The Skies of Pern

Rating:
Summary: Up to the high standards
Review: I've read all of the Dragonriders of Pern series in six months and finding a new one was good. In my opinion it lives up to the high standards of quality set in the first books (seems like there may even be less mistakes). I now cannot wait for the rest to see the fate of Pern. true pern fan will find no problems will slight inconsistencies (we should be use to it from all the others!)

Rating:
Summary: New dangers from above threaten the dragonriders of Pern
Review: I have been rather ambivalent about the consistent intrusion of science fiction into the fantasy world of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, mainly because "hard" science is not my forte. But since my background is on a level similar to the citizens of Pern, I have not exactly been lost on the proceedings. "The Skies of Pern" starts off with Pern taking tentative steps towards preparing for the new world that will exist when this final Threadfall passes. However, not everyone is happy with the brave new world ushered into existence through the help of Aivas, the supercomputer at Landing. Actually, I found the beginning of this book rather unsettling, dealing as it did with fundamentalist terrorists displaying the sort of intolerance with which we have all become too familiar in recent months. But just as I was convinced "The Skies of Pern" was a novel about the clash between two sides dealing with "new" technology, the first of two traumatic events in the novel occurred. McCaffrey is indeed expanding the Pern mythos by adding an interesting problem-solution pair. The problem is that there are other harmful objects that can fall from the sky besides Thread, and the solution is that dragons can do more than telepathy and teleportation. On the interpersonal level the emphasis is on has clearly shifted from the generation of F'lar and Lessa to that of Jaxom and F,lessan, especially the later this time around as there is a young green dragon rider who has caught his eyes and taken him away from his study of the ways of the Ancients. The irony that those "ancient" ways are well advanced beyond the essentially feudal level continues to impact the growing narrative. This latest Pern novel is clearly more than treading water, and although I wish McCaffrey would give Menolly more to do, I must admit that the main reason I am looking forward to the next one is that I really, really, REALLY want to see Lord Toric get his comeuppance. This is still one of the first rate fantasy/science fiction series of all time, spun by a writer who clearly has an affection for not only dragons but their human companions.

Rating:
Summary: Well intentioned but poorly balanced
Review: The Skies of Pern takes up shortly after Avias and Masterharper Robinton die. Pern is seeing a technological rebirth with the revalation of the technology stored by Avias, and the days of the thread are coming to an end. The book explores the concern that the dragonriders have about their future employment, and the 'unwashed' elements of society who want to destroy the progress of Avias.

I've always enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's work. Pern has never been my favorate of her series, but I've read just about every novel in it. When I heard that "The Skies of Pern" had come out, I decided to give it a go. I sort of wish I hadn't, well at least not in hardback.

"The Skies of Pern" is a singularly uneven piece of fiction. While it is decently written, there were too many things going on to keep track very well. The jumping about made me lose interest quickly. I prefer a solid storyline that is cohesive. This novel sort of lacked that. It took me a week to finish this one, which is not normal for me.

The whole Meteor plotline felt way too contrived and convenient to me. The Dragonriders are worried about furure employment... and WHAM. Meteor hits. "Yay! We'll all watch for meteors now."

The problem was wrapped up far too easily. With a little more work, McCaffrey could have extensively explored the plight that the dragonriders now faced. There were a lot of sociological questions there. Tied in with the fight to rid pern of the 'evil' progress of Avias, there could have been a very interesting novel there.

Instead, the conveniant meteor thing is used and everything is solved in 450 pages. As I said, far too contrived. McCaffrey dropped the ball on this one I think. It's a shame because there really was so much potential there.

I'd say that if you enjoy the Pern series or McCaffrey, you'll enjoy this. But wait for paperback before you buy it.

Rating:
Summary: The Skies of Pern
Review: I'm a devoted fan of the Pern series as well as some of Anne McCaffreys other series but this book was a big disappointment. It was very disjointed with some characters changing drastically for no real reasonand some introduced (or reintroduced) that did not further the story line. There was no theme, just a group of individual stories that were very loosely woven together. I think this book would have been much better as a series of short stories instead of being forced into "novel mode". This is the only McCaffrey novel I have read in which I had no real involvement. The Skies of Pern was a big disappointment to me. I certainly hope the next book is up to the standard of the others in the series

Rating:
Summary: Good....but not the best in the series
Review: I was very excited to FINALLY get my hands on this book.
When I first started reading it, i was thrown right into the middle of a plot line. Throughout the book, I got lost on several parts, being as there wasn't a lot of lead in to several areas. As the book progressed, I became more and more interested, but was sadly dissappointed when i reached the end.
Usually, a good book WANTS you to wonder what happens next, but this one made me wonder: "Is this /really/ the end of this book? I mean, what?!"
Let's just say it is the only book in the series I won't give a raving review for.

Rating:
Summary: I'd read anything about Pern and love it!
Review: That's the truth. I would read a list of daily chores at Fort Hold I think and find some value in it. Seriously, I love the world that Anne McCaffrey has created. The fact that the newer novels don't stand up as well as the earlier stuff is only mildly disappointing when compared with the idea that Ms McCaffrey might stop writing about Pern altogether! So, I read what I've got and I thoroughly enjoy them. So, the Skies of Pern is nothing so good as the first trilogy that started the series or the White Dragon but it's a good read for devoted fans. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the parts about dragons, 3 or less for the rest
Review: I want to make sure Anne gets the message! This book really has 2 parts, one about social unrest and one about dragons and their bond with dragonriders. Please Anne, ANY author can write about social unrest. I read science fiction to escape depressing stuff like this! ONLY YOU can write about the incredible bond between dragons and riders. As a person who has touched that sort of bond with animals, and longs for more, Pern novels are beyond wonderful. But so many of the later ones are filled with everything but. After a couple disappointments, I started fanning through Pern novels to see how many italics appeared. If there weren't many, I didn't bother. Since I got this one on tape, I had to take a chance. But, experience has taught me that even an awful book read by Dick Hill will be bearable. If you read this book, skim the "Abominators" part - unless you love to read about downtrodden humanity and the unfairness of it all. If you do love detailed descriptions of the wretched human condition, go read Terry Goodkind's last 2 books. You will have hours of joy reading about despair.(??) I can't possibly understand that.
Thanks, Anne, for finally returning to writing about dragons.

Rating:
Summary: Too Many Story Lines, Not Enough Cohesion
Review: The Skies of Pern strikes me as analogous to a flight of inexperienced dragonriders, each of whom independently tries to burn every bit of thread falling from the red star, resulting in a great deal of confusion and not exactly 100% success. It seems as though McCaffrey is struggling to come up with enough story lines to fill a novel and, while she does achieve that goal, she fails to integrate the various stories into a composite whole. Were this book a student essay, I would have to say that it lacks unity.

There are several potentially wonderful narrative themes in the book. We have the sabotage and vandalism wreaked by the Abominators, who are determined to stop and reverse the many technological innovations initiated by AIVAS, the artificial intelligence system brought by the original colonists and lately rediscovered. We have the huge tsunami generated by the impact of a comet fragment that plunges into Pern's sea and the heroic efforts of the dragons to rescue the land bound holders. We encounter the depredations of the giant felines on the Southern Continent. Running somewhat weakly through everything else is the angst of the dragonriders who fret about what they will do, now that threadfall is nearly at an end forever.

Except for the dragonriders' fretting, which grows quite tedious, any of the story lines could have been detailed and developed into a wonderful novel-length work, but none is pursued to any great depth. Instead, they are strung together like a weakly constructed anthology of unrelated events. This is not to say that the book does not have some delightful high points, both dramatic and humorous. The result of Golanth's first "heavy-handed" attempts to practice the dragons' newly recognized skill of telekinesis by moving trundlebugs is hilarious. The dialog (dragonlog?) between Golanth and Zaranth is frequently amusing and often touching. The terror and drama of the felines' attack on Golanth, his rider F'lessan, Zaranth, and her rider Tai are well delivered, and the novel becomes a veritable page-turner at that point. Unfortunately, we are then nearing the end of the book and are disappointed that the increased tempo is over so soon.

I have enjoyed reading almost all of McCaffrey's books, and I would not have wanted to miss The Skies of Pern. Still, I wish that it had become three different novels, each one dealing with one of great story lines in depth. The fourth line, that of the dragonriders' search for a meaningful existence in the post-thread era, would be better forgotten entirely. Turning them all into astronomers is not precisely a convincing solution to their pending unemployment problem. Still, for its faults and weaknesses, The Skies of Pern deserves to be read by those who have come to know the dragons of Pern. Newcomers to the series, however, will be more pleased to seek out McCaffrey's earlier works on this fascinating planet.

Rating:
Summary: An intresting story
Review: The Skies of Pern begins where The Dolphins of Pern leaves off. The Red Star's course has been altered and now the Dragonriders must find a craft that they can call thier own.
When a metoroid falls to Pern and causes untold damage the Weyr Leaders decide that someone must always watch the sky so that if another metor falls they can keep people from dying.
I won't tell the rest of the story because that would ruin the ending for those who haven't read it yet.
McCaffrey is an excellent story teller though I thought that her lastest book was a bit slow.
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK FIRST!!! If you are thinking to start reading about Pern I recomend that you start with Dragonsdawn and go from there. This not a book you can read on its own. The characters and pot stem somewhat from what has happened in other books.
This is a great book if you know just what is going on in Pern but if you haven't read any of her other Pern books you won't understand a thing that's going on.

Rating:
Summary: It has its good spots
Review: I am beginning to think that Ms. McCaffery's editors need to be fired if they allow things to slip any worse. It is bad enough when they slipped up at the end of Dolphins of Pern, but this book just didn't have much to it. Now to the specifics that I have seen complained about. 1. The Abominators are probably named that way because it was the easiest thing to call them. I don't think that they have ever dealt with this type of thing before. They did cause havoc, but there should have been more to them. Also, why didn't Piemur find out about these people a long time ago. 2. F'lessen and Tai are alright. From what I have read, Lessa nor F'lar have had any high hopes for their son. Actually, they have not been putting any pressure on him just because they are weyrleaders. I can see that he would probably be the last person that Lessa and F'lar would want as a weyrleader. Lessa has been shown to have serious doubts about her son before. 3. I have seen someone complain saying "Why didn't we know about the dragons' telekinetic ability before? Why didn't they get it from the geneticist who created them?" Answer, Kitti Ping DIED at the microscope. 4. Now, about their views on women changing. I do have to agree a little bit. I don't think that a change that drastic could happen in only 30-40 years. Sure, a few "select" women might be given more heed to, but in general, I don't see it happening on this grand a scale. Even with a Harper as good as Menolly couldn't change views that quickly. 5. In the last few books we have seen the "Council" electing Lord Holders. Excuse me? In the very first book, wasn't there a duel between Fax and F'lar to see who would become Lord Holder of Ruatha? Wasn't it mentioned that a duel was how a Lord Holder was chosen when a Hold was in doubt? 6. What is the average life span of someone on Pern? There are a lot of people who should really be dead. They must be in their 90s or so. Are they healthier than we are? (They could be.) 7. When will some Weyrleader tell Lessa and F'lar to mind their own weyr's business? I would really love to see either of them dressed down for being so presumptuous outside their own weyr. 8. Mirrim does seem to wield too much authority in Monoco Weyr. Is she like the acting Headwoman? That is what it seems to be. She probably flies in T'gellen's wing. Okay, I think that is all. I welcome anyone e-mailing me at [e-mail] with their thoughts.