The Atlas of Pern

Rating:
Summary: The essential companion to Anne McCaffrey's Pern series.
Review: Anne McCaffrey paints word pictures of her imaginary world. Karen Fonstadt brings those pictures to graphic life with her maps, illustrations and explanations. I've often faulted McCaffrey's publishers for cover art that jarred with my mental images of her characters and their surroundings. Ms Fonstadt has managed to give a visual form to my imaginings that is completely consistent with my own ideas.

If you want the exact layout of the Benden Hatching Grounds, or Dunca's cot where Menolly spent many a lonely day, you'll find them here. There's even a complete "dragonwing anatomy", for those with a biology bent. Time-lines for the events in the Pern series are also there, though these do have a couple of discrepancies with the text, and are, by now sadly out of date with Ms McCaffrey's ongoing contributions to the series, and it would be so nice to see an upddated issue.

Today, I no longer even try to read the "Dragonriders of Pern" or "Harper Hall" series without this vital volume to hand. It contributes so much to my enjoyment of the books that it truly is the essential companion to Anne McCaffrey's Pern series.

Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: if you like Pern and want to know mor about the geography and locations of some of you favorite pernese vaction spots i recomedd this

Rating:
Summary: Very useful
Review: If you participate in Pern fandom, this book is very valuable. It includes scaled drawings of many places on Pern, from the original colonists' time through "The White Dragon". Land use, climate, population, and spatial maps are also included. The only frustrating thing is that this is not a complete work - if the place hasn't been mentioned and described in detail in the Harper Hall trilogy, "Moreta" , or the original trilogy, then it's not mapped in this book. Igen Weyr, Telgar Weyr, High Reaches Hold, and Benden Hold are missing, to name a few. But Fonstadt has produced an excellent reference work.

Rating:
Summary: Very useful
Review: If you participate in Pern fandom, this book is very valuable. It includes scaled drawings of many places on Pern, from the original colonists' time through "The White Dragon". Land use, climate, population, and spatial maps are also included. The only frustrating thing is that this is not a complete work - if the place hasn't been mentioned and described in detail in the Harper Hall trilogy, "Moreta" , or the original trilogy, then it's not mapped in this book. Igen Weyr, Telgar Weyr, High Reaches Hold, and Benden Hold are missing, to name a few. But Fonstadt has produced an excellent reference work.

Rating:
Summary: Very useful
Review: If you participate in Pern fandom, this book is very valuable. It includes scaled drawings of many places on Pern, from the original colonists' time through "The White Dragon". Land use, climate, population, and spatial maps are also included. The only frustrating thing is that this is not a complete work - if the place hasn't been mentioned and described in detail in the Harper Hall trilogy, "Moreta" , or the original trilogy, then it's not mapped in this book. Igen Weyr, Telgar Weyr, High Reaches Hold, and Benden Hold are missing, to name a few. But Fonstadt has produced an excellent reference work.

Rating:
Summary: Answers questions about the size and shape of Pern
Review: This book is constructed as a series of maps, but each map is followed by a little bit of related information from the novels. There are detailed drawings of the Weyrs, Holds, and Halls. Finally you can see how a Hatching ground is laid out

Rating:
Summary: A handy book...
Review: Whether you're just a casual reader of a die-hard fan, the Atlas of Pern is a handy companion to Anne McCaffery's popular series. It's nice to be able to flip open a book and see an illustration of the world, trace the routes from one Hold to the next and back again. It adds a depth to the work.

It's also handy for those of us who do roleplaying on the Pern-based worlds; there are details within its pages not seen elsewhere. In my years of playing apprentices, holders, and dragonriders, I have often called on it for more information. I highly recommend it and the DragonLover's Guide to Pern to all Pern fans.