Dragonsong (Harper Hall of Pern #1)
by Anne McCaffrey
Menolly of Half-Circle Sea Hold has longed to learn the ancient secrets of the Harpers, the master musicians of Harper Hall. When her father denies her the chance to apprentice with them, she flees her seaside village and discovers the legendary fire lizards of Pern, who join her on a breathtaking journey to Harper Hall. (from the back cover)
I've been looking forward to this book for a while, having been told that Anne McCaffrey is the "queen of dragons." And also because I haven't read a dragon book in... far too long. Although there weren't many scenes involving large dragons in this first novel of the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy, a large portion of the book focused on fire lizards, which are essentially cat-sized dragons. I love the personally of the fire lizards, though some of their names are a little silly. Lazybones, Mimic, Auntie One, Auntie Two... really?
Menolly is a fun, relatable, realistic main character. I enjoyed her interactions with the other characters, especially dragon rider T'gellan, and Elgion made for an interesting, very likable secondary protagonist. I also really liked Alemi, Menolly's older brother, and hope to see more of him in future books.
I did have to re-read a few passages multiple times to understand what was happening, and one confusing scene (the Impression, which is actually pretty important) wasn't really clarified until the beginning of book two. The descriptions needed to be fleshed out a bit, too, as part of my confusion resulted from not knowing the characters' surroundings well enough. At only 192 pages, Dragonsong could stand to have a few more words added, anyway. I certainly wouldn't complain!
Would I recommend it? Absolutely! And I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.
4/5 leaves
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Have you read anything by Anne McCaffrey? Which author would you crown queen (or king) of dragons?
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Have you read anything by Anne McCaffrey? Which author would you crown queen (or king) of dragons?
I've never read anything by Anne McCaffrey. But this does look really interesting! Dragons are awesome!
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree! And if you like dragons, you'll definitely like Dragonsong. It took a lot of self-control for me not to run to the bookstore and gobble up the rest of the series after finishing this book (I need to pare down my to-read pile a bit first, unfortunately...). :)
DeleteDragons are my second favorite thing in the world, I think, after books. I wish more stories had dragons in them...
ReplyDeleteI also haven't read a book with dragons in far too long! The last one was A Dance With Dragons, I believe.
I really should read more fantasy written by women. Thanks for the recommendation!
Absolutely! Most of what I read as a child were horse books, and when I realized that adult horse books tend to be quite terrible, I switched over to dragons. I love them. (Quite sad about the lack of horse books, though, but that's another rant for another day...)
DeleteI haven't read a dragon book in far too long! This sounds fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely check this one out! And then if you like this trilogy, she's written a gazillion more books. :)
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