The Dolphins of Pern

Rating:
Summary: This book is perfect for hard-core Pern fanatics
Review: A lot of people have said that Anne McCaffrey lost something with the Dolphins of Pern, but I disagree. I think that the book ties together a lot of loose ends from throughout the series. It adds on to The Renegades of Pern, and lets us know what happened to some of the charachters that were forgotten in All the Weyrs of Pern. The Dolphins of Pern occurs (mostly)in the same time period as All the Weyrs of Pern, so that it does get slightly boring at times hearing things we already know. I think that it's worth reading through whatever boring parts there are though. In my opinion one of the best parts of the book is seeing the main charachters(and the leaders of Pern) through the eyes of some of Pern's lesser residents. We also finally get to know F'lessan (F'lar and Lessa's only son), who we don't hear too much from in the other books. This book is a must read for all those dedicated to the series, but it definitely isn't the place for someone new to the series to start reading. You should really to start with one of the other books if you want to fully appreciate this one.

Rating:
Summary: A good read if you absolutely can't get enough of Pern
Review: I have to agree with several of the reviews that noted how Anne McCaffrey's later works about Pern seem to have lost something that she did so well in her earlier ones. I am a loyal McCaffrey fan, so please don't take this as some kind of "Anne-bashing"--but, The Dolphins of Pern just wasn't up to par with the first two trilogies. While the concept of the friendly, talking dolphins is appealing, the storyline goes all over the place, jumping over years in Readis' and other characters' lives, losing focus and generally feeling less like a plot than an ongoing report on the amazing new dolphins. I hope Anne isn't just writing in response to pressures from fans and her publisher, but I have a bad feeling that she became bored with Pern years ago. Read this book only if you are a Pern fanatic.

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Summary: Pern Series
Review: This is an interesting part of the Pern series that focuses mainly on the Dolphins of Pern. The Dolphins are an important part of the history of Pern. The Humans and Dolphins lost touch along the way. Now the old bonds are being reforged. However, not everyone treats the dolphin's with the respect they deserve. Hardly anyone does in fact. Most view them as having less value than dragons, and certainly less than humans. Even though the dolphin's intelligence is equal to human's. But one young man does not feel this way. In fact he is willing to risk everything (including his overprotective mother's rage) to be with the dolphins. This is mainly their tale.

Rating:
Summary: A high point in the Pern series
Review: "The Dolphins of Pern" is one in author Anne McCaffrey's series of novels that take place on Pern: a world where the descendants of human colonists live together with huge, winged creatures called "dragons." The dragons of Pern have some similarities to the mythical creatures of ancient Earth, but McCaffrey throws in some science fiction twists. "Dolphins," as the title suggests, adds a new element to the culture and history of Pern.

As McCaffrey explains in the book's prologue, the spacefaring humans who first settled Pern brought with them dolphins who had been endowed with the ability to speak human language. But over the course of time, the hostile environment of Pern caused the dolphin and human communities to gradually lose touch with each other. This book is the story of the attempts to rediscover and reestablish the ancient ties between the two species.

To the cynical, the concept of this book might seem like a "gimmick" to bring a new element to the Pern series. But believe me, "Dolphins" is no gimmick: this is one of the best in the entire series. McCaffrey creates a rich and moving portrait of the dolphin community -- a community with a compelling culture and history. This is also a beautiful "coming of age" story that focuses on Readis, a boy of Pern who has a remarkable bond to the dolphins. McCaffrey superbly weaves the dolphins' history and Readis' very personal story into the epic story of Pern's humans and dragons. I recommend this book to both Pern fans as well as to newcomers to the series.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising return from the dead or a careless error?
Review: First I have to admit that I'm a big fan of McCaffrey's Pern series. I've followed most of the books in the series from the Dragonriders of Pern to the Harper Hall Trilogy, with Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern, and (of course) the Dolphins of Pern. However, I feel compelled to give the book only 2 stars on the fact that her standards seemed to have sliped with this plot. I have nothing against dolphins, but as I was reading I alway had this impression that she (McCaffrey) is trying to salvage what's left of the series to create this story. Also, the "weaving" of the story with various scenes in "All the Wyers" left me the impression that some dialogue resurfaced that wasn't mentioned in one or the other. I wouldn't be so harsh, if not for the fact that she did a good job of linking scenes between "The Renegades of Pern" and with "The White Dragon" from different perspectives with no change in dialogue (ie Toric @ ! Landing) unlike "The Dolphins of Pern." But the biggest problem that I can not swallow and am surprised that it passed the editors is the fact that Lord Oterel of Tillek Hold seemed to have a surprising resurrection for "The Dolphins of Pern" when supposedly he passed away, thus the contention for Tillek Hold in a chapter in "All the Weyrs of Pern." That error cannot be "smoothed over" since a man could be either dead or not dead. Unfortunatly, this shows to me that the author did not put much serious effort in keeping with the chronology of Pern.

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Summary: A fun read with some comments...
Review: I love the Pern books! Ever since I was a young girl in school and found Dragonsong in the 1970's.
I really enjoyed this book I love how Anne is filling in the gaps for us about folks from other books like Jayge, Aramina and Readis as well a the Dolphins from Dragonsdawn.
But here is what I think would help folks a lot in their enjoyment of this book and some of the other books.
I think some of these later books don't work as well on their own because they truely aren't stand alone novels like Dragonflight, Dragonquest etc.. You absolutly HAVE to have read Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern and Drangonsdawn for this book to make sense to you!
I think it would be a smart decision to integrate this book and possibly some of the other later books into the novels they companion.
Take Dolphins for example: I think the plot would have been better recieved had it been combined with "All the Weyrs", yes it would have added another subplot but they also could have eliminated all the parellel "All the Weyrs" plot synopsis. And it would have prevented any major errors such as the Lord Holder death issue someone mentions here. I have to check my books at home I don't know if that reveiwer is correct or not.
The timeline jumps around but I have no problem with that it happened in Dragonsdawn and other Pern books so what's the big deal?
In the end I enjoyed this book but I believe it would have been better received as part of the "All the Weyrs" story than a separate novel.

Rating:
Summary: no review just a top rating
Review: typical book set in the Pernese world. Shows the doplphins and how those around them live.

Rating:
Summary: wow, what ...
Review: This book was a bore. A lot of things happen oh so convientently on Pern, but this really takes the cake. All the people have to do is ring the bell and suddenly all the dolphins pop up and talk? And speak intelligable English? And NO one ever tried this before? Despite all the references to dolphin rescues? And don't even get me started on the incredulous population who deny the talking dolphins even after hearing the damn things talk.

The conflict between Readis and Armina was identical to the conflict between Robinton and Petiron, Menolly and Yanus and Debera and her dad... not to mention Sean and his father. Child wants one thing, parents want the other blah blah blah. This went no where ands it didn't even get there very fast.

Rating:
Summary: "Needed Much More Conflict"
Review: This book started off with promise as the Pernese dolphins rescue Alemi and his nephew, Readis, from a wild storm at sea. And I did like how a handful of humans tried to re-establish relations with the marine mammals. Interesting to see the dolphins butcher the English language, which led to some problems of understanding between the two species. But then the story ground to a halt. Everything went swimmingly between man and dolphin and there was hardly any conflict I could see. The efforts to stop Thread just got breezed over, and the problem Readis' mother had with him communicating with dolphins could have been expanded on a lot more. To be honest, I did not even get to the end of the book. I just couldn't see any goals that needed to be achieved or conflicts that needed to be resolved and did not see the need to continue on to the end.

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Summary: Heard this story before
Review: Child wants to follow dream, is stifled by overbearing parent, has a serious injury, runs away from home, finds a cave, meets up with critters. Sound familiar? Sounds exactly like the plot of Dragon Song doesn't it. I was very disappointed. I love this series of books and the world of Pern, but I recommend you save your money and not purchase this book.