Dragon Harper (Pern)

An influenza epidemic is once again occurring in all Pern. This book follows Apprentice Harper Kinden as he and his friends scour Pern's records looking for anything about the previous time this happened and to find out if they can help before its too late.

While the book was a little depressing and not as light as the other Pern novels, I did enjoy reading it and consider this a good addition to the Pern series.

Given that Anne and Todd McCaffrey's "Dragon Harper" is the sequel to "Dragon's Kin" and "Dragon's Fire", it seemed like a good idea to reread those books first, before plunging into "Harper". That way, I could get reacquainted with the characters of Pern's late Second Interval, barely a dozen Turns before Thread is due to fall again. After about six hours, I'm done with the new book.

How was it? First, a brief sketch of the plot. The story starts with a cryptic prologue in which a wing of Ista dragonriders have obviously been "timing it", having gone missing for a sevenday, but no one will say why to the obvious anger and frustration of their Wing Leader.

Chapter One starts off exactly where Chapter Eleven of "Dragon's Fire" left off - with former miner Cristov arriving at High Reaches Weyr and Impressing bronze Sereth. Harper apprentice Kindan is also present, but fails to Impress. Thus he returns to the Harper Hall.

Kindan, the main protagonist of the story, does not have it easy. First, he has to find a way of dealing with senior apprentice Vaxoram, who is bullying Kindan's friends relentlessly, until he can't stand it anymore. At this point in Pern's history, two millennia before F'lar and Lessa, swords are still the preferred weapon for dueling, rather than belt knives. After the duel, Kindan has to learn how to deal graciously with a vanquished opponent. Will they be able to settle their differences? Or will bad feelings fester?

Then there's the little problem with Koriana, the daughter of the Lord of nearby Fort Hold. Kindan and Koriana meet when they each Impress firelizards, and there's instant attraction. Unfortunately, by now Pern has definitely developed a male-dominated feudal society, and Koriana's parents have other ideas than letting her run off with a lowly harper apprentice, and a commoner at that.

To compound Kindan's misery, he's going through his growth spurt and has turned into a world-class klutz.

A much bigger problem, affecting the entire planet, is an acute shortage of apprentice harpers and healers. With Thread due to start falling in just a few more Turns, most of the Holds and Crafts are hoarding their people, in one final burst of activity to finish widening out holds and laying up foodstuffs before they have to hunker down and weather the fifty-Turn siege of Thread. Practically no one wants their kids to volunteer to be a harper or a healer, especially not a healer -- it takes too long to get trained. Harpers, given their need to travel all over Pern, are given some basic training in leechcraft, but the situation is slowly getting worse.

Because all of the dwindling number of masters and journeymen are already feeling overloaded, they rely too much on apprentices to search the archives when urgent research is needed. Of course, the Harper Hall's Archive Room is a huge, dimly-lit cavern. Young eyes tend to be best at looking at all that tiny printing by glowlight. Also, Kindan has proven very adept at digging up helpful lore, such as the solution to that exploding firestone problem in the previous book.

Thus, when a few small, outlying cotholds near Benden Hold start to fall silent and ominous rumblings of a "super-flu" start leaking out, the Master Harpers and Healers don't react with enough urgency at first. Will they "get with the program" soon enough to prevent tens of thousands of deaths?

It doesn't help that, as supplies start to get scant, Kindan has to rely on a torch to go through the records. And, remember that bit about him being a klutz ...?

Meanwhile, where are the dragons and their riders?

As a side note: There are a few interesting little tidbits in the story, such as a possible explanation for why dragons and firelizards hum at a Hatching.

Essentially, I enjoyed the story, and liked the characters. It's definitely light reading, but a pleasant way to while away the afternoon.

That's not to say that the book is flawless. It does seem like the plague idea has been worked enough. It's time for some fresh material. Will Todd be creative enough to pull it off next time around? No one can replace Anne's skill in writing her earlier Pern works -- not even Anne herself, who is now past 80. There's a reason why she's handing off to her son.

On a more technical note, I find the "Dramatis Personae" at the front of the book way too sketchy, with only a couple of dozen names. It's a shame they couldn't come up with a full "Dragondex" in the back like the earliest Pern novels had.

So, should you rush right out and read this book? Seriously, judging by the tone of some of the other reviews already written, and the way "Dragon's Fire" has been received, I'll reserve judgement. For myself, I'm glad I didn't wait. But, it's totally up to you.

As I continue reviewing the Dragonriders of Pern books in chronological order, I believe Todd is finally coming into his own. This book was a much better bridge between his YA style and his mother's adult style. A worldwide epidemic can have that effect on a novel's tone. I'll admit straight up that this book bears a strong resemblance to Moreta's Ride (but still slightly younger), but with less dragons.

We return to our protagonist Kindan, a Harper Hall apprentice, and candidate for a dragon's egg. After the strong build-up to the Hatching, and Kindan's competitive past with Cristov, I was disappointed by the quick dismissal of that storyline. We never see Cristov again!

Going back to Harper Hall, Kindan is quickly seen as an all-around good guy. He's a Pernese feminist, hard worker and a favorite of most of the masters. His believability is strained even further with the whole Vaxoram bully situation. I know Kindan was afforded a lot of responsibility in the mines (which are practically never mentioned), but why is he given such autonomy over another person? The Pernese have a strange history with dueling for a society without a military, so this makes very little sense.

On to parts I enjoyed: the fire lizards are always entertaining. I liked the names each teen gave their dragonet. I wish we had gone more into the training and how that developed their relationship. Speaking of, I appreciated the development of Kindan and Koriana's relationship. Romeo and Juliet never gets old (as long as the suicide angle is missing). Fans of medical dramas will enjoy the ensuing epidemic and how the humans cope.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, and my heading, there is a high dearth of dragons in this book. Their bystander status is reasonably explained, but still. Pern without dragons is just the Middle Ages with a greenish sky. Let's see how the next novel goes Todd...

While set before books like Dragonsblood it was written after that book. Consequently Todd should not have Kindan doing things in this book that would conflict with what happens in Dragonsblood.

For example, in this book Kindan (despite being very young) is tasked with reading hundreds, if not thousands of old records looking for a cure to the plague. That's fine but later on in life (12 years later) another plague hits and he doesn't have any prior knowledge about searching records, what's in them or how a cure was eventually found (very similar to the way it is in the later "time" but earlier book).

This kind of sloppy plot development just shouldn't happen. Kindan is obviously on his way to being Masterharper of Pern in this book but later in life (in Dragonsblood) he is slotted as a mere Master Harper and mate to a dragonless queen rider with no route (back) to becoming Masterharper.

Todd also seems to be milking the plague storyline for several books. Since we've read it before (and done better) in the original series (Moreta, Nerlika's Story and the ninth pass books where those events are still common knowledge) which occur later in Pern time anything done during earlier passes/intervals should be done so that it truly is easy to imagine that knowledge getting lost over the next 500-1000 years. As dragons are essential to Pern, I can't see a plague that almost wipes them out being forgotten *ever*.

As with other books by Todd, we simply slog through a couple of hundred pages until something exciting happens. There's only so many cups of klah you can drink and meatrolls you can eat before you want something else!

In the direct sequel to "Dragon's Fire," Anne and Todd McCaffrey focus on Kindan, the apprentice harper who was introduced in the previous book, and how--incredibly--he saves his entire society. Not quite five centuries since human colonists landed on Pern, the planet is in the last stages of an Interval, preparing for the desperate years of the impending Pass, when the dragonriders and their telepathically bonded mounts will be all that stands between the planet and utter destruction. Kindan has already played a large part in altering Pernese perceptions, helping to rediscover the classic, stable type of firestone; he's been Searched and attended a Hatching, but has failed to Impress a young dragon. Returning to Harperhall, he finds it intolerable that some of his fellows don't accept Nonala and Kesla, the first girls to be brought into the program in centuries, and actually fights a duel with Vaxoram, the senior apprentice, over the issue. Then he's summoned to nearby Fort Hold, where a clutch of fire-lizard eggs, two of them marked for the Hall, is about to hatch--and meets Koriana, the Lord Holder's daughter, with whom he not only succeeds in Impressing a lizard of his own, but falls in love. He knows no Lord Holder would accept a mere harper as a son-in-law, but he can't help how he feels.

Then three of the Holds are simultaneously struck by what the drum relays describe as "plague." Pern has seen epidemics before, but has grown accustomed to the idea that their victims tend to be the very young and the very old. This one is particularly devastating among the older teens and people in their early 20s. The Weyrs don't dare help for fear of contagion: if the dragonriders, or their weyrfolk, sicken, who will fight Thread? And even those who survive the disease itself may die of secondary illnesses--or starve because so many are still recovering that there aren't enough healthy people to keep things running until they're well. With Master Harpers, Healers, and Archivists dropping like flies, it's up to Kindan and Lord Bemin of Fort to find a way of keeping Pern viable.

What I found most puzzling, and therefore distracting, about this entry into the series is that the "plague" is supposedly influenza--a Terran disease; how did it make the jump to a distant planet? And, like all the more recent volumes, its characters just don't engage me as the earlier ones did. Certainly it chronicles a turning point in Pernese history, and is filled with intense emotion, suspense, and crisis, but somehow it doesn't seem to work as well as its predecessors. (It's worth noting that another Pern novel, "Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern," set four Passes in the future, also turns on an epidemic that threatens to wipe out the planet's entire population.)

Dragonriders of Pern # 7

As harper apprentices, Kindan and his friends face a bully and a deadly plague.

The story was more involving than it sounds from my summary. McCaffrey's stories are usually character-driven anyway, and the characters feel real enough that you expect to see them at the grocery store or ice rink. I was particularly surprised that the book held my attention through pages and pages of plague, which is depressing rather than interesting. Of course the story was unrealistic. Like a young noblewoman being able to stay hidden as a drudge long enough to grow up and trick a dragonrider into fighting the bully who usurped her home. (Lessa, if the reference was too subtle.) Or a young nobleman "accidentally" impressing a dragon but continuing to Hold? (Jaxom) This is fantasy, and young people having to run things because their seniors are ill or dead is no more unrealistic than Anne McCaffrey's own stories. The title had very little to do with the story.

I had hoped McCaffrey's new books would improve, but I find this one mediocre, especially when compared to the great stuff she put out early in her career. Don't know if it's her son's writing that isn't as good, or if she's just getting older, or not caring as much about her work, or (most likely) a combination. But this story of Kindan the apprentice harper and how they deal with an influenza plague is a repeat theme that McCaffrey has already milked for all it's worth - it seems to me they couldn't come up with something original to meet their deadline. The dialogue and prose all seem contrived too, and I found it difficult to connect with the characters, even if they were likeable. I also see McCaffrey's tendency to black & white characters in the too-easy conversion of a bad apprentice to a friend of the hero. And the attempt at introducing a romantic sidebar was eye-rollingly cliche, down to the final tragedy. Overall, the story had potential, even with a rehashed theme, but the outcome was merely lukewarm. And after the dire predictions and warnings of danger when she first introduced the trick of "timing" some books ago, these dragonriders seem a bit blase about the ability now, and it seems too many know about it - a lack of continuity that to me speaks of laziness on the authors' part. Still, there were enough good parts for me to rate it 3 stars, though barely. It's just so disappointing when an author produces mediocre stuff when you know how much better they can write. You can hear a faint "cha-ching" in the background.

Dragon Harper demonstrates some level of improvement in Todd McCaffrey's writing, but it still isn't quite there. There were many moments, especially for the last third of the book, when I wanted nothing more than to keep reading and discover what was going to happen. But there were also times I just wanted to throw the book across the room. The biggest problem in Todd McCaffrey's books is that he seems to want to tell everything and then skimp on the true meat of the story. Too much time is spent on the buildup, the preparation and staging of the crisis. Granted, of all four of the books I've read that he's either written or coauthored, the climax and last portions of the books are always quite good. The problem is whether you'll be able to stick it out that long.

Dragon Harper chronicles Kindan's apprenticeship at the Harper Hall. Much of the first half of the book deals directly with his troubles there, dealing with a bully and the new female apprentices. Then there's the love affair between Kindan and Koriana, Lord Beman's daughter. Then the plague begins, but offstage, far away and very unthreatening. So then we get some digging in the Records...and blah blah blah. I'm not saying this was necessarily bad, but at times the tale is aimless and unfocused. With the final onset of the plague at Fort Hold, the story takes a definitive upswing and improves greatly.

If you liked Todd McCaffrey's other Pern books, you'll like this one as well. Its not a bad book, and can be very entertaining and suspenseful at times.

This review contains some spoilers, so keep reading at your own risk...

I'm not even sure where to start with the problems I had with this book...

Is it the recycled elements from earlier (much better) books in the series? A duel, a plague, female apprentices facing sexism in the harper hall?

Is the flat characters? Including Kindan, a classic Gary Stu if I have ever run across one?

Is it the "super" apprectices, who are assigned important tasks without any adult supervision, and then who are tapped to be working masters (though technically of journeyman rank) in their hall (and who will give them the final touches to their educations so they can ever be REAL masters when nearly all of the real masters are dead?)

Is the way that someone is given ONE WEEK'S intense training to fight in a duel, and then somehow becomes an expert rather than a corpse? In ONE WEEK?????????????????? Sorry - martial arts take a heck of a lot more training than that!!!

Ugh. Completely unrealistic in sooooooo many ways, and not well written to boot.

Incidentally, this follows Dragin's Kin then Dragon's Fire, but takes place BEFORE Dragonsblood. So the newer books are not even being written and published in chronological order, on top of all of their other problems.

The story of Pern continues with Kindan and his friends facing one of the worst events of Pern's history. Bring a box of tissues and a teddy bear (in my case a dragon) and prepare to weep your way through this book, finishing with your heart slashed from its complacent hideaway. You will feel this book forever.

I have noticed, having read almost all of Anne McCaffrey's books over the years, that her series tend to start off great, lots of fresh new ideas, great characters, great story lines - but then after so many books, they start to get sort of repetitive. I mean, the plague story has been done in Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern - and that one really wrung your heart. Of course, that was a different sort of infection pattern, but still.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a McCaffrey fan and I did enjoy this book - I liked the characters, and thought they were all really well done. I cared what happened to them and thought that the story rang really true. It was pretty brutal, really and I appreciated that Anne and Todd McCaffrey didn't hold back on us as far as that went. The Dragonriders of Pern books have maintained their appeal more than most of her series (the Planet Pirate series is another that remained fresh throughout) and I have read and re-read the earlier books, at least, probably dozens of times (why not the later ones? Well, I'm just so busy trying to get through my huge back-log of unread books right now that I haven't taken much time to re-read more recent books - but I plan to ... I hope ... before I die ... maybe ...).

If you are a fan of the Pern novels, a fan of McCaffrey's stuff - you will probably like this. If you are looking for a lot of action, however, you won't find it here. This is a slower moving story, based more on characterization and the interaction between the characters than on fast action. Which I'm all for, personally. It's a thumbs up from me.

Todd may have grown up living in the Pernese world but he still doesn't GET IT. The allure of the Pern books are the highly detailed,fast paced stories of the UNUSUAL diverse flora,fauna and People that live there. He has once again underwhelmed the fans that found and devoured his mothers' books and waited impatiently for her next installment in the series. I have re-read all Anne McCaffrey's books of Pern many times. This book falls flat in that it goes nowhere and does nothing to give the reader that breathless rush of relief that Kindan and his pals will find the cure and save the people they love. I'm hoping that his next attempt will be better and take me to the Pern I have come to love,where the valiant Dragonriders,Lord Holders,and other characters overcome all that stand in their way. Thread should devour this book.

This is the firsst of the collaborations between Anne McCaffrey and her son that i've read and my overall impression is disappointment! I adore the Pern series and have been reading them since they first came out but thisis definitely lower quality. In the first place, it is highly inconsistent with the body of the works:
1. If this is supposed to have happened before "Moreta's Ride",why is there no mention of this previous, major plague in that work; if it happens subsequent, why don't the people of Pern have the benefit of that previous experience.
2. Somewhere on Pern, there is a "Healer's Hall". Every other profession has a power base but healers don't? If they exist, as logically they must, where are they? Where is there the group of people trying to find a cure as in Moreta's day?
3. By all accounts, the ability to impress fire lizards is discovered in Lessa's day but here they are, all over the place. PLEASE do not tell me the records were lost! Weyr records were lost when most of the Weyrs of Pern went forward in time leaving their records untended. The rest of Pern, however, went on its merry way and the Harpers kept their records intact. Where are the teaching Sagas about this in Lessa's day?
4. Finally, since when are major tasks, like finding information about plagues, left to the bumbling efforts of adolescents, WITHOUT ANY SUPERVISION? Look at the original Pern books where many adolescents appear as major or minor characters but only under the direction and supervision of adults.

In addition, I find the total concentration on "superteen" Kindan a little lacking in the color and richness of Anne McCaffrey's solo works. Compare this with three novels in "Harper Hall of Pern" and you can see the difference.

Unfortunately, this should have been written as the other side of "Moreta's Ride" - the same history from the point of view of the people of Pern, rather than the Weyrs. Unfortunately, that would have required leaving out the firelizards and weaving in a far more complex tapestry.

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.

Please please Please, can we get a sequel for All the skys of Pern and Find out what happens to F'lessan and all after the pass ends? Before Ms. McCaffery goes between for ever.
I also would like a little less Todd unless he starts to build better relationships with the characters unstead of killing most of them off.
We had that plague/flu in three books and the other two were much better. I will check the book out in the store before buying the next time.

This was a very disappointing read. Its like the entire story was told by Chinese whispers. All the characters were 2-D and usually unlikeable. The plot was tired and boring. There are so many plot holes and badly written prose that I ended up skipping pages. After reading other reviews I have been told that it gets better towards the end, so maybe I have something to look forward to (when I can get the stomach up to finish the last third). There is no sense of beliveabilty in this story, its really sad to see what the Pern stories have come to. Not to slight fanfiction by the comparison, but I think most stories written by fans would be more true to Pern than this load of drivel.

I think McCaffery should realise these stories aren't something she can just pass down to her son. Unless he gets some spark and originality of his own I'm sure all we are going to get is more crap like this.

Ok, the book is called Dragon Harper, but the harper in this book spends most of his time in the Hall or in a Hold. A total misnomer and meant to deceive the reader.
The writing is slightly better than Dragon's Fire, but the storytelling is TERRIBLE. You can't lose yourself in Todd's writing because he does not know how to touch this reader. He writes OF Pern and not as though he is WITHIN it. Whenever I read his books I feel like someone is explaining the concept of Pern to me instead of actually experiencing it myself.

I've waited years to read Todd's Pern books and now I wish I waited longer. Pern is forever tarnished for me.

This was my last Pern purchase. As someone else has suggested, my next Pern book will be borrowed from a library. I can think of nothing to recommend this book, save that it is an unknown story. It is poorly written, using an already familiar plot (plague), characters who accomplish unbelievable things, and the use of tools that have never been described in other novels (moonpaste, explained away by having been written in the records and last through the turns of time).

The writing of stories about Pern has become a business, of which Todd has become the beneficiary. So Todd has lots of ideas that he was originally planning for one book but has expanded into 4 books? Saints preserve us!

It is time for someone to write a book along the lines of "Bored of the Rings," instead titled "Bored of Purn."

Six months of anticipation waiting for this titles to be released soon turned to disappointment while reading this latest entry to the Dragonriders of Pern.

Overall, Todd's earlier stories of mining and watch-whers were interesting, but Anne and Todd have gone back to storylines and plots covered numerous times, and much better, in Anne's earlier novels. Todd and readers would be better served if Todd had stayed with the mines and continued to carve out his own Pern niche.

Plagues were covered much better in both Nerilka's Story and Moreta, as both titles are much better than Dragon Harper.

Ranks down with Skies of Pern and Dolophins of Pern as titles to read only once.

I bought this book with great anticipation, but discovered that the main character, Kinden, is not particulalry personable, unlike the MasterHarper of Pern, (Master Robinton) and the story line was dull. Sure, the people in the story were fighting for their lives and those of the dragonriders, but it was not compelling and exciting as so many other stories by these two authors were. It was a real disappointment to me.

Dragon Harper (2007) is the third SF novel in this subseries of the Dragonriders of Pern, following Dragon's Fire. In the previous volume, Pellar tried to stop Tenim from destroying the last firestone mine, but failed. He also lost his fire-lizard to Tenim's falcon. Later, Cristov found a bed of the old form of firestone and starts a new mine.

Pellar is highly respected by the High Reaches Weyr leaders and was invited to the Hatching so that he might Impress a dragon. Instead, he stayed with Halla and supervised the new firestone mine. They were very happy to be digging up a form of firestone that didn't explode when wetted.

Cristov attended the Hatching and Impressed the bronze dragon Sereth. Later, C'tov returned to visit Pellar and Halla. He discovered that they have expanded the camp to three mines.

In this novel, Kindan hopes to ride back from High Reaches with M'tal, the Benden Weyrleader. Instead, he rides to Harper Hall on Gaminth, the bronze dragon of D'vin. M'tal does renew his promise to take Kindan as the Benden Harper when he is promoted to Journeyman.

Verilan is the youngest apprentice. Kelsa and Nonala are female apprentices. All three have been harassed by Vaxoram, the senior apprentice. Kindan -- himself a latecomer among the apprentices -- takes these three under his wing and protects them from Vaxoram and his cronies.

Kindan and his friends walk out to meet a dragon in the fog. M'tal appears and Kindan introduces the others to him. M'tal comments that Verilan should see the healer about his cough. When Verilan protests the idea, his friends agree with M'tal. After giving a bucket of fire-lizard eggs to Kindan and sending him to the kitchen, M'tal carries Verilan to the healer.

One day, Vaxoram makes a snide remark about Nonala and Kindan slaps him in the face and challenges him. Vaxoram hits him back, but Weyrleader M'tal arrives just then and stops the punching. Kindan repeats his challenge and they agree on a time.

Masterharper Murenny soon heats about the challenge and calls Kindan to his office. The masterharper has M'tal with him and they discuss the situation with Kindan. They decide to let Mikal prepare Kindan for the duel.

In this story, Kindan is called to Fort Hold for the hatching of the fire-lizard eggs. He helps Korianna -- daughter of the Lord Holder -- to impress her gold fire-lizard, Koriss. Meanwhile, he impresses Valla, a bronze fire-lizard. The Lord Holder's two sons are supposed to get their own fire-lizards, but the queen chases the hatchlings away.

Kindan is infatuated with Korianna and she seems to respond in kind. Lady Sannora -- Korianna's mother -- doesn't seem to approve of their relationship. Neither does Lord Bemin, Korianna's father.

This story tells of a disease that infests all of Pern. Only the dragonriders are not effected, but the other Weyrfolk are susceptible. Kindan early recognizes the danger of the new disease and spreads the word to the other holds, halls and weyrs.

Searching through the archives, Kindan and his friends find evidence of the first instance of the disease. He is sent to Fort Hold to help fight the disease there and develops some effective countermeasures. Yet, the disease kills twenty percent of the Hold inhabitants.

This novel relates the actions taken by Kindan to solve the problems around him. With the assistance of his friends and others, Kindan discovers and executes solutions to various situations. He displays both wisdom and leadership.

Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interpersonal relationships, problem-solving and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Another plague. Didn't Anne do this already? With all the co-authors she has had, who have gone on to become good writers in their own right, seems Anne could find a better successor. "Son of" just doesn't work.

I so much enjoyed finding more of the Dragonriders series from the McCaffrey's. It is very exciting to know that Todd is planning to write more on Pern, and I very much look forward to where he takes us with this series in the future. This book was excellent, written with his mother, and it was hard to tell who wrote which part. I have been reading the Pern series for over 20 years, and now I look forward to reading it for many more years. Thank you, Todd, for continuing to "play in your mother's sandbox".

Having just finished re-reading the entire Pern series, this book was lacking much to be desired. Did not hold your attention like the others. Finally able to get into it but with only one main story line, not as much variety as in the other Pern novels. This author may become as good as his mother but he needs additional work. Maybe he should re-read the entire series like I just did.

Linda Winn-Lyon

Anne McCaffrey is the quintessential writer of fantasy books pertaining to dragons. These books are always wonderful, well written, and perfectly characterized. All of her series are great but the ones that take place on Pern are the best of all.

I have yet to read a disappointing dragonrider book by A.M.! And now with Todd co-writing I think it gives it more of an edge. This one almost made me cry when Kindan loses his love. It was wonderfully written and completely enjoyable! Loved it!!!!

Although apprentice Harper Kindan is disappointed not to impress one of the eggs containing baby dragons on the hatching grounds of High Reaches Weyr, he knows there will be other chances. He returns to Harper Hall and finds himself protecting the Harper young women from the senior apprentice Vaxoram. After getting some special training, Kindan and Vaxoram duel with the former winning. According to the terms of the duel Vaxoram is Kindan's servant and under his guidance. Vaxoram becomes a better person, genuinely glad when his friend impresses a fire lizard and worried what will happen when it is discovered that Kindan is in love with a Lord Holder's daughter

These worries are swept aside when a new danger threatens Pern. A super flu starts spreading from hold to hold and nobody knows how to cure it. The records show a plague like this hit once before and it took twenty turns to recover from the aftereffects. With thread coming in twelve turns, the weyrs have to quarantine themselves so they will have enough people and dragons to fight thread. It is up to the Holds and the information gathering of the Harpers to find a way to have the plague burn itself out before the population will not be able to produce goods and grow crops because there won't be enough people to do it. Kindan plays a big role in trying to stop the spread of the disease and caring for its victims.

Readers who have read any of the Pern books will find DRAGON HARPER just as exciting and enthralling as all the other books in the long running saga. The collaboration between Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey creates the same voice as if mom wrote this alone. There is plenty of action in DRAGON HARPER but the heart of the books lies in the characters who come together during the crisis.

Harriet Klausner

If you have Pernese blood in your veins, you have probably already discovered Todd McCaffrey's Pern novels. If not, jump in. This one was Moreta, Nerilka's Story, and the Harper Hall trilogy, all set in Todd's pre-Anne Pern, beckoning new readers to fall in love with dragons. Yes, Todd wrote others that came before, and I have read them; but if you haven't read any of his others, you can still love this one!

Enjoyed this book, love any novel about Pern. But not the best of its kind. It is a different facet of the same story...... from a different perspective. Would have liked a new story but nevertheless, well written and enjoyable characters.

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.