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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Music for Your Eyes, January 23, 2003
This review is from: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (Audio Cassette)
This is a thoroughly enchanting series. It is a great introduction to Pern for younger readers. The first two books follow the story of Menolly, a young girl who has a gift for music. When her family will not let her use and enjoy her gift she runs away and eventually gets herself to the Harpers Hall where she could study music. The world of Pern is enticing as well. It is a world which although somewhat similar to earth, has a great problem. Every 200 years they are bombarded by a deadly life form, thread, which falls to their world from an erratically orbiting planet. To deal with this menace, they have bred huge flying dragons that spew flame to sear thread from the sky before it hits the ground killing whatever it hits. Related to the dragons are their smaller cousins, fire lizards. Both creatures have the ability to mentally impress with humans making a lifelong telepathic link brom human to dragon or firelizard. During her adventures after running away, Menolly manages to impress 9 fire lizards. This makes her somewhat of an expert as she has more than anyone else on the planet. It also makes her an object of jealousy. The second book continues Menolly's story through her first week at Harper's Hall. It was not an easy week as Menolly has to put up with much jealousy and meanspiritedness from the other girls at the school who are not anywhere near as talented as her, but she gets to study music. By the end of the week, she has managed to carve out a unique place for herself. Dragon singer is very much a story of a young girl's coming of age that can be identified with by teens, male and female alike. Dragon Drums, the third book in the series almost feels like an intruder because it does not carry on Menolly's story. It is the story of her young friend Piemur, a young male apprentice singer in the Harper Hall. Piemur is quite a character whose claim to fame at the Hall is his beautiful soprano voice. When his voice changes, his tenure at the Hall must undergo a change and Dragondrums is the story of his growing up. Dragon drums is not as focused in its plot line as the earlier two books because McCaffrey uses this book frequently to further her story line of the whole Pern series, thus one is introduced to many more characters and much of the greater story of Pern. It is a good link from reading the Harper books to getting into McCaffrey's other Pern books. I believe that McCaffrey's strongest point as a writer is creating characters that the reader really feels are real people. It is easy to root for her good characters to root against her evil characters. However, the characters are three dimensional characters, not cardboard cut outs. The world of Pern is unique and well developed. This series is a good introduction to Pern and it is also great for those who have read the other Pern books and are looking for more insight into this creative world
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
read this 4 opinions!, January 22, 2004
This review is from: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (Audio Cassette)
At first glance, when you look at this title and the picture on the book of this very different trilogy and look at the category (fantasy)it's placed in, you might think that this is a book about a shining, knight that lulls dragons to sleep, kills them, and gallops off to marry a maiden in her rich castle. Or, you might think that it's a story about a funny, assertive girl that jus "happens" to discover that she has the power to make legendary creatures come to her. But, it's neither. Instead of reading boring old books that are versions of old fairy tales, this is a completely new plot. In the story, Menolly, the main character, finds that she has a talent for playing instruments, and singing in a Hold where everyine, except her teacher, Periton, shuns her for not being a hard-working woman whose life revolves around fishing. She discovers that her teacher wasn't just a grumpy old hermit halfway to the middle of nowhere, but he used to be a highly respected MasterHarper of the acclaimed Harper Hall, where all musicians first start learning. He sends word to his son, the current MasterHarper, and the whole musical world starts searching for Menolly, expecting an amazing, boy apprentice that even grumpy Periton praised. If you want to find out more, you'lll have to read the trilogy of the Dragons (Dragonsinger, Dragonsong, and DragonDrums). Oh, and why does it have dragons in it? Beacuse, Menolly just happens to own nine fire lizards, which are small, miniature, dragon-like legendary creatures. I would highly recommend it! -school project
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Pern, March 13, 2002
This review is from: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums (Audio Cassette)
Just like the books the story is captive and wonderful. Loves of pern will love this abridgement of these classic stories.
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