Customer Reviews

The Girl Who Heard Dragons

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The book "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" is NOT a Pern book. There. Maybe that helps a bit. See, this book is a collection of SHORT STORIES. Only the FIRST story takes place on Pern. The other fourteen are a collection of fasinating and extremly diverse group of stories. One of my favorites was "The Greatest Love", which is about two children being born in the womb of their aunt, not their mother. This is done all the time now; women unable to have children find proxy mothers to help them. But this was written years before the procedure was done. Anyway, the point is, this is NOT a Pern book. It's a collection of Anne McCaffrey's writings. The first Pern story was excellant, but the other stories were just as great. And to you confused readers out there . . . take a closer look!

I have to agree with many other people in the disappointment they expressed upon reading this book. I am a huge fan of the Pern series and, as such, I expected this book to be just as thrilling as others in the series. I must say that I was sadly mistaken. "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" is a rich and captivating tale, and I was thoroughly looking forward to its continuation in what I assumed to be the next chapter. However, as many before me have stated, it was a completely different story. There is NOWHERE on the book that indicates it to be a collection of short stories, which, quite frankly, ticked me off. I felt cheated because of this lack of information, and simply because I believed (and still do) that "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" would make an amazing novel. There is so much that could be built around it, and it simply disappointed me that the full potential of the story had not been met. I don't mean to insult or try to pretend that I could write such captivating works, but I felt the need to express my feelings about the book, or lack there of.

What a disappointment! Faced with what was promising to be an exceedingly dull afternoon, I was in urgent need of a good read. "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" presented itself, and, as my husband has always spoken highly of McCaffrey, I decided to give it a whirl. Immediately, I became engrossed in the plight of young Aramina and her family. The end of the first chapter found our protagonist somewhat apprehensively leaving her family to begin a new life in a new land. Eagerly, I began what appeared to be chapter two and found myself in a bizarre world with 100-year-old sentient trees. What could this possibly have to do with the dragon girl? I forced myself to have patience and read through to the end of this ridiculous story, whereupon I finally realized I had been scammed. With the exception of the first, which has no ending, "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" is apparently a collection of short stories. Unfortunately, in what I can only assume is a deceitful marketing ploy, this fact is never mentioned on the cover, the blurb, nor the introduction. Thus the reader is duped into buying what he or she is led to believe is a Pern fantasy. Frankly, I feel cheated, and my first - and likely only - McCaffrey experience has left me with a quite a sour taste.

I had never read a book by Anne McCaffrey. I remember a friend letting me borrow "Dragonriders of Pern" as a teenager because they thought I would like it, but I wasn't a big fantasy reader then like I am now so I never made it through the first chapter or so. I picked this book up thinking it was a Pern book and not knowing that it's actually a collection of short stories. I'm glad that I picked this book because it gave me several shorter examples of her work.

The first longest story is "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" and is a Pern story. It made me want to learn more about Pern and I plan on reading more of McCaffrey's work. Aramina is a girl with her family, and they are on the run so that people won't find out about and take advantage of Aramina's ability to talk to dragons. "Velvet Fields" is about people that have found a planet to colonize with no people, only vacant cities, and it isn't until too late that they realize that the fields of plants on the planet are the missing people. "A Sleeping Humpty Dumpty Beauty" is about doctors of the future that fix soldiers after battle. The medical field has advanced in leaps and bounds and they can heal wounds that would kill someone today. One of the doctors, Bardie Makem, feels inexplicably drawn to one of her patients that hasn't come out of a coma, despite all his injuries being fixed. "The Greatest Love" is one of the few non-futuristic stories, and is about a female OB-GYN in the 50s and her research into in vitro fertilization. The process had never been performed on humans, but when a woman comes to her volunteering to carry her brother and his wife's child to term it's the perfect opportunity try it, and the repercussions, among which is charges of incest and adultery. Those are just a few examples of the stories found in this collection of short stories. McCaffrey is a talented writer, and if you're only familiar with the Pern series, this collection is a wonderful opportunity to experience her other work, or if you're new to her work, like myself, it's a great introduction to Pern and McCaffrey's writing.

This is the first of the Anne McCaffery books that i have read. I was expecting a really good read and i had read a few of the first pages that looked really good! But then this book turned into a technical computer outerspace sort of book. I loved the first short story written but after that all the stories just really weren't the same. It was a little too technical and if you enjoy that sorta of stuff, this is probably a very good book for you! overall though, after reading reviews of other anne mccaffery books, i think that her first books were probably the better of the books she has written.

The story "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" is included in another book of short stories, all of them about Pern. It is called "A Gift of Dragons" and it is a much better choice for Pern lovers.

I started reading this book and loved the 1st story but then I got really confused, all of a sudden it totally changed plot. I was expecting the whole book to be about Aramina. It was a real let down because the blurb suggested nothing of the sort. This was the 1st Anne McCaffrey book I have ever read and, by the way, if any one who is reading this has read other of her books, please, tell me what I should read next. I need some help!!

When I bought this book in the bookstore, it sounded exciting, but unfortunately, it does not say anywhere on the cover (or even inside - to my knowledge) that it is a collection of short stories, not a full length novel. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed, when at the end of the first story, I began reading what I thought would be the next chapter, but instead it was a completely different story. Had I known this was a collection of short stories, I probably would not have bought this book in the store.

I really do love Anne McCaffrey's writing and the stories in this book are great. What I didn't like is that it's a collaboration of short stories, but nowhere on the cover does it tell you it's going to be that way! I honestly thought it was all about a fantasy story about a "girl who heard dragons." I am heavily dissappointed. But, I still love Anne:)

I just finished the first chapter and like the story very much. But I don't understand! Why did it just switch from third person to first? Who are all these new people? What happened to Aramina? I thought the whole book was about her! I want to know more about her! Could someone please tell me what happened and does the first chapter have anything to do with the rest of the book?