somehow saves everyone and everyone is talking about him like a god about how he has saved everyone, when, at that point, thousands had died, there was literally no food to go around, his slave and the ‘love of his life’ had died and that he was part of the cause that burned large chunks of there archive, not to mention that he found nothing in the archive, which further brings the question, why where a bunch of kids searching the archive when there where masters around to do the exact same thing? Again, this book making no sense but just to serve the overly no personality characters.
But that’s not all, but the plague somehow just randomly stops because Kindan found out that it would by looking through a dead person’s papers. It isn’t explained at what the plague is, or why it targets specific people or anything, at all, but Kindan somehow deciphered that, oh look, yep it’s over now, with no explanations, not even a bad one and considering it has happened before, what it so stop it from happening again.
Then there’s also how the book keeps mentioning at how the dragon riders can’t help because they have to fight this thing called the Thread and since I have not read any books in the world before, I have no bloody idea as to what the hell they’re talking about. Even though there are other books in the series, an author always need to explain some things, in much less detail obviously, otherwise we will never get anywhere, but enough so that a first time reader will understand. I had to go searching for information online looking for answers such as the characters age, but I couldn’t even find that, but merely speculations since the author never gives any detail, unless it’s on how much kissing they can fit into two pages or describing how guys and girls sleep and bathe together or that you can become a ninja warrior in the space of seven days whilst recovering from a severe injury.
To sum up, pointless prologue, pointless introduction, massive case of instalove that doesn’t matter because she dies anyway, the main character is a hero even though he did nothing useful but searching in the archives that ends up burning down anyway, the plague makes no sense, the world building makes no sense and is very dodgy, and I still don’t know at how the plague actually stopped other than the author said it did. 0.5/10
November 8, 2018
Dragon harper was another book that was not out when I read this series the first couple of times. This was during the same time period as Dragon Kin and Dragon Fire. All of these have been exceptional reads.
There are some of the same characters in each of these books. Some of these characters are very likable. This one focuses on a plague that hits Pern. This a terrible plague and it takes the lives of so many. Kindan is an amazing character and he has been through all of these books. This one is mainly focused on him as a Harper apprentice and how he deals with so much.
This is just one more great addition to this wonderful collection of stories of Pern. I thoroughly enjoyed characters new and old. I wept for them and pulled for them. Another great work of art from Anne McCaffrey.
There are some of the same characters in each of these books. Some of these characters are very likable. This one focuses on a plague that hits Pern. This a terrible plague and it takes the lives of so many. Kindan is an amazing character and he has been through all of these books. This one is mainly focused on him as a Harper apprentice and how he deals with so much.
This is just one more great addition to this wonderful collection of stories of Pern. I thoroughly enjoyed characters new and old. I wept for them and pulled for them. Another great work of art from Anne McCaffrey.
November 8, 2019
deleted
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2018
Dragon's heart,
Dragon's fire,
Rider true,
Fly higher.
A great read, even though it had less dragons.
Dragon's fire,
Rider true,
Fly higher.
A great read, even though it had less dragons.
April 6, 2022
Very nice read as are all the Pern books so far. Good pacing and interesting world building. Very Recommended
June 7, 2009
What I learned (yet again) from this book: Anne McCaffrey should never have let her son get involved in the Pern books. Not that she's a top-quality writer herself, but she does know how to create a world that is interesting enough you want to keep coming back to it despite the flaws in her prose. Her son clearly doesn't live in that world the same way she does. This book is completely shallow, the characters are one-dimensional (the one attempt at an evolution of personality happens in an implausible blink of an eye) and you really don't care all that much when they get killed off. Sloppy, sloppy work. Hand the keyboard back to your mother.
April 26, 2015
It's always nice to re-visit Pern, and the idea behind this book is a good one. Unfortunately, the characters are so poorly drawn that I just don't care very much about any of them. Kindan has appeared before, and I still don't feel like we know him at all.
Disappointing, especially when compared to the earlier Pern books dealing with another medical crisis -- Moretta and Nerilka's Story, which were far superior.
Disappointing, especially when compared to the earlier Pern books dealing with another medical crisis -- Moretta and Nerilka's Story, which were far superior.
July 3, 2022
I really loved the characters in this book, even the ones who were not so nice; And reading these in chronological order you get to know more of the characters.
This book ended with a plague (pandemic) that almost wiped out Pern. I found myself more sympathetic to that after our Covid crisis. There is romance, hope, dragons, despair, and loss in abundance.
More Pern to come, thanks to Anne's son, Todd McCaffrey, who wrote Dragonsblood, the next book in order.
This book ended with a plague (pandemic) that almost wiped out Pern. I found myself more sympathetic to that after our Covid crisis. There is romance, hope, dragons, despair, and loss in abundance.
More Pern to come, thanks to Anne's son, Todd McCaffrey, who wrote Dragonsblood, the next book in order.
May 14, 2016
[reviews of the first 19 Pern books available on my book blog]
Well, friends, this is a momentous post, as I believe it will be my final post about Pern! Yes, there are still four books after Dragon Harper, but I have been unable to work up the enthusiasm to get past the first 150 or so pages of Dragonheart, and so I believe that this may be the end of the series for me...
I already complained a bit about the direction this series went in my review of the last book, Dragon's Fire. I'm not even sure where to begin with why these books aren't anywhere close to as good as Anne's original stories.
One big thing is definitely that Todd McCaffrey seems incapable of really thinking of anything new to have happen, so he keeps going back and cover the same territory again and again. His timeline for his books is choppy and confusing as he jumps around all over the place with each book, reusing characters and events. In five books, we're covering only 15-20 years of history. There just isn't enough story to cover 2000+ pages of material.
Two big events happen in these 20 years: there's a devastating plague that kills a bunch of people. Then, there is a devastating dragon plague that kills a bunch of dragons. Two plagues in less than 20 years seems excessive, and also seems like lazy writing. It would already be boring if there was only one book about each of those events, but five books that cover those same two events repeatedly is just a complete yawn-fest.
Todd tries to make it interesting by inserting these other random events, like new information about the watch-whers (like I said, I actually enjoyed Todd's first book, Dragon's Kin) and the whole bit about finding better firestone, but it just isn't enough to keep things moving.
Another gigantic problem I have with these newer books is the sudden young age of the protagonists. This is adult fantasy/sci-fi, and the books have always been about adults. Now all of a sudden, they're about kids who are 12-14 years old, and it makes absolutely no sense. It was weird in Dragon's Kin, and a bit ridiculous in Dragon's Fire (plus creepy because of the whole 13-year-old kid having sex with someone several years older than him in a situation that definitely felt rape-like), and it's just plain absurd in Dragon Harper. The main character is Kindan, who was only 12 in Dragon's Kin, and so is only probably 13 in Dragon Harper. For some reason, we're supposed to believe that Kindan is really respected and liked by the MasterHarper (with no explanation as to why). For some reason, Kindan receives a fire lizard egg even though he just an apprentice (with no explanation as to why). Kindan isn't really great at anything that harpers do, yet for some reason is considered a very promising apprentice (with no explanation as to why). He doesn't Impress with a dragon, but instead of staying at the Weyr as unsuccessful candidates traditionally do, for some reason he returns to Harper Hall (with no explanation as to why). The Weyrleader really likes Kindan a lot and for some reason promises Kindan that he can come be the Weyr's Harper whenever he becomes a journeyman (but guess what... there's no explanation as to why). And on top of never bothering to explain literally anything, all these great things are happening to a 13-year-old kid. [insert lots of question marks here] (And this continues in Dragonheart with another protagonist who is just a kid, but everyone is all like, "Oh, wow, we are definitely going to give her so much respect even though we have no motivation or reason to do so!")
So Kindan has his little gang of outcasts at the Harper Hall, and they all get bullied by this tough kid. The tough kid insults a girl (or something like that??) so Kindan challenges him to an actual duel to the death, and everyone is just like, "Oh, okay, yeah that's totally his right." Say what?! Then, in this weird Karate Kid kind of music-montage, Kindan goes off for one week of training and comes back an actual fencing expert. And did I mention that he was also seriously injured the week before doing this training? So not only does he become a fencing expert, he does that all while still healing up? [insert lots of question marks here]
Of course, our 13-year-old hero wins the duel and doesn't kill his enemy, but instead makes the bully become his slave. Except then the bully becomes utterly devoted to Kindan and is like his bodyguard/sidekick. [insert lots of question marks here]
On top of all this, we have this totally weird thing where there are two girl apprentices, but they just sleep in the apprentice dormitory with all the boys?? And they all bathe in the same room?? And at the same time, Kindan falls in love with the Lord Holder's daughter and is having all these kissy times with her. So I'm supposed to believe that a 13-year-old boy is capable of sharing bathtime with girls in a totally cool, non-sexual way, while also sneaking off to make out with another girl, and also at the same time able to share a sleeping space with the kissy girl (long story) but manages to "behave himself" despite temptation....?? [insert lots of question marks here]
I said back at the beginning that I didn't really know where to start with all the problems I had with this book, but now I don't know where to stop. Should I stop with Kindan becoming the noble hero who works tirelessly to save people from the plague? (Except I'm also supposed to believe that there was only one Healer for a Hold of 10,000 people?) (And also, Kindan kind of sucks at the whole thing? Like he doesn't really come up with this great way to save people... they all still die. Yet everyone is like, "Oh, wow, Kindan, you're so amazing! We love you! Everything we have is yours!" And they basically throw flowers and kisses at him everywhere he goes and he is treated like a son of the Hold and adulated as a hero... with no real explanation as to why.) (And there is also this big thing where they realize the plague is killing all the people who are something like 16-24 years old or something like that, but then we never find out why so it just continues to make no sense with no actual explanation. There's an afterword that says, "Sometimes there are epidemics and they kill really healthy people." Okay... but why is that happening here? Why do we emphasize it with no concept as to why??) Or should I stop with how all the Master Harpers die in the plague, but instead of making various journeymen the new masters, the new MasterHarper just randomly puts all Kindan's friends in charge of everything? (Because that's what I would do, put a bunch of 13-year-olds in charge of everything.) Should I stop with the fact that, for no reason that anyone ever explains, Kindan and his friends are taxed with the task of searching through all the Records for a way to help stop the plague? (Again. This is something that happens repeatedly, and I do mean repeatedly... Oh, people are sick. We should search the Records. Let's have these random kids do it! That makes the most sense!) Or the part where they actually do find something in the Records that may help, and then the adults who told them to search the Records totally blow them off? (I know, let's have these random kids search through the Records to see if they can find any helpful information. Wait, you actually found something? Well, we don't have time to listen to you - you're just a kid! Run along now!)
In short, this book made no sense. And to top it off, the characters were just terrible. They were wooden and boring. There was no connection between their actions and their thoughts - no real explanations or motivations. They were just pieces on the chessboard, being shoved here and there in an attempt to make something happen.
And that's really why I'm not finishing the series. Dragonheart is shaping up the same way. I can work up zero interest in the main character of that book because she makes zero sense. She just says and does things that are completely inconsistent. Combined with the fact that I already know the answers to all the "mysteries," and I already know how they are going to solve the problem of the dragon plague - since, you know, we already had an entire book written about this event - it's just too, too boring to justify continuing to plow through it.
This is an incredibly disappointing ending to a solid year of reading through Pern. While there were some ups and downs throughout, I give Anne McCaffrey's Pern books a solid 4/5 on the whole and, perhaps unbelievably, do actually want to read them again someday. But for now - and the future - I'll be giving Todd McCaffrey's contributions a miss.
Well, friends, this is a momentous post, as I believe it will be my final post about Pern! Yes, there are still four books after Dragon Harper, but I have been unable to work up the enthusiasm to get past the first 150 or so pages of Dragonheart, and so I believe that this may be the end of the series for me...
I already complained a bit about the direction this series went in my review of the last book, Dragon's Fire. I'm not even sure where to begin with why these books aren't anywhere close to as good as Anne's original stories.
One big thing is definitely that Todd McCaffrey seems incapable of really thinking of anything new to have happen, so he keeps going back and cover the same territory again and again. His timeline for his books is choppy and confusing as he jumps around all over the place with each book, reusing characters and events. In five books, we're covering only 15-20 years of history. There just isn't enough story to cover 2000+ pages of material.
Two big events happen in these 20 years: there's a devastating plague that kills a bunch of people. Then, there is a devastating dragon plague that kills a bunch of dragons. Two plagues in less than 20 years seems excessive, and also seems like lazy writing. It would already be boring if there was only one book about each of those events, but five books that cover those same two events repeatedly is just a complete yawn-fest.
Todd tries to make it interesting by inserting these other random events, like new information about the watch-whers (like I said, I actually enjoyed Todd's first book, Dragon's Kin) and the whole bit about finding better firestone, but it just isn't enough to keep things moving.
Another gigantic problem I have with these newer books is the sudden young age of the protagonists. This is adult fantasy/sci-fi, and the books have always been about adults. Now all of a sudden, they're about kids who are 12-14 years old, and it makes absolutely no sense. It was weird in Dragon's Kin, and a bit ridiculous in Dragon's Fire (plus creepy because of the whole 13-year-old kid having sex with someone several years older than him in a situation that definitely felt rape-like), and it's just plain absurd in Dragon Harper. The main character is Kindan, who was only 12 in Dragon's Kin, and so is only probably 13 in Dragon Harper. For some reason, we're supposed to believe that Kindan is really respected and liked by the MasterHarper (with no explanation as to why). For some reason, Kindan receives a fire lizard egg even though he just an apprentice (with no explanation as to why). Kindan isn't really great at anything that harpers do, yet for some reason is considered a very promising apprentice (with no explanation as to why). He doesn't Impress with a dragon, but instead of staying at the Weyr as unsuccessful candidates traditionally do, for some reason he returns to Harper Hall (with no explanation as to why). The Weyrleader really likes Kindan a lot and for some reason promises Kindan that he can come be the Weyr's Harper whenever he becomes a journeyman (but guess what... there's no explanation as to why). And on top of never bothering to explain literally anything, all these great things are happening to a 13-year-old kid. [insert lots of question marks here] (And this continues in Dragonheart with another protagonist who is just a kid, but everyone is all like, "Oh, wow, we are definitely going to give her so much respect even though we have no motivation or reason to do so!")
So Kindan has his little gang of outcasts at the Harper Hall, and they all get bullied by this tough kid. The tough kid insults a girl (or something like that??) so Kindan challenges him to an actual duel to the death, and everyone is just like, "Oh, okay, yeah that's totally his right." Say what?! Then, in this weird Karate Kid kind of music-montage, Kindan goes off for one week of training and comes back an actual fencing expert. And did I mention that he was also seriously injured the week before doing this training? So not only does he become a fencing expert, he does that all while still healing up? [insert lots of question marks here]
Of course, our 13-year-old hero wins the duel and doesn't kill his enemy, but instead makes the bully become his slave. Except then the bully becomes utterly devoted to Kindan and is like his bodyguard/sidekick. [insert lots of question marks here]
On top of all this, we have this totally weird thing where there are two girl apprentices, but they just sleep in the apprentice dormitory with all the boys?? And they all bathe in the same room?? And at the same time, Kindan falls in love with the Lord Holder's daughter and is having all these kissy times with her. So I'm supposed to believe that a 13-year-old boy is capable of sharing bathtime with girls in a totally cool, non-sexual way, while also sneaking off to make out with another girl, and also at the same time able to share a sleeping space with the kissy girl (long story) but manages to "behave himself" despite temptation....?? [insert lots of question marks here]
I said back at the beginning that I didn't really know where to start with all the problems I had with this book, but now I don't know where to stop. Should I stop with Kindan becoming the noble hero who works tirelessly to save people from the plague? (Except I'm also supposed to believe that there was only one Healer for a Hold of 10,000 people?) (And also, Kindan kind of sucks at the whole thing? Like he doesn't really come up with this great way to save people... they all still die. Yet everyone is like, "Oh, wow, Kindan, you're so amazing! We love you! Everything we have is yours!" And they basically throw flowers and kisses at him everywhere he goes and he is treated like a son of the Hold and adulated as a hero... with no real explanation as to why.) (And there is also this big thing where they realize the plague is killing all the people who are something like 16-24 years old or something like that, but then we never find out why so it just continues to make no sense with no actual explanation. There's an afterword that says, "Sometimes there are epidemics and they kill really healthy people." Okay... but why is that happening here? Why do we emphasize it with no concept as to why??) Or should I stop with how all the Master Harpers die in the plague, but instead of making various journeymen the new masters, the new MasterHarper just randomly puts all Kindan's friends in charge of everything? (Because that's what I would do, put a bunch of 13-year-olds in charge of everything.) Should I stop with the fact that, for no reason that anyone ever explains, Kindan and his friends are taxed with the task of searching through all the Records for a way to help stop the plague? (Again. This is something that happens repeatedly, and I do mean repeatedly... Oh, people are sick. We should search the Records. Let's have these random kids do it! That makes the most sense!) Or the part where they actually do find something in the Records that may help, and then the adults who told them to search the Records totally blow them off? (I know, let's have these random kids search through the Records to see if they can find any helpful information. Wait, you actually found something? Well, we don't have time to listen to you - you're just a kid! Run along now!)
In short, this book made no sense. And to top it off, the characters were just terrible. They were wooden and boring. There was no connection between their actions and their thoughts - no real explanations or motivations. They were just pieces on the chessboard, being shoved here and there in an attempt to make something happen.
And that's really why I'm not finishing the series. Dragonheart is shaping up the same way. I can work up zero interest in the main character of that book because she makes zero sense. She just says and does things that are completely inconsistent. Combined with the fact that I already know the answers to all the "mysteries," and I already know how they are going to solve the problem of the dragon plague - since, you know, we already had an entire book written about this event - it's just too, too boring to justify continuing to plow through it.
This is an incredibly disappointing ending to a solid year of reading through Pern. While there were some ups and downs throughout, I give Anne McCaffrey's Pern books a solid 4/5 on the whole and, perhaps unbelievably, do actually want to read them again someday. But for now - and the future - I'll be giving Todd McCaffrey's contributions a miss.
November 3, 2009
This book didn't really give me a reference to tell how to relate it back to the originals (was it before or after the Oldtimers came forward?). The overall theme was already used - old time disease decimates the world and is saved through clever reuse of ancient history. Where was it used before? Moreta's Ride.
Unfortunately it appears that Todd will be doing more of the writing in the future, but the books I have read with him as author/co-author tend towards the stale side, with reuse of plots and characters and a plot that could stand a little more thinking.
This book reused Kindan and Aleesa, but without the deep caring and conviction that made their earlier appearances so strong. An example - Kindan goes against everything he knows to spend time with a woman he knows he shouldn't, but in a way that could destroy his life. He didn't think (although most young men in the grip of hormones would have trouble in this scene).
However, what bothered me was that the duel scene, while potentially an outstanding method of ending bullying (but not likely as anyone who has weathered bullying knows), the whole scene seemed lame, and afterwards, while Kindan wins, it almost felt as if he lost. His opponent becomes his servant, and then he promptly forgets about him except when it becomes easier to use the guy as a gofer. It just felt as if there was more to be done here for the emotional growth of both young men.
(Actually, my experience tells me that someone who, coming back into training after a major injury and worked half to death in training, would never be able to compete in anything athletic, let alone win. He would have to have been super-athletic to begin with to accomplish this feat.)
Also, I never figured out why the title was "Dragon Harper", since, although Kindan tried to Impress, we never see a lot more of him interacting with dragons after that. In fact, one of the mainstays of previous books has been that Candidates stay in the Weyr to try again. Kindan just went tamely back to Harper Hall.
He then figures out all by himself a way to overcome the plague, and does all the healer stuff, losing all his helpers along the way, but getting praise and accolades from the people he saves. When the awards are handed out, he barely gets promoted to journeyman, and as a harper at that, when he did almost no harper tasks for the major portion of the book... bah humbug to quote a phrase.
Todd McCaffrey may have grown up around Pern, but he doesn't have the "voice" to portray the characters nor the imagination to make it real for those 200-500 pages the way his mother does. As another reviewer said "Putting the name McCaffery on this book doesn’t make this good."
It just was not a good book. Easily read, easily forgettable, with characters that don't persuade you to stick around visit. The brief glimpses we get of Pern itself make it obvious that "you had to be there" as in you already need to be very familiar with Pern in order to read this.
Unfortunately it appears that Todd will be doing more of the writing in the future, but the books I have read with him as author/co-author tend towards the stale side, with reuse of plots and characters and a plot that could stand a little more thinking.
This book reused Kindan and Aleesa, but without the deep caring and conviction that made their earlier appearances so strong. An example - Kindan goes against everything he knows to spend time with a woman he knows he shouldn't, but in a way that could destroy his life. He didn't think (although most young men in the grip of hormones would have trouble in this scene).
However, what bothered me was that the duel scene, while potentially an outstanding method of ending bullying (but not likely as anyone who has weathered bullying knows), the whole scene seemed lame, and afterwards, while Kindan wins, it almost felt as if he lost. His opponent becomes his servant, and then he promptly forgets about him except when it becomes easier to use the guy as a gofer. It just felt as if there was more to be done here for the emotional growth of both young men.
(Actually, my experience tells me that someone who, coming back into training after a major injury and worked half to death in training, would never be able to compete in anything athletic, let alone win. He would have to have been super-athletic to begin with to accomplish this feat.)
Also, I never figured out why the title was "Dragon Harper", since, although Kindan tried to Impress, we never see a lot more of him interacting with dragons after that. In fact, one of the mainstays of previous books has been that Candidates stay in the Weyr to try again. Kindan just went tamely back to Harper Hall.
He then figures out all by himself a way to overcome the plague, and does all the healer stuff, losing all his helpers along the way, but getting praise and accolades from the people he saves. When the awards are handed out, he barely gets promoted to journeyman, and as a harper at that, when he did almost no harper tasks for the major portion of the book... bah humbug to quote a phrase.
Todd McCaffrey may have grown up around Pern, but he doesn't have the "voice" to portray the characters nor the imagination to make it real for those 200-500 pages the way his mother does. As another reviewer said "Putting the name McCaffery on this book doesn’t make this good."
It just was not a good book. Easily read, easily forgettable, with characters that don't persuade you to stick around visit. The brief glimpses we get of Pern itself make it obvious that "you had to be there" as in you already need to be very familiar with Pern in order to read this.
August 23, 2020
I've been listening to the Pern series through Audible. I am trying to listen to them in chronological order rather than publication order, so I can learn all the little side stories and deeper history of the main books.
I had a really hard time listening to this story. It seems like it was written by a child. The characters are so stupid but are supposed to be some of the smartest people on Pern. The adults are too dumb to figure out how to solve the issues without making the kids do the work, all without giving them the proper time and tools they need. Somehow a kid is turned into a master fighter within the space of one "seven-day" in order to defeat the bully. Then he is the only one who can search through old records for information, and he has the kid he defeated as his slave, who cannot read, also searching. Really? And they have to search in very dim light at night? And then the master historian (or whoever he was) yells at them for going to another pile of records?? Why? Useless, and totally childish.
As the story progresses we learn about a plague that kills a huge portion of the population of Pern. The slave, who has now become a good friend, is so stupid he brings a burning torch into the records room and gets into a totally un-realistic, temper-tantrumish fight with the main character which results in burning a huge amount of records. You mean to tell me that these intelligent youths, who are tasked with saving the whole world are stupid enough to do such a thing??
THEN the main character is the only one smart enough to figure out that the green, mucus clouds being coughed up could be prevented by putting on a mask! But he only thinks about this after many, many people have already died! So NONE of the adults were smart enough to try to prevent getting coughed on, when they could literally SEE the cough cloud spewing out and landing on people?!?!
I love the Original Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, but these ones written as little side stories by Todd are pretty much worthless. Don't waste your precious Audible credits on these.
I had a really hard time listening to this story. It seems like it was written by a child. The characters are so stupid but are supposed to be some of the smartest people on Pern. The adults are too dumb to figure out how to solve the issues without making the kids do the work, all without giving them the proper time and tools they need. Somehow a kid is turned into a master fighter within the space of one "seven-day" in order to defeat the bully. Then he is the only one who can search through old records for information, and he has the kid he defeated as his slave, who cannot read, also searching. Really? And they have to search in very dim light at night? And then the master historian (or whoever he was) yells at them for going to another pile of records?? Why? Useless, and totally childish.
As the story progresses we learn about a plague that kills a huge portion of the population of Pern. The slave, who has now become a good friend, is so stupid he brings a burning torch into the records room and gets into a totally un-realistic, temper-tantrumish fight with the main character which results in burning a huge amount of records. You mean to tell me that these intelligent youths, who are tasked with saving the whole world are stupid enough to do such a thing??
THEN the main character is the only one smart enough to figure out that the green, mucus clouds being coughed up could be prevented by putting on a mask! But he only thinks about this after many, many people have already died! So NONE of the adults were smart enough to try to prevent getting coughed on, when they could literally SEE the cough cloud spewing out and landing on people?!?!
I love the Original Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, but these ones written as little side stories by Todd are pretty much worthless. Don't waste your precious Audible credits on these.
August 12, 2017
Much like its characters, which have to deal with a plague, this book too suffers from something debilitating and deadly.
Unfinished-ness.
From the very beginning the book is striking in its emptiness. There is nothing here for a long time reader to grind their teeth on. Every aspect of the writing is either minimal, bare bones, or has been covered better in prior books.
The first chapter is liable to confuse readers as it focuses, in a limited third person perspective, on one boy and provides no hint that another, Kindan, is the books true protagonist. This makes the transition between chapters 1 and 2 jarring and confusing.
Adding to the confusion is a veritable letter soup of names. These characters are thrown at us in the first two chapters with little description or preamble.
In fact, if there is one thing the book does most horribly wrong it is description. Mainly, the fact that there is none. Reading this book I could tell you that the Harper Hall has some Apprentice dormitories, and Fort Hold a Great Hall. What these locations (or any locations in the book) look like I couldn't tell you. The book NEVER describes. It mentions things but never elaborates, never pontificates, leaving all events to occur in a vague white space of slightly differing locales.
The one thing the book does tell us are the characters, but that's not a good thing. We are TOLD that a certain character likes to draw, for example, but never once in the story do they do so nor do other characters comment on their work. I subscribe to the adage: "Show, don't tell." And the book is as far away from following it that one can possibly be without cutting out dialogue entirely.
Speaking of the dialogue, it's unique. By which I mean that if I took out all the 'he saids' and 'she saids,' and just placed names in front of every line of text there would be little change in the text. THAT is how little description and prose can be found in this book.
The lack of any text describing setting, emotion, actions, etc. leads to the creation of a whirlwind of activity where characters move from place to place because someone somewhere said so. There is no depth here, no introspection for either the reader or the characters. No growth, no development. The few characters that do exhibit some of those two are forced and rushed through those changes since there is no descriptive text of them changing. This makes their shift in standing and behavior jarring.
All of these things together make me feel like this is NOT a book. This is, perhaps, a second draft. A manuscript that COULD be a good book if the author(s) had spent even another year actually WRITING some prose into it.
2 Stars. Barely. Because its bad, but not just yet horrible enough for 1.
Unfinished-ness.
From the very beginning the book is striking in its emptiness. There is nothing here for a long time reader to grind their teeth on. Every aspect of the writing is either minimal, bare bones, or has been covered better in prior books.
The first chapter is liable to confuse readers as it focuses, in a limited third person perspective, on one boy and provides no hint that another, Kindan, is the books true protagonist. This makes the transition between chapters 1 and 2 jarring and confusing.
Adding to the confusion is a veritable letter soup of names. These characters are thrown at us in the first two chapters with little description or preamble.
In fact, if there is one thing the book does most horribly wrong it is description. Mainly, the fact that there is none. Reading this book I could tell you that the Harper Hall has some Apprentice dormitories, and Fort Hold a Great Hall. What these locations (or any locations in the book) look like I couldn't tell you. The book NEVER describes. It mentions things but never elaborates, never pontificates, leaving all events to occur in a vague white space of slightly differing locales.
The one thing the book does tell us are the characters, but that's not a good thing. We are TOLD that a certain character likes to draw, for example, but never once in the story do they do so nor do other characters comment on their work. I subscribe to the adage: "Show, don't tell." And the book is as far away from following it that one can possibly be without cutting out dialogue entirely.
Speaking of the dialogue, it's unique. By which I mean that if I took out all the 'he saids' and 'she saids,' and just placed names in front of every line of text there would be little change in the text. THAT is how little description and prose can be found in this book.
The lack of any text describing setting, emotion, actions, etc. leads to the creation of a whirlwind of activity where characters move from place to place because someone somewhere said so. There is no depth here, no introspection for either the reader or the characters. No growth, no development. The few characters that do exhibit some of those two are forced and rushed through those changes since there is no descriptive text of them changing. This makes their shift in standing and behavior jarring.
All of these things together make me feel like this is NOT a book. This is, perhaps, a second draft. A manuscript that COULD be a good book if the author(s) had spent even another year actually WRITING some prose into it.
2 Stars. Barely. Because its bad, but not just yet horrible enough for 1.
September 10, 2024
Why is this called Dragon Harper when there's precious little of either?
Kindan is a Gary Stu, perfect at everything and morally right on anything he pontificates on. You can immediately tell who is good or bad based on how they react to him. He leaves a trail of fridged women in his wake. He literally enslaves someone and it is treated as an unambiguously noble act.
The 'science' in this sci-fi is deeply flawed. I'm not referring to the dragons, but rather things like:
-Treating moodrocks (like what you get in a mood ring) as if they are naturally-occurring stone, as as if their color change was accurate or specific enough to use for medical purposes
-Treating masks as a panacea in cramped conditions without proper sanitation, ventillation, fresh air, etc.
-Treating regular-ass rocks (e.g., citrine) like they have magic powers.
-Treating old wives' tales like "starve a fever" like they are evidence-based, universal truths
Everyone else is reduced to complete and utter idiocy, with zero common sense, just so Kindan can look good. Are you really telling me that dragonriders couldn't figure out the idea of a quarantine on their own? Or that dragonriders, who frequently provide assistance in diasters and haul goods on their dragons regularly, couldn't think of "bring supplies to sick people" on their own?
The plot meanders, there's a ton of repetition and clumsy exposition, and there's no climax to speak of.
Kindan is a Gary Stu, perfect at everything and morally right on anything he pontificates on. You can immediately tell who is good or bad based on how they react to him. He leaves a trail of fridged women in his wake. He literally enslaves someone and it is treated as an unambiguously noble act.
The 'science' in this sci-fi is deeply flawed. I'm not referring to the dragons, but rather things like:
-Treating moodrocks (like what you get in a mood ring) as if they are naturally-occurring stone, as as if their color change was accurate or specific enough to use for medical purposes
-Treating masks as a panacea in cramped conditions without proper sanitation, ventillation, fresh air, etc.
-Treating regular-ass rocks (e.g., citrine) like they have magic powers.
-Treating old wives' tales like "starve a fever" like they are evidence-based, universal truths
Everyone else is reduced to complete and utter idiocy, with zero common sense, just so Kindan can look good. Are you really telling me that dragonriders couldn't figure out the idea of a quarantine on their own? Or that dragonriders, who frequently provide assistance in diasters and haul goods on their dragons regularly, couldn't think of "bring supplies to sick people" on their own?
The plot meanders, there's a ton of repetition and clumsy exposition, and there's no climax to speak of.
December 3, 2023
Note: My partner and I are reading the Pern series in chronological order using this list: https://www.howtoread.me/dragonriders...
Previously: Dragon's Fire
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This installment continuously leaps from story line to story line without answering any questions in addition to just becoming darker and darker and darker. I had been formulating possible review points in my mind as I was reading, but by the end nothing even matters.
I think the whole thing with the girls at the beginning was just a virtue signal (and a whole lot of cringe) for Kindan's character.
The way they handled the living, then the dead, bodies was completely nonsensical.
And a 17ish year old boy is in love with a 12ish year old girl. Why. am. I. not. surprised?
I don't really even know how to describe the sense of relief I have that I made it to the end, but also why does this exist?
Next: Dragonsblood
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Previously: Dragon's Fire
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This installment continuously leaps from story line to story line without answering any questions in addition to just becoming darker and darker and darker. I had been formulating possible review points in my mind as I was reading, but by the end nothing even matters.
I think the whole thing with the girls at the beginning was just a virtue signal (and a whole lot of cringe) for Kindan's character.
The way they handled the living, then the dead, bodies was completely nonsensical.
And a 17ish year old boy is in love with a 12ish year old girl. Why. am. I. not. surprised?
I don't really even know how to describe the sense of relief I have that I made it to the end, but also why does this exist?
Next: Dragonsblood
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 19, 2014
I can't tell you how many times I've read this series. Just read this title again, and it still doesn't disappoint. Telepathic dragons, strong female characters, great relationships, and the Harpers' guild and music as a strong guiding force. What could be better?
In hindsight, I still enjoy reading the series in order written (versus actual chronological order of events). I especially like how McCaffrey shifts her point of view in different books, retelling the same events from someone else's perspective.
This is the third book written jointly with Todd McCaffrey, Anne's son. There was a bit more violence in this book (not a huge amount, just much more fighting/aggression than Anne ever wrote alone), sometimes the characters emotions/driving forces are not fleshed out as well within the book. But this one is better than the last, and it feels like he's improving with practice.
On to the next Pern title!
In hindsight, I still enjoy reading the series in order written (versus actual chronological order of events). I especially like how McCaffrey shifts her point of view in different books, retelling the same events from someone else's perspective.
This is the third book written jointly with Todd McCaffrey, Anne's son. There was a bit more violence in this book (not a huge amount, just much more fighting/aggression than Anne ever wrote alone), sometimes the characters emotions/driving forces are not fleshed out as well within the book. But this one is better than the last, and it feels like he's improving with practice.
On to the next Pern title!
February 20, 2016
DRAGON HARPER stars apprentice harper Kindan. It begins with him standing up for the girl apprentices from bullying by an older apprentice Vaxoram. They fight a duel with the loser becoming a servant to the winner. Kindan wins and is determined to redeem Vaxoram. But events intervene....
A new virulent plague is infesting all of Pern and threatens to kill everyone. The Dragonriders need to stay away from the infected Holds because Pern won't survive the next Threadfall without the Dragonriders. And it isn't long before the trusted elders at Harper Hall succumb to it, leaving the fate of Pern in the hands of Kindan and his fellow apprentices.
There is a romance too. Both the Lord Holder's daughter Koriana and Kindan impress two from a clutch of fire lizards and fall in love. But the Lord Holder isn't going to let his daughter marry a lowly harper.
This was an entertaining story that makes me eager to read the next book in the Pern series.
A new virulent plague is infesting all of Pern and threatens to kill everyone. The Dragonriders need to stay away from the infected Holds because Pern won't survive the next Threadfall without the Dragonriders. And it isn't long before the trusted elders at Harper Hall succumb to it, leaving the fate of Pern in the hands of Kindan and his fellow apprentices.
There is a romance too. Both the Lord Holder's daughter Koriana and Kindan impress two from a clutch of fire lizards and fall in love. But the Lord Holder isn't going to let his daughter marry a lowly harper.
This was an entertaining story that makes me eager to read the next book in the Pern series.
January 10, 2019
We all know Pern and we really enjoy it. This is going back to the start before the second pass of the star and thread.
Its a nice change to go back to the Harper Hall. Kindan an apprentice that in his past used to be attached to a Watch Wyr is now going through tough times at the Harper Hall. His attachment has made him an Impression candidate for every Weyr. This has gotten him to know the Weyr leaders especially that of Benden.
But an unknown plague starts ravaging Pern and in there search for a cure in the archives Kindan finds his true friends. His love the daughter of Fort Holder. As in modern times Holders look at their daughters as bargaining chips and he can't abide by coupling with a harper.
How will Pern and its people survive the Plague. Will the Weyrs be destroyed.
Good read.
Its a nice change to go back to the Harper Hall. Kindan an apprentice that in his past used to be attached to a Watch Wyr is now going through tough times at the Harper Hall. His attachment has made him an Impression candidate for every Weyr. This has gotten him to know the Weyr leaders especially that of Benden.
But an unknown plague starts ravaging Pern and in there search for a cure in the archives Kindan finds his true friends. His love the daughter of Fort Holder. As in modern times Holders look at their daughters as bargaining chips and he can't abide by coupling with a harper.
How will Pern and its people survive the Plague. Will the Weyrs be destroyed.
Good read.
September 25, 2020
I think this may be the best Pern story since we were introduced to Lesa
I can’t stop crying. There is a friggin pandemic worse than in Nerlika’s ride. Characters you love, die, like a George R R Martin story. But there are also characters you love that survive unbearable sorrow to help the Halls, Holds and Weyrs find a way to help each other and survive. READ THIS BOOK.
I have just retired and have binged re-reading the Pern series after 30 years. It’s so worth it. But had not come across the continuing series by Todd McCaffrey before. Dragon Harper is the third by Todd and while the first two were good, the third is as good as the best his mother his mother ever wrote. Read the Todd books in order
The ending is happy, But only after a lot of sorrow.
I can’t stop crying. There is a friggin pandemic worse than in Nerlika’s ride. Characters you love, die, like a George R R Martin story. But there are also characters you love that survive unbearable sorrow to help the Halls, Holds and Weyrs find a way to help each other and survive. READ THIS BOOK.
I have just retired and have binged re-reading the Pern series after 30 years. It’s so worth it. But had not come across the continuing series by Todd McCaffrey before. Dragon Harper is the third by Todd and while the first two were good, the third is as good as the best his mother his mother ever wrote. Read the Todd books in order
The ending is happy, But only after a lot of sorrow.
January 5, 2012
Terrible, terrible book. It is a shame that Todd is running about either writting such terrible books with his mothers name or letting his mother put out such terrible books. I love the Dragonriders of Pern series. They are an example of great adventure/sci fi/fantasy/romantic books. I have always found her characters admirable and engaging but not these. The book is stunted and forced. The dialoge falls over itself and is impossible to follow. The moralistic message or I guess feminism? is overly pushy and vague at the same time. It is a terrible travisty that this book was published and a blemish on the world of Pern.
December 30, 2010
I think this is my first 1 star and I'm sad to give it to a Pern novel. They have gotten increasingly terrible after The Skies of Pern (where Anne writes herself into a corner and also where the series should have ended), but this is by far the worst. Terrible plot, the characters don't have any motivation for doing what they do, and nothing is believable. The entire thing has a cardboard feel about it. There's no life to it. Plagues on Pern have been done. More than once. Similar and handled much better in Moreta. The first two trilogies are by far the best in the series. These later books should be avoided...like the plague!
February 27, 2024
Wow, this book echoes the struggles we are facing right now with the coronavirus. So many lives lost, but everyone is trying to do the right thing to control it. Even masks came into play, to help combat the spread of the deadly pandemic.
This was a sad and poignant reminder of things we are facing today, written years before today. It felt like a story ripped from the headlines and factionalized.
This one was a good read. The characters are some of the best and most fleshed out of Pern. You can’t help but fall in love with them and feel with them as they take this journey.
This was a sad and poignant reminder of things we are facing today, written years before today. It felt like a story ripped from the headlines and factionalized.
This one was a good read. The characters are some of the best and most fleshed out of Pern. You can’t help but fall in love with them and feel with them as they take this journey.
November 13, 2010
Very poorly written. The story starts and stops, and transitions are NOT smooth. It seems more like it was written for a very young audience who would not expect logical flow. This is my first time reading one of the mother/son collaborations, and even though I really enjoy Anne McCaffrey's solo work, I will not be reading another one "co-written" by her son. Very disappointing.
December 21, 2013
I'm typing this on my phone, so I'm going to keep it short. Reading this was too painful. If you're considering reading this book, put it down and go read some other book. Seriously. It essentially reads like a combination of Moreta and the Harper Hall series, but written by my 10 year old. Ouch.
December 11, 2021
Probably the most moving Perm story I have read
Humour, sadness, courage, fortitude, love, grief and mourning. They are all there in plenitude, along with strong characters and bold storylines, with joy in the finale.
In all, a damned good read!
Humour, sadness, courage, fortitude, love, grief and mourning. They are all there in plenitude, along with strong characters and bold storylines, with joy in the finale.
In all, a damned good read!
September 24, 2020
I had to double check to realize it wasn’t written in 2020.
February 28, 2024
A really difficult read after the COVID pandemic, though it was written before and based on the flu pandemic.
Focused on Kinden and his stay at the Harper Hall, dealing with a bully (though he is able to win him over after a duel) and a plague though they must isolate the weyrs so that they will be at full strength to fight thread in 12 years. (According to the archives it took 20 years to rebuild the weyrs' support staff after the previous plague.)
Focused on Kinden and his stay at the Harper Hall, dealing with a bully (though he is able to win him over after a duel) and a plague though they must isolate the weyrs so that they will be at full strength to fight thread in 12 years. (According to the archives it took 20 years to rebuild the weyrs' support staff after the previous plague.)
August 4, 2011
It's 495.4 AL, 4 months and 495 years after landing in the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series taking place on a planet cleared as habitable for humans. Only for the one-way-only colonists to discover shortly after arriving that the original survey team had just missed the regular incursion of a deadly enemy from space. Desperate to survive, their experts developed a radical solution using the planet's indigenous life form.
This is the book three involving Kindan and this time we actually get to meet Koriana and struggle [in every sense of the word] along with Kindan as he helps Fort Hold battle the plague. I sure hope that one day we'll get to expand beyond his early teens to twenties…maybe by book 28…
This is also the only section of stories about Pern in which healing crystals are introduced…very new agey.
The Story
Kindan is at the hatching where Corvis impresses his bronze after which he returns to the Harper Hall and his apprenticeship.
On page 13, Kindan bids farewell, "Fly high, my lord" to D'vin after getting his lift back to the Harper Hall to which D'vin responds "for a moment in surprise at Kindan's eloquence". Eloquence? What eloquence? Or is McCaffrey being satirical??
Naturally, there has to be a bully for the good guy to battle and battle they will do…just as soon as Kindan learns how to use a sword by staring three people down with his eyes and then…ooohh, with his eyes AND his voice! Wow…choke, gag… Thank god for those crystals which will help promote Kindan's confidence when he returns to the Harper Hall for his duel.
McCaffrey does a poor job of filling in the blanks with any finesse with Kindan and Koriana's "courtship". Thank god for the plague so we can avoid that awkwardness. It is rather nice to finally get the background on the fire Kindan supposedly caused in the Archives. And amazing that two supposedly intelligent boys would precipitate the fire as they did..! Lame plot contrivance!!!
And yeah, okay, it's been some 400 years since the colonists landing but they've had some form of the Healer Hall all that time. Would'nt ya think the healers would have passed along those little tidbits about contagion?? Instead the healers and patients keep enduring the sprayed mists of green ick for weeks before Kindan, naturally, has a dream about masks.
By page 211 (total number of pages, 298), McCaffrey attempts some drama when Vaxoram falls sick…Kindan just knows Vax'll die next. In spite of the huge roomful of people who have been sick for some days… Poor Kindan, that "tall, thin, waif of a lad"…
On a positive note, this story does set us up for the problems encountered in Dragon's Blood.
The Characters
Oh, just all the same characters we've been following from different perspectives for the previous three books---two before Dragon Harper and one after. Please, let me list them so you know which ones to avoid…!
My Take
Don't believe any novel that has both Anne and Todd McCaffrey's names on it. I suspect that mother and son discovered that no one wanted to buy a Pern novel with only Todd's name on it and they decided to include mom to ensure those of us addicted to the Dragonridgers buy the damn things.
Well, with that glowing introduction, you can imagine what I think of this latest folly on Todd's part. Do you think, Mama McCaffrey realizes what a drama queen she's raised??
The Cover
The cover is jungle-y green on the outer edges with a grey-blue striped strip down the center and two dragons flying across both with riders. There's a nice depiction of the harness on the larger orange dragon. The title, Dragon Harper, is deceptive as no harper impresses a dragon unless you count Kindan getting his fire lizard.
This is the book three involving Kindan and this time we actually get to meet Koriana and struggle [in every sense of the word] along with Kindan as he helps Fort Hold battle the plague. I sure hope that one day we'll get to expand beyond his early teens to twenties…maybe by book 28…
This is also the only section of stories about Pern in which healing crystals are introduced…very new agey.
The Story
Kindan is at the hatching where Corvis impresses his bronze after which he returns to the Harper Hall and his apprenticeship.
On page 13, Kindan bids farewell, "Fly high, my lord" to D'vin after getting his lift back to the Harper Hall to which D'vin responds "for a moment in surprise at Kindan's eloquence". Eloquence? What eloquence? Or is McCaffrey being satirical??
Naturally, there has to be a bully for the good guy to battle and battle they will do…just as soon as Kindan learns how to use a sword by staring three people down with his eyes and then…ooohh, with his eyes AND his voice! Wow…choke, gag… Thank god for those crystals which will help promote Kindan's confidence when he returns to the Harper Hall for his duel.
McCaffrey does a poor job of filling in the blanks with any finesse with Kindan and Koriana's "courtship". Thank god for the plague so we can avoid that awkwardness. It is rather nice to finally get the background on the fire Kindan supposedly caused in the Archives. And amazing that two supposedly intelligent boys would precipitate the fire as they did..! Lame plot contrivance!!!
And yeah, okay, it's been some 400 years since the colonists landing but they've had some form of the Healer Hall all that time. Would'nt ya think the healers would have passed along those little tidbits about contagion?? Instead the healers and patients keep enduring the sprayed mists of green ick for weeks before Kindan, naturally, has a dream about masks.
By page 211 (total number of pages, 298), McCaffrey attempts some drama when Vaxoram falls sick…Kindan just knows Vax'll die next. In spite of the huge roomful of people who have been sick for some days… Poor Kindan, that "tall, thin, waif of a lad"…
On a positive note, this story does set us up for the problems encountered in Dragon's Blood.
The Characters
Oh, just all the same characters we've been following from different perspectives for the previous three books---two before Dragon Harper and one after. Please, let me list them so you know which ones to avoid…!
Dragon's Fire, 483.7 AL
Dragon's Kin, 491 AL
Dragon's Blood, 507 AL
My Take
Don't believe any novel that has both Anne and Todd McCaffrey's names on it. I suspect that mother and son discovered that no one wanted to buy a Pern novel with only Todd's name on it and they decided to include mom to ensure those of us addicted to the Dragonridgers buy the damn things.
Well, with that glowing introduction, you can imagine what I think of this latest folly on Todd's part. Do you think, Mama McCaffrey realizes what a drama queen she's raised??
The Cover
The cover is jungle-y green on the outer edges with a grey-blue striped strip down the center and two dragons flying across both with riders. There's a nice depiction of the harness on the larger orange dragon. The title, Dragon Harper, is deceptive as no harper impresses a dragon unless you count Kindan getting his fire lizard.
October 4, 2019
This review will have references to other books in this series and possible spoilers (though I don't intend for that to be the case, one can never be sure what someone might consider a spoiler).
It wasn't until recently that I noticed how completely opposite people see the newest Pern books. Personally, I love them, this one included. I started to look at reviews and was floored by some people's opinions. I think a lot of people don't seem to realize how much time passes between these newest books and the original story lines. Do the math and it's at least 1650 years, perhaps more depending on when other long intervals happened (though we do know there's one for sure). There's even at least 800 years between these books and Moreta's story. That's a lot of time to lose information on everything from fire lizards, to medical histories, and beyond.
People are complaining about the repetition plague plot line, but plagues and other disasters are pivotal points and conducive to creating an interesting story. I've read some reviews that comment that this story was missing important factors like a central meeting of the Weyrs, Holds, and Crafts as they had in Moreta's (if I remember correctly, it's been a while since I last read that one). But this story has the illness begin and end with humans, not livestock, so the swiftness and possible spread could attribute to the different handling. Not to mention the fact that in 800 years the leaders could have changed how exactly they handle planet-wide issues.
Some people seem to question the existence of what they call "superteens" in the newer installments of Pern and how that was unbelievable and how the original author would have never done as the son is doing in these books. Here's a couple of facts about the rest of the series to put that in perspective. Piemur (from the original series) had his voice break and within the year he was off on his own trekking through the Southern Continent. A male's voice breaks at, what, maybe 11/12/13? I don't know for sure, but definitely before, say 16, which would arguably be a more responsible age (in our times at least, that's the age when one can begin to work and drive in most places). Menolly was 15 when she ran away from home and survived for quite some time before she was found. She practically flourished out there. If you want a real world comparison, thing back to medieval times, when women were married and having children at 13. Their low tech, mostly pastoral society is somewhat comparable the that time. Kindan and his friends are around the same age as Piemur was. They mention that there's little to no adult supervision for these *children* researching such important information, and that's partially true. But they forget that Kindan has already shown his ability to complete a serious task that requires careful research (from Dragon's Fire), so why wouldn't an apprentice who has shown capability be sent to research for important information while the adults try to contain the emergency?
Suffice it to say, I have no problems with the whys and the hows of this book, nor the previous ones that were co-written. I love that we get another slice of Pern history with familiar places and concepts and new characters to love and hate. The only thing I found wanting was a more concrete timeline between all these new books. As always with the Pern series, the books overlap events from previous ones but concentrate on a different aspect and move forward. With these newer books it's been a bit harder to keep track, and this one in particular I don't recall seeing many time markings. Maybe one or two, if that. So yeah, that could have been better. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this book and am about to move onto the next one in the series.
It wasn't until recently that I noticed how completely opposite people see the newest Pern books. Personally, I love them, this one included. I started to look at reviews and was floored by some people's opinions. I think a lot of people don't seem to realize how much time passes between these newest books and the original story lines. Do the math and it's at least 1650 years, perhaps more depending on when other long intervals happened (though we do know there's one for sure). There's even at least 800 years between these books and Moreta's story. That's a lot of time to lose information on everything from fire lizards, to medical histories, and beyond.
People are complaining about the repetition plague plot line, but plagues and other disasters are pivotal points and conducive to creating an interesting story. I've read some reviews that comment that this story was missing important factors like a central meeting of the Weyrs, Holds, and Crafts as they had in Moreta's (if I remember correctly, it's been a while since I last read that one). But this story has the illness begin and end with humans, not livestock, so the swiftness and possible spread could attribute to the different handling. Not to mention the fact that in 800 years the leaders could have changed how exactly they handle planet-wide issues.
Some people seem to question the existence of what they call "superteens" in the newer installments of Pern and how that was unbelievable and how the original author would have never done as the son is doing in these books. Here's a couple of facts about the rest of the series to put that in perspective. Piemur (from the original series) had his voice break and within the year he was off on his own trekking through the Southern Continent. A male's voice breaks at, what, maybe 11/12/13? I don't know for sure, but definitely before, say 16, which would arguably be a more responsible age (in our times at least, that's the age when one can begin to work and drive in most places). Menolly was 15 when she ran away from home and survived for quite some time before she was found. She practically flourished out there. If you want a real world comparison, thing back to medieval times, when women were married and having children at 13. Their low tech, mostly pastoral society is somewhat comparable the that time. Kindan and his friends are around the same age as Piemur was. They mention that there's little to no adult supervision for these *children* researching such important information, and that's partially true. But they forget that Kindan has already shown his ability to complete a serious task that requires careful research (from Dragon's Fire), so why wouldn't an apprentice who has shown capability be sent to research for important information while the adults try to contain the emergency?
Suffice it to say, I have no problems with the whys and the hows of this book, nor the previous ones that were co-written. I love that we get another slice of Pern history with familiar places and concepts and new characters to love and hate. The only thing I found wanting was a more concrete timeline between all these new books. As always with the Pern series, the books overlap events from previous ones but concentrate on a different aspect and move forward. With these newer books it's been a bit harder to keep track, and this one in particular I don't recall seeing many time markings. Maybe one or two, if that. So yeah, that could have been better. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this book and am about to move onto the next one in the series.
November 9, 2017
One thing I hate is a lack of continuity. I don't mean that you have to keep to a strict script, but follow the rules that you set up for your world. Case in point: In the previous book, Dragon's Fire (spoilers coming, if you haven't read it yet...) the plot revolves around firestone, which explodes on contact with ANY moisture, cause dragons pain when they eat it, and cannot be eaten by fire-lizards. This is either never mentioned, or outright contradicts other books in the series. But the authors give us a little twist at the end, showing that it's not the same type of firestone we're used to. Problem solved! But in this book, we have occasional references to Dragonriders being immune to disease. Where did that come from? The entirety of Moreta's novel was about a plague that ravaged the entire population, including Dragonriders. At first I thought they were going to end with the idea that Dragonriders were just a healthier group, due to healthy living, proper diet, exercise, etc. But no, turns out that the healthiest folk seem to catch this plague the worst. So I keep reading, waiting for the twist at the end, see where they're gonna go with it...and they don't.
Here's why it's even worse. The Dragonriders still have to quarantine themselves, so the excuse of protecting the weyrfolk is created. We go through several pages of explanation for why the Dragonriders have to keep away from the sick to prevent spreading the disease to the weyrfolk, so that the weyrs can be at full strength when Thread falls. Why not "The Dragonriders have to quarantine themselves so THEY won't get sick, so that THEY will still be alive to fight Thread?" It works just as well, and without the retcon!
It wouldn't be such a glaring error if the very next book didn't begin with a scene, in either the first or second chapter, where Fort's Weyrwoman teases her Weyrleader about how he acts when he gets sick...
Still a good book. I really did like it. Just that sometimes a single flaw can pull you out of the story...
Here's why it's even worse. The Dragonriders still have to quarantine themselves, so the excuse of protecting the weyrfolk is created. We go through several pages of explanation for why the Dragonriders have to keep away from the sick to prevent spreading the disease to the weyrfolk, so that the weyrs can be at full strength when Thread falls. Why not "The Dragonriders have to quarantine themselves so THEY won't get sick, so that THEY will still be alive to fight Thread?" It works just as well, and without the retcon!
It wouldn't be such a glaring error if the very next book didn't begin with a scene, in either the first or second chapter, where Fort's Weyrwoman teases her Weyrleader about how he acts when he gets sick...
Still a good book. I really did like it. Just that sometimes a single flaw can pull you out of the story...
June 16, 2011
Another book in which Todd McCaffrey attempts to have thirteen year old children behave as adults, complete with smoldering love scenes which conflict with the "we don't peek" bath scenes.
Kindan from Dragon's Kin returns and it is in this book that he really starts to get annoying. For such a young person his resume is ridiculously unbelievable. Harper apprentice and later Watch Wher handler. He discovers better firestone and attends an impression as a candidate. Friends with a great many dragonriders and respected by Weyr Leaders he is returned to harperhall. It turns out he has no harpering skills but is a dab hand at drum beats and has healing skills to rival the Masterhealer. He challenges a rival apprentice to a duel, which he wins after spending a week in the mountains learning skills from Obi Wan Kenobi.. I mean that old guy from Karate Kid.. Wait what movie are we watching?
After impressing a firelizard, bronze no less, and falling into Romeo and Juliet style love with the Lord Holders oldest daughter he uses his draconic contacts to get the dragon riders to feed and supply the holds before returning to harperhall where everyone is dead and so he and his pre-pubescent buddies all get big promotions and become leaders in the hall.
This is Todd McCaffrey's worst book.
Wait I am about to read Dragongirl I have heard rumours that that one is worse.
Kindan from Dragon's Kin returns and it is in this book that he really starts to get annoying. For such a young person his resume is ridiculously unbelievable. Harper apprentice and later Watch Wher handler. He discovers better firestone and attends an impression as a candidate. Friends with a great many dragonriders and respected by Weyr Leaders he is returned to harperhall. It turns out he has no harpering skills but is a dab hand at drum beats and has healing skills to rival the Masterhealer. He challenges a rival apprentice to a duel, which he wins after spending a week in the mountains learning skills from Obi Wan Kenobi.. I mean that old guy from Karate Kid.. Wait what movie are we watching?
After impressing a firelizard, bronze no less, and falling into Romeo and Juliet style love with the Lord Holders oldest daughter he uses his draconic contacts to get the dragon riders to feed and supply the holds before returning to harperhall where everyone is dead and so he and his pre-pubescent buddies all get big promotions and become leaders in the hall.
This is Todd McCaffrey's worst book.
Wait I am about to read Dragongirl I have heard rumours that that one is worse.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 328 reviews