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The Dolphins Of Pern (1997)

The Dolphins of Pern (1997)

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Rating
3.91 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0345419383 (ISBN13: 9780345419385)
Language
English
Publisher
del rey

About book The Dolphins Of Pern (1997)

This book takes place years later than the Harper Hall trilogy. AIVAS has been discovered again at Landing, on the Southern continent. It has promised to help to rid the world of Thread forever, and is educating the population to its purposes. It needs to learn the specifics of the Dragons powers, and their bond with their riders, and it needs to bring the planet to a much higher technological level. Of course there are always people who are against improvement and change, and there is violence between both camps.Still, one of the wonders to discover on Pern, are the shipfish. Of course all the fishers know it is bad luck to trap a shipfish in your nets, and there are many stories of them saving people from drowning. But to think they are intelligent and can talk? It is not until Alemi and young Readis get saved by shipfish, that they hear them talk and believe it. And AIVAS confirms what Alemi reports to him. The shipfish are dolphins, who came to Pern from earth, with the original colonists. To work alongside men in charting the oceans of this wondrous new planet, and tell the fishers where the best fish are swimming. To save people from drowning in storms, but they are also a very valuable tool for the Healer hall. With their sonar they can tell the Healers often what is wrong with a patient. So much knowledge has been lost, but many people refuse surgery, even if it will save their life, or that of their loved ones. Master Oldive has a long way to go to get his Masters and Journeymen to embrace the new knowledge AIVAS provides. Readis is grateful to the dolphins for saving his life, and he is really interested in those creatures. They are so friendly, and they love the new contact with man. They never forgot their duties, even though men forgot about them. But his mother doesn’t want him to consort with them, she even blames them for the bad thorn he got in his foot, that nearly cost him his leg. And so Alemi builds a relationship with the Paradise River pod on his own, and they really help him with his fishing, telling where the schools are swimming, warning of bad weather, and even warning about invading ships from the North. Other people are interested in the dolphins as well, like Master Fisher Idarolan himself, and he too has many hidebound masters under him who don’t want to believe that shipfish are intelligent and can talk. Talking is for humans, not for animals. But those that listen to him, and listen to the dolphins, improve their catches.Bronze rider T’Lion is also very interested in the dolphins since he met them that first time with Alemi in Monaco Bay. Whenever he has some spare time, he spends it on the beach. His bronze dragon Gadareth likes the dolphins as well, they help him scrub his belly in the sea, and he enjoys the games they play. But still, people don’t think dolphins as important as people, and when there are some badly injured ones after the big storm, it are TLion and Readis who take care of them, when the human healers don’t want to take the time. And they get in trouble for it as well. SO when Readis’ mother orders him to never see the dolphins again, he refuses. He has obeyed her for the last ten years, and has never been alone in the ocean with them. But now she has gone to far, he won’t promise, and that leaves him no other choice but to leave home. A few days further along the coast he finds some caves that are perfect for the first Dolphin Hall of Pern, and he sets out to provide for his own shelter and food, and a life jacket so he can swim with the dolphins. Another of my favourite books by Anne McCaffrey, with lots of characters from previous books. Like Readis’ parents, and Alemi and Menolly, the Master Harper Robinton and firelizards. Still, the dolphins ad a great new species to the mix, more available to everyone than the firelizards and dragons as they bond to one specific human. I love Anne McCaffrey’s writing style, she writes such lifelike characters, people you want to make friends with. I care for them, I cry with them and for them, and I am happy for them when they find their own place on Pern. I think you can read this book as a stand alone, as there is a long prologue with explanations of this world in the front of the book. 10 stars.© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

How magical it is to come back to a world I love and to visit characters I've come to know and enjoy seeing them again. I haven't read a Pern book for at least 10 and probably 20 years, though Dragonflight,Dragonsong,Dragonsinger and The White Dragon have been re-reads, not for many years. I stopped the series at The Dolphins of Pern mainly because the stories became more disjointed and running in a different direction than the original two trilogies. They were interesting but not gripping like the first six. But I decided to come back to it after being frustrated by incompetent investigations in current UF series. I decided I needed a new story, wrote in an old way. There is no incompetence here (other than an overprotective mom) and there is a nice storyline with some new characters and many old.It is hard for me to rate this because I really liked it... but it really isn't a very cohesive story. It is almost like a few stories happening at the same time, many regarding the dolphins, but not all. There is the "new" conflict with Torric, and the planning for the future of the dragons and Weyr once there is no more thread. We go back and forth to the different holds and Weyrs getting a little of some stories that go together and a bit of some that just happen to be happening. The "main" story, if you could call it that, is of Readis, it starts with him being 5 and he and Alemi being saved by the dolphins, there are time jumps and he is 5 years older and then 10 years older, being 16 at the end of the book. At the same time, we get a little more of Aivis and the other characters from previous books. It expands on the new knowledge, the southern continent, and future plans. I like the new characters of T'Lion and Readis and seeing as they are looking to a different future than that of their fathers. Still it is only part of the book.It almost seems like a transition to the final installment, which I think it might really have been. Chronologically, The Skies of Pern is the last book/storyline. All the rest happen in the past, including those penned by her and her son, and just her son. I doubt I'll ever read those as really the series lost its greatness for me after the first 6, still the others were worth reading, the same goes for this one.I really enjoyed coming back to Pern and I'll probably go on and read the last of the original series The Skies of Pern; just to see where she takes it though it looks pretty straightforward. This one is a transition to the chronological end.

Do You like book The Dolphins Of Pern (1997)?

I can't tell you how many times I've read this series. Just read this title again, and it still doesn't disappoint. Telepathic dragons, strong female characters, great relationships, and the Harpers' guild and music as a strong guiding force. What could be better? In hindsight, I still enjoy reading the series in order written (versus actual chronological order of events). I especially like how McCaffrey shifts her point of view in different books, retelling the same events from someone else's perspective. This title retells some events from "All the Weyrs of Pern," focusing on the dolphins that had been brought to Pern with the settlers. The dolphins are another animal species that can talk to humans, rediscovered 100+ years after the original settlers.On to the next Pern title!
—Vicki Jaeger

Masterfisherman Alemi and young Readis of Paradise River Hold are shipwrecked and brought to shore by shipfish/dolphins. Readis becomes fascinated by dolphins much to the dismay of his parents, who want more for their son. Readis learns more from Aivas and his own experiences with the dolphins. T'lion along with his bronze Gadareth of the Eastern Weyr enjoys helping the dolphins as much as he can. T'lion and Readis becomes good friends, both are always trying to help the dolphins. Aramina blames the dolphins for Readis's injury despite Readis claiming it's his own fault. When T'lion and Readis help two dolphin calves instead of helping around the Hold's. Readis's mother wants him to promise to nothing more to do with evil shipfish but Readis replies he can not do that. What will happen to Readis and T'lion? Will Readis be found? Can Readis become a dolphineer? Your answers await you in The Dolphins of Pern.
—Angie ~aka Reading Machine~

I read this long ago. I recently picked up a large collection of McCaffrey hardback (many first edition) novels. I felt somehow in Her presence as I was about halfway through this book when she passed to 'between.'This is not my favorite book of the Pern novels, but it ranks very high. I am passionate about dolphins and swimming... and dragons. But at times I wished for more of Readis's life than the life of the 'politicians' of the planet. I wished for more science discovery. There was a lot of that, but I wanted more. But I know these are the threads of the next books and the evolving of Pern, so I shouldn't complain.Though I have the hardback, I now prefer to read on Kindle where it doesn't hurt my eyes. And at times I need the audio version to listen to when my eyes get tired. Since the text to speech tool didn't work on this novel I downloaded the Audible version. Hearing a human voice narrating is always preferable to the computerized versions, anyway. Mel Foster's interpretation was different than what I expected. I think, knowing that Anne McCaffrey is of Irish descent, I expected a brogue to come from the sea holds rather than what sounded a southern drawl. But that was Mel's interpretation and I soon adjusted. He did a decent job keeping the character's voices dissimilar enough to know who was talking when. I look forward to 'worming' my way through all of Anne's books, those I have read and those I haven't yet. I hope I can afford to use Audible/Kindle help to do this. R.I.P. to my most favorite author.Let the all humans, firelizards, dolphins and dragons keen:Drummer, beat and Piper, blow Harper, strike and Soldier, go Free the flame and sear the grasses As the dawning Red Star passes...Until eternity passesFor Anne McCaffrey
—Darlene

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