The Renegades of Pern

Dragonriders of Pern

By: Anne McCaffrey

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

As long as the people of Pern could remember, the Holds had protected them from Thread, the deadly silver strands that fell from the sky and ravaged the land. In exchange for sanctuary in the huge stone fortresses, the people tithed to their lord Holders, who in turn supported the Weyrs, whose dragons were Pern's greatest weapon against Thread.

But not everyone on Pern was part of that system of mutual care and protection, particularly those who had been rendered holdless as punishment for wrongdoing. And there were some, like Jayge's trader clan, who simply preferred the freedom of the roads to the security of a hold. Others, like Aramina's family, had lost their holds through injustice and cruelty. For all the holdless, life was a constant struggle for survival.

Then, from the ranks of the criminals and the disaffected, rose a band of renegades, led by the Lady Thella. No one was safe from Thella's depredations, and now her quarry was Aramina, reputed to have a telepathic link with dragons. But when Thella mistakenly vented her rage on Jayge's family, she made a dangerous enemy. For Jayge was bent on revenge - and he would never let her have the girl who heard dragons!

©2005 Anne McCaffrey (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

one of my favorite authors

This series is very good, but definitely don't read this one first. I would suggest going by book publication date, which is not the same as chronological by the story line. There are a lot of "a-ha!" moments, especially at the end of the series, as Ms. McCaffrey tells the same story from different people's viewpoints. All I can think of as a description is that it is a rich tapestry of a story.

I've read most of the books twice, and look forward to listening to them many times again.

Interesting

This book was interesting. It started out telling the stories of those without a hold to live in but branched out so much it felt like a collection of short stories bound together loosely by a single theme. While it was nice to hear some of the side events of the previous books, I do not think it flowed well together. I did enjoy hearing the continuation of the larger story of Pern, even if it was only a taste. This book is interesting for those like me who love Pern and want to be a dragon rider too.

An interesting perspective

The books follows characters, both minor and major, who previously had very little background. Toward the end when all of those characters have been brought back into the main Pern storyline, the story we already know is told from their perspective. It doesn't advance the main Pern storyline, but it's an interesting diversion.

The narrator is, I think, hobbled by the times. This recording strikes me as older than most which listeners might be used to from Audible, so the quality is underwhelming at best.

Spoiled by poor Audio quality and bad narration

The audio production in this title is very poor, and at times the sound is fuzzy and distorted.

The narrator's voice is not very expressive, and he has some odd pronunciation choices, including "ha-MOCK" for hammock. Characters' accents and voices are not consistent throughout the book. Jaxom has an Irish accent in some parts and not in others, for example.

Not my favorite Pern book

I like how it fills in the characters but skip lots of parts when I read the series again.

Same Plot, no WOW Factor

If you read the summaries on all of the Pern books, you find they often talk about Thread is due to fall, but it has been so long, the people are not prepared or believe it actually will not happen. This is a good plot for one book, but AM uses it over and over.

I like some of AM's books, such as Dragon Flight, Dragons Dawn, The Rowan and Damia, but often her writing seems lack luster, as if she is just going through the motions. I have been watching a lot of America's Got Talent and Howie Mandel likes to mention that a certain act has no WOW Factor. This book has no WOW Factor.

I also love books about dragons, but McCaffrey's dragons could be replaced with Dogs or Unicorns and it would make no difference. One of the great things about most dragon books, is the attitude of the dragons. They are usually arrogant and deadly beast. Anne has domesticated them and it has killed there character.

McCaffrey wants her readers to start and read the series in the order that she wrote the books. I would suggest you start with Dragon's Dawn. It has more science and tells the story about how it all began.

Dick Hill is one of my favorite narrators, but he could not save this one.

Loved the conclusions

I just love the conclusions at the end of the book. Makes all the rest worth it

Good book, sudden end

Another good book about Pern. I prefer the earlier books, and Hill’s earlier narration style. Is the audio supposed to end so suddenly? Nearly mid-sentence. Not the author’s usual style, so I’m wondering if it’s an error with the recording. Disappointed to have spent so much time on the book and have it end that way.

Story Excellent, Narration hard to deal with

Anne’s story is classic and I have loved and re-read this series over and over for years. It’s a wonderful world she has created.

I thought Dick Hill was a bad narrator choice from the first story I listened to on audible but I loved the stories so I kept buying and listening. None of the characters sounded like they were described and he changed the way he pronounced the word Weyr a lot but at least his voices were consistent up to this book. Wrong but consistent.
This one was terrible. Nobody was the same as he spoke for them before, if you didn’t know them well, it changed their character.
Also, he through in odd accents for various characters from time to time that made absolutely no sense. Suddenly, all dragon riders have an Irish accent that comes and goes?
You would think he forgot how he spoke for these characters we have known for four previous books in this part of the series.
I wouldn’t say don’t buy this one because of the narration but I would think long and hard about it if I had the option.

A wonderful Pern story

The fall started and all of Pern gathers to meet the threat. Thela is greedy and cruel, and she hates she cannot become Lord Holder. She decides instead to terrorize Pern and take what she wants. The southern continent is rediscovered. A wonderful Pern story.