Dragonsong: Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 1

By: Anne McCaffrey

Narrated by: Sally Darling

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Journey to the wonder-filled world of Pern in the first volume of Anne McCaffrey's best-selling Harper Hall Trilogy. Dragonsong is the spellbinding tale of Menolly of Half Circle Hold, a brave young girl who flees her seaside village and discovers the legendary fire lizards of Pern.

All her life, Menolly has longed to learn the ancient secrets of the Harpers, the master musicians of Harper Hall. When her stern father denies her the chance to make her dream come true, Menolly runs away from home. Hiding in a cave by the sea, she finds nine magical fire lizards who join her on a breathtaking journey to Harper Hall.

Anne McCaffrey's enchanting tales of Pern, with all their colorful dragons and fantastic characters, have won her millions of fans around the world. The winner of the Hugo and Nebula Award, she is one of the best-loved writers in all of fantasy literature.

Don't miss the other books in the Harper Hall Trilogy.

©1976 Anne McCaffrey (P)1992 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"McCaffrey uses great imaginative powers in constructing her intricate and intriguing story." ( Booklist)
"Menolly's independent, resolute character, the fascinating dragon lore, and a certain poetic quality of style all combine to create an original fantasy...akin to the work of Ursula LeGuin." ( Horn Book)

love Ann McCaffrey,s

I am a true fan of Ann McCaffery. I will read anything that she writes especially the Pern series. I look forward to hearing the next book on auditable.
I encourage everyone to read her books as they will delight and interest any dragon lover.

All of the book and the Book

It was so like I imagined, Pern and the characters were played so beautifully.

Childhood favorite

I remembered this author, series and this particular book existed randomly and frantically googled for mini dragon acid rain dragon rider type stories and struck nostalgia gold. Love the voice actor and the story. It’s very satisfying because (spoiler?) the MC gets her due respect in the end.

Lots of fun

This is a prime example of a type of science fiction that I loved as a young adult. It's technically science fiction, but is for all practical purposes fantasy. While ostensibly about people on a faraway planet far in the future, it has much to say about Western culture and norms at the time it was written. The main character is a girl living in a sexist, pre-industrial society with a fairly rigid social system. She has great musical talent, but on Pern, women do not become harpers, the musicians who, while providing entertainment, are also responsible for transmitting the history and culture of their people. The heroine must overcome the prejudices of her family, as well as her own fear of failure, in order to do what she was born to do--make music.

Happily, the concept of girls not being free to follow their hearts' callings feels dated and rather silly. Fortunately, the Harper Hall trilogy is good enough to overcome this. I'm lucky to have been raised on stories such as this, so that by the time I became an adult, my sense of opportunity seemed limitless. Many girls are not as fortunate as I have been, and I hope that stories such as this help to ease their roads and broaden their dreams.

Not the right narrator

This narrator's reading changed my perspective on the whole book and main character; changing it from a favorite to one I don't like much. I love this series, but really recommend reading these before listening to this narrator's interpretation.

An enjoyable listen. Just what I was looking for.

I have been an Anne McCaffrey fan for many years and have read and re-read her books, including the Harper Hall trilogy, many times. I purchased this as a way to read an old friend while driving on a long trip. I wasn't disappointed, the story is well read and brings the characters to life.

My one caveat is the pronounciation of some of the characters names. Although the names may be being pronounced exactly as the author intended, they differ so much from how I had always said them that I find myself going "who?" when each character is mentioned for the first time. This distraction is the only drawback.

If this is your first time reading this book, this will not be a problem for you.

narrator was good, but

Narrator needs to learn how to pronounce names of Characters. This is a Huge Pet Peeve of mine. In a series, narrators should at the very least listen to the past productions and match up for continuity. And Production editors should certainly catch major discrepancies.

Also, in some cases simple English words were mispronounced. If you haven't seen already word before....Google It!

loved it

Would you consider the audio edition of Dragonsong: Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 1 to be better than the print version?

Always love Anne McCaffery but the audio book brought it to life, thank you for the experience.

excellent book. great for younger readers too

An excellent book that is a great read for younger readers also. The narrator occasionally comes off as unsympathetic and condescending.

Loved these books so much!

I read as many Dragonriders of Pern books as I could when I was in middle and high school so glad to have found them all here on Audible. Thank you so much.