Rating: 
Summary: A McCaffrey Fan to the end!
Review: Okay - first of all, I have been a rabid fan of Ms. McCaffrey's for 25 years. I love Pern, the riders and most especially, the dragons. This book opens after AIVAS, the artificial intelligenced computer has shut down, and the dragonriders are now concerning themselves with what will happen "After". After is when Thread stops falling once and for all. This book continues where "Dolphins of Pern" left off, fleshing out more characters and the culture of Pern. F'lessan, rider of bronze Golanth is the focus of the book, but all the old characters are still around and participating. The problems that were solved in Dolphins of Pern have created a whole new set of problems, including The Abominators, a fanatic group bound and determined to keep Pern in the old ways, instead of the new, technological environment that is coming about thanks to AIVAS.Read the book in 2 days, loved every minute of it! I recommend it to all Pern fans everywhere!
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: A Dragon Lover's Look
Review: Well, first of all, I would like to congragulate Patricia C. Wrede on her astounding work with the Dragon Riders Of Pern series. Well Done!!! As for this particular entry back into the world of Pern, I would have to say that this book took us deeper into the world of Men and Dragons than anyone has ever gone! For a long time I have been a dragon lover and these books give me an opportunity to live my fantasy, however imaginary. The story of F'lessan and Tia was incredible. One could actually feel the passion of their relationship unfolding. Though it did lack the usual aspect and involvement with arial battles that the other books held, I must say that this book is an enchantment unlike any other, and is in itself the start of another possible series, should the author decide to develop on it. Keep up the good work Patricia, and you'll have me on my way to the Dreams of Pern. (I do wish I could find a Fire-Lizard of my own...)
Rating: 
Summary: This book is an abomination!
Review: Like many others, I was excited to see a new addition to the Dragonriders series and, unfortunately, like many of the readers here, I was horribly disappointed in the Skies of Pern. There were too many discrepencies to go into (other reviewers have done that) but what it means when you are reading is that instead of getting engaged with the plot(s), your mind says, 'hang on a minute...isn't Mirrim a GREEN rider?' then you re-read the passage about her gold dragon. Then you put the book down and hunt through several rooms to find one of the other books with the dragon/rider relationship handily printed in the back and confirm you are not crazy but rather, Ms McCaffrey and her crack team of editors completely screwed up. Repeatedly. There are a multitude of plot lines that are not resolved, somewhat unusually for the Pern series. The writing is not crisp nor witty. And smart characters end up in the stupidest situations. The ending is totally fabricated (it didn't make me want to cry. Vomit, maybe, but not cry). It is painfully obvious there will be another book taking us to the end of Thread in the Ninth Pass, but the bigger question is how many of us faithful Pern fans will care enough to buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth every penny!
Review: As a long-time major fan of Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels, I gleefully pounce on them the moment they appear in hardback. In fact, they're the ONLY novels I'll routinely shell out so much money for. In the case of "The Skies of Pern", I managed to get my hands on the UK version... Was it worth it? Definitely! I'd've downed it in one marathon sitting were it not for having to go to work and earn a living. And I reread it the following week. All 450 pages of it! Once again Ms. McCaffrey visits our old friends in the Ninth Pass, picking up where "The Dolphins of Pern" leaves off. We get to see how they deal with the perils of anti-technology fanatics ("Abominators"), the uncertainties of the role dragons will play in a Thread-free world and Lord Toric's endless greed and conniving. A major new threat faces Pern from above, and the dragons have to come up with a novel and surprising way of dealing with it. A way hinted at in earlier books, particularly "All the Weyrs of Pern". Along the way, Ms. McCaffrey does her usual excellent job of developing characters both old and new. Be prepared for a real tear-jerker toward the end. So, if you're a Pern fan, this one is a must! While you're waiting for this one to arrive, you might want to dust off your copy of "All the Weyrs" and "Dolphins" just to refresh your memory and whet your appetite. My only hope is that the next installment comes soon.
Rating:
Summary: It was a Pern book
Review: For Anne, it was average at best. First the things I liked: I liked the fact that there's finally more character development again (F'lessan and Tai), and the interactions between Golanth and Zaranth. Things that bothered me: 1. While I understand that surgery was a Very Cool Thing for the Pernese to be learning and starting to use, I thought it was rather... convenient... that F'lessan needed those services. Which leads me into my #1 gripe about the whole book that knocked the two stars off the top:
2. If the dragons could 'time it' back to save all those folks from the tsunami waves, which was hours back, why the heck couldn't Ramoth, or Ruth, or Mnementh, or Path, or ANY FREAKING DRAGON WHO HAD BRAINS THAT SHOWED UP just 'time it' back *before* the cats even attacked? Hello? What's the point of timing it back milliseconds, for crying out loud? And if they couldn't do it riderless, Jaxom/Ruth know perfectly well how to jump backwards in time to any point they so desire to.
3. Yes, yes... I know that they needed someone to practice all their newfound surgical skills on. Including a dragon.
4. But give me a break. I didn't mind the jumping around between the different sections much; I figured that meant that there was at least a sequel planned. <grin> But to make 'Skies' a better and seemingly more cohesively written book, another one (or two) definitely need to be written to tie everything together. I'll buy it in hardback to keep my collection complete, but I think I'll be haunting the clearance tables. I highly doubt it will be one I'll pick up to reread any time soon.
Rating:
Summary: Pernese society continues to evolve
Review: It has been thirty years or more (the book could definitely benefit from a chronological appendix) since the Hatching of Ruth, the White Dragon, and the Lost Colony of Pern is now experiencing what most of its inhabitants devoutly hope will be the last Threadfall ever. The central question of this latest Dragonrider novel, then, is, What will Dragonriders and their Dragons do when there is no more Thread to fight? For some, the holdborn, the question isn't too vital: they need only return to their ancestral occupations. Others are moonlighting as carriers of mail and light freight. But new challenges continue to arise: the Abominationists, a Luddite group that disapproves (to the point of terrorism) of the new technologies imparted by the AIVAS computer at Landing, and the splashdown of an Object From Space (either a huge meteorite or a small asteroid), which results in a world-circling tsunami from which the Dragonriders must struggle to evacuate the inhabitants of lower-lying settlements. It is this Object which reveals the role the Dragonriders must play After: they will be the Watchers of the Skies, the defenders of their planet from similar debri. And green Zaranth, ridden by the female Rider Tai, displays a new talent which shows how such debri will be dealt with in future. Most of the familiar characters reappear in this novel (including Weyrleader F'lar, now in his 60's, and his Weyrwoman Lessa), but the main concentration is on F'lessan, son of F'lar and Lessa, and on Tai, who proves to have been severely psychologically bruised by her dragon's previous mating flights. Of course, it's almost mandatory to have read the previous volumes, but I can't imagine anyone who buys this book not having done so. And it's reassuring to see that the Pernese recognize that their world needs only adopt so much technology and no more; their society need not be totally shaken to its roots by the revelations of AIVAS. I'm sure McCaffrey never anticipated, when she published "Dragonflight" in 1968, that 35 years later she'd still be chronicling the history of Pern in a series that has now grown to 16 volumes. My only question is, how will she follow this act in the chronicles of one of the most beloved sf societies yet to appear in print?
Rating:
Summary: A good and a worthly addition to the series...
Review: OK I really enjoyed this book, not as good as the first books, nothing ever will be IMHO. There is one major thing people keep harping on and another previous reviewer also corrected. It never says Mirriam is a gold rider or a Weyrleader. It says she is T'Gellan's weyrmate, that is all and that certainly has not in prior novels ever meant they were automatically a Weyrleader.
There are many examples of the Weyrleaders having separate mates from each other.
This book was wonderful, I enjoyed the new issues and charcters, I like how Anne is evolving the stories I've loved for more that 20 years and I hope she will continue to do so.....
Rating: 
Summary: If There Were A Mark Less Than One Star I Would Pick It...
Review: How to describe how truly bad this book was? I kept on reading in the mistaken but optimistic belief that it would sudden;y get better. Thirty pages before the end I realise that no, it really wasn't, and gave up. Look, I like HUMAN characters. Not black and white but all the pretty grey shades between. People just don't come in Good or Bad flavours. And the plot [wasn't good]. Sorry, but there's no other word for it. *twitch* I won't be reading more Pern books. Burn this one. The world will be a better place for it.
Rating:
Summary: Pern
Review: This book is a good addition to the Pern series. It mostly follows Lessa and F'lar's son F'lessan. It also reveals a new dragon talent and the future occupation of dragonriders. I would definately recommend this book to any Pern reader.
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