The Dragonriders of Pern

Post by **Zenlunatic** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:40 am

Thanks! I'll let you know what I think of them when I finally get around to reading them.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:17 am

OK, finished Dragon Harper. It was better than I expected. Except for the Koriana theme, I would place this squarely in YA with the other Harper Hall books.

Post by **stonemaybe** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:12 pm

eh?

DRAGON HARPER? What have I missed?

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:47 pm

Stonemaybe wrote:eh?

DRAGON HARPER? What have I missed?

It's another collaboration between Anne and Todd, set in the Third Pass. I discuss it more in detail with Duchess in the Anne McCaffrey's Wonderful Dragons thread over on the Hangar.

Post by **Kevin164** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:37 pm

I haven't even gotten past Dolphins of Pern and I used to be such a rabid Dragon Rider fan... tsk tsk.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:41 pm

All the Weyrs of Pern was the last GOOD book in the series.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:25 pm

I enjoyed The Skies of Pern, which is the last written about the era of the 9th pass, I think. But, I agree All the Weyrs of Pern was better, which I think was the last to focus on battling thread over other issues...

Of the later books, I have to say Masterharper is my own favorite though. But, my crush on Master Robinton is legendary.

Of the ones with Tod so far, Dragon Harper is the best, IMO. But, it still has many, many issues. I'm just a sucker for anything that features the Harper Hall...

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:11 pm

Of the original series, it's difficult for me to say which is my favorite, but I think the advantage goes to Dragonquest. The White Dragon was also good.

Post by **Kevin164** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:15 pm

I've always wondered what would happen to present Pern if present Earth ever decided to investigate the planet again.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:40 pm

Kevin164 wrote:I've always wondered what would happen to present Pern if present Earth ever decided to investigate the planet again.

...gah...

What a horrible thought...

The whole point of purposely choosing to be an agrarian society in the charter would be totally wiped out.

As far as favorites, if the Harper Hall is counted among the "original," then the first of that trilogy, DragonSong, is my favorite (hence my username).

I count the Harper Hall as part of the series, because the published dates of those fell between DragonQuest and The White Dragon, and since I read the series in published order versus chronological order, then IMO they are part of the first grouping.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:52 pm

No wonder Floridians have such a hard time with voting.

j/k!

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:45 pm

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:49 pm

Post by **Kevin164** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:50 am

Maybe Earth wouldn't interfere with the local population of Pern. I've always imagined a couple poor blokes holed up in some sort of hidden watch tower trying to make sense of it all rather than some sort of full blown invasion.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:33 am

Well, the concept is certainly more interesting than the recycled drek Todd has been publishing...

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:13 pm

*since it has nothing to do with TC, copied from the first and second chronicles forum*

Kevin164 wrote:Pern was one my most beloved escapes during some harsh times when I was a teenager. I have done some drawings for the original three books and the Harper Hall trilogy. I stopped following the series after The Dolphins of Pern because I think If I could I would partake in the era of F'lar and Lessa and the lead up to the discovery of AVIAS. The newest books somewhat lost me.

*nodding*

I can see that, especially as Anne drifted more into the technical more s/f oriented themes of fighting thread. But, probably because it goes back to before the start of the Ninth Pass, I highly recommend Masterharper if you haven't yet read it (and if you love the Master as I do), and Skies is a decent place to leave the Ninth Pass.

Kevin164 wrote:but yes I do have sketches of the Dragons, the main riders, your avatar and the Master, as well the Fire Lizards.

Oh man...
Are they on your site anywhere?

Post by **Kevin164** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:02 pm

Not yet, but I'll have to load them in the next few days. I have to rummage through my portfolios and that can take awhile in order to find them. It might actually be easier just to create new ones

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:51 pm

I have seen a few of Kevin's sketches of Pern. I am looking forward to when he decides to color them.

While in Manhattan this weekend with Xar and Fist, we made a stop at the multi-story Barnes and Noble Booksellers. I found a copy of Dragonheart and ensconced myself for a little while while Xar and Fist perused the shelves.

I only read the first chapter, and while it is still derivative of the earlier books, it starts off with a hatching. I love hatchings...
And we see Kindan right away, who I am coming to enjoy as a character.
So...not a bad beginning. For me, anyway.

Then, when I got home from Manhattan yesterday, a four DVD set of McCaffrey in audio was waiting for me from a Watcher.

It includes the entire 5 book series of Dinosaur Planet. Beorn should love those. The four Freedoms Landing books. I haven't read either series. And other miscellaneous books by her...

And Pern...

...including some of Todd's...

Ah well, I would have missed them if they weren't there anyway.
Thank you so much!!!

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:05 pm

Cool! Let me know how the audiobooks are. I've been thinking of revisiting Pern in audio. They're al available on iTunes and that's what I've been looking at buying.

Post by **fragile granite** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:24 pm

I have long enjoyed the work of Anne McCaffrey, especially the Dragonriders of Pern series! No, I wouldn't compare her to SRD for originality, but still her work is a worthy read.

Some of her science is less than plausible however. I don't mean to be a buzz-kill, but Pern's location and parent star are somewhat in error within the context of modern scientific understanding. She has placed Pern around a golden yellow star called Rukbat in the Sagittarius Sector far from normal star lanes.

From our earthly perspective, Sagittarius is toward galactic center and the Sagittarius Arm, Orion Arm, and Perseus Arm are likely to be prime locations of the MWG habitable zone star lanes.

Rukbat (alpha Sagittarii) is not a golden star like the Sun, but a young hot blue star and therefore, it would be unlikely a planet like Pern could exist around Rukbat.

This is a fairly good photo of the "Sagittarius Sector." Here, we are looking toward the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Here is a labeled version of the same area of the sky. "GC" means Galactic Center. The "X" marked "Solstice" is where the Sun is located on the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere. For members of this forum who are interested in such things and who live in the northern hemisphere, August is probably the best month to view this area of the sky. Look due south fairly close to the horizon around 2 hrs after sunset early in the month in as dark a location as you can and you'll see what I mean.

Perhaps Ms. McCaffrey should have done a bit more research is selecting the location of Pern. But even so, the Dragonriders of Pern remains a thoroughly enjoyable series!

Randy

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

The Dragonriders of Pern