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Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � �A richly detailed story on a par with the rest of the Pern canon . . . another successful McCaffrey mother-and-son collaboration.��Booklist At Natalon�s mining camp, Pellar embarks on a secret mission to discover whether the condemned criminals known as the Shunned are stealing coal. But the gifted tracker discovers that a far more treacherous plot is unfolding. A heartless thief named Tenim has realized there is profit to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that enables the dragons of Pern to burn the lethal Thread out of the sky. When the last remaining firestone mine explodes, a desperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly but essential mineral. Sure enough, Tenim has a murderous plan to turn tragedy to his own advantage. Now Pellar and his new friends�the kind and gentle Halla, a child of the Shunned, and Cristov, the son of a corrupt miner�must stop Tenim. If they fail, it will mean the end for Pern and its dragonriders. �Grittier than the early parts of the series; Todd�s apparently brought a wider, more current worldview to Pern.��The San Diego Union-Tribune �These fabled dragons still cast a spell.��Publishers Weekly.… (more)
User reviews
Ok, that's it. I'm done reading new Pern books. My lord! These books - Fire more than Kin, but both - were very obviously written in chunks and then stuck together, and nobody did a readthrough afterward to check
I like Pern, can you tell? And because I like it, I feel protective and possessive. I was in a Pern fanfic group for a while - there were a lot of stupid stories written and a few good ones, and I liked most of them much more than Todd's stuff. Sorry, I think Anne should let Pern die rather than drag it out in new and ugly directions.
Good idea for a Pern plot, interesting (if under developed) characters, and nice cross over with already existing books. Unfortunately, something seems to be missing. I can't tell if something was taken out,
The Fall is coming, Pern prepares... and one of the things that most be considered are The Shunned - holdless people who
Have only just started, so this is all I can say for the moment.
It is also a time when mining for the firestone that the dragons need when Thread falls is at a low point. Any contact with water means the firestone explodes. When the story begins there is only one working mine.
There are quite a few viewpoint characters. All of them are quite young and are all about 10 to 12 when the story begins. Pellar is a mute orphan taken in by Harpers and trained to gather information. He is a gifted tracker and has great survival skills. Halla is a child of the Shunned is is busy caring for other young orphans. Cristov is a young miner whose father has been Shunned because he was stealing from the mine for his own profit. His father's thefts and corner-cutting caused the deaths of a number of miners. Cristov is determined to make up for his father's crimes. We also see Kindan again though his role in this story is relatively minor.
This story, along with many of the rest co-authored by Todd McCaffrey, takes place around the time of the Third Pass. The characters know that Threadfall is coming but it is still a number of years away.
The main villain of this story is Tenim who was also the child of Shunned parents and who is living up to their evil. He is a thief and murderer. His major plot in this story is to gain great wealth by cornering the market on firestone. He is willing to destroy mines and kill miners to further his plans.
I enjoyed the way the various plot threads were woven together in this one. I liked that a better solution for the Shunned was finally found because it never seemed fair to me that children should be punished for crimes their parents committed. I liked that all the Weyrleaders were not the same though I do wonder how D'gan of Telgar managed to impress his dragon. D'gan makes a fine secondary villain in this story because of his mistreatment of the Shunned and his single-minded pursuit of firestone no matter what it cost in lives.
This was another great entry into the long-running Pern series. In the internal chronology of the series this is probably book five. Published in 2006, it appears 38 years after the first published Pern book.
It is a story told in two parts: the first from Pellar's point of view, the second from Hella's PoV. Both are quite young, about 14
It is a fine story, focussing on the miners, traders, and Shunned, with bits of faction with the watch-whers, and guest appearances by dragons, dragon riders, and fire lizards. Other reviewers have mentioned some inconsistencies, and they are there, but didn't destroy the book for me.
All and all, it was a fun read: not spectacular, not bad, and fun to return to the universe with Pern in it.
Other than that, the plot is weak, and many things didn't feel like they fit into the main series.
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Fic SF McCaffreyT |