The Dolphins of Pern (Dragonriders of Pern Series)

by Anne McCaffrey

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Local notes

Fic McC

Barcode

744

Collection

Publication

Del Rey (1994), Edition: 1st ed, 340 pages

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: “[Anne] McCaffrey here adds yet another dimension to her colorful and vivid saga by focusing on the attractive dolphins and their highly believable society.”—Publishers Weekly When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern’s oceans while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists’ dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.   Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern prepare to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T’lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, make contact with the legendary “shipfish.” And as the....… (more)

Original language

English

Original publication date

1994

Physical description

340 p.; 7 x 1.5 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member Katissima
To borrow a TV phrase, I consider All the Weyrs of Pern (the book immediately proceeding Dolphins of Pern chronologically) to be where McCaffrey jumped the shark with the Dragonriders series. I will refrain from including any spoilers here and only say that All the Weyrs has the natural feel of a
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conclusion about it. Then McCaffrey had to go and write two Pern books to follow it! To put it another way, all the books written before All the Weyrs of Pern have warrented multiple rereadings. All the books after, I have only read once.
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LibraryThing member cfk
Readis of Paradise River, and his Uncle Alemi are rescued when their boat is swamped in a sudden squall by dolphins. The dolphins have long been known as shipfish because of their constant presence around the fishing fleets over many turns. But it is Readis and Alemi who realize that the dolphins
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can speak and have been trying to lead ships away from dangers and to the best fishing spots.

Their story is playing out in the midst of the excitement surrounding the promise of overcoming thread once and for all with the information and technology being provided by Avis, an Artificial Intelligence left behind by the original founders of Pern.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
I read the early Pern novels but got out of touch with the continuations of the series. This one takes place after the dragonriders have been revived to defeat the Threads and humans are spreading out into regions which had been abandoned. They encounter human-intelligent dolphins who had been part
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of the original colony from earth and still pass down memories of their earlier cooperation with humans.
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LibraryThing member maita
Imagine, two boys bonded together because of dolphins. Through their struggles, they reintroduced the dolphins to the rest of Pern.
Readis was fascinated by dolphins the moment he was saved by them. And they talked to him and his uncle Alemi! His dream is to be a Dolphineer, like one of the
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ancients.
T'lion is young. He impressed Bronze Gaddareth when he was only ten. It was too young for Weyr standars but they have no choice. Too young to fly thread, he becomes a taxi driver for important people coming and going to Landing. There, he meets Alemi and the dolphins. He was then acquainted to Readis and his ideas of helping the dolphins.
Its a very fascinating story. I actually would understand why the dolphins would want to leave polluted earth. They are the most patient and understanding creatures. I love dolphins.
In the end, Readis heads Dolphins Hall with T'lion and Gaddy as Dolphin liaison for the Weyrs.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
I had been wondering if Anne McCaffrey would write a book about the Ship Fish or Doll fins that appeared occasionally in earlier books and this is the story of the Dolphins creating a relationship again with people in the southern sea hold of Paradise River. It's also the story of Alemi, a young
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boy with an open mind.

It's pretty average for a Pern novel, it really lagged occasionally and sometimes it felt rushed. Ah well it was an interesting revisit.
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LibraryThing member jpsnow
Convincing closure to the thread era on Pern. Intriguing storyline at efficient pace.
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
After all the exciting things happen--after the settlers land on Pern, and are nearly destroyed by Thread, and discover dragons, and set up Weyrs and Holds and Halls, all the while devolving into a sexist&rigidly hierarchal medieval society, and eventually Jaxom bonds with Ruth, and Menolly finds
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her firelizards and transforms Harpers, and they rediscover their computer and figure out how to end Thread-fall once and for all, and all manner of social changes start being forced through--after all that, this incredibly prosaic, boring little story takes place.

A number of people realize (practically simultaneously) that the "shipfish" of Pern are actually dolphins who travelled from Earth with the first settlers. They were engineered to have human speech and increased intellects, and even generations after humans stopped remembering them, they still remember humans. They're thrilled to have contact with humans again. One boy, Readis, runs away from home to form a Dolphin Hall. Meanwhile, a Holder is plotting to settle the Southern Continent against the Weyr-leaders' advice. And there's a big storm that doesn't actually do anything. That's pretty much it! Even famous characters like Leesa, Menolly, Mirrim or Jaxom are colorless and personality-free here.

This was easily the most boring Pern book I have ever read in my life. I would much rather read another book about the brave-flame-haired-fiesty-girl fighting against sexist-evil-old-dude and psychically bonding with a dragon; as trite and wish-fullfillment-y as that is, at least there's something there. This was just empty of all inspiration, emotion, plot, or character.
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LibraryThing member themulhern
Another view of Pern, starting around the middle of "All the Weyrs of Pern" and ending somewhat later. Short and simple compared to some of the other books, but advances the overall Pern plot. Definitely a rehash of the Menolly tale, but poorly motivated, showing the somewhat appealing protagonists
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of previous books to be real losers. Also, what all the women mostly seem to do, except for Lessa, is be pregnant, which is not really all that women should be doing in a novel like this. I'll keep on reading, though, just one more to go.
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LibraryThing member GlenRH
This is a shorter novel, but explores the sea life that came with the first colonists to come to Pern.

Pages

340

Rating

½ (573 ratings; 3.7)
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