The Dragons Are Back In Town (The Skies of Pern - Anne McCaffrey)

Member Name: Alindrail

Product:	The Skies of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Date:	09/03/01 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's got Dragons, and Pern.

Disadvantages: A little bit of lack of direction

This is the latest in the mammoth Pern saga by Anne McCaffrey. This book returns to events following the Dolphins of Pern (persuant to All the Weyrs of Pern), with the repercussions following the death of Aivas and the introduction of the rediscovered technology of the Ancients.

Basically there are a group of dissenters who resent the perceived destruction of their way of life. They blame society's ills and even a natural disaster of Aivas and the dragonriders.

McCaffrey weaves the tail of the dissenters with that of the natural disaster that strikes the planet. Amongst all this is the background of what the dragonriders are now going to do since Thread is no longer there.

This is no All the Weyrs, but it is a return to form after some lacklustre efforts. The characters are back, with explorations of some of the more peripheral heroes (F'lessan is now a major character), and she lets us know that a new generation is coming to the fore, with the emphasis on the ageing of the Benden Weyrleaders.

Some small critiscisms; the book lacks a degree of direction, and you wonder what story she is actually trying to tell (a little like the Renegades of Pern), but all in all it is a more than welcome return to the Ninth Pass of Pern. Nicely sized too!

There are surprises here as well, some loose threads being tied up, and as ever she has written it in a way that allows a possible return to the world of Pern, but a conclusion that also means you aren't hanging on for the next volume. This is a series that knows the main thrust has now been completed (Thread is gone), but the fans want to know the denoument that follows, without the commitment to a whole new epic saga.

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