Customer Reviews

The People of Pern

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot praise highly enough this wonderful companion book to Ms. McCaffrey's Pern books. This book is a collection of portraits of the many characters in Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Moreta, and the Harper Hall trilogy.

There are artist renderings of almost every character, from Menolly, Lessa, and F'lar; to C'gan, Dorse, Moreta, even Dunca and Pona are in here! Main characters and minor ones--they are all here, and many are uncannily just as I had pictured them in my head! As a bonus, Ms. McCaffrey supplied little commentaries on each portrait that are fascinating to read.

All the portraits are works of true art, but the masterpiece of the book is the portrait of Robinton! You've got to see it--Robin Wood captures him perfectly! Anyone who loves the Pern books should have this in their collection.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I did have a few issues with it. Some of the characters were great, some were....hmmmm! Piemur and F'nor look like total dweebs, Sharra wasn't as "unpretty" as described in "The White Dragon", and Lady Gemma looked way way way too old to be having children. She looked danged near 75 or older! Fax looked properly villanous, while I expected a less portly looking fellow.

However I *loved* the portraits of F'lar and T'gellan! Whatta couple of hunks! While Lytol was a surprise(I always pictured him with a beard and a bit more portly) the artist did capture the look of a "dragonless man" fairly well. Mirrim and Path looked absolutely precious together.

All in all, I'd still say it's worth the effort to track down this out-of-print book!

As a long-standing Pern fan, I asked for this book as a present years ago while it was still in print. I loved it at the time, and still enjoy it thoroughly, but in the end, Robin Wood's images are just that; her interpretation of characters that I had realized in my own mind. Some of her paintings are wonderful, especially the portrait of Mirrim and Path, and it was fun to try to identify some of her source material, such as her 'American Gothic' rendition of Menolly's parents. Her portrait of Lessa... well, that one I didn't agree with at all. She looks like a pinched old woman with a needle-like chin, incongruously paired with shockingly black hair. A book for true fans only.

This is a beautiful collection of portraits of the People of Pern! Intros by Anne and by Robin - Robin also talks about her painting technique. I found a mint condition copy in the Amazon auctions.

If you're a dragon devotee, you have to get this book, even if it means mortgaging your house. The portraits are so sensitively, humourously done, with so much understanding of the character and so much convincing detail, that you simply won't be able to look away. The only disappointment was that the title is accurate - riders are portrayed away from their dragons except for the baby Path with Mirrim, Ruth's white wing and Holth's belly as a background for Leri - but quite a lot of fire lizards are shown. Anne McCaffrey's character notes, accompanying the portraits, add a new dimension to well-loved figures. A delight on all counts, but good luck finding it new. A good place to start looking for a secondhand copy is the MX Bookfinder

Robin worked closely with Anne (who has always been very protective of Pern, as well she should!) on the portraits and even if they might not be what WE've imagined - they are very close to what/how Anne sees them as she's given her approval for them to be published. I think that this is a VERY lovely book and worthwhile for the Pern fan!

The artwork truly makes the people of Pern come alive. Each character is beautifully detailed exactly as I pictured him or her. I wish I could have these paintings framed in my own home.

This book is incredible! If you have the chance to even look at it, do it! Robin Wood does an wonderful job of painting the People Of Pern. If you can buy this book, I would tell you to go for it because the paintings are beautiful to look at. They also show almost exactly how these people look in McCaffrey's world. Check your public library for it!!!! ;-)

As a true fan of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, I was delighted beyond expression to find this advertised in my monthly catalog from the Science Fiction Book Club. It's amazing! Robin Wood is an incredibly talented artist. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers...there were a few characters I disagreed with the appearances of. [For example, K'van, the "littlest dragonboy," is illustrated as being of Asian descent; yet in the book "Dragonseye," where we meet the grown up K'vin (see, even the spellings are different there), we learn he's descended from the Hanrihan family, which was Irish!] I was tickled to find that some of the characters, such as Sharra and Lessa, look like people I know myself; my one disappointment was finding that none of them looked like me! *laugh* Anyway, this book is pure delight for fans of the earlier books in the series...let's hope they make another one of pictures from the later books!

These illustrations perfectly capture how I thought the characters would look. I loved the small details in the pictures such as the artists name so perfectly integrated into the images.