Dragon Harper (Dragonriders of Pern, The)

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Customer Reviews:

Dragon Harper [Posted on 2008-05-25]
It was fun and refreshing to visit the World of Pern with Todd McCaffrey. I felt he did a good job with the story, and held true to his mother's ideas of this world.

Somewhat weak but readable [Posted on 2008-06-03]
As mentioned by others, the plague plotline was done in a vastly superior way in Moreta. I'm not sure if this book was supposed to be about the plague or if that was just a thin background for a boy-meets-girl teen love story. I would not have minded an influenza repeat if the crisis was dealt with in an ingenious way (wasn't that part of the lure and charm of Anne McCaffrey's Pernese?), but there wasn't much. Perhaps it was because the characters were not sympathy inducing. I did not develop a connection with any of them which is just as well since they get killed off left and right. In general, the characters are disposable two-dimensional caricatures--the outcasts, the headstrong girl, the bully hiding his inadequacies, the heavy handed father who makes a turnaround. I didn't care too much about any of them and the plot was not on-the-edge-of-your-seat either.

The writing is somewhat clumsy, nowhere near as skillful as in the original Pern series. The brief verses that open each chapter are an indicator of the slight awkwardness of the writing. Richness of language, plot, and character development present in the original Anne McCaffrey books are missing and I wonder if the indended audience was not adults, but adolescents. The main characters are teens and pretty much everything revolves around them. The tone, problems, and themes are reminiscent of adolescent angst novels.

Still, if you need a light Pern fix, this may do. If you remember that it is NOT written by Anne McCaffrey and change your expectations it makes it easier.

Dragon Harper [Posted on 2008-06-09]
Written with her son, Anne McCaffrey has filled in some more of the history of the planet. It is obvious that she isn't writing alone now but this does not detract from the quality of the writing nor the entertainment value of the story. This is a 'must-have' for all Dragonriders fans.

Not excellent, but good and worth reading [Posted on 2008-06-11]
I think a couple of these reviews are a bit harsh. Sure, Todd has to find his way around and always will be measured against his mother's legacy - and that's a tough one!
So far I've liked all the "mother/son" collaboration results. This one is not so much about dragons, but honestly - I don't think a Pern-novel has to be about dragons. I've always enjoyed the intricate display of a much simpler, trust based society. I have to strongly agree with one of the other reviews: Please consider continuing the storyline of F'lar and Lessa. What happens when the pass ends? Where and how do they settle? What happens to the "star-guild"? What's up with the telekinetic abilities of the dragons - aside from moving trundlebugs and felines?

I think Todd has a vast playground with all the open ends his mother left him as starters. I sincerely hope he'll pick up on all the open ends. I've just reread all Pern novels in the last few weeks and there are many storylines that were never continued. For example nobody knows what became of Readis and his "Dolphin Hall". I wouldn't mind another Dolphin story. There are also plenty of characters/institutions that never spun off. For example there is no major story about the farming/animal-hall.

I'm not tired of plaques - our real planet has and will face big ones repeatedly. For me that's a given. But what about something a bit less "picked up" if we have to continue the "plaque" theme? Say, a plaque that destroys crops, or pollutes water? Ok, maybe too realistic for some :-)

Point is, I will continue to buy every Pern novel written. Until now I've never been disappointed. Most were great and a few not my fav's, but still worth reading.

Try to compare any of the Pern Books to other fantasy novels. The only other author I ever found who could keep up with the Pern stories is the Shannara series written by Terry Brooks. Ok, there's one other, the Envor books from Wolfgang Holbein - but I doubt they have been translated to english and I tend to read the books in the language they've been written in - trust me, the german or french translations of Pern really suck.

Overall: buy it, read it and don't compare it to the top novels Anne wrote in her prime. You'll find it's worth reading.

Not his mother......... [Posted on 2008-07-12]
While this wasn't a bad book, it wasn't of the quality I've learned to expect from Anne. None of the characters were written with enough depth to make the reader care about them, or even "believe" in them. Having met some of them in the 2 books written with his mother helped. Again, not a bad book, just not a great one, either.

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