The Renegades 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.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

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.

13 of 22 people found this review helpful

The Renegades of Pern

This was an fantastic book. There is so much happening and so many different stories within that you never grow bored. There are quite a few characters, but those from other books that you continue to follow. There are great characters and one terrible villain. There is continent hopping and history being uncovered. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

It's funny, reading through these books has been a lot of fun. Reading in chronological order has been fun. It has been so long since the first couple of times that I read through this series, that I am hitting on characters that I just don't remember. I was a teenager when I first read these though, so who knows what I was thinking through those first times. I have been thoroughly entertained this time around and it has been so enjoyable getting to know these characters again. Characters that I remember loving and thinking they were the most important, well, that all changed. They are still important and I still think they are fantastic, but there are also other characters that are just as lovable and important.

What a great series. I'm really happy I have taken on reading through them again.

Excellent

Great book. It continues the personal stories of many different characters plus a continuation of the exploration of Landing. McCaffrey had such a rich imagination plus an eye for details. I love the world of PERN. Narrator is decent. Anxious to start my next book.

Not my favorite Pern book

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

Pern saga great read

I am running out of Pern Saga one of the best reads going. I only wish a chronological blending of the content were available. Plan to start all over when done.

Great

Good continuation of the story line after The White Dragon . I am enjoying this series so much that at this time I am having difficulty expressing my thoughts .

Renegade

great read!! Reader was clear and very understandable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. can't wait to read the next book

Filling in some spaces

This book takes place over many of the pern books. It gives u a little extra to many stories. Not sure i would suggest it unless u really want more info on the pern books. I only really enjoyed the last 25%.

So many Renagades

This story helps put events that happened in diffrent books into the timeline so well. When I first read it I assumed the title only ment Thella but now I realized that Toric, Pimeur, Robiton, even traders are all rengades versus what nost Pernes consirder normal.