zoes_human's review against another edition
3.0
The collection displays McCaffrey's range and reach; however, she does not excel at this form. The ideas are clever and fun as ever, but the prose and style lack the conciseness and precision that is an absolute must in short fiction. Nevertheless, it is enjoyable and the concepts alone make it worth reading.
una_10bananas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
tsbowman1124's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
3.0
Didn't rate the plot or characters because this was a book of short stories. As usual there were good ones, mediocre ones and meh ones.
sbone's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up based on the title. The first story, which is in line with the title of the book, was interesting and a little confusing (I didn’t know it’s part of a larger series). I wanted more. When I kept reading and noticed it’s a collection of her short stories, I was disappointed. This book should’ve been titled something different. And her introduction to how people don’t recognize who she is and how she’s so famous seems redundant, I don’t know who this author is and it turned me off.
amyiw's review against another edition
3.0
reread in the summer of 2021 but is hard to mark as it is part of multiple compilations, it should be read with "The Smallest Dragon Boy" before it as the character there plays a part in this one.
vaderbird's review against another edition
2.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
mikimeiko's review against another edition
3.0
When I first realized that this short stories collection was gonna have just one Pern story, I was baffled; when I found out that that particular story could be found in Renegades of Pern (which I have), I was pretty angry at myself for not reading better the wikipedia page (which is really clear, in retrospect); but while some of the short stories confirmed my idea that Anne McCaffrey should just write Pern, and leave everything else alone, a couple of them were beautiful enough to make me like the book.
divadiane's review
4.0
I can’t be sure if I read this story (novellette?) already or not, but at any rate, it is a lovely story. Set in the familiar world of Pern (before the SF shift) with familiar characters on the periphery. This made it a comfortable read, but I’m not sure someone coming in cold, not having read any of the previous Pern novels would understand it much or the significance of certain events as mentioned. But for this reader, having read everything set in PERN written by Anne McCaffrey herself, this was an easy, gentle, cozy read.
achenaille's review against another edition
3.0
Wonderful short stories several of which are well before their time.