Dragonsong

Rating:
Summary: Menoly's Tale is great
Review: Menoly is a lot like me. But that is only one reason I absolutely love this book. Menoly is in a spot of disfavor with the people who reside in the hold by the sea. She learned the harpers'craft from the ailing harper. When the harper dies, Menoly is forbidden to sing or make songs. Just to make matters worse, her hand is injured while gutting fish. Then, the lonely girl runs away, teaches fire lizards to sing, and proves that you don't need to be a boy to make songs.

Rating:
Summary: With a Song In Her Heart
Review: Dragonsong is the first novel in the Harper Hall trilogy and the fourth in the Pern series. Harpers are assigned to Holds and Guild Halls to educate the children and to pass on interesting events to the adults. Harpers are much in demand since the return of Thread and Lessa's heroic trip through time to bring forward another five full Weyrs from the past.

In this novel, seven turns have passed since Lessa's trip through time. Half-Circle Sea Hold has lost their aged Harper and no one other than Menolly, the Sea Holder's youngest child, can properly sing the deathsong to honor old Petiron as he is put to rest. Yanus is upset that a mere girl should be given this honor, yet he has no choice but to allow it. Moreover, Menolly is the only one available to instruct the children in the Teaching songs. However, Yanus and his wife, Mavi, try to stop Menolly from "tuning", writing new songs. After repeated warnings, Yanus beats her with his belt when she dreamily strums a new tune in front of the children and Mavi piles works on her.

When the new harper arrives, Yanus and Mavi try to keep Menolly from his attention, even though the new Harper has asked about the person who wrote the new songs that Petiron had sent to Harper Hall. When Menolly slashes her hand open while gutting packtails and gets slime into the cut, her mother cleans, stitches and bandages the wound and tells Menolly that she will no longer be able to use that hand to play music.

The wound becomes poisoned by the slime as well as infected and Menolly spends a few days in pain and delirium. After she recovers, she spends most of her time out of the Hold gathering greens and fruit. One day Menolly is out gathering spiderclaws when she discovers a golden fire lizard trying to move her clutch of eggs away from a unusually high tide, but she keeps dropping them. At first, the little queen tries to drive Menolly away, but Menolly eventually persuades the queen to let her help.

By the time the remaining eggs are safe, Threadfall drives Menolly into the small cave with the queen and her eggs and then the eggs begin to hatch. The young fire lizards are hungry and try to scramble out of the cave to catch food, but the falling Thread will kill them, so Menolly desperately feeds them the spiderclaws. By the time that the Threadfall is over, Menolly has impressed nine young fire lizards.

This novel is my favorite in the Pern series, although others are almost as enjoyable. There is something fresh and open about the tale, and the songs, that especially appeals to me. Menolly is a talented young woman who belongs with the Harpers, despite her parents thoughts on the matter. Thus, the story is a classic generation gap plot with a final satisfactory resolution.

This novel may appeal more to young women than to males, but I passed this novel on to my daughters because I liked it. You don't have to be female to enjoy this story. Menolly is an very likeable young woman who compells your attention.

Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and anyone else who enjoys SF tales of talented young persons struggling to gain recognition for their abilities. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

Rating:
Summary: Menolly's Story
Review: Menolly lives in the world of Pern, a magical world where Dragons and their riders protect the people from the hazardous thread that falls from the sky. Menolly loves music and shows a powerful talent for it. Her voice is beautiful and she possesses perfect pitch. Her hands seem to be made to play instruments. She makes up tunes all of the time in her head, many which are considered extraordinary by the elderly Harper that trains her. But when the Harper dies and a new one comes to Menolly's hold she can no longer make music like she used to, just because she's female. Menolly's is devastated by this and takes solace in wandering outside of the Hold, away from her family and friends. Here she makes an amazing discovery, fire lizard. Fire Lizards are just like miniature dragons, although many people mistrust their existence. Menolly meets and befriends these fire lizards, forming a strong bond with them. But in the world of Pern, where the thread falls everyday, Menolly's peaceful existence will be disturbed.

Ever since I started reading fantasy, people told me that Anne McCaffrey was an author that I needed to get into, especially her Pern novels. I'm very glad that they recommended this to me. This is a fun adventure book. It moves quite quickly and if filled with action and suspense. The character of Menolly is quite easy to relate to. She's so talented yet because of things she can't control, she's not allowed to display her talents. She's quite easy to sympathize with. While this book is often found in the adult fantasy section, while reading it over I almost believe that it was written for a more YA or younger audience. Some of the characters are a bit shallow and I wished that the book was longer so I could get to know them more. from the little info we're told about them they sure seem like interesting characters! I guess we'll learn more about them in Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, the two other books in the series. This is the first Pern novel I've read and I would recommend it to fans of fantasy, especially fans of dragons.

Rating:
Summary: One of My All-Time Favorites!
Review: Menolly is the youngest daughter of Yanus, Sea Holder of Half-Circle Sea Hold. He is a hard man who works hard and is very set in his ways. He strongly believes that girls are made to work in the kitchens and doing other chores - not playing music. It was fine for Menolly to experiment with new tunes while Petiron, the Harper was alive. But, now that he has passed on, Yanus no longer wants Menolly to have anything to do with music. Unfortunately, a new Harper cannot arrive for some time so he lets Menolly teach the younger children while everyone waits. But when the new Harper does arrive, Yanus firmly informs Menolly that he no longer wants her to sing or to play. Menolly rebels, of course, but when she slices her hand while helping cut fish, she feels that she will never play again. She turns to spending time alone and, when she is caught out during threadfall, she takes refuge in a cave where she impresses nine fire lizards. She is quite content living alone, completely unaware that the harper at Half Circle Sea Hold is earnestly looking for the writer of the fabulous new songs that Petiron sent to Harper Hall before he died. Menolly is caught without shelter during a later threadfall and saved by a dragonrider, who takes her to Benden Weyr. There, she meets the Masterharper and finally has the chance to let people know how talented she is.

Dragonsong is the first book in the Harper Hall Trilogy, one of Anne McCaffrey's best books. I first read this book when I was in junior high school and have always loved it, reading it time and time again. Anne McCaffrey has a nice, easy writing style that it easy for all to understand and her characters are very engaging. Young adults especially will enjoy coming of age with Menolly and seeing her succeed and come into her own. If you have no previous introduction to McCaffrey's Pern/Dragonrider series, do not worry because she does a great job at putting in just enough information for those who have not read Dragonflight and Dragonquest, but not too much so the readers who are familiar with Pern do not get frustrated reading the same information. If you like reading fantasy, dragons, or music - you will love this book!

Rating:
Summary: Dragonsong
Review: What would youdo if your parents would not let you do what you are best at? Run and hide? That's what Menolly did in Dragonsong.

Dragonsong is one of the best books I ever read. for one, it was set on a planet called Pern, where there are dragons, and that is what makes it interesting.the characters, Menolly brave enough to try and out run a danger called thread. Her parents were mean because they would not let her do what she was best at because they thought her music would bring shame to their hold. It is so cool that Anne McCaffery came up with the idea for a place like Pernand all the people on it. This book is amazing and very interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I checked out Dragonsinger on accident, not knowing it was the second book. I think I like Dragonsong the best of the trilogy. It is about Menolly, a teenager who is shunned by everyone in her hold and is beaten for playing music.
Finally she runs away, finds a fire lizard clutch, Impresses nine fire lizards, and is taken to the place she has always wanted to be.....the Harper Hall. She learns how to be holdless on her little "adventure". This is a great book and the cover to my copy is battered and bruised.

Rating:
Summary: Dragonsong
Review: "The book was truly remarkable. As I read it I really didn't want it to end.Anne McCaffrey is a very talented author."

Rating:
Summary: My first fantasy book 10 years ago
Review: I found this book in the school library when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I must have taken it only for the cover but it was my first exposure to Fantasy books. Needless to say it has been an amazing journey. I have been through all of Anne's books also Piers Anthony, Stephen Donaldson and anyone else I can get my hands on. Now I am downloading Dragonflight onto my PDA. Great stuff!.

Rating:
Summary: Good Read, Not Thought Provoking
Review: A young girl *Menolly* shows musical talent, but her narrow minded, unoriginal father *Yanus* beats her for it...supposedly only men are musical. She runs away, escaping threadfall but acquiring an injury on her hand that she is told has made her hand crippled. She makes some friends--fire lizards *small types of dragons* nine of them, to be exact. She has many "adventures," and gains new friends. She's a very strong independent girl, and you can really understand how she's feeling. McCaffrey does a wonderful job with this book.

Dragonsong is a fast read, adventurous, exciting. The only catch is that it's not thought provoking at all. So if you're looking for something that will make you think, don't read this. Otherwise, go for it! It's a great book.

If you do like it, I would advise you to read Dragonsinger and Dragondrums, the other two in this triplet. I loved every minute of all three of these books.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This book is about Menolly, a tomboyish girl who loves to make music. Her parents, boring, traditional, and narrow-minded, do not want her to make music in any form, and make every attempt to discourage her from it.

After she injures her hand and is told that her hand will always be crippled, and she will never be able to play any instruments again, Menolly runs away from home. She has many adventures. She discovers and help a group of fire lizards(smaller versions of dragos).

This book has a predictable plot and ending. It is an enjoyable read, with vivid description, but may not live up to your expectations if you are looking for an edgy, controversial, thought-provoking book.