Reviews for The masterharper of Pern

The average rating for The masterharper of Pern based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-09-01 00:00:00 Michael Santana I've figured out why Anne McCaffrey frequently stated that the Pern novels should be read in publication order rather than by their internal chronology. It's because she couldn't be arsed to keep accurate notes about the series and didn't want her readers to catch on to that fact by noticing the errors. My favorite example of this is the rapid progress of Piemur and Jancis' relationship. At the end of The Renegades of Pern they finally slept together for the first time. Then the workers at Landing woke up the Deus in Machina who told them the story of Dragonsdawn. In the first few chapters of the next book, All the Weyrs of Pern, someone asks Piemur when the wedding will be. Because it's been all of a couple of days and they're engaged now. There's something to be said for seducing your girlfriend in the horse pasture, it seems. At first glance, you wouldn't expect Master Robinton to be a continuity error. He's one of McCaffrey's favorite boyfriends (along with Prince Jaxom the Annoying) and appears in every book set in the Ninth Pass. She seemed to have a pretty good grip on his timeline. At least she did until she decided to write The Masterharper of Pern and warp his entire life into unrecognizability. What are the facts about Robinton's life pre-1998? We can't ask McCaffrey because she's dead, but her answers would probably be a little iffy even if she were alive. So let's ask someone who's read more Pern novels than she should admit to. That would be me. Hi. Master Robinton was the leader of the Harper Hall in the late Second Long Interval/Early Ninth Pass. His father was Petiron, who ended his days working at Half-Circle Sea Hold which was conveniently located as far away from the Harper Hall as he could get. Robinton's preferred wine was Benden red, which helped save his life when he had a heart attack at the queen's open mating flight at Ista Weyr. He ended his days at Cove Hold on the Southern Continent where he, D'ram, and Lytol were in charge of the excavations at the ancient Landing site. He died along with his fire lizard Zair and Aivas after the highly improbable events of All the Weyrs of Pern. He was an older gent, most likely in his fifties at the beginning of Dragonflight which means he was around 70-80 when he died. On the whole he was a likeable character, a fatherly figure to the harpers, a steadfast friend to the Weyrs, a man who was passionate about gathering and disseminating knowledge to everyone. And then Masterharper of Pern comes along to stomp all over that last statement. The first grand offense against continuity committed by this novel is having Robinton's mother be a member of the Harper Hall. Who remembers why Menolly was such a big deal when she became an apprentice harper? All together, class: It was because girls were not accepted as Harpers! In the early Pern novels a woman's lot was not a fulfilling one for ladies with career ambitions. Most women were wives and mothers; the lucky ones who were Searched were able to do more with their lives than be brood mares. This is an example of McCaffrey trying to retcon Pern into some kind of utopia which is a big reason why all the novels after the first half of Renegades of Pern sucked. But I can deal (barely) with Mastersinger Merelan. McCaffrey begins to attempt to explain why the number of women in the Hall dropped to zero near the end of the book, but the problem is she spent too much time on the bullshit at the beginning when she turned Robinton into the prototype Golden Child. For you see, my friends, young Robinton was a child prodigy who could play every instrument perfectly by the time he was three, who could write music when he was five, who rewrote the Teaching Ballads, and also sang the Question Song for the Benden Weyrleaders. (Astute readers will recall that in Dragonflight Robinton clearly stated that he had just rediscovered this ballad before he sang it to Lessa.) Just to cram his wonderfulness down our throat even more, McCaffrey adds daddy issues. Petiron was so wrapped up in his composing and his wonderfully gifted soprano wife that he just didn't have the time to care about his son. He basically ignored Robinton for the first five or six years of his life, which sent Robinton straight into a borderline unhealthy relationship with his mother. The majority of the book deals with this. Because that's what we really wanted to know about the Masterharper, right? We wanted to hear'in excruciating detail, no less'all about the freaky weird love triangle between Merelan, Petiron, and Robinton. The one that ended up with Petiron and Robinton arguing over who loved her more after she died? Yeah, that one. The second major continuity error comes when young Robie first meets a dragon. He's able to talk to it. Astute readers once again may remember that Robinton couldn't hear dragons until he had his heart attack and Ramoth and Mnementh started talking to him to keep him alive. After that he heard them a couple more times, but only when they contacted him directly. (These same astute readers will also remember that only powerful queen riders like Lessa could hear all dragons in addition to their own. Men could only talk to their own unless circumstances warranted, like the heart attack.) With the introduction of dragons comes the name-dropping segment. Robinton meets every single person who's important in the later Pern novels. He runs into young Raid, later Lord Holder of Benden when he's just a stuffy youth. His best friend is young Falloner who later becomes F'lon, father of F'lar and F'nor. He encounters C'gan, later known as the first rider to die of Threadscore in the Ninth Pass. He works at High Reaches for a while where he meets and immediately dislikes Fax. In later chapters he sees Lessa as a toddler in a scene that's not completely shoehorned in at all. Oh and while I'm thinking of it, McCaffrey rips off Menolly's table-walking scene at the end of Dragonsinger for Robinton's own promotion to journeyman. At fifteen, which was supposed to be obscenely young. Because going back and checking on Menolly's age at her own promotion (14) would be too hard. Then there's the pointless marriage that's only there to add some tragedy to Robinton's life (as if this hatchet job disguised as a novel wasn't tragedy enough). He meets Kassia at High Reaches and immediately falls in love with her like every other guy in the Hold. However, none of the others are Mr. Perfect Robinton, so they can't make her forget her dead husband and fall for them. But, alas, they decided that they should go on a late autumn cruise for their honeymoon. I would like to point out that Kassia was a sailor raised in a family of sailors. This is important because late autumn is a dangerous time to be out on open water in northern climes. You would think someone with sailing in her blood would know that. Even I know that and my family hasn't been on the water in three generations. Long story short, the newlywed couple runs into one of these dangerous autumn storms and Kassia catches a chill which later kills her. Robinton gets mopey and goes back to the Harper Hall where he ends up working with the Masterharper until his inevitable promotion. And this is where the real story should begin. Fax is taking over the northwest, hold by hold, and the other Lord Holders are doing nothing. F'lon is killed in a fight that is completely ripped off from the climactic wedding knife fight in Dragonquest (it's even at the same flippin' Hold for cryin' out loud!) and the Weyr folds in on itself. Fear grips the continent as society begins a slow, downward spiral. This is the kind of situation that breeds heroes. What is Bargen, future Lord Holder of High Reaches doing as he hides with his supporters in the abandoned High Reaches Weyr? How are F'lar and Mnementh doing over in Benden as they chafe against R'gul and Jora's mismanagement? Why won't the other Lord Holders join forces against Fax? How does the Harper Hall deal with all these issues in their role as the mediating and educating force of society? What's up with the spies? Hell if I know. The meat of the story is handwaved away so that we can get to the gristle masquerading as juicy bits. Like, did you know that Robinton was actually Camo's father? But he couldn't love his birth son because Camo was a little slow and therefore not smart enough to warrant paternal love or attention. (The obvious parallels to Petiron are simultaneously ham-handed and ignored by our Lady Author which is a feat I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't read it with my own eyes.) But then Sebell comes along and Robinton transfers all his fatherly affection to him. For you see, Sebell is the son of Robinton's mother's cousin. This is clear when he demonstrates the family tendency towards annoying precocity. (He also steals Menolly's multiple pipes several years before she made them on the other side of the continent.) The novel finally grinds to a halt when Robinton gets word that dragonriders are going to Ruatha hold. In a moment of blinding imbecility, he decides that he's going to disguise himself as a drudge so he can see what's going to happen. How did he know something was going to happen? Apparently precognition comes with the title of Masterharper. This is the point where I uttered a vile profanity and closed the book. Do yourself a favor, pretend the Pern series ends after Dragonsdawn. You'll save yourself a lot of heartbreak.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-10 00:00:00 Richard Mac Dowell I remember Robinton, Masterharper of Pern always being one of my favorite characters. Rereading this just emphasized that fact. This is the story of his life from a newborn until a bit after he becomes the Masterharper of Pern. He is an incredible character with a wonderful story. His mother and father are both talented musically, which enhances the musical talent in him that he is a prodigy. He is close with his mother and really has no relationship with his father. His father is jealous of him because of the time he takes with his mother. The people in the Harper Hall pretty much all raise him. He turns out to be an incredible person, an amazing talent and one who can speak to dragons. He goes through a lot as he grows up and the story is never dull. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and am looking forward to the coming books. It definitely brought back all the love I had for these books. The previous books were alright, but this one shows the real talent of Anne McCaffrey and why the stories of Pern are so captivating and loved.