Customer Reviews

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Moreta is Weyrwoman at Fort Weyr with Sh'gall as Weyrleader. Moreta loves Orlith, her dragon queen, and would do anything for her, but she does wish that someone else had flown her during her mating flight. Sh'gall is a very able weyrleader in the air when fighting thread, but he does not do as well with people. Moreta is sure that they will go together to the Ruatha Gather, after all it is Lord Alessan's first gather as a Lord Holder and everyone will be there. However, Sh'gall decides to go to the Telgar Gather and to see the strange cat that was captured in the ocean and put on display there. Desdra, Moreta's anxious housekeeper insists that Moreta cannot go without Sh'gall and that it is a terrible slight to her mistress, but Moreta wouldn't miss a good gather for the world!

Moreta has a wonderful time at the gather with Lord Alessan. They are both avid racers and enjoy watching the runnerbeasts compete. When one of the runnerbeasts suddenly collapses, no one is sure what is wrong with the beast, but the fun of the gather continues. Moreta lingers at Ruatha Hold, but is finally forced to leave. She is awoken in the early morning hours by a frantic Sh'gall claiming that Masterhealer Capiam has diagnosed a plague that the wild cat brought over with it from the Southern Continent. All of Pern is in a panic as news of the unknown illness spreads.

All too soon there is no hold or weyr that is untouched by the unknown ailment. But Moreta is a healer and she is determined to help in whatever way she can. She continues to urge the dragonriders to take care and helps unite multiple weyrs to fly thread together, as well as help care for the sick and wounded. When Masterhealer Capiam finds a cure, Moreta is thrilled and ready to do whatever is necessary to give the vaccination to everyone on Pern before a second wave of the mutated virus spreads more death. She cannot understand why some weyrleaders simply refuse to see the truth and will not help take the medicine to the far-reaching holds. Moreta cannot bear to see people die unnecessarily so she secretly arranges for dragonriders from all the Weyrs to help. When part of her plan falls through, Moreta has no choice but to go and help deliver the vaccination herself. But she cannot rider her beloved Orlith because she is guarding her clutch. When she borrows her mentor's queen Holth, the tragedy begins...

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I first heard of Moreta's Ride in Dragonsinger when Menolly leads the ballad with her fire lizards. I knew that this book was going to have a bittersweet ending, but I love the Pern series so I thought that I would give it a try. I thought that Moreta was a great character - strong, but not overpowering. She tried to make the best of her situation and found joy and love in unlikely places. I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between Moreta and Alessan, but I felt so sorry for Alessan for having to deal with so much tragedy and so many bitter disappointments when he was so young. I also enjoyed seeing the inner workings of a Weyr and becoming familiar with a Weyr other than Benden (much as I love it, of course). I thought that all of the secondary characters were wonderful, too. It was interesting to see how quickly knowledge was lost from when the first settlers arrived on Pern to the time of Moreta. I believe that the sickness was something like pneumonia or some other viral disease that few people die of on Earth, but they simply did not know how to combat any unfamiliar disease on Pern. The plot was very interesting and had a nice, smooth flow as always. Another wonderful addition to the Pern series!

This entry into the longrunning PERN series is set 1500 years after the events of DRAGON'S DAWN and 900 years before the events of DRAGONFLIGHT, DRAGONQUEST, THE WHITE DRAGON etc. At this time the people of Pern have settled the Northern continent and developed a society very like medieval Europe, Lord holders control (held) large tracts of territory supervising farming, mining or fishing settlements. The skilled crafts are organized into automonous Halls and all of Pern supports the aristocracy of the Weyrs, who, with their dragons protect the planet from the periodic invasion of Thread, an alien lifeform that devours every living thing with which it comes in contact. By this time the Pernese realize that they have lost knowledge and skills that their ancestors possessed and are eagerly planning exploring the mysterious Southern Continent at the end of this current Fall of Thread, inabout 8 years.

As the story opens Moreta, rider of a Queen dragon, is enjoying herself at a Gather (party). Unfortunately a flu virus had been inadvertantly been introduced into the population and quickly spread through out the population, both human and equine. The various segments of Pernese society work together to combat the now dual threat of virus and Thread in order to save the planet with Moreta thrust into a center role.

As always with this series the main interest, at least for me, is the basic premise. Since there are books about a later time obviously disaster was averted, Moreta has become a legend and therefore her ultimate fate is pretty much known to any fan of the series. What is exciting is that McCaffrey has created an entire new world. Each book gives the reader a glimpse into this world from a slightly different viewpoint or time. The characters are all so well written, so consistent within the rules of this new world that the whole thing comes to life. Each character, human or dragon, is an individual complete with virtues and flaws, often with a history that drives their actions. The interactions between the various segments of the society are well thought out and totally consistent - and familiar to anyone who has ever tried to get a large organization to cooperate on an important project!

For fans of the series, this is obviously a must read. For anyone who is new to the series this would be an enjoyable read although it would be easier to 'get into' the series with some of the earlier books - either in the sense of written first (DRAGONFLIGHT) or chronologically to Pern (DRAGONSDAWN).

In my opinion, Moreta: Dragonlady Of Pern is AM's best Pern book ever. It's incredibly sad and sweet, and left me sobbing for days afterward. It finally explained the whole Moreta's Ride ballad that I kept reading about in the other books as well, which was very nice. The characters are believeable, the plot is wonderful, and (as far as I could tell) all the loose threads tie together in the end. This is a book that any AM fan will not want to miss!

Or maybe "Dragonflight"? It's really close, either way. This is a beautiful book! Interesting, tragic, epic, romantic, beautiful, it's a nice breather from the escapades of F'lar and Lessa and really adds depth to the whole series. It's like an historical novel, in a sense. Moreta is an awesome heroine. Wow--a McCaffrey heroine who's blonde and is neither drippy nor evil! In just one novel, McCaffrey brings a lot of characters to life. Alessan, Moreta, Capiam, Leri, K'lon, (especially) B'lerion, and the dragons themselves are very real, without being retreads of old characters as McCaffrey has a tendency toward. A plague ravages Pern...an interesting and unusual gimmick for a sci-fi. At it's heart I think this book is a sweet, poignant, tragic love story on several levels: between Moreta and Lord Alessan, between a Weyrwoman and her dragon, between readers and a fascinating and beautiful world and its denizens. Recommended highly!!

This novel is a novel of earlier pern. For those of you out there who had heard of Moreta, and wanted to know more, this book is for you! Unfortuneately, it doesn't include the words to the ballad about her, but this is still a great book! This book is a very good story about one of pern's most famous heroines: Moreta. The book combines lots of action, love, and excitement to create one of the best pern books yet available. The ending is sad, but it also explains why there was a ballad written about it in the first place. In short, a wonderful addition to the pern series, fans are sure to love it.

This book by Anne McCaffrey is about a sickness that begins to spread through the planet of Pern. Everywhere, dragonriders, holders, harpers, and healers alike are all dying. Soon the truth behind the epidemic is revealed, and it is up to the dragonriders, who can go anywhere, anywhen on Pern in 8 seconds, to distribute the finally found vaccine. The dangers are great; the dragonriders are needed to fight the Thread, a parasite that falls on Pern and eats every organic thing in its path. Moreta and other selfless Weyrleaders must find a way to distribute the vaccine to everyone on Pern in the same day. Of every problem, the challenge they had to overcome was time. But the heroic deeds of Moreta end in tragedy; a tragedy destined to change Pern in generations to come.

Although I have had the chance to tell her this personally, I must reiterate my fascination with her ability to slip real world issues into a tale without making the reader feel preached to. Although some issues become obsolete, they usually arise again just in another form and I find myself wanting to re-read Ms. MacCaffrey's work to remember how I felt in the past. This book tackles the subject of a virulent disease wiping out humanity and the struggle to stabilize and halt its devistating effects. There are so many issues at present that can take the place of that disease in our real world which makes this book re-readable anytime you feel a bit hopeless. By the end, I feel more hopeful for our future because there will always be a Moreta in real life, maybe not on a dragon rider but fighting hard for a cure.

Anne's first book outside of the of the timeline she orginated her Pern series in is a triumph! Moreta is a very human and well crafted character as are all the other characters in this novel. Capiam being another favorite of mine.
I have been reading these books for well over 25 years now and have only been disapointed a few times and this is certainly not one of them! If you haven't already read it find the compliment to this novel; Nerilka's Story. It is a lovely novella that is about another well crafted character and what she does to help out during the plague!

I feel the need to remark on one of the spotlight reviews however. This reviewer obviously never read the companion novella to Moreata. Their remarks about the errors in the plot line not matching up to the description of the Balled in Dragonsinger are incorrect. In the companion novella Nerilka's Story, they mention the writing of the ballad and how they purposfully changed aspects of what truely happened.

Here is the story behind the Ballad of Moreta mentioned in the excellent Dragonsinger series.

It is a gripping story of an influenza pandemic sweeping through a medieval society. In that, it is an excellent and worthy addition to the Dragonriders of Pern series.

It is set prior to the time of Lessa and the familiar characters of previous books. Those books speak of a time of restoration, of rediscovery and of renaissance as changes sweep through Pern's society. In this book, that excitement is lost. If this book had never been published, the Pern cycle would not be damaged. In some ways, this story undermines the appeal of the Ballad of Moreta as the plot here disagrees with the story told by the ballad. However, this is small damage and this is a pleasant story of an earlier Pern that stands well on its own.

So, *this* is the ledgendary Moreta? Great book. Several people have criticized it on Moreta's use of timing it, however, I got the impression that timing it was merely forgotten during the Long Interval, or perhaps earlier. Given its strain on riders, it's not unreasonable that it might be banned. However, there is a HUGE plothole that keeps me from giving it 5 stars - WHY didn't they merely go between to BEFORE the plague and prevent it from happening in the first place? They could've prevented that ship from going to the Southern Continent, or had it quaranteened. Ms. McCaffrey seems to want to avoid timing it to change history, but why shouldn't it? The timeline of _Dragonflight_ must, logically, be such a changed timeline