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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
Dragons were my ponies, Koivu
May 2024:
I think this is the first time I've re-read this since probably the late '80s or early '90s. I read it for the same reason I re-read Dealing With Dragons.
The Harper Hall series, the Dragonlance series, and the Shannara series were my favorite books in my pre-teen to early teen years.
I've tried several times to re-read Shannara and cannot do it without ruining my sentimental love for the series. The first six Dragonlance books held up a bit better but I still rolled my eyes and sighed with irritation regularly.
This book, however? This was my favorite of all the Pern books, partly because it's the first one I read and partly because it imprinted on me the way the fire lizards imprinted on Menolly. It was the first time I read a fantasy book with magic and dragons, and the like, that featured a girl leaving a conservative and abusive household, striking out on her own and finding her agency (not a term we had at the time but one that applies well today)
Does it hold up well?
I'm not sure. I can see problems, now
-with how the more progressive group of people treat women even as they say that women and girls are just as capable and valuable as men.
-with the ableism (someone with an unhealed wound cannot possibly be of any use beyond typical womanly duties) but, at the same time, so many characters in the Pern series are not fully abled due to a variety of reasons but they're still shown to be worthy of dignity and respect.
-with Menolly's disgust at the idea of trapping fire lizards but total acceptance of stealing eggs and giving them to people so that people can have fire lizards.
-with probably a few other things, as well, but I didn't write them down and have now forgotten even though I read this in two days. My mind is a sieve and there's no holding a thought.
Does it hold up well for me?
Yes, absolutely. The moment the narrator started talking, all my memories blossomed (I can't hold a thought but, apparently, I have the entire mind-movie of this in my head after all these very many years) I was set right back into my most favorite place with some of my most favorite people and reptiles. It was a wonderful experience.
Having it read to me wasn't quite enjoyable as reading it, myself, especially since the narrator, who has a great voice, pronounced Menolly as "Menna lee" whereas I pronounce it "M'nolly", like Molly with an extra "en" at the beginning.
I can't be objective about this one but I suspect it's a pretty good story on its own. It's better than a lot of YA fantasy I've read in the past two decades with more developed characters, greater nuance, and a fun action-adventure plot involving a girl in the wilds with her lizards.
May 2024:
I think this is the first time I've re-read this since probably the late '80s or early '90s. I read it for the same reason I re-read Dealing With Dragons.
The Harper Hall series, the Dragonlance series, and the Shannara series were my favorite books in my pre-teen to early teen years.
I've tried several times to re-read Shannara and cannot do it without ruining my sentimental love for the series. The first six Dragonlance books held up a bit better but I still rolled my eyes and sighed with irritation regularly.
This book, however? This was my favorite of all the Pern books, partly because it's the first one I read and partly because it imprinted on me the way the fire lizards imprinted on Menolly. It was the first time I read a fantasy book with magic and dragons, and the like, that featured a girl leaving a conservative and abusive household, striking out on her own and finding her agency (not a term we had at the time but one that applies well today)
Does it hold up well?
I'm not sure. I can see problems, now
-with how the more progressive group of people treat women even as they say that women and girls are just as capable and valuable as men.
-with the ableism (someone with an unhealed wound cannot possibly be of any use beyond typical womanly duties) but, at the same time, so many characters in the Pern series are not fully abled due to a variety of reasons but they're still shown to be worthy of dignity and respect.
-with Menolly's disgust at the idea of trapping fire lizards but total acceptance of stealing eggs and giving them to people so that people can have fire lizards.
-with probably a few other things, as well, but I didn't write them down and have now forgotten even though I read this in two days. My mind is a sieve and there's no holding a thought.
Does it hold up well for me?
Yes, absolutely. The moment the narrator started talking, all my memories blossomed (I can't hold a thought but, apparently, I have the entire mind-movie of this in my head after all these very many years) I was set right back into my most favorite place with some of my most favorite people and reptiles. It was a wonderful experience.
Having it read to me wasn't quite enjoyable as reading it, myself, especially since the narrator, who has a great voice, pronounced Menolly as "Menna lee" whereas I pronounce it "M'nolly", like Molly with an extra "en" at the beginning.
I can't be objective about this one but I suspect it's a pretty good story on its own. It's better than a lot of YA fantasy I've read in the past two decades with more developed characters, greater nuance, and a fun action-adventure plot involving a girl in the wilds with her lizards.
This was the first Anne McCaffery book I read and I loved her dragon rider books so much. Reading this aloud with my daughter the story doesn't quite come across as strong as I remember, but my daughter did enjoy it and it brings back fond memories.
Read this decades ago, but picked up the 1992 audiobook for the first time and was thrown off by the narrator's pronunciation of "weyr" and "Ruth". Want to pick up The White Dragon now to see what narrator does.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don't read much classic fantasy anymore, but the of-it's-time writing style was a lot of fun, and the core story is timelessly great.
Enjoyed this tale of a strong girl. Nice to get a different viewpoint on events that take place in the other books. I would have truly fallen in love with this one when I was young.
A girl overlooked and persecuted in her own Hold, escapes and saves a whole nest of fire lizards, and then proceeds to live on her own.
Thinking she'll never get to live her dream of making music, she's discovered/saved as she saved her lizards and she gets the best of all worlds.
Less of the politics involved in Pern in this one. Just a good story of an interesting character. I look forward to seeing what comes next in the Harper series.
A girl overlooked and persecuted in her own Hold, escapes and saves a whole nest of fire lizards, and then proceeds to live on her own.
Thinking she'll never get to live her dream of making music, she's discovered/saved as she saved her lizards and she gets the best of all worlds.
Less of the politics involved in Pern in this one. Just a good story of an interesting character. I look forward to seeing what comes next in the Harper series.
Wow. Just wow.
Things I liked:
1. It gave me a very Tolkien-era vibe. It was beautiful, full of description of characters and setting. I loved the overall feel of the book.
2. The plot was amazing! I’d heard of dragons, but never fire lizards!! It was full of twists and turns, and had good amounts of self discovery inside. From Menolly being a girl who listened to what people told her, to becoming an amazing woman who played music even if no one asked her was awesome to read about.
3. McCaffrey never pushed character relationships. She never gave Menolly someone to really fall in love with, which is something that books nowadays do a lot.
I have no problems with this book. It’s a great read and I recommend this to all of you.
Things I liked:
1. It gave me a very Tolkien-era vibe. It was beautiful, full of description of characters and setting. I loved the overall feel of the book.
2. The plot was amazing! I’d heard of dragons, but never fire lizards!! It was full of twists and turns, and had good amounts of self discovery inside. From Menolly being a girl who listened to what people told her, to becoming an amazing woman who played music even if no one asked her was awesome to read about.
3. McCaffrey never pushed character relationships. She never gave Menolly someone to really fall in love with, which is something that books nowadays do a lot.
I have no problems with this book. It’s a great read and I recommend this to all of you.
adventurous
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Enjoyed listening to this one. MC is young and this is geared for a younger audience but she is really clueless sometimes. Also hard to read where so many characters are misogynistic- it is the time it was written but makes it less enjoyable.
I really liked this series, though really I am not much of a fantasy or science fiction reader. I liked that music was a big part of this series and I thought the writing was really good.
Dragonsong is a beautiful book... but having just read a book about an oppressed girl who runs away to discover magical creatures and kind people (Arrows of the Queen), it felt a bit formulaic and thus predictable. I've read the Cinderella story enough times to want something different.
Having said that, I still really enjoyed Manolly's story. Especially the unconventional route Manolly traveled; she didn't go straight to Harper Hall to learn how to become a musician and instead took a detour and lived on a beach with little dragons or "fire lizards". And then she taught them how to sing! Such an enchanting idea.
I picked this book up without knowing it was part of a larger world, and I would really like to read the other Pern books. The world that McCaffrey created seems quite fantastical from the window I'm peering into.
Having said that, I still really enjoyed Manolly's story. Especially the unconventional route Manolly traveled; she didn't go straight to Harper Hall to learn how to become a musician and instead took a detour and lived on a beach with little dragons or "fire lizards". And then she taught them how to sing! Such an enchanting idea.
I picked this book up without knowing it was part of a larger world, and I would really like to read the other Pern books. The world that McCaffrey created seems quite fantastical from the window I'm peering into.
Ann McCaffrey's death last week got me thinking about Pern again, so I'm re-reading Dragonsong, the first book in the Harper's series which was my favorite part of the Pern saga when I first read it back in the 70's when I was in HS.
It's a very fast read, not very fleshed out but a decent intro to the more detailed second and third novels.
It's a very fast read, not very fleshed out but a decent intro to the more detailed second and third novels.