felinity's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, but I rounded up because the two plotlines made it worth the slight awkwardness of mentally jumping back and forth 500 years with new characters.
This is one of the better Pern books that [a:Todd McCaffrey|1948907|Todd J. McCaffrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1358099695p2/1948907.jpg] authored, and it fills in some of those gaps that I always wondered about: What happened to the first dragonriders? How did so much get lost? And why were fire-lizards all but unknown even in Moreta's time?
Many elements will seem familiar, but they don't feel plagiarized at all - more like fairly common events became rarer over time.
After I got past the first quarter or so I felt fully invested in both timeframes, and it wasn't awkward any more.
This is one of the better Pern books that [a:Todd McCaffrey|1948907|Todd J. McCaffrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1358099695p2/1948907.jpg] authored, and it fills in some of those gaps that I always wondered about: What happened to the first dragonriders? How did so much get lost? And why were fire-lizards all but unknown even in Moreta's time?
Many elements will seem familiar, but they don't feel plagiarized at all - more like fairly common events became rarer over time.
After I got past the first quarter or so I felt fully invested in both timeframes, and it wasn't awkward any more.
fantasy_with_me's review against another edition
3.0
This book would have been better if not for:
1) disregarding established details- I don't know how Anne missed details like "windblossom's GRANDmother" and not just "mother" during proofreading, and some magical things that just happened for no reason,
2) flipping back and forth 450 years. The "present" was a great read and engaging, but the "past" was everything I struggled with in the chronological first book. Boring and tedious.
The last 20 or so pages had me on the edge of my seat though.
1) disregarding established details- I don't know how Anne missed details like "windblossom's GRANDmother" and not just "mother" during proofreading, and some magical things that just happened for no reason,
2) flipping back and forth 450 years. The "present" was a great read and engaging, but the "past" was everything I struggled with in the chronological first book. Boring and tedious.
The last 20 or so pages had me on the edge of my seat though.
roklobster's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like I'd read this story before. I've never read this book before, but I realized half way through that Todd was reusing tropes from some of the other really grand Pern novels to tell this story: a plague (Moreta), timing it as a way to solve the problem of being short staffed (Dragonflight, Dragonquest, etc), learning Oldtimer science to save the world (Dragonsdawn, the White Dragon, etc.), using the loss of a dragon to create instant sympathy for the character (Dragonquest).
While this gave the book a familiar feel, it also felt like... cheating. Anne was able to use, and reuse, elements of stories throughout the Pern-verse to tell compelling and new stories for what seemed like a generation. This story, while I liked it, wasn't ... new. It tries to bridge the gap between Landing and the era in which we meet the dragons in Dragonflight, and I think it doesn't do enough to move beyond landing tech and into how society formed for the rest of the planet after the tech failed.
But just because I think he cheated doesn't mean I didn't like the read. Easy and comfort read again. It's been a hell of a week.
While this gave the book a familiar feel, it also felt like... cheating. Anne was able to use, and reuse, elements of stories throughout the Pern-verse to tell compelling and new stories for what seemed like a generation. This story, while I liked it, wasn't ... new. It tries to bridge the gap between Landing and the era in which we meet the dragons in Dragonflight, and I think it doesn't do enough to move beyond landing tech and into how society formed for the rest of the planet after the tech failed.
But just because I think he cheated doesn't mean I didn't like the read. Easy and comfort read again. It's been a hell of a week.
vaderbird's review against another edition
3.0
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
judythereader's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good book - compelling to read. But I'm of 2 minds. On one hand, this book explains how Fire Lizards were forgotten. On the other Todd killed Fire Lizards and Dragons with great abandon. My heart broke every other page. Or, at least, it felt that way.
35 years later I remember the shock of the queens' battle in Dragonquest. I'm not recovered from THAT so this book just pounded at me.
35 years later I remember the shock of the queens' battle in Dragonquest. I'm not recovered from THAT so this book just pounded at me.
angelahayes's review against another edition
5.0
Love this series of books. It's one of my all time favourites. I decided to re-read the entire Dragonriders of Pern series and over the past couple of months, I have been working my way through them all. Anne McCaffrey has such a wonderful, boundless imagination and such a vivid and descriptive style, her stories transport the reader into the fantastic world that she created and sweeps you up on the breathtaking adventures. Spellbinding!
amalyndb's review against another edition
4.0
The first of Todd McCaffrey's solo Pern novels (and the first Pern novel by anyone other than Anne McCaffrey) is pretty amazing. Told in a parallel structure across time, there is a frantic struggle to prevent the extinction of all dragons after a plague takes hold.
When two sick fire lizards arrive back through time at the College (modern Pern's Healer and Harper Halls), shortly after the end of the first Pass of Thread, Wind Blossom begins a fervent search for a cure at a time when all advanced medical supplies brought by the colonists are running out.
Meanwhile, just as the third Pass of Thread is beginning, dragons are falling ill. The records seem to have no evidence of any dragon illnesses, and deaths are mounting.
When two sick fire lizards arrive back through time at the College (modern Pern's Healer and Harper Halls), shortly after the end of the first Pass of Thread, Wind Blossom begins a fervent search for a cure at a time when all advanced medical supplies brought by the colonists are running out.
Meanwhile, just as the third Pass of Thread is beginning, dragons are falling ill. The records seem to have no evidence of any dragon illnesses, and deaths are mounting.