Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST
Review: OUT OF ALL THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN SERIES, I REALLY LOVED THIS THE BEST. THE MASTERHARPER WAS WONDERFUL, ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO LESSA. HE WAS HER MOST ENDEARING COMPANION & ALSO THE WISEST OF THE WISE. THANK YOU ANNE MCCAFFREY, PLEASE GIVE US MORE.
Rating: 
Summary: Puzzled by a paradox
Review: I started reading Masterharper practically as soon as I took it out of the box. On the whole I thouroughly enjoyed it, but I could not reconcile my previous "picture" of Petiron as a sensitive and loving man who nurtured Menolly and approved of her compositions enough to send them to the Masterharper, and the insensitive jerk who was Robinton's father. I know towards the end of "The Masterharper of Pern" Petiron was mellowing somewhat, but he seems to have grown a new personality at Half Circle Sea Hold.
All that aside, I truly enjoyed knowing Robinton as a child and young man. A must have for any Pernophile.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Mccaffery's Best Yet
Review: I belive that this is Anne McCaffery's BEST book yet! I love hearing of Robinton's youth and family. A must read!! Good for an intro to the series or as a last book!
Rating:
Summary: Robinton rocks!
Review: I always enjoy when Ms. McCaffrey takes a character and lets us in on his or her life, letting us see what went into making that person who they are. The Masterharper has always been one of my favorite characters. I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book, But Has A Few "Minor" Flaws
Review: This book is good, don't get me wrong, but once again, there are some "minor" flaws. First of all, Robinton, the eventual Masterharper of Pern, gets a woman pregnant when he's unmarried. Some of you might have problems with that, as I did. Second, the language in the book is uncommon to rare, but it's still in there. Some people might take offense with it. Now, I've gotten the problems out of the way, so let's go on to the book. The story is good, with Robinton being a musical genius from age one on, but being ignored by his father. His mother encourages him to play, sing, and compose music, which he does with ease. He makes a friend in F'lon, a dragonrider, as he grows. He gets promoted to journeyman, falls in love, and is later made Masterharper, the highest honor for a musician on Pern. However, not all is happy on Pern. A vicious man named Fax takes over his Hold with several lightning blows, and starts to take on more property, opposing harpers and dragonriders all the way. Robinton's loyal friends, including F'lon, his sons, F'lar and F'nor, a mysterious spy named Nip, Nip's apprentice, Tuck, and others aid him in the trying times of Fax's period as Lord Holder of High Reaches. Many loved ones die, but Robinton, while refusing to forget them, moves on with his life. All this adds up to one of the best fictional stories about music I've ever read. I would recommend this book to musicians, fantasy lovers, and anyone who has read The Harper Hall of Pern(and if you haven't, you should read it!).
Rating:
Summary: One of McCaffrey's very best!
Review: The character Robinton, the titular Masterharper, is indubitably one of author McCaffrey's most beloved and enduring characters. Here he is lovingly portrayed as he grows from an engaging, if at times, difficult and complicated childhood to a major player in the history of his planet. Characterization is always a prime focus and strength in this author's work and her masterful technique is vibrantly displayed herein. She's also quite adept at fitting together relatively disparate pieces of her now-lengthy backstory of Pern. The plot never fails to engage and the reader keeps turning the pages, at times on the very edge of the readerly seat. A must-read for fans and a good place to start for apprentice dragonlore lovers.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Robinton for me!
Review: I love Robinton dearly such as he is portrayed in Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums. And for me personally these six novels and Moreta form the pinnacle of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. The installments in the Pern series afterwards were just plain awful and certainly didn't catch my interest. But out of love for Robinton I read this one. I wasn't surprised to discover that this one ...[stunk]. Other reviewers have already pointed out the many inconsistencies and errors. Such as Sebell's forced appearance in this book. It's quite clear from the two trilogies that Sebell became a journeyman after thread has fallen but MH has him promoted much earlier to that station. And indeed in Dragonquest it's stated quite clearly that Robinton is surprised to hear the dragons and MH has him conversing easily with them. Further I found it unbelievable that Robinton must be present at every important occasion (e.g. see how she forces Robinton into the events at Ruatha). Basically MH recycles Menolly's story of the immensely gifted child thwarted by an obdurate parent (so nothing new here). Only where she did this for Menolly compellingly and in an unforgettable way this is just a weak imitation. Robinton didn't feel like the man we know from the two trilogies and I loved the mystery of him such as we find there. This story was bland and dull. I agree further with some of the other reviewers on the point that Robinton was too goody good! Add to this the annoying fact that our sweet author hammers the fact home that he's a genius (of course Anne I had already understood this). Lastly I seriously wonder if Anne McCaffrey or/and her editors check out what she has written before. Errors and inconsistencies could have been spotted and she might have written something interesting, but this novel fails. As for Pern, I'll stick to the two trilogies and Moreta!
Rating:
Summary: uh, no
Review: This is definately not one of McCaffrey's better books, or even one of here mediocre books. This is one of her BAD books. There is no interesting action, no real conflicts between Robinton and his father, or any one else for that matter. Some of the explanations for certain elements of Pern and its various aspects were just a little too pat. She totally messed up Sebell's timeline by forcing him into this book, making him at least ten years older than he is in any other book. Fax's rise to domination is not given good enough attention, and the treatment of both dragonriders and Harpers was not what I'd been lead to believe in my reading of DragonFlight. The ending was too contrived, and Robinton over all was too perfect to be believable. In short, Please, whatever you do, Ms. McCaffrey, don't answer the demands of your fans by forrcing your work any more, please! The results, if this book is any indication, are not worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read, But....
Review: At the time _Masterharper of Pern_ came out, I was rueing the decline of the Dragonriders of Pern series. After _Dragonsdawn_, the books seemed to lose a lot of their original magic and appeal; even _Dragonseye_, while certainly better than _Dolphins of Pern_, didn't quite live up to standard.The good news is that _Masterharper of Pern_ *does*. This is a wonderful, vivid, emotional book, clear in detail, strong in character, and with settings one can easily get into. It's a delight to get to meet the father of F'lar and F'nor; likewise, the insight on Fax and his ambitions is welcome. Pern fans and non-Pern fans alike should be able to enjoy this one--it's not just another installment in the series, but a welcome and well-written tale in its own right. That brings me to the bad news. While _Masterharper_ has all of the virtues I've named above, it has two major faults: consistency, and suspension of disbelief. This book just doesn't match up with the earlier ones in some respects. The character of Petiron here doesn't seem like the Petiron Menolly knew in _Dragonsinger_ (granted, age changes a man, but still...). F'lon, while a fine man, does not seem to inspire the sense of respect and even awe that one can pick up about him in _Dragonflight_. Robinton can hear dragons; why, then, was he so surprised to hear them again in _Dragonquest_? Which leads right into the suspension of disbelief: Robinton, much as I admire his character, is *too good* here. Not only is he a musical genius, not only is he polite and courteous and perfect in every way, but he hears dragons too? Goodness, can't the poor man be allowed any flaws/lackings? That's not the worst part, though: I found that the ending scenes stretched my ability to believe beyond the breaking point, and this marred the book somewhat for me. In fact, the last fifth or so of the pages seemed a cut below the rest; AM did her best work when she was showing us the history we hadn't already seen, rather than history we knew from a new perspective. Still, when all is said and done, this is still a fine book that tells an excellent story. Just be prepared to blink at it a few times if you're a long-time Pern fan... and if you're new to the series and more fond of flawed heroes than darned near perfect ones, you might want to pass this one up until you've read a few of its predecessors.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best Pern book ever
Review: Obviously one should not read this book first but if you know Pern, you will adore this book! I got to know Masterharper Robinton so much better and got better acquainted with Sebell and Menolly. Yay! I'm a Pern fanatic and this book only increased my love for the planet and its people!
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