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All the Weyrs of Pern | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Anne McCaffrey | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Dragonriders of Pern | N/A | ||
For generations, for centuries, the dragonriders of Pern have been fighting Thread, the queer organism that falls from the sky every few hundred years for a period of a few decades. The entire society of the planet is based around this fight, or preparing for it. Yet now, with the uncovering of Aivas, an AI left over from the initial colonization of Pern, the end of the danger may at last be at hand. Aivas has been thinking on the problem for 2,525 years, and has come up with a plan he thinks might make this the last Threadfall to hit Pern, ever.
Pern is a famous series in the annals of fantasy, and it's easy to see why. McCaffrey's writing is very able, deftly telling the story with a minimum of exposition or extended descriptions. Yet the imagery is still very good, and I had no problem visualizing the scenery and little with the people.
Still, this lack of detail is a hinderance in certain respects. For one thing, McCaffrey assumes you've read all the previous books beforehand, and so while she mentions past adventures and storylines she doesn't sum them up. It's very clear that readers are getting only the high points, a few isolated facts that are nevertheless important enough to mention. But you're missing the story of it. While reading previous books isn't required, I highly recommend it.
One of the things I really did like about this book was watching these people with, roughly, a middle-aged technology level learning modern or even futuristic skills. How to put together a circuit, what a circuit is, the rudiments of biology, advanced engineering... all this is crucial to be relearned for the execution of the plan, scheduled some four years plus from the discovery of the AI. I also enjoyed how McCaffrey acknowledged that, despite the obvious good these changes will bring both immediately and in the longer term, there will be elements of society who prefer the status quo and will work to halt further changes. I wish, in fact, that this element had had a bit of a larger place in the plot, but as it is it is not insignificant.
Blending fantasy and science-fiction is a rare and difficult feat. McCaffrey does an excellent job of it here. Fans of the series will have little problem with this book; it presents an admirable cap to a great saga. New readers would likely enjoy it also, though again I recommend reading the earlier books first. But even if you do not, I feel it would still be a good read, and not difficult to pick up on the essentials.
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