Dragon Harper (Dragonriders of Pern, The)

List Price: $7.99 Discount Price: $4.02

Customer Reviews:

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.

I couldn't even finish [Posted on 2008-12-14]
Todd has everything handed to him with this series. A world with an exciting history, vivid characters and a huge fan base. Unfortunately, he fails to deliver again. It's as if he can't be bothered with the character/story-line development that makes a book come to life. He asks the reader to make too many leaps of faith creating a choppy, unpleasant story. Then there are the elements that are dragged in to fill in a weak plot: forbidden love, jealous apprentices, the duel. An open flame...in a records room...seriously? That's when I flung down the book in disgust. It's time to return to the originals because I won't be buying any more of these.

Really sad [Posted on 2008-12-17]
It's really sad when the children of a renowned writer try to imitate their talented parent. Todd's style of writing is not anywhere near the easy reading prose of his mother, it seems stilted to the point of being stultifying. I would not recommend this to any true Anne McCaffrey fan, or anyone else as it is a truly disappointing read.

Not the same [Posted on 2008-12-26]
THe story was good, however; I just couldn't get a good insight into the the charaters as well as in the previous books. Something seemed lacking.
Still worth the purchase if, like me, you're not ready to leave the world of Pern.

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