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The Dragonriders of Pern; Discuss this long running series.
Topic Started: Apr 5 2005, 08:25 PM (175 Views)
Duo Himura
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Middle Schooler
[ *  * ]
Quote:
 
Pulsator, feri, et tibicen, infla,
fidicen, psalle, et miles, i.
Libera flammam et adure gramina
Donec praeterit oriens Stella Russatta.


Or, for non-Latin scholars...

Quote:
 
Drummer, beat, and piper, blow,
harper, strike, and soldier, go.
Free the flame and sear the grasses
Till the dawning Red Star passes


Not so sure I've got this one quite right...

Quote:
 
Duck and turn
Or bleed and burn,
Go between,
Blue and Green,
Turn, dive down,
Bronze and Brown,
Dragonment must fly,
when Threads are in the sky.


Quote:
 
Honor those the dragons heed,
In thought and favor, word and deed,
Worlds are lost and worlds are saved,
By those dangers dragon-braved


A bit too much time, perhaps. A bit obsessed, quite possibly. But you do have to admit, they are pretty good. And I translated that top one all by myself *grins like a 3-year-old*. Well, I did have help from my Latin teacher, but hey, I'm only in Latin 1!

Anyway, I've currently read Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, All the Weyrs of Pern, the Skies of Pern, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, and part of The Masterharper of Pern. I conside Anne McCaffrey to be an excellent writer, and I'm glad her son will be able to take over her work and keep the series going a while longer, though frankly I'd be hard pressed to think up anything more to write about at this point... Well, I'll bet he will anyway. So, has anyone else read these books?
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OkashiraShinomori
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Magister Magi
Headmaster
I believe I read one of them several years ago. It was good, but I can't figure out why I haven't picked any more of them up. Care to suggest one in particular?
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Duo Himura
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Middle Schooler
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Well, the first book written was Dragonflight, followed by Dragonquest and The White Dragon, in that order. While other books provide more details to help you appreciate some characters and such a bit more (for instance, the Masterharper of Pern tells the story of MasterHarper Robinton, who is rather old by the beginning of Dragonflight, and shows how he knows and knew other, older characters who appear in Dragonflight, and fills in many odd details so that they make more sense), these are still good ones to start with. Alternatively, you could start with Dragonsdawn, the first book in chronological order, telling about how the settlers reached and colonized Pern, were first attacked by Thread, and bioengineered Dragons. Also in that time is The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall, a collection of shorter stories from that time period.

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, is a stand alone book set in the Fifth Pass of the Red Star (the fifth time the Red Star has come close enough to drop Threads in Pern's orbit, usually 50 years long and occuring roughly every 200 years, but sometimes it occurs only once every 400 years. Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, The MasterHarper of Pern, The Harper Hall Triology, and most of the other books are set in the 9th Pass, or just prior to it), that sheds more light on the ballad called Moreta's Ride, as she was famous for helping Pern avoid disaster from a plague. While maybe not the best book to start with, it certainly reduces any chance of seeing something in advance.

The Harper Hall Triolgy is set in the 9th Pass and follows several of the Harpers, Menolly and Piemur, who are important in later books. Those three are set at around the same times as Dragonquest, still a bit before The White Dragon. However, if you read Dragonquest and the White Dragon first, it would be more explaining the pasts of characters you've already met rather than introducing them right away.

I haven't read the Dolphins of Pern or the Renegades of Pern, but they're also set in the 9th Pass, somewhere after The White Dragon (I believe), with some events occuring at about the same time as All the Weyrs of Pern, and possibly The Skies of Pern.

All The Weyrs of Pern and the Skies of Pern take place some years (Turns) after The White Dragon, and they must be read in that order. Something important happens in All The Weyrs of Pern that is really the main focus of the book, that you probably want to read in it before reading about what happens afterwards. I read these two right after Dragonflight, before I was quite such an avid fan of the series and realized that most of them had been around long enough for my school's library of all places to have copies of them. I was more or less okay with All the Weyrs of Pern, but Jaxom, pretty much the main character of All the Weyrs of Pern, though not the only focus, is also the main character of The White Dragon, and you'd probably best read Dragonquest before that, and obviously Dragonflight before those two.

So, what I'd say is to start with Dragonflight definately before reading any other 9th Pass books, then probably Dragonquest and The White Dragon, then either the Harper Hall triolgy, one of the non 9th Pass books, All the Weyrs of Pern and the Skies of Pern, or The MasterHarper of Pern. Sorry for the length, but when you consider Anne McCaffrey (and her son Todd, who has written with her and written 1 book of his own set in Pern, which most agree uses exaclty the same writing style, though I haven't read it myself) has been writing for nearly 40 years...
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OkashiraShinomori
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As soon as I can make it to the library, I'll try to pick up Dragonflight then. Thanks.
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Duo Himura
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[ *  * ]
Oh, by the way, you should know if you consider buying any of the books that there are various quirks to the covers (after all, with so many books written over such a span of years there'd probably be multiple illustrators as well), some make the dragons look kind of weird, the Dragonsong variety (firelizards anyway, basically small dragons) have no arms, which isn't accurate at all according to the books (well, for dragons, and probably firelizards since they are describes as clawing at people several times, and also carrying objects, though that could be done with just their legs theoretically, but that's not really the point here, so I'll leave it alone until I run into someone else who's read the books or Okashira does read them). Now while some of these quirks don't make the dragons look great (Ruth, the white dragon from... well... the White Dragon looks kinda weird on the covers for instance, and most of the earlier books represent the dragons as looking a bit like Dinosaurs), ie the very prominent faceted eyes (which the dragons do have, but not to the extent of looking buggy, which is the case here) on the Dolphins of Pern. Let me just give you some advice...

This is the original cover of Dragonflight, this is the crappy reprint.

This is the original cover of Dragonquest, this is the crappy reprint.


This is the original cover of The White Dragon, this, this, this doesn't even deserve to be called a dragon, let alone have Anne McCaffrey's name on it. If I never see this edition of the book again, I'll be saddened to just know that it exists and was ever, ever printed. I actually touched this thing with my hands once!

Oh, and with the exception of Dragon's kin, any cover where it looks like they condensed a full-cover illustration to a 1" x 1" box on the cover and tried to fill in the remaining space with some lines is a crappy reprint and there is an original version of the cover. The only ones I've seen this done to are The Dolphins of Pern, The Renegades of Pern, and the first three, Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and the White Dragon, though I may once have seen it on All the Weyrs of Pern. The lines are still present on the cover of The Skies of Pern, but the cover is mostly dominated by a pretty nice drawing of bronze Golanth, so its not a big deal. And Dragon's Kin is supposed to look like that as far as I know, becasue I've never seen it printed in a different way, though it may have been at some point.
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Spiritmage
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Mage of Sprites
[ *  *  * ]
Quote:
 
Honor those the dragons heed,
In thought and favor, word and deed,
Worlds are lost and worlds are saved,
By those dangers dragon-braved


the second part to that one goes something like:

Quote:
 
Dragonmen avoid excess
Greed will bring the Weyr distress!
To the ancient law adhere
Prosper thus, the Dragonweyr


if my memory serves me correctly.
Anouther one I like goes something like:

Quote:
 
Don't leave me alone!
a cry in the night
of anguish heart-breaking
of soul chilling frieght

Live for my living
or else I shall die
Don't leave me alone!
A world heard that cry.



I love the books too, but I've only read a few of them: the firelizard trilogy, Dragonflight, and a short story about a littleboy who became a dragonrider (sorry! I can't remeber the title). I absolutly love her poems/songs at the begining of the chapters though.
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Duo Himura
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Middle Schooler
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When you say "the firelizard trilogy," do you mean the Harper Hall trilogy? Or is it like Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragonquest since firelizards were discovered in Dragonquest?

And yeah, they're very good, but I don't think that that one is part of the same song, I think that they're separate.

And any luck at the library, Okashira?
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itachi
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WILL YOU CLICK IT OR NOT CLICK IT!
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thousand-mistress
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Actual Pedophile
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Whoopsie, too big.

BA~AD ITACHI. D<
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