Ramoth and Mnementh

[jaqie]

I figured I would see how many others here have read this series of books, and I am also curious what everyone here thinks/thought about the series?

Myself, I just can't get enough, I am slowly acquiring the whole series.

 

[olds]

Final Fantasy XI

 

[jaqie]

bzzt. I'm sorry, you are the weakest link, goodbye.

 

[olds]

Dragonriders of Pern

 

[jaqie]

Of course, I knew it would be a matter of seconds until someone googled. As I say in the OP, I am interested in discussing some stuff with people who have read the series, such as what they think of it and how many of the books they have.

 

[Taejin]

I read the series. Mnemoth is the name of the big Bronze dragon, while Ramoth is.. is that the queen dragon? Gosh, it's been so long I don't remember. I'm pretty sure Ramoth is the queen. Ruth was the white runt dragon, right?

=P

I dont own any of the books.. I just read them all courtesy of my public library.

 

[jaqie]

Mnementh looks to F'lar, benden's weyrleader and the de facto leader of pern during the ninth pass.
Ramoth is Mnementh's weyrmate, who looks to Lessa, the last full-blooded ruathan, woman of living legend who went back 400 turns to bring back the oldtimers. She is Benden Weyr's weyrwoman, unequivocal leader of Benden Weyr. In Pern, Weyrwomen are in charge of everything domestic to the weyr while their weyrmates (whoever's dragon last flew the weyrwoman's queen) are in charge of the foreign affairs and the dragon fighting wings in times of threadfall.

Yes, Ruth is the white dragon who looks to Jaxom, who is in the very unusual position of being a lord holder and a dragonrider, which before him was unheard of. He also was born under dire circumstances and through a twist of the story, Lessa, when she was barely of age, ceded her birthright to Ruatha hold to him, he was born of lady Gemma and had a small amount of Ruathan blood in him. His father, Fax, actually killed all known ruathans ten years before, and it was during Lessa's final moments of taking control of ruatha hold from him that he was killed in a dual with F'lar whom Fax had attacked. This was when F'lar saw the power of person she was and decided she should attempt to impress the only remaining queen about to hatch on Pern.

The story is intriguing and amazing, I still don't know the half of it, but I definitely want to!
It is most of the life's work of Anne McCaffrey.

 

[Jmman]

Great series. I haven't read them in at least 20 years though. I might have to pick them up. Definitely worth a reread.....

 

[ShotgunSteven]

I haven't read the newer ones where Anne collaborates with her son, though I have the first one of those here. I received it as a Christmas gift.

I stumbled across the Harper Hall trilogy by accident when trying to find something new to read at the Middle School library years ago. That is how I first discovered her works. I have also read the Crystal Singer books, as well as the Pegasus series, some other individual novels, and probably more that I have forgotten to mention.

EDIT: Such as the Planet Pirates books, the Brainship books, and the Powers That Be trilogy. I know there are a couple of new books in the Powers series, maybe a whole new trilogy? The Twins of Petaybee or something. Haven't read the latest in that series.

 

[jaqie]

I first found "The white dragon" when I was in a mental ward for suicidality in 2002 or so. I convinced them to let me take it with me when I left, I have been entranced with the series ever since. It's a shame that book was later stolen from me, but I bought a new copy recently.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

I may have to dig out the original books and read through the whole series from the beginning, since there are are some I have not read yet and it has been a long time since I read the ones I have read. I have the first few titles in a single volume from the sci-fi book club, as well as The White Dragon and some others, but there are many that I have read but don't own, as well as others that I haven't read and do not own. I only reason I mention that last is because it wouldn't be unusual for me to own something without having read it yet, like the one I got for Christmas (Dragon's Kin, I just checked).

I have a backlog of hundreds of books to read, though I hope to make a large dent in them as soon as Uni is done for the semester.

 

[jaqie]

Ooh!
Now I am envious

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: jaqie
Ooh!
Now I am envious

The back seat of my car has no room for anyone to sit at the moment, there was a sale at a used book store.

When visiting a friend in New York a year or two ago, we went to a library fund raiser that was being held in a recently vacated building which used to house an electronics store. There were tables everywhere, and boxes upon boxes full of books.

I wound up taking an entire second suitcase full of books home, and I would have had to stuff a bunch in my primary suitcase and carry-on at the check-in area at the airport because the first suitcase was too heavy. :laugh: The woman running the scales let it slide, though.

I can quit any time I want to. I just don't want to!

 

[jaqie]

I can sense I will end up with the same habit once I get my finances in order

 

[Taejin]

I really loved the Dragonriders of Pern series. I have to say I quickly grew disenchanted with Acorna's People series though, after the first 3 books. The large number of pastels, purples and pinks on the covers of the books should have warned me

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: jaqie
I can sense I will end up with the same habit once I get my finances in order

I am getting better at the finances part. In the meantime, I am going to Barnes & Noble.

Originally posted by: Taejin
I really loved the Dragonriders of Pern series. I have to say I quickly grew disenchanted with Acorna's People series though, after the first 3 books. The large number of pastels, purples and pinks on the covers of the books should have warned me

I read the first one or two, but lost track of the series while waiting for the others to come out. I will investigate the others at the library first now, I think.

 

[jaqie]

Since the subject has changed to books in general, there are a couple others I really liked, though not as well as the pern series.

"Songs of distant earth" was one, but I just cannot remember the other. Got any reco's based on pern and distant earth?

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Dragonriders of Pern

No googling necessary. I read several of them over 30 years ago...turned my kids on to the series in fact...

 

[jaqie]

Awesome

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: jaqie
Since the subject has changed to books in general, there are a couple others I really liked, though not as well as the pern series.

"Songs of distant earth" was one, but I just cannot remember the other. Got any reco's based on pern and distant earth?

"Songs" is pretty good. MOST AC Clarke novels are good, although most are heavily dated...
I HIGHLY recommend Rendevous with Rama. VERY good novel, IMO, one of his best, and fun to read. (Not so fond of RwR 2 and 3)

Robert Heinlein wrote some very good, entertaining stuff as well.
Stranger in a Strange Land is possibly my favorite of his, followed by The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and most of the books in the Lazarus Long series.

 

[jaqie]

I would have a problem with heavily dated books, i happen to be a good bit of a femenist and reading books such as those would likely get me riled up more then anything...
Hm... stranger in a strange land, I'll have to look it up, thanks.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: jaqie
I would have a problem with heavily dated books, i happen to be a good bit of a femenist and reading books such as those would likely get me riled up more then anything...
Hm... stranger in a strange land, I'll have to look it up, thanks.

You might try Friday, also by Heinlein.

To drag the topic kicking and screaming back to its original purpose, I seem to recall thinking that the third volume of the Harper Hall trilogy, Dragondrums, didn't really fit with the other two. True, we saw plenty of Piemur in the other books, but after Menolly dominated the first two, it was kind of strange to switch to a different main character at the third.

While it IS called the "Harper Hall" trilogy, thus obviously focusing on events surrounding said Hall, it seems like it might have been better to close out the series by continuing to focus on Menolly, and perhaps write a new trilogy starting with the events of Dragondrums, or make it a standalone. If I recall correctly, some of the events in Dragondrums and The White Dragon parallel each other, or one has the cause and the other the effect in some cases, so they may have just used the third book to get those other events out there in a timely manner.

As I said, I really need to read them again, and read them all this time.

I mentioned the Pegasus series, but I forgot to mention the series that starts with The Rowan. The two series were always tied together, but the ending of the later-written Pegasus In Space series finally pulled the knot tight. Some would probably complain that the ending felt a bit forced, but it is hard to avoid such a feeling when two series, one past and one present in relation to each other, are finally joined.

I enjoyed all of those books as well.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I've read em all even including the fan fic Dragon Choice which is pretty decent, like it better then some of Todd's crap. Some are good some are meh but they did keep me entertained for a long time just because there are so many freaking books in the series.

 

[waffleironhead]

I started with the harper hall trilogy and then moved to the main story line. I have read them all up to "The Skies of Pern" I have them all in paperback in storage somewhere. Time to go looking.

 

[jaqie]

Yes, I noticed that the only one of the harper hall trilogy I have read seemed to focus sternly on menolly, and I have just got the third one, about to read it. I actually will like it if it focuses on Piemur, as despite his gruff character, I really liked him in the white dragon.

I would have to say though that my to favorite characters without a doubt are brekke and lessa, they are without a doubt the two most like me in all the pern books I have read to date.