Of all the books Anne has written the Harper Hall series is by far my favorite. And this was my favorite book in the series. I thought this was an incredible moving story of Piemur and I wish there were more books about him. Anyone should read it!

I found this book one in which I couldn't put down. I only wish I had read the First 2 books in this Harper Hall Trilogy. This, is the first of the many I'm going to read by Anne McCaffrey. This book by far has been my favorite book. I was a little disappointed with the ending I thought their should have been more. Piemur was quite the Character, smart and caring. I'm so glad he got out of them drumheights of Harper Hold. I reccomend this book to anyone interested in a sneaky lad on an adventure. I enjoyed this author and hope other book I read will be just as good.

The concluding book of the trilogy fooled me at first. My sister that introduced me into Anne McCaffrey said this is mostly about Piemur and not a lot about Menolly, I thought they would only mention her name once or twice. Boy, was I wrong! It turned out to be my second favorite. I was glad Menolly became most confident. Did I mention I was also cool with the thing between her and Sebell? Menolly doesn't realize it a first, but she finds out Sebell is totally head over heels in love with her.

If you like Anne McCaffrey, you may like Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time books and Robin McKinley's Deerskin, Beauty a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown.

Dragonquest is the only book in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey that I would not give five stars, but in this case, that isn't a bad thing.

This book is a continuation of the story begun in Dragonflight (I request you read Dragonflight before Dragonquest to save yourself endless trouble). Lessa, F'lar, F'nor, and the others have returned to continue in their endless quest to guard Pern from the deadly Thread. This time, new, interesting characters are introduced, and many surprising events occur. Dragonquest also brings the return of the legendary firelizards, 'miniature dragons' that the dragons of Pern were supposedly evolved from. The firelizards lead our Pernese friends on even more adventures that are thrilling, romantic, and suspenseful.

As I said, I did not give this book a five for a good reason. The ending of Dragonquest leaves much suspense, taking it a point down, but gives you an excellent reason to read the next book, The White Dragon.

First of all, read the first book in the series (Dragonflight) by Anne McCaffery before you read this one. Besides why wouldn't you want to, it's as good as this one. As Dragonflight, this book features the adventures of F'lar the Benden weyrleader, his weyrmate and Benden weyrwoman Lessa, Masterharper Roberton, F'nor (the half brother of F'lar) and many other characters.

This book, like the previous one is full of many problems for the characters to solve. It makes this a very good read! The oldtimers, the weyrfolk Lessa brought forward seven turns ago is stirring up trouble. F'lar and Lessa is trying to stop their many schemes.

Then of course there's thread to fight. F'lar also duels with an oldtimer and banishs them to the south. F'nor gets injured and was sent to the southern hold to recover where he falls in love with Brekke. Mastersmith Fanderel invents a distance writing and Flessan (F'lar and Lessa's son) finds hidden rooms in Benden. And more romance between the Benden weyrleaders. Then the dragonriders plan to go to the red star....

Want to know what happens? Then read this amazingly interesting book to find out! I tell you, you're going to stay up all night to read this! (You'll also find that parts correspond with the Harperhall trilogy)

"Dragonflight" was a grand adventure which introduced readers to one of sci-fi's strongest heroines, the indomitable Weyrwoman Lessa. "Dragonquest" continues the story 7 years after Lessa made her spectacular flight...and all is not well on Pern. "Dragonquest" is more a series of inter-related episodes than "Dragonflight," but in this format the novel introduces new characters such as Jaxom and the Oldtimers, and really gives room for characters like F'lar, F'nor, Robinton, Kylara, and others, to become more fully-realized characters. Very exciting (is it just me or does F'lar get into a duel to the death in EVERY book?--not that I'm complaining!), insightful, and the world of Pern and it's inhabitants (yea! for the fire-lizards...gosh, are they cute!) becomes even more real than in the previous book. REALLY good stuff here.

As a true fan of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, I was delighted beyond expression to find this advertised in my monthly catalog from the Science Fiction Book Club. It's amazing! Robin Wood is an incredibly talented artist. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers...there were a few characters I disagreed with the appearances of. [For example, K'van, the "littlest dragonboy," is illustrated as being of Asian descent; yet in the book "Dragonseye," where we meet the grown up K'vin (see, even the spellings are different there), we learn he's descended from the Hanrihan family, which was Irish!] I was tickled to find that some of the characters, such as Sharra and Lessa, look like people I know myself; my one disappointment was finding that none of them looked like me! *laugh* Anyway, this book is pure delight for fans of the earlier books in the series...let's hope they make another one of pictures from the later books!

This book is incredible! If you have the chance to even look at it, do it! Robin Wood does an wonderful job of painting the People Of Pern. If you can buy this book, I would tell you to go for it because the paintings are beautiful to look at. They also show almost exactly how these people look in McCaffrey's world. Check your public library for it!!!! ;-)

I cannot praise highly enough this wonderful companion book to Ms. McCaffrey's Pern books. This book is a collection of portraits of the many characters in Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Moreta, and the Harper Hall trilogy.

There are artist renderings of almost every character, from Menolly, Lessa, and F'lar; to C'gan, Dorse, Moreta, even Dunca and Pona are in here! Main characters and minor ones--they are all here, and many are uncannily just as I had pictured them in my head! As a bonus, Ms. McCaffrey supplied little commentaries on each portrait that are fascinating to read.

All the portraits are works of true art, but the masterpiece of the book is the portrait of Robinton! You've got to see it--Robin Wood captures him perfectly! Anyone who loves the Pern books should have this in their collection.

This was one of the first Anne McCaffrey books I ever read. Humorous, intriguing, well written, RESTOREE covers the story of Sara, a less than perfect young woman who suddenly finds herself whisked off of Earth and transported by the Mil for their own dark uses. Sara comes out of deep shock much later to discover, much to her surprise, that she is not the patient, but an attendant TO a patient. Overhearing a suspicious conversation about Lord Harlan, the man to whom she was assigned, Sara comes to realize that she has not only been dropped into the middle of a major mystery, but she's on another Planet altogether!

What follows is a great Sci-Fi Fantasy adventure, complete with a bit of romance.

I have a '67 copy of this book...much the worse for wear from many readings. Since she has gone on to expound on quite a few of her earlier works, I would love to see her do the same with this one. Sara & Harlan are a great two-some and I still think of this as one of my favorite works of hers. Easily read, it is more than capable of standing alone. A must for any McCaffrey fan.

This is the first story I ever read by Anne McCaffrey and I have been reading her every since. She writes the most compelling stories of strong women and strong men. I have read every book she has ever written but this was my favorite. Sara's determination and strength makes her a compelling character, but she also has humor,compassion and weaknesses. This book will always live on in my mind as one of the best ever written by anyone.

This book first tells the story of Afra, who we met in The Rowan, and then goes on to tell Damia's story. I don't think that this book has the same plot as The Rowan at all, although there are a few similarities. If you were intrigued by Afra in the first book, you'll love him in this book. It was wonderful to find out more about him. Damia's childhood makes for an entertaining read, moreso, I think than the Rowan's. However, the Rowan was much more mature as a teenager and young woman than Damia. Teenage Damia is spoiled and annoying, and it's a wonder Afra could ever put up with her. That was one of the reasons I gave this book a four instead of a five. The other reason is that the whole Damia and Afra relationship seemed very strange. Afra never seemed to be very upset by the fact that he was falling in love with the same person he used to babysit. However, in spite of those two things, I really enjoyed this book.

Anne McCaffrey travels back into the world of Talented individuals, begun in "To Ride Pegasus". "The Rowan" marked the beginning of a series of books about one extremely talented family. "Damia", the second book, looks at one of the Rowan's children, the beautiful and powerful Damia. Damia falls into many misadventures, as any normal kid who could do stuff with her mind would, but matures into a brilliant young lady.

"Damia" has everything a good Anne McCaffrey book has--suspense, drama, a beautiful heroine, and love. I highly recommmend this book to any Anne McCaffrey fan.

This book is great!Reading about Rowan and how her children grew up is really interesting.Reading about Afra's childhood and his life afterwards,as a work partner with Rowan,is captivating,and makes one identify with him in all he went through.Damia's childhood fit in very well with Afra's story(or maybe I should say it the other way around),and the life and adventures of Damia hold one's attention.Damia's quick and painful maturity leads into a whole new story,both personally for her and for the humans of the Nine Star League.(I am not giving away the plot!)All in all,a great book about the heroes and their relationships.Read and enjoy!

My first encounter with Anne McCaffrey may very well be the best. "Crystal Singer" is an engrossing book, with a very headstrong and admirable female character. By the time her new direction in life is setup and put into motion, I was totally entranced with the book and simply could not put it down. The characters, both male and female, are well fleshed out, and her rise from a rejected opera student to a full fledged crystal singer is a fascinating journey to embark on. The premise for the book - singing and cutting crystal - is unusual and well presented. There is a definite otherworldly flavor to the book as it has a strong sci fi theme that does not assault the reader with too much techno babble, thus its an enjoyable book for the diehards and the casual alike. As the first of a trilogy, its delightful, but also stands alone well with its satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended, but with a word of warning, its nearly impossible to break away from the lure of crystal.

Killashandra Ree, music student on the planet Fuerte, who after failing her final exams quits with her singing career (she simply won't be second rank!). A chance meeting with a crystal singer of the Heptite Guild of Ballybran, induces her to apply as a crystal singer. Killashandra's training and initiation into the Guild make for a riveting read. Ms. McCaffrey shows off her usual skill in world building, in defining the Crystal Guild and Ballybran. Killashandra's strong personality, resourcefulness, intelligence, musical training, her easy transition to the Ballybran spore and her affinity to the rare black crystal make her an asset to the Guild. Killashandra belongs to the most memorable of Anne McCaffrey's heroines. Right from the first page she became intensely alive for me (I really felt her disappointment and joys), as does her first great love the fascinating and enigmatic guild master Lanzecki. Beautifully Anne McCaffrey describes the singing of crystal itself. The idea of whole crystal ranges singing back at you was very poetic (see for instance the effect of singing black crystal on Killashandra).

A wonderful first volume!

I have read all Anne McCaffrey's books and this book, "Crystal Singer" is one of my favorites. I get so turned off by the predominately male oriented writing style of most of the good science fiction writers. I find Anne McCaffrey's writing style to be very refreshing and having a female main character is outstanding! I can really feel what Killashandra is feeling as I read the story, it almost comes alive in my mind the way the author breathes life into her characters. The male characters as well as the female characters are given equal roles in Anne McCaffrey's books and "Crystal Singer" is no exception!

I have always enjoyed Ms. McCaffrey's books, perhaps it is her ability to draw you into these worlds and make them exist. I have often found myself wondering what it would be like to bond with and fly a dragon between. In "Freedom's Choice", I was absorbed into a community of exiles fighting for survival. The mental picture drawn for me by Ms. McCaffrey was graphic and complete. You can be part of a group trying desperately to hide one of its members from the tyrants that imprisoned you there. The adventure is yours when you read this book. As usual this writer takes you in and you become an on-site observer. I highly recommend this book for any Anne McCaffrey fan and any Science Fiction fan.

I was hooked immediately when I bought the audio version of Freedom's Landing, the first in the series. But you should read all three books one right after the other so the story flows better. (I hate it when a book ends suddenly and leaves you hanging until the next publication is available). This next book in the series picks up right where Freedom's Landing left off. Freedom's Choice has the same action as the first book. You find yourself reading in anticipation the more the "dropped" discover about the original owners of Botany. Looking forward to listening to the third installation of the Freedom's Series (Freedom's Challenge) because, though I choose to read Freedom's Choice in the written form, I think the audio version helps creates a more interesting vision.

You must read the first book before this one or you won't understand a thing. It's worth it! I love Anne McCaffrey's books. Lot's of interesting characters too! I can't wait for the next one. PLEASE write another!

I really couldn't get into this book. I am a diehard fan of Anne, and I have read 99% of her books. This was the first one that I didn't even finish. I gave it about half the book, and then gave up because of the violence and awkward writing style. In fact, the style itself was nothing like Anne's! I would venture to say that Stirling wrote the majority of this work, and I found his style to be crude at best. Although, if you are into violence, hey this is the book for you! In fact, I bet it would be really good for folks who are into that. Anyway, I found it nothing at all like Anne's books, and I wondered how much of a part she had in the writing. I love the rest of the series though, and give the series a 4 star rating. :)

City Who Fought is an amazing book which I really love. The characters are all very real and three-demensional. I found myself so drawn into the story that I forgot about many other things, including my favourite tv show. I stayed up til...bout 2:30 AM reading this book, so that I could find out what happened to Simeon, Joat, Channa, and the rest of them. My favourite character was Simeon, of course, but Joat, Channa, Joseph, Seld, Patsy, Chaundra -- okay, all of them, just about -- are also wonderfully three-demensional. Simeon is my favourite brain -- favourite character -- from any of Anne McCafferey's B&B books. The only problems I found with this book were a) that it was much more militaristic than I like, but I knew that when I began reading it, so I can only blame myself, and b) the Kolnari were a bit..flat, and 2-demensional, not something I personally like in a book, especially for the villians. One thing that I read in another review of this book was that it was not a good book for children, having a lot of sex and violence in it. My opinion on this is: It's not MEANT for children! It's an adults book, and the person who wrote that review should have realized that.

The interplay between authors in the shell person series is fascinating. S. M. Stirling's influence is shown with more graphic violence and character shades of the mercenaries in "Prince of Sparta". (also well worth reading) The meld of the two styles may be surprisingly entertaining for die hard McCaffrey fans. It is not the kinder, gentler action you are accustom to but a much grittier and sadly somewhat more believable sadistic bad guys. It would be a real treat to see the Kolnari show up on War World's Haven and confront the Saurons. Evil vs. evil would be interesting and allow some relief for the rest of Haven. As much as a dragon fan as I am, I found this book very hard to put down and compelling to complete. A sequel is left open, I appeal to the authors to pick up the option and treat us to another heart accelerating story with Joat, Channa and Simeon as a dreadnought.

First I have to admit that I'm a big fan of McCaffrey's Pern series. I've followed most of the books in the series from the Dragonriders of Pern to the Harper Hall Trilogy, with Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern, and (of course) the Dolphins of Pern. However, I feel compelled to give the book only 2 stars on the fact that her standards seemed to have sliped with this plot. I have nothing against dolphins, but as I was reading I alway had this impression that she (McCaffrey) is trying to salvage what's left of the series to create this story. Also, the "weaving" of the story with various scenes in "All the Wyers" left me the impression that some dialogue resurfaced that wasn't mentioned in one or the other. I wouldn't be so harsh, if not for the fact that she did a good job of linking scenes between "The Renegades of Pern" and with "The White Dragon" from different perspectives with no change in dialogue (ie Toric @ ! Landing) unlike "The Dolphins of Pern." But the biggest problem that I can not swallow and am surprised that it passed the editors is the fact that Lord Oterel of Tillek Hold seemed to have a surprising resurrection for "The Dolphins of Pern" when supposedly he passed away, thus the contention for Tillek Hold in a chapter in "All the Weyrs of Pern." That error cannot be "smoothed over" since a man could be either dead or not dead. Unfortunatly, this shows to me that the author did not put much serious effort in keeping with the chronology of Pern.

Hmm - how to describe 'The Dolphins of Pern'. Well, I've read nearly all Anne McCaffrey's dragon works (except 'Red Star Rising' and 'The Girl who Heard Dragons'), spent hours browsing bookshops, libraries, wearing out copies etc and I must admit that the earlier works (especially the Harper Hall books) are a much better read. I'm not sure if ideas are starting to run out or the concept is becoming a shade jaded, but this latest offering didn't light my fire much. I knew all the characters almost too well, more drama next time please! It seems like, after all the fuss surrounding the Oldtimers and AIVAS, Pern is all happy n content with no more fuss. Aramina's character development seemed a bit confused. Why she suddenly became harder seemed a bit of a mystery to me. Surely, dragon contact hadn't affected her that much. Her antipathy towards the dolphins seemed to be unexplained as well. Not quite sure where the saga goes from here - the book left that very cloudy. Perhaps a recontact with the original explorers (even though they interdicted Pern). The alteration of the Red Star could be enough to bring em back. But I am of the old school, who prefer the earlier tales (Dragonsong + Dragonsinger particular faves) so this latest tale isn't up to par. Sorry to any I may offend!

A lot of people have said that Anne McCaffrey lost something with the Dolphins of Pern, but I disagree. I think that the book ties together a lot of loose ends from throughout the series. It adds on to The Renegades of Pern, and lets us know what happened to some of the charachters that were forgotten in All the Weyrs of Pern. The Dolphins of Pern occurs (mostly)in the same time period as All the Weyrs of Pern, so that it does get slightly boring at times hearing things we already know. I think that it's worth reading through whatever boring parts there are though. In my opinion one of the best parts of the book is seeing the main charachters(and the leaders of Pern) through the eyes of some of Pern's lesser residents. We also finally get to know F'lessan (F'lar and Lessa's only son), who we don't hear too much from in the other books. This book is a must read for all those dedicated to the series, but it definitely isn't the place for someone new to the series to start reading. You should really to start with one of the other books if you want to fully appreciate this one.

I expected this book to be better. I recently re-read the Dragonsinger trilogy, and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I really liked them--even though I had read them before, and even though they seemed directed toward a younger audience. So, I picked up Dragonseye hoping to get reacquainted with Pern again.

Well, I found the book disjointed and boring. A little bit of the background information given in the book was interesting--for instance, learning that Harper Hall had evolved from a College. I thought the plot itself was weak, however. The whole Chalkin thing was boring and not at all emotionally involving, and I got really sick of all the fuss people made over the fact that Iantine could draw. Really, it wasn't like he was the only artist on the planet, or that the Pernese had forgotten all about drawing only to rediscover it with Iantine. None of the characters was really developed, and I can't say I cared about any of them.

If you want something more in depth, go for the Dragonriders series, or read the Harper trilogy, not this book. I'm sorry, I wanted to like it, but just thought it was lame.

As a side note, I generally liked the dragon books before they devolved into science fiction. I tend to zone out when it comes to all the bits about forgotten technology. I hadn't really realized this until I finished re-reading the Dragonsinger books. But after I read them, I discovered that I liked Pern a lot better when I thought it was a parallel or alter-universe rather than a lost colony of Earth. I vaguely remember losing interest in the White Dragon when it came to the part about exploring the forgotten past relics. I guess I'm just not a science fiction person.

Anyway, I'm sad to say I can't really recommend this book. Go (re)read some of the earlier books instead.

This book was better than The Dolphins of Pern, but not near as good as any of McCaffrey's earlier works. The main "bad guy", a Lord Chalkin of Bitra, seemed so stereotyped in the beginning I nearly threw away the book in disgust. And what is with all these other sensless characters? There was too much jumping aroung form character to character and I never really CARED about any of them. However, once you get past the first 80 or so pages, it begins to get more interesting, if you've read the others in the Dragonriders series. I say if because if you haven't,despite the introduction or preface or whatever she calls it in this one, you won't have a clue what is going on. But if you have read the other books, you may find it fascinating to hear about the creation of the Star Stones and Teaching Ballads. What I thought was good was the way McCaffrey showed us these people gradually losing thier technology, and the Earth terms that are replaced by Pernese ones in the later-timed books (ie some people said Turn, others said year, showing the transition from old to new). It's sort of an opposite of All the Weyrs (losing their technology and Earth heritage, instead of regaining it in All the Weyrs), and I thought THIS was the interesting part. If McCaffrey had remembered her old style of writing (ie given us decent characters), this could have been a masterpice. But it wasn't. Thought I do reccommend it to fans of Pern history and McCaffrey's skill at worldbuilding. One final comment: WHAT is with this new artist? What happened to my hero, Michael Whelan? Why does the dragon on the front look like a pig with wings? (Hmm..maybe he's trying to make a statement: Anne McCaffrey will lose her gift of characterization when pigs fly. I guess the cover IS appropriate. Sigh.

I only discovered Anne McCaffrey as an author about a year ago. Since then I've read all of her books -- my favorites being the Dragonriders of Pern series. I love the concept, high tech to no tech, but with magical and wonderful dragons. I await each new book in the series with eager anticipation and was thrilled to be the first person in the library to read Dragonseye. I love that she went back and revisited an earlier time in Pern's history and created a whole new cast of characters for me to remember. Anne, I hope you never stop revisiting Pern and its Dragonriders and Lord Holders and Dragons