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bioniclib's review against another edition
3.0
I haven't read a Pern novel since high school. So when I was looking for a book to rent from the library's catalog of e-books, I found this one. Honestly, I probably would have waited from something else to be available, but I was dying to read my first library eBook on my Nook!
As for the book itself, it was pretty good. I mean a book full of dragons has a lot going for it. Throw in some time travel and you've got the making of a very unique sci-fi idea. The characters are a little too similar but it's a quick read so that doesn't weigh the story down any. If you like the Pern novels, and don't mind reading one by the son of the original author, I'd recommend this one.
As for the book itself, it was pretty good. I mean a book full of dragons has a lot going for it. Throw in some time travel and you've got the making of a very unique sci-fi idea. The characters are a little too similar but it's a quick read so that doesn't weigh the story down any. If you like the Pern novels, and don't mind reading one by the son of the original author, I'd recommend this one.
kathydavie's review
1.0
The Chronology of the Series
It's 508 AL (after landing) and takes place after Dragonsblood in the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series.
The Story
Why bother? Just read the previous books and you'll have a good idea what's happening.
We have to go through another take of Lorana meeting Tenniz before she buries him.
My Take
This isn't even a real story! Instead, McCaffrey has created a mish-mash of flitting back-and-forth from time to time. Do not even try to make sense of what is going on as McCaffrey simply rehashes events from previous books in this particular timeline. It's like he picked up individual happenings, tossed them in the air and that's how they were arranged in the book. No, no, wait. I know what happened. McCaffrey found a box of discarded ideas from the previous books and he figured, "hey, why waste all these words. I'll throw them together and give it a title!"
One of the whines the characters have is about "how tired everyone is". Well, in previous books they realized it was because those people were timing it. I'm getting tired of the whining. They figured it out before. Could we please move on!?? Then there's Shaneese and Fiona. Oh yeah, and Lorana. They all seem to be sharing T'mar and Kindan, I think. And if Fiona is sleeping with T'mar and Kindan why is it always Kindan who's in her bed? It's almost the end of the story before T'mar ever shows up there. It's like McCaffrey wants to be a bit salacious but hasn't quite got the guts. What was the purpose of Jeila's pregnancy and loss? Filler? Why is anyone bothering to go to the Dawn Sisters? And "Mrreows"?? Please. I do not remember this word being used for the tigers in previous stories. And what's the point of the very end with F'jian and Temir?
Then there's the whole bit with making the "Eastern Weyr" self-sufficient with silver production, mining, fishing, etc. Without working with any of the Smithcrafthalls. Has Todd read any of his mother's books? Maybe I need to re-read them…?
McCaffrey's got people sharing dragons and timing it like nobody's business. It's so contrary to what his mother, Anne, has established previously.
There is nothing to tie them together making this a new story. The best that happens is in the last few pages when suddenly everything "becomes clear" as to Telgar Weyr being lost between, Fiona's crying out to "Can't lose the babies", and where F'jian kept disappearing to. What a load of crap!
My take on Todd McCaffrey as an author is that his writing style is somewhere between "See Dick. See Dick run" and a sixth grade reader. There is no depth to his characters. No emotional involvement that makes a reader care what happens to them. No connection from event to event. I still don't understand why Javissa had to come to the Weyr. What was the deal with Fiona and Jirana going off to play pottery??
From now on, if I see Todd's name on a book, I'm boycotting it. I'm incredibly unimpressed with his mother at this point as well. In the "Letters to Readers", Anne McCaffrey talks as though she and Todd are collaborating. I think the only collaboration is she puts her name on anything he writes to ensure that the book sells.
The Cover
The cover is of a mountainous area with a golden dragon flying towards us. The title is, I guess, appropriate as McCaffrey has the dragons flying back and forth through time.
It's 508 AL (after landing) and takes place after Dragonsblood in the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series.
The Story
Why bother? Just read the previous books and you'll have a good idea what's happening.
We have to go through another take of Lorana meeting Tenniz before she buries him.
My Take
This isn't even a real story! Instead, McCaffrey has created a mish-mash of flitting back-and-forth from time to time. Do not even try to make sense of what is going on as McCaffrey simply rehashes events from previous books in this particular timeline. It's like he picked up individual happenings, tossed them in the air and that's how they were arranged in the book. No, no, wait. I know what happened. McCaffrey found a box of discarded ideas from the previous books and he figured, "hey, why waste all these words. I'll throw them together and give it a title!"
One of the whines the characters have is about "how tired everyone is". Well, in previous books they realized it was because those people were timing it. I'm getting tired of the whining. They figured it out before. Could we please move on!?? Then there's Shaneese and Fiona. Oh yeah, and Lorana. They all seem to be sharing T'mar and Kindan, I think. And if Fiona is sleeping with T'mar and Kindan why is it always Kindan who's in her bed? It's almost the end of the story before T'mar ever shows up there. It's like McCaffrey wants to be a bit salacious but hasn't quite got the guts. What was the purpose of Jeila's pregnancy and loss? Filler? Why is anyone bothering to go to the Dawn Sisters? And "Mrreows"?? Please. I do not remember this word being used for the tigers in previous stories. And what's the point of the very end with F'jian and Temir?
Then there's the whole bit with making the "Eastern Weyr" self-sufficient with silver production, mining, fishing, etc. Without working with any of the Smithcrafthalls. Has Todd read any of his mother's books? Maybe I need to re-read them…?
McCaffrey's got people sharing dragons and timing it like nobody's business. It's so contrary to what his mother, Anne, has established previously.
There is nothing to tie them together making this a new story. The best that happens is in the last few pages when suddenly everything "becomes clear" as to Telgar Weyr being lost between, Fiona's crying out to "Can't lose the babies", and where F'jian kept disappearing to. What a load of crap!
My take on Todd McCaffrey as an author is that his writing style is somewhere between "See Dick. See Dick run" and a sixth grade reader. There is no depth to his characters. No emotional involvement that makes a reader care what happens to them. No connection from event to event. I still don't understand why Javissa had to come to the Weyr. What was the deal with Fiona and Jirana going off to play pottery??
From now on, if I see Todd's name on a book, I'm boycotting it. I'm incredibly unimpressed with his mother at this point as well. In the "Letters to Readers", Anne McCaffrey talks as though she and Todd are collaborating. I think the only collaboration is she puts her name on anything he writes to ensure that the book sells.
The Cover
The cover is of a mountainous area with a golden dragon flying towards us. The title is, I guess, appropriate as McCaffrey has the dragons flying back and forth through time.
jholloed's review against another edition
3.0
Evidently, I read part way through this book the last time I had it, because when I went back to reread this (to get to book 24), I didn't remember most. You absolutely have to read this one to get to any book after as this explains how the Time Knot comes into existence.
All the time jumping makes it a bit hard to keep track of, and there seems to be a lot of overlap with this book and others.
All the time jumping makes it a bit hard to keep track of, and there seems to be a lot of overlap with this book and others.
kathijo63's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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
3.5
kmg365's review against another edition
2.0
Announcer voice: "This week, on WeyrSisterWives..."
Don’t ask me what happened, because I’m not sure. Lorana could be back at any moment to change everything again.
Don’t ask me what happened, because I’m not sure. Lorana could be back at any moment to change everything again.
cyndi77's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what to say about this book. I think the underlying story was good, but the author (authors? I really can't picture this as being Anne's work) got so caught up in time travel & trying to keep secrets from the reader that it makes the whole thing just feel awkward. It doesn't help that the rules of time travel seem very strict - some of the time. When it's convenient to the plot, the characters are able to 'cheat' the rules, which might be okay except that the times when you can cheat are completely inconsistent. Also, I don't love Todd's new standard of stretching the same story over half a dozen books or more. While Anne's old Pern books were more self-contained, Todd seems to feel that he needs at least two big mysteries left at the end of each book - maybe because they're not good enough to bring you back otherwise? Overall I'm disappointed in the new books of the series, which is sad given how much I love the originals.
myth's review against another edition
This review is going to sound dramatic. Fair warning.
I said I was going to finish this. I really was going to. Then I hit a thing I couldn't get past.
Was it, as you might assume, one of the mentions of 14 year old Terin being considered a woman while in a relationship with an adult man, with 'many younger than her' settled already? To my shame, no. I read Sarah J Maas novels and critique them, okay? I'm no stranger to gross relationships.
Was it the clumsy dialogue? The piss-poor prose? The use of 'very silent'? (one is or is not silent. There is no 'very' here). Maybe the constant obsession with babies and clear lack of research on pregnancy and human women in general? Alas, no.
It was almost the constant interchangeably ridden dragons. That almost got me. Lorana hijacked not only someone else's dragon, but the SENIOR QUEEN DRAGON OF A WEYR for an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LONG TERM MULTI-TIME-TRAVELLING TELEPORTATION JOURNEY. That almost got me. People treating Tullea as if she was being unreasonable that someone was riding her dragon around willy-nilly on a dangerous journey? Nearly got me. The sudden Cryptic Mystical Prophecy and Storied Destiny? Nearly got me.
But no, friends. I stayed, because I said I would finish. I said I would. I nearly did. The line that broke me?
"You could have my queen, if you want."
No. I am literally, physically sick to my stomach. No. I grew up with Pern. I read every Dragonriders novel I could get my hands on. I have the Atlas of Pern. I have the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. I have the People of Pern. I have the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE NOVELS OF PERN. The Dragonriders of Pern 2001 PC game? I had to carefully save before walking into the hatching ground so I could redo it until the randomized thing picked the Weyrwoman I wanted to Impress. I still have the lists of dragonriders I made up in highschool because I made an entire cast of characters for it, including drawing out a hypothetical Telgar Weyr layout.
I'm not even angry. I feel sick, that's how disappointed I am in Todd McCaffrey's Pern novels. I was nearly in tears earlier. I might finally understand how a lot of Harry Potter fans feel about The Cursed Child, though I'm having a hard time believing in the moment that they feel this strongly about it (I mean, intellectually I believe it. Emotionally I'm still in disbelief).
Pleasant reminder that despite my ongoing one sided feud with the books of a certain author, this remains the worst book I have ever read in my life and I am currently 44% of the way through Handbook for Mortals. I have read all three 50 Shades books. I’ve read an unreasonable number of Terry Goodkind books.
This one is worse.
I said I was going to finish this. I really was going to. Then I hit a thing I couldn't get past.
Was it, as you might assume, one of the mentions of 14 year old Terin being considered a woman while in a relationship with an adult man, with 'many younger than her' settled already? To my shame, no. I read Sarah J Maas novels and critique them, okay? I'm no stranger to gross relationships.
Was it the clumsy dialogue? The piss-poor prose? The use of 'very silent'? (one is or is not silent. There is no 'very' here). Maybe the constant obsession with babies and clear lack of research on pregnancy and human women in general? Alas, no.
It was almost the constant interchangeably ridden dragons. That almost got me. Lorana hijacked not only someone else's dragon, but the SENIOR QUEEN DRAGON OF A WEYR for an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LONG TERM MULTI-TIME-TRAVELLING TELEPORTATION JOURNEY. That almost got me. People treating Tullea as if she was being unreasonable that someone was riding her dragon around willy-nilly on a dangerous journey? Nearly got me. The sudden Cryptic Mystical Prophecy and Storied Destiny? Nearly got me.
But no, friends. I stayed, because I said I would finish. I said I would. I nearly did. The line that broke me?
"You could have my queen, if you want."
No. I am literally, physically sick to my stomach. No. I grew up with Pern. I read every Dragonriders novel I could get my hands on. I have the Atlas of Pern. I have the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. I have the People of Pern. I have the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE NOVELS OF PERN. The Dragonriders of Pern 2001 PC game? I had to carefully save before walking into the hatching ground so I could redo it until the randomized thing picked the Weyrwoman I wanted to Impress. I still have the lists of dragonriders I made up in highschool because I made an entire cast of characters for it, including drawing out a hypothetical Telgar Weyr layout.
I'm not even angry. I feel sick, that's how disappointed I am in Todd McCaffrey's Pern novels. I was nearly in tears earlier. I might finally understand how a lot of Harry Potter fans feel about The Cursed Child, though I'm having a hard time believing in the moment that they feel this strongly about it (I mean, intellectually I believe it. Emotionally I'm still in disbelief).
Pleasant reminder that despite my ongoing one sided feud with the books of a certain author, this remains the worst book I have ever read in my life and I am currently 44% of the way through Handbook for Mortals. I have read all three 50 Shades books. I’ve read an unreasonable number of Terry Goodkind books.
This one is worse.
bookarian's review against another edition
3.0
The story continues, new characters are met, old acquaintances become new friends, but don't try and start with this one, you'll want to go to the beginning of the series.
roklobster's review against another edition
2.0
I have to call bullshit. After decades and oodles of books that describe between as a place cold and devoid of all sensory input to the people and dragons who pass through it, THEY HAD PEOPLE TOUCHING AND FINDING THINGS BETWEEN.
No.
JUST NO.
Also, too many characters have names like too many other characters and for the love of god, does everyone who comes in contact with Fiona HAVE TO IMPRESS A DRAGON!??!?!
Just too much outside the realm and world of the dragonriders of pern that I grew up with.
Bah.
No.
JUST NO.
Also, too many characters have names like too many other characters and for the love of god, does everyone who comes in contact with Fiona HAVE TO IMPRESS A DRAGON!??!?!
Just too much outside the realm and world of the dragonriders of pern that I grew up with.
Bah.