Dragon’s Fire

It’s a little too convenient that a dragonrider just “happens” to go all the way to southern continent in order to “steal” fruit… when everyone is supposed to have forgotten it existed and how would he have gotten the coordinates….
The story is an interesting exploration of human courage and its opposite(?) craven selfishness….
The writing does not have the felicity of when Anne was writing her own books, and she also managed to write many books in which the only real enemy was thread or disease, and perhaps a bullying child who usually learned better, while this book has theft, murder, prostitution, arson, and even terrorism….
Anne’s books one could recommend to a child, as even the “mating flight” sex was described wholesomely. This book is just too grim to offer to a child….
I wanted more McCaffrey dragons…. The dragons are still nice “people” in the book… but I would have been better off re-reading an early Anne.

As I’ve mentioned in previous Pern reviews, I’ve been a fan of Anne McCaffrey’s universe for over a decade, since finding the first book on my Dad’s bookshelves. It’s always been a fascinating blend of science fiction and fantasy, heavily leaning on characterization to keep each story unique. This one was…lacking.

Even accepting that it’s designed as Pern for younger readers (which is still an odd concept when you consider how dragonriders live, but whatever), this book is over-written. I could easily lose 100 pages and there would still be a solid story. Pellar is a great character, but he’s perfect–just mute. Halla has gone through some interesting development, as has Cristov. Kindan is a bit flat in this book, but don’t worry, he’ll be back!

Overall: this is a nice, quick read for fans of Pern. But, not much happens and you only learn a little more about the world. Less dragons=less fun.

I liked the story of this one a little better than others from its time era. Maybe it was because there was overall less tragedy in this tale (although there was some), or maybe it was because it touched on something “new” in the Pern series. Firestone was always a background element in the series, but its procurement (and the logistics of maintaining a supply) were never touched on.

A lot of Todd’s literary contributions to Pern seem a LOT more thought out logisitically than Anne’s were alone. It’s noticeable in both the collaborative works as well as his singular works. Whether those logistics are accurate, I can’t say. Sometimes, they’re gone into a little too deeply or too much tied into the plot, and the characters just seem added around logistical calculations.

I still enjoyed all of Todd’s contributions to Pern, and this collaberation was probably one of the best.

These books, even with the controversy of the writing differences between mom and sibs, are always a worthwhile read. Having these books on Kindle (aka readers for phone and other tablets and computers) is a great reason to live in the 21st century. The only gripe for me is that these books that in reality, do not physically exist unless you were to Print them or order the print version, are about the same price they were when I bought some of them 30 years ago In Hardback! Also, I see that the Kindel book is more expensive than Audiobook! Amazon Greed needs pushback by customers on all fronts.

I tried to get through this but could not finish it. Not only is the writing a violent, juvenile shadow of Anne’s, but this twist to suddenly explosive firestone is just idiotic. Somehow everyone who knows about firestone suddenly dies, leaving them to pick a rock that still works, but explodes when wet? And now they have to rediscover the “original” firestone? I had to stop before my IQ was damaged.

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