Dragongirl

Dragonriders of Pern, Book 21

By: Todd McCaffrey

Narrated by: Emily Durante

Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Young Fiona, rider of the gold queen Talenth, has returned from the past, where she and a group of dragons and riders fled so that the wounded could heal from their previous battles. Gone only three days, yet aged more than three years, Fiona is no longer a child but a woman prepared to fight against the Thread that threatens to destroy her world.

Fiona’s life takes a pivotal turn when a shocking tragedy thrusts her into a position of authority. Now she finds herself leading weyrfolk who have a hard time trusting a senior Weyrwoman who is both young and an outsider.

But even greater challenges lie ahead: Thread is falling and there are too few dragons to stem the tide. Many have died from the recent plague, and even with the influx of newly mature dragons from the past, the depleted fighting force is no match for the intensifying Threadfall. Fiona knows that something must be done, and what she proposes is daring and next to impossible. But if her plan succeeds, it just might save them all.

Pay another visit to Pern.

©2010 Todd J. McCaffrey (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Todd McCaffrey continues carving his own niche in the Pern canon while remaining faithful to the world-building and characterizations that have made his mother Anne's series a perennial favorite" ( Booklist).

ugg... Dragging and mournfully slow

The main conflict is never resolved and we are subjected to death after death and I can't see why.. So much time is spent covering a period of hopeless events in Pern with no hint of how it can be resolved. The eternal "it will all work out" cheer from the main character becomes grating. I want to get to the next milestone in the story but I found it hard to sit through this entire book. Unusually depressing and hopeless for a Pern story. The love story aspect tries hard to be very open minded and pushing hard on open/shared multi partner relationships. I get it... but it just comes off as unfulfilling and awkward because Fiona ends up not truly fully loved by anyone. For a 17 year old to be presented as capable of "loving everybody" just doesn't work. If I were to reread this part of the Pern history again I would skip this book.

Getting better again

This book was better than the last...written more closely to the form and manner I’ve grown accustomed to and love. Going to get the next one now!!

An ok Pern story

Story was a bit wandering and didn't resolve well. If you're desperate for a pern story, not a bad listen.

Good

Good story. But slow moving. Bogged down in details that don’t always complement the story

just enough to keep you interested

this one is part of an ongoing story. which is what kept me interested knowing that there would be another book coming along. the complexity and the time taken to explain the numerous relationships was a turnoff for me. however, the main dragon/pern story is what kept me listening: that was enough to hold my interest.

Is it good for Children?

didn't come to until later in the book but here the author has a minor having sex with a 33 year old . I question if this would be good for children at the age I first discovered Dragon Riders of pern over 40 years ago.

Not a great read

worst dragon Rider book so far. I usually listen repeatedly. to these books. It took a really long time to get interested in it.

wandered

the story wandered and there was no clear single problem. it came to a rather sudden end leaving some things unresolved. In spite of that if you love the dragon riders you will probably like this story.

plot weak

Todd is not the writer his mother was. too many loose ends, pointless dialogue, flimsy ending.

"Stuck in Time with No Conclusion"

I love Pern and I have read all of the books. For the most part, I appreciate what Todd is doing to add to the canon of Anne McCaffrey's Pern; and the narrator here neither adds to nor detracts from the story. [Especially compared to the droning narration that makes so many of the audio versions of Anne's excellent books unlistenable.] Dragongirl, which had great potential, is an exercise in frustration. Every element of the story is belabored to death, rather than developed. There are random enjoyable bits, but mostly the characters keep waiting for an ominous something very bad to happen while everyone around them dies. The "something" finally seems to happens near the last few minutes of the book, but it's all rather vague. Their problems aren't resolved, most questions aren't answered, and the elements that seem to contradict Anne's books are left unexplained. There are hints about what's to come, but mostly it's a cliff hanger of the worst sort and left me unhappy with characters that I had become fond of in previous books.