This page is for other books on Pern, that are not the
novels. All of the books have blurbs copied out, and the others shall be
reviewed as my collection expands to include them! All reviews are done by
Roedin, and all opinions on book content is that of me alone, and may not
necessarily be consistant with yours! If you disagree with me, please
email me and tell me what you
think!
Short Stories (which
are not included in/adapted into the novels)
.
Get off the Unicorn
(The Smallest Dragon Boy) (Corgi,
1979)
(first published
1977)
Get off the Unicorn, originally to be named 'Get
of the Unicorn' according to the introduction, contains fourteen short
stories1 based on worlds created by Anne
McCaffrey, some unique to that story, and others who have had full-length
novels written about.Before most of the stories is a passage explaining why,
how, and/or when that short story (or stories) was written, often including
the intentions and themes behind the story as well.
There is an upside and a downside to short stories to
start with, as they are that bit shorter then if they do not catch your fancy
then there is not much to read - or much lost if the short story is skipped
- but the downside is that it is short, so if you do get into it, it ends
too soon!
There is only one Pern short story in Get off the
Unicorn, 'The Smallest Dragonboy'. It is a nice story that is a touch
obvious in its conclusion (but, to be honest, most short stories do tend
to be, simply because of their length!). It is a new side of Pern - that
of the Candidate's viewpoint, too often seen in the novels purely from that
of a spectator, and so it is nice to see a familiar occurrence (in the novels)
from a new perspective.
I liked all of the short stories in this collection,
and I think that this book is particularly good if you like Pern but have
not yet read any of Anne McCaffrey's other works. If you like Get off
the Unicorn, then you are likely to like more of her other
novels!
Verdict: An entertaining collection of short
stories, made particularly nice by the short introductions.
The Girl Who Heard
Dragons(The Girl Who Heard Dragons) (Corgi, 1996)
(first published 1986)
The Girl Who Heard Dragons contains fifteen short
stories2 by Anne McCaffrey, the Pern story
giving its name to the collection. 'The Girl Who Heard Dragons' was used
as the background story for much of The
Renegades of Pern novel, and having read the short story, the novel
makes more sense to me as a reader. It sets the background for many of the
running themes of the novel, and parts of Renegades was written directly
around the story, though parts of it do not mesh perfectly. Chronologically,
'The Girl Who Heard Dragons' is set not far ahead of 'The Smallest Dragonboy'
(in Get off the Uncorn), as K'van and Heth are still weyrlings. I
felt that this story was condensed too much, and could have done with being
longer both in time span and length, though it was a good read nevertheless.
The collection does not have the advantage that Get
off the Unicorn does of having introductory paragraphs before each story,
though the introduction, titled 'So, You're Anne McCaffrey' was a very
entertaining read.
The other stories in the collection were all very readable
in themselves, with my favourite being 'Velvet Fields', which was most
thought-provoking.
Verdict: A nice collection, and a useful aid
to understanding The Renegades of Pern, with a very good introduction.
Legends (The Runner of Pern)
edited by Robert Silverberg (Harper Collins, 1999) (first
published 1998)
"Fantasy is the oldest branch of literature" says Robert
Silverberg in the introduction to Legends, and I agree. It is also
inexhaustible - new writers with wild imaginations can create worlds which
can be a varied from anything before as it is possible to get. And in
Legends, there are eleven wonderful, individual, worlds very much
from masters of the
genre.3
Whilst many claim, rightly so, in my opinion, that Pern is not fantasy but
science fiction, the two genres (and McCaffrey's writing of Pern) can be
easily seen as either, and both. In a way (which I am not going to go into
now) science fiction can be see as just a more specialised offshoot of the
fantasy genre.
'The Runner of Pern', like 'The Girl Who Heard Dragons', is, partly,
continued into the novels (The Skies of
Pernin this case). The focal point of this short story is Tenna,
an apprentice Runner from Keroon who is knocked off a runner trace by an
errant runnerbeast rider, later revealed to be Haligon, a son of Lord Groghe,
whilst on her way to Fort Hold and near the end of her first Crossing of
Pern.
I liked seeing the new side of Pern, and one that runs slightly apart from,
though parallel to, the rest of Pernese society. This is a short story definitely
worth reading, as is the rest of the short stories in
Legends.
Verdict: A good short story, and Legends
is highly recommended purchase for 'The Runner of Pern' and the rest of the
short stories.
Legends II (Beyond
Between) edited by Robert Silverberg (Harper
Collins, 2003) (first published 1999)
Legends II is, as Legends, is aimed to
be a "definitive anthology of modern fantasy" though, as Silverberg in the
introduction admits, the genre is inexhaustible. The anthology contains eleven
never-before-published short stories from different
authors.4I haven't read all eleven
short stories for various reasons (unfamiliarity with the author being one).
But, nevertheless, the ones I have read have been good. Beyond Between, Anne McCaffrey's contribution,
is set in the Sixth Pass and deals mainly with the time immediately after
Moreta and Holth go between for the last time, and discover that there
is more to between than we have ever before known or wondered. It
is written differently to most of the other Pern books, though this is not
necessarily a bad thing, as it suits the story.
I did not particularly like Beyond Between, thought
his could be partially due to my relative dislike of the novel
(Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern) from
which it comes. It does, however, give a new sense to the 'nothingness' of
between. Beyond Between seemed a touch contrived for my
liking, and introduced a completely new aspect to Pern which is not (and
could not be) really developed fully in the space of the short
story.
Verdict:Beyond Between is a different
type of story to other Pern, and not hugely to my liking, but interesting
nevertheless.
A Gift Of Dragons (Ever
the Twain) (Illustrated by Tom Kidd) (Ballantine, 2002) (first
published 2002)
A wonderfully illustrated book, A Gift of Dragons
brings 'The Smallest Dragon Boy,' 'The Girl Who Heard Dragons' and 'The Runner
of Pern' together in one volume, with a brand new short story - 'Ever the
Twain'. As I have already reviewed the other three short stories above, I
will not mention them now.
The new story, 'Ever the Twain' focuses on twins, Neru
and Nian, from a fishing Hold on Ista Island. Neru very much wants to be
a dragonrider, and when dragons come to Lado Hold on Search, Nian is picked
right off, but Neru gets to go to Ista Weyr by luck only. The twins start
the story fearing separation, but by the end they have been the very engineers
of that they feared most themselves.
I found 'Ever the Twain' a likable, but simple, story,
with the expected result by the end, which made me wish that Anne had been
a bit more inventive with the storyline. A Gift of Dragons as a whole book, however, is
decorated beautifully with illustrations by Tom Kidd, such as lovely borders
around the text, and gorgeous sketches taking up entire pages, as well as
character portraits (examples: 12345). A lovely book for any collector
of Pern.
Verdict: Beautiful decorations make this book
a great purchase.
The Atlas of
Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad
(Del Rey, 1984)
(first published 1984)
The Atlas of Pern is an extremely good accompaniment
to the Dragonriders of Pern® series. It is extremely detailed and examines
almost every aspect of Pern deeply. Most of its content is focused on the
geography of Pern as a world (hence the title 'Atlas') but also contains
detailed schematics of the major Holds and Weyrs mentioned in the novels,
and whilst the drawings of these are not spectacular in an artistic sense,
they do convey a very good impression of what Holds actually look like, and
how Holds and Weyrs are actually set out, carved from solid rock.
The Atlas is set out chronologically from
Moreta (as the last novel published at the time, and the earliest
in Pernese time), dealing with the major events in the novels as they occur
- including 'Moreta's Ride' (around Keroon delivering vaccine), and both
of F'lar's fights - with Fax and T'ron/ton.
One of the details in this reference book which I most
like is the reference system, where by Karen Wynn Fonstad allows us to check
her facts ourselves (not that I have; they all sound right to me) and that
the last few pages of the Atlas has an 'Index of Place Names' with
actual coordinates for places on Pern as relating to the maps in the Atlas
(for example, Robinton's Cove Hold is at 12.5, 22°S). The Atlas of Pern has answers to questions about
Pern which had not even crossed my mind - especially when it comes to geography
(not my strong point)! Extremely valuable information is held within its
covers, well worth the to find, because it is not particularly easy to get
hold of at a reasonable price. But TheAtlas of Pern is
indispensable in my view - more Pern, rather than character, based than The
People of Pern, and more useful and much less prone to mistakes than
the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern.
As much as I would like to see an updated Atlas, since Karen Wynn
Fonstad has passed away then I am not sure if anyone else could do an updated
Atlas to the same high standard that is consistent throughout The
Atlas of Pern.
Verdict: The best of the reference books, and
contains much more information than just the atlas that the title suggests.
An integral part of any Pern collection!
The People of
Pern by Robin Wood and Anne McCaffrey
(The Donning Company,
1988) (first published
1988)
The People of Pern contains pictures of a large
number of the major - and minor - characters, some in oil paint and others
just coloured sketches. Each portrait is accompanied by a passage written
by Anne McCaffrey talking about the character.
The pictures are all excellently drawn by Robin Wood, and they capture the
feelings of the character very well indeed. Of course, some are bound to
be drawn differently to how some people see them - for me, Jaxom, Piemur
and Wansor are the three who are most different, though none of them really
excessively. But some are also spot on - Robinton, Lytol and Brand being
most prominent in this respect. The People of Pern is entertaining to read and
great at getting closer into the characters, and the introduction by Anne
at the start of the book is illuminating.
Unfortunately then there are few copies of the book
available for sale, as most Pern fans are loathe to sell such an item! There
is often a couple on ebay though, but the price can be
high!
Verdict: A very pretty book, and well worth having
- if you can find one!
The Dragonlover's Guide to
Pern (second edition) by Jody Lynn
Nye with Anne McCaffrey (Del Rey,
1997) (first published
1989/1997)
The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern is a useful addition
to the series. It helps to flesh out in the mind some bits which are mentioned
in the novels, but not explained fully, and delves deeper into Pern than
in any previous reference book.
Unfortunately, however, the DLG has some major flaws.
One of these is the style in which it has been written. In some cases it
can be very good, sticking closely to the relevant information and expanding
on the novels, but in other places the writing will continue off at a tangent,
creating new sections on Pern which have not been mentioned anywhere in the
novels. But in itself, this is not too bad - after all, there must be more
to Pern than can be covered in the stories! The problem for me comes in the
way that these new pieces of information are added, creating new and random
characters and making up a story around them, rather than just introducing
the new information in a more useful manner - a dead giveaway that the DLG
was written by an author!
Another thing that I personally dislike is the organisation
of the book, which tends to be rather confusing, and the best way to describe
it is haphazard. An example of this is how the Holds, Crafts and Weyrs are
examined in an order which appears to rely little on any kind of logic.
The artwork inside the book swaps between very good for some of pictures
- especially many of the dragons - and quite abysmal, which includes pretty
much without exception, all of the drawings of people.
But the main problem the Dragonlover's Guide to
Pern is that some of the information is wrong. So much so that on
Sariel's Guide to Pern, an entire page
is devoted to DLG Errata
(of itself almost certainly not exhaustive), one of the most absurd being
that the picture of Pern in space (p. 2) is upside down! And that Ramoth
is said to be the same size as a L 1011 Jet plane (p. 39) - a dragon that
size would inhale herdbeast and be impossible to be ridden, especially by
someone as small as Lessa!
However, despite these problems, the DLG should not
be overlooked. It is a great addition to any Pern collection, and contains
much good information, at least enough to offset the
mistakes.
Verdict: Worth getting, but watch out for the
mistakes!
Dragonflight (Graphic Novel)
(Eclipse/Harper Collins, 1993)
(first published 1993)
The Dragonflight Graphic Novel follows the same
story as the novel, but with the addition of pictures, but much less information
on Pern - but then, if you know the story anyway, that doesn't matter too
much! The plot is also much more fragmented, and some events are missed out
or skimmed over. But then, to collapse a novel down small enough, then I
suppose that that is inevitable!
The pictures in the graphic novel are very good, and
the dragons are very close to how they are described by Anne McCaffrey, apart
from ears rather than headknobs
(example).
The people are also very good - some are remarkably close to the portraits
in The People of Pern.
Very nice to read as it is much less demanding than the novel, and
enhanced by it's graphic nature. It is nice to own, but
I wouldn't call it an integral part of Pern collection.
Verdict: Pretty and fun, but no special insights
to Pern here!
Dragonharper(Adventure Novel)
by Jody Lynn Nye (TOR Books, 1987)
(first published 1987)
Dragonharper is an 'Adventure Novel' following
Robinton as a journeyman from the Harper Hall to his first assignment at
Benden Hold, taking us through most of the recognisable sections of Pern
- the Harper Hall, a Gather, travel by sea, runner and trade wagon, Hold
hospitality, and a Weyr, however briefly.
The difference between a novel and an 'adventure
novel' is that in the latter, there are choices available to the reader to
make, both using their own judgement, and through luck of the dice, and from
these outcomes, then you flick through the book to find the appropriate section
number.
There are a few differences that I can see between this
novel and what is accepted as canon, one example of which being that a "wild
wher" shows up in a passage, and another being that Raid of Benden is said
to be about forty when Robinton is eighteen, which to me seems improbable.
The 'adventure' aspect is quite entertaining to do,
which rescues the novel from the lower standard of writing than that of the
rest of Anne's novels, though to be fair to Jody Lynn Nye the adventure format
itself does not allow anywhere near the same freedom of writing than that
of the traditional novel. My other criticism of this stems directly from
the adventure format, as it seems that Robinton is forever being put in
improbable and unlikely situations simply to provide opportunity for a choice
to be made, and for Robinton to be acclaimed a hero.
However, this is a nice piece of work and nice to read,
and gives the reader a little bit of control over the characters which is
quite nice. I would not class what is written in Dragonharper as canon,
but there were few glaring mistakes that I found.
This adventure novel has, since the publication of
The MasterHarper of Pern (1998)
been made redundant in a sense, as we see what really happened to Robinton
in his youth.
Verdict: Interesting and novel, but not essential
reading.
1 Short Stories
in Get off the Unicorn: 'The Lady in the Tower'; 'A Meeting of Minds';
'Daughter'; 'Dull Drums'; 'Changeling'; 'Weather on Welladay'; 'The Thorns
of Barevi'; 'Horse from a Different Sea'; 'The Great Canine Chorus'; 'Finder's
Keepers'; 'A Proper Santa Claus'; 'The Smallest Dragonboy'; 'Apple';
'Honeymoon'.
2 Short Stories
in The Girl Who Heard Dragons: 'The Girl Who Heard Dragons'; 'Velvet
Fields'; 'Euterpe on a Fling'; 'Duty Calls'; 'A Sleeping Humpty Dumpty Beauty';
'The Mandalay Cure'; 'A Flock of Geese'; 'The Greatest Love'; 'A Quiet One';
'If Madam Likes You...'; 'Zulei, Grace, Nimshi, and the Damnyankees'; 'Cindarella
Switch'; 'Habit is an Old Horse'; 'Lady-in-Waiting'; 'The Bones Do
Lie'.
3 Authors
in Legends: Stephen King (The Dark Tower); Terry Pratchett
(Discworld); Terry Goodkind (The Sword of Truth); Orson Scott
Card (The Tales of Alvin Maker); Robert Silverberg (Majipoor);
Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea); Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow and
Thorn); George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire); Anne McCaffrey
(Pern); Raymond E. Feist (The Riftwar Saga); Robert Jordan
(Wheel of Time).
4
Authors in Legends II: Robin Hobb (Realm of the Elderlings);
George R. R. Martin(A Song of Ice and Fire); Orson Scott Card
(Tales of Alvin Maker); Diana Gabaldon (Outlander); Robert
Silverberg (Majipoor); Tad Williams (Otherland); Anne McCaffrey
(Pern); Raymond E. Feist (Riftwar); Elizabeth Haydon (The
Symphony of Ages); Neil Gaiman (American Gods); Terry Brooks
(Shannara).
Site owned and operated by Roedin. Everything on here
is my own work, unless otherwise stated.
