Customer Reviews

Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy)

5 star:		(117)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

"Dragonsong" is the first of Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall of Pern trilogy which focuses on my favorite Pern character, Menolly. In this first story, Menolly is the youngest child and daughter of Yanus, Sea Holder at Half-Cirlce Sea Hold in Benden Hold. Although she displays astounding musical talents, Menolly's father will have none of it. After the death of Petiron, the old Harper, Menolly is allowed to sign only to give the children their teaching songs. But when Elgion, the new Harper, arrives at Half-Circle Sea Hold, Menolly is forbidden to play ever again. Literally adding injury to insult, Menolly sustains a grevious wound to her hand while cleaning fish. But just as it looks at if life could not get any worse for Menolly, a wonderful thing happens. She impresses a clutch of nine fire lizards. In her miniature queen Beauty and the rest of the clutch, Menolly has a chorus of fire lizards who harmonize with her in a most amazing way. Meanwhile, Harper Elgion is having a problem, because he has been ordered by Master Harper Robinton to discover the prodigal talent Petrion has discovered. In his last message the Old Harper had sent two of the loveliest melodies Robinton had ever heard. But clearly none of the young lads at Half-Circle Sea Hold has a whit of musical talent and Yanus makes up some story about a foundling sent back to his own hold. Eventually Robinton himself comes to solve the mystery of the missing musical talent.

No hyperbole here, but not since Anne of Green Gables have I come across as enchanting a young girl as Menolly (her name is just perfect too). The similarity is certainly palatable, what with a young woman who is told to deny her talents because she is but a girl. But Menolly has a gift and it is impossible for her not to use it, even if it must be in secret, and what makes her so endearing is that she really has no idea how talented she is, a trait that becomes even more precocious in "Dragonsinger" and "Dragondrums." My only real complaint with Anne McCaffrey's recent novels is that Menolly has been reduced to only a minor supporting character.

For the child that loves dragons and stories about dragons, only one book series comes to mind that has successfully created an entire complex world of dragons and the people who love them. Anne McCaffrey's dragonriders of Pern series has existed since the 1970s and it is still as popular as ever. Author McCaffrey has written intricate imaginings about Pern and its inhabitants. At once sci-fi and fantasy, she is an adept writer that fully deserves the popularity she has received. For the child that wants an easy introduction into this world, there are two options. They could begin at the very beginning of the series and slowly work their way through all the Pern books. Or, second option, they could start with a book that is both kid-friendly and a wonderful Intro to McCaffrey 101. "Dragonsong" was a book that I personally picked up in sixth grade and loved. It is the perfect way to learn more about the dragons of Pern, their riders, and the people of the planet.

McCaffrey is smart. She knows that this book series is so complex that it there is no way in which to begin any plot without a recap of past events. She includes in this tale a map of Pern, a useful character list, and a Forward that deftly explains the history of the planet and its dragons. Then we meet Menolly. Born in a small fishing village, the girl is the most talented musician in the village, but she yearns to become a professional Harper and create music as well as sing/play it. Unfortunately, no woman has ever been a Harper before and her conservatively minded family is determined to squash this dream of Menolly's before she shames them in some way. When life for Menolly becomes too harsh, she escapes into the wide world and takes shelter in a cave. There, she discovers a cache of fire lizards, small cousins of the dragons that protect Pern. By witnessing the birth of nine of these pet sized dragons and tending to them, Menolly acquires nine faithful affectionate companions that will help her as she determines how best to live and survive.

I don't think I've adequately conveyed the plot as well as I would have liked. Needless to say, long before Tamora Pierce made her name as the primo Heroines-In-Fantasy genre writer, McCaffrey was writing fantastic stories such as this. Boys reading this book will undoubtedly enjoy it, but I feel that like myself when young, girls will really gravitate towards the reading. Menolly is incredibly talented, but smothered and unappreciated by her family members. The fact that she possesses a brilliance with music and nine tiny dragons makes her special and different and you really want people to turn around and cheer her. When such a thing finally happens in the book, the reader is awash in joy for the character. McCaffrey is so adept that reading this book is just a delight. The only real problem with it comes with an odd backstory about the dragonrider Brekke. Up until that point, the book has mostly been easy to follow and read. Suddenly Menolly is talking with Brekke's step-daughter and the reader, if they haven't read the previous books in the series, is momentarily confused and bewildered by this plot that's flown in from left field. Otherwise, the text is perfectly good.

If you've a kid who likes fantasy (or heck, an adult for that matter) then you cannot do better than Menolly's series of Pern books, referred to as the Harper's Hall Trilogy by some. I recommend you start them with either this book or the equally amusing (and well-written) "The White Dragon", another good Intro. to Pern book for the kiddies. Personally, my heart belongs to "Dragonsong" and I cannot recommend it enough to those who've a love of people, dragons, and a rollicking good yarn.

I am 12 and I bought this book for 75 cents at a library used book sale. I bought it because it looked cool and I'm into fantasy; I'd never read a book by Anne McCaffrey before. I started reading it and I couldn't put it down, so I sat there reading it all day until I finished it and loved it so much that I got Dad to take me to buy Dragonsinger straight away because I was so into it that I didn't want to stop. I've finished the trilogy and loved every bit of it. The amazing thing is, I don't really like reading and don't usually unless I have to, but I can't put down one of Anne McCaffrey's books. She's my absolute favorite author!

Dragonsong is the first novel in the Harper Hall trilogy and the fourth in the Pern series. Harpers are assigned to Holds and Guild Halls to educate the children and to pass on interesting events to the adults. Harpers are much in demand since the return of Thread and Lessa's heroic trip through time to bring forward another five full Weyrs from the past.

In this novel, seven turns have passed since Lessa's trip through time. Half-Circle Sea Hold has lost their aged Harper and no one other than Menolly, the Sea Holder's youngest child, can properly sing the deathsong to honor old Petiron as he is put to rest. Yanus is upset that a mere girl should be given this honor, yet he has no choice but to allow it. Moreover, Menolly is the only one available to instruct the children in the Teaching songs. However, Yanus and his wife, Mavi, try to stop Menolly from "tuning", writing new songs. After repeated warnings, Yanus beats her with his belt when she dreamily strums a new tune in front of the children and Mavi piles works on her.

When the new harper arrives, Yanus and Mavi try to keep Menolly from his attention, even though the new Harper has asked about the person who wrote the new songs that Petiron had sent to Harper Hall. When Menolly slashs her hand open while gutting packtails and gets slime into the cut, her mother cleans, stitches and bandages the wound and tells Menolly that she will no longer be able to use that hand to play music.

The wound becomes poisoned by the slime as well as infected and Menolly spends a few days in pain and delirium. After she recovers, she spends most of her time out of the Hold gathering greens and fruit. One day Menolly is out gathering spiderclaws when she discovers a golden fire lizard trying to move her clutch of eggs away from a unusually high tide, but she keeps dropping them. At first, the little queen tries to drive Menolly away, but Menolly eventually persuades the queen to let her help.

By the time the remaining eggs are safe, Threadfall drives Menolly into the small cave with the queen and her eggs and then the eggs begin to hatch. The young fire lizards are hungry and try to scramble out of the cave to catch food, but the falling Thread will kill them, so Menolly desperately feeds them the spiderclaws. By the time that the Threadfall is over, Menolly has impressed nine young fire lizards.

This novel is my favorite in the Pern series, although others are almost as enjoyable. There is something fresh and open about the tale, and the songs, that especially appeals to me. Menolly is a talented young woman who belongs with the Harpers, despite her parents thoughts on the matter. Thus, the story is a classic generation gap plot with a final satisfactory resolution.

This novel may appeal more to young women than to males, but I passed this novel on to my daughters because I liked it. You don't have to be female to enjoy this story. Menolly is an very likeable young woman who compells your attention.

Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and anyone else who enjoys SF tales of talented young persons struggling to gain recognition for their abilities. If you have not yet read any of this series, start with Dragonflight.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Anne McCaffrey was first introduced to me in this book and I LOVED IT! Menolly seems like a real person and I can connect with her. I also enjoyed the way the characters from the Harper Hall of Pern series were in the Dragon Riders series (and vice versa). It totally blew me away that the characters that I enjoyed in one book were written about from another characters point of view. Also, it's hard to understand exactly what's going on if you don't read both series (I didn't even know this until I had. I thought I understood perfectly), so it's sort of like an adventure inside of an adventure (if you know what I mean). Anyway, I would suggest this book to anyone who has any interest what-so-ever in dragons, music, or Anne McCafferey. This is a must read!

This is the first book of the Harper Trilogy. Menolly is the main character, an extremely talented young woman forced to hide her musical abilities from the new harper. She is beaten for strumming a guitar harmlessly, her hand is purposefully left to scar after an acciedent with a knife while gutting packtail (which leaves her basically unable to play any instrument), and she is discouraged from singing in front of any that may discover her.

Unable to bear a life in which music is forbidden to her, Menolly runs from her sea-hold. She is forced into a cave she earlier had placed a clutch of fire-lizard eggs in, where the eggs are hatching. In her haste to save the hatchlings from Threadfall, she somehow manages to Impress quite a few of the little creatures. Hence the image on the front cover.

This is the story of how Menolly became one of the first woman trained at the Harper Craft Hall and of the start of pet fire-lizards. This is an excellent book. At some points you will feel so frustrated for the positions Menolly is forced into, wishing she would blow up, at least. But she always keeps her temper, finder her way bravely out of it with her own solutions. I cheered her on through this book, waiting and hoping for everything to work out nicely in the end, like most people seem to hope. And when it does end, it ends in a surprising way, leaving the reader anticipating the second book excitedly. Menolly is a strong, realistic character that makes her mark in the history of Pern in her own special way. I rated this book five stars because that is what it truly deserves.

Another reviewer said some completely wrong things about this book and I had to correct it. The person says, "Menolly, a young farm girl sets out to both fit in and find individualism amongst her new found friends, the sailors." CORRECTION: Menolly lives in a sea Hold (not a farm!) which means her whole family and everyone she knows is a sailor, as it has been her whole life. Her "new friends" in the book are the fire lizards, and of course, some people later on -- but not sailors, for goodness sakes!

The reviewer adds, "she sets out on an adventure whereby she is kidnapped and subsequently escapes." CORRECTION: Menolly NEVER is kidnapped! She runs away (I'm not giving this away, it happens early on).

All this aside, I must add that this a great book, probably my favorite in the whole Pern series. Menolly is so 3D, her feelings are so human, and her experiences, though not at all what real life is like here on Earth, yet somehow relate to what we all experience growing up. She strikes out on her own, taking a chance because she has to.

And if you have to read it for school, may I give you some advice? Don't just hate it because it's been forced on you. This is a very enjoyable, sweet book about dragons and music and coming into your own as a person. It's a treat, like Star Wars or something, not a pain, like Moby Dick (sorry, but I hate that book ~_^). It should be something you love, not something you despise. Give it a chance! This is pleasure reading all the way and you're lucky to be reading it! I mean, if a teacher made you listen to your favorite band for school, would you hate it too?

A rare, rare treat - I was unexpectedly floored by this book. It is wonderful read, and highly recommended for any 10 to 13 year old.

I won't replicate the plot here, since it has been sufficiently summarised numerous times on Amazon's review thread for this book. A part of the book that is so enriching is the utterly believable manner in which, the lead character, Menolly, comes to feel like an outcast in her village. And this, for something she truly loves, and is innately talented.

The suppression of her gifts leads her to run away from the village, and events transpire to this shy and modest girl, although remaining shy and modest, others outside her village come to see her as remarkably talented. The warmth of the story creeps up on you as you read the book -- there is no one event that astounds you, or one act by Menolly that makes the reader think her the most special 'anything' -- the character of her character slowly unfolds from good solid writing.

I highly recommend this book.

Awesome! This book was a very good addition to the Dragonriders of Pern series! First of all, the plot was excellent. Menolly, a young teenager, is very good at playing and singing music. However, her skills are out of place and unwanted in the Half-Circle Sea Hold where she lives. After her old mentor, a Harper named Petiron, dies, and a new Harper comes to replace him, Menolly's skills become evn less wanted. She runs away from the safety of her Sea Hold, and soon makes a discovery: The fire lizard, a creature of legend, actually exists! She ends up helping a fire lizard queen to save her clutch of eggs, and impresses nine of the many that hatch. However, danger still lurks. While out foraging one day, Menolly is caught in the Fall of Thread, a silver organism that devours alive anything it touches. She outruns the Thread for a while, but as it is closing in, she is rescued by a dragonrider, who takes her to Benden. There, she meets Lessa and F'lar, Dragonwoman and Dragonman of Pern, and makes a friend in Mirrim, a girl who has three fire lizards. Meanwhile, Elgion, the new Harper at Menolly's Sea Hold, finds out that MENOLLY was the prized apprentice Petiron wrote of. He sets out to find her, along with Robinton, Masterharper of Pern. Will they find her? Read the book to find out. This was a great book, one I would recommend to anyone who's dreamed of getting the best that they deserve.

First book in the Harper Hall trilogy, one of the many books about the dragons of Pern, this book, along with the second in the trilogy, Dragonsinger, is my favorite book in the entire series.

There is nothing spectacular about it. No thrilling action, no mysteries or horror. It's just that I love the main character, Menolly.

The book starts with Menolly singing farewall to Petiron, the Harper, who was her most cherished friend and mentor. At 14, youngest child of Seaholder Yanus, in the isolated Half-Circle Seahold, prospects for her future are not promising. Still, she could well endure it if not for one thing: the one thing she loves most in life, music, is soon to be denied her.

From here to the end of Dragonsinger, Menolly is essentially leaving her childhood behind and becoming a young adult, within little more than a single year.

After Petiron's death, Menolly is put in charge of learning the young children into the teaching ballads, as she is the only one with the proper skill in all Seahold, and a new Harper will take a while to arrive. Seaholder Yanus is not happy about it, though, because Harpering is a man's job and Menolly is just a girl. Worse still, she also has the nerve of composing songs of her own, something he quickly forbids her, rather than risk the children learn them and shame the hold in front of the new Harper.

It is not easy for Menolly to hold back that which comes naturally to her, and which she loves so deeply. She breaks the rules laid down to her unintentionally, in moment of distraction, and gets caught at it. And that spells utter doom to her, as Yanus becomes determined not to let the new Harper ever learn about her.

Her bad fortune is composed by an accident while cutting fish, which leaves her left hand crippled. Denied her joy in music, ignored by all, she ends leaving the Seahold one early morning only to get trapped during the deadly threadfall too far away from home... and get herself most unexpected new friends.

And so does Menolly leaves her hold of birth, in a path that will lead her to new friends, to people who care for her, and, in the end, to a meeting with the very MasterHarper of Pern.

The only thing I really dislike in this book is that, at less than 200 pages, it is much too short!