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The Masterharper Of Pern (1999)

The Masterharper of Pern (1999)

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Rating
4.19 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0552142743 (ISBN13: 9780552142748)
Language
English
Publisher
corgi

About book The Masterharper Of Pern (1999)

Warning: I am in love with the books by Anne McCaffrey, and have been for over 20 years. I do re-read my favourites often, a few at a time, so there will be more reviews in the next few days. Master Harper Robinton plays a big part in most of the books in this series, so his own history is always a good one to start with. Almost from the day Robinton was born, his father Petiron has been jealous of the time his wife Merelan spend with him. Petiron was madly in love with her, and he wanted her attention fixed on him, and the complicated music he wrote for her beautiful voice. He ignored Robinton if possible, and never noticed his child’s unusual gift for music. So what if the drum the boy made was not up to his standards, Robie was only 5 at the time! What Petiron also did not know, was that Robinton has been composing his own music from age 3, variations on melodies. On Pern, the children are thought everything they need to know my harpers, and for the most important things, there is a teaching ballade. To make them easier to remember, Robinton made up his own tunes, and he loved helping other children. The other masters and the Master Harper helped Merelan (who of course noticed everything Robinton did) to nurture his love for music, and made sure that he was kept out of Petiron’s way as much as possible.And when Petiron did find out at last, hurt that Merelan kept things like that from him, and he intends to take over Robie’s education, Merelan just leaves him. Taking Robie with her, she sets out for Benden, where they are in need of a Singer of her qualities. And there Robie meets his first best friend, Falloner, who will be a bronze dragon rider. Falloner and his father believe that the stories of Thread are true, and that it will fall in another 30 years or so, but most of Pern doesn’t believe anymore. They don’t honor the dragonriders who will defend the planet with their own lives, and that of their dragons. And as there is only one dragon Weyr left, instead of 5 full Weyrs, they are not going to be able to safe the whole planet again. Unless a miracle happens, but that is a story in another book. When they are finally back at the Harper Hall in Fort Hold, Petiron keeps ignoring his son as much as possible, and Robinton is only too happy to be able to go live in the apprentice dormitories. As he loves teaching and helping those slower in class, he easily makes friends, especially when the other children see how his own father treats him. Never a good word, only criticism and sharp remarks. Robinton keeps hoping one day his father will approve of him, love him as a father should, but that day never comes. And so, when Robinton makes the rank of journeyman, the Master Harper send shim out all over the place on assignments. Learning there is more to being a harper than knowing music and how to sing and play and make instruments. He is to be knowledgeable in the law of Pern, the Charter, and to mediate in disputes. One of his assignments also brings him into contact with Fax, a greedy young man who will grow up into a dictator, who has never enough land and holdings and wives. The lords Holder are reluctant to make a move against Fax, and so he can continue to steal other peoples Holds and what ever else he fancies. All the while sowing hatred and distrust against the harpers and the dragonriders. At another place, Robinton falls in love with a sweet young woman, but unfortunately, his happiness is not there to last long. Pern is not an easy world to live in, it has many dangers, and much knowledge and skills have been forgotten that the Ancients took for granted.But life continues for Robinton, he learns what he can about the different provinces of Pern, and the people that live in it, high and low. And at a still young age, he makes Master Harper of Pern himself, as times are changing, and Pern needs a strong Master Harper to cope with it all. A great book, a great story, that made me laugh and cry and that I will undoubtedly read many more times. The spine has faded, and the pages are coming loose, so it is time I bought a new set. Master Harper Robinton, with his love of live and people and knowledge, and especially the great Benden wine, is one of my favourite characters in this series. His life is not easy, but as his mother said, great gifts come with a price.I do recommend this series to everyone who loves fantasy, or dragons, or just well written stories. I am very sorry that there never will be more new books by Anne McCaffrey. I just don’t like her son Todd’s writing style, the books he has written have lost their humor and lightness and are just gloomy.10 stars.© 2013 Reviews by Aurian

This is the story of Robinton from his birth until the day that Jaxom, Lord Holder of Ruatha is born. I loved this book and I hated this book. I loved this book because Robinton is one of my favorite characters in all of Pern. I hated this book because I realized that Robinton is a father and he's not a very good one. He is a better father than his was, but that is not saying much.Robinton's father, Petiron, is an abysmal father and not even that great of a person. He is an incredibly talented composer, but he is also an arrogant, demanding, neglectful, spoiled, jealous, prima donna. Everyone in Harper Hall, especially his wife, do Petiron and everyone else on Pern an extreme disservice by continually making excuses for Petiron's reprehensible behavior in the name of his talent. Everyone is so concerned about his precious ego that no one bothers to tell him that his attitude, behavior, and actions are completely out of line until it is far too late.Robinton's mother, Merelan, is even worse in my opinion. She is portrayed in the story as the loving, all suffering mother torn between the man she loves and her child. To me, that is not a contest. When you give birth to a child, you take on the responsibility of protecting that child from all abuse until that child reaches majority. Petiron was nothing short of emotionally abusive to his son and rather than DO HER JOB and PROTECT HER SON, Merelan makes excuses for Petiron and teaches Robinton to hide his true self from his father. She even goes so far as to insinuate, more than once, that things are better between Petiron and herself when Robinton is not around. That is the worst thing a parent could ever say and I loathed her character for it. In my eyes, Merelan repeatedly FAILED in her most sacred responsibility as a mother and no amount of kind words could make that any different. In spite of this, Robinton grows up a musical genius with a kind, loving and sensitive personality. All his life he had to tiptoe around his father's delicate ego. He was continually told that things would be better between his parents if/when he was not there. I was very disappointed to discover that Robinton was a father. Robinton was not unkind to his own child, but because that child was not what he expected or longed for, he chose to treat the harpers in his hall as his children. He always provided for his child and was always kind, but the attitude of "Oh, my kid is not what I wanted in a kid, so I will make my harpers my children and shunt my biological child off to the side" is so abhorrent to me, that it brought Robinton down a few notches in my eyes.The story itself was superb. It moves rather quickly as there are nearly 50 years covered in it. However, the fast pace makes every twist seem that much more exciting. I gave it 5 stars because I will absolutely read it again.

Do You like book The Masterharper Of Pern (1999)?

I have been reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern books for many years. I discovered them when I was twelve, and over the course of that summer I devoured all that had been written. I adored them. I adore Masterharper Robinton. I have a print of the portrait of Robinton that Robin Wood did for her People of Pern book. I always thought a book about Robinton would be great, and I wanted to like The Masterharper of Pern when it came out. I expected a lot from The Masterharper of Pern, and I was greatly disappointed. Ms. Caffrey seems to have written this book in a vacuum. It does not fit in at all with the impressions of Robinton's early life and life at the Harper Hall at the end of the long interval that she gave in her earlier books. She gives short shrift to story lines and characters she had alluded to in earlier (written) books, while focusing on entirely new characters created for this book. If these other events and people were so integral to Robinton's life--why were they never mentioned later in his life? Ms McCaffrey fell for the same pitfall that many writters of prequels encounter. That said, I am sure Pern fans will still want to read The Masterharper of Pern, but it won't be one of those books to make it into the reread pile. Instead when you get a hankering for Robinton and the Harper Hall, I would suggest listening to the companion CD of the same name recorded by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman. The cd is definitely the best thing to have come out of the book.
—Kat

So good to re-enter the world of Pern. It's been awhile. Rediscovered this while going through boxes to decide which books to offer up at a garage sale. Could not get rid of this one. Read it for the first time many years ago. Delightful side story about Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern. So many familiar characters and story lines visited and reminded of and seeing all of them from Robinton's P.O.V. makes this a wonderful book! I love how McCaffrey was able to do that without it being just a repeat. Surely the specific dialogue sections are repeats but getting into Robinton's head helped me to understand the character's actions and reactions. As a writer myself I can see how cut scenes can be of use when writing subsequent installments of a series. I think that I will reread the entire Pern series from beginning to end and have a better understanding of the entire story line. An enjoyable task to be sure.
—Allynn Riggs

Anne McCaffrey loved this character and it shows here. Robinton is a bright, musical child born in to a family of Harpers who is destined for greatness from the beginning.As with any good story, Robinton has his share of tragedy, from the estrangement of his father, the death of his young wife and best friend, he feels pain like any other person. He takes his pain and makes music of it.McCaffrey does her usual solid job of tying various threads from other stories in to the tale. Most notably at the end is the scene of Lessa helping to bring about the fall of Lord Fax, who has attempted to conquer several holds around his own. The scene and some of the things that lead up to it are told in a short story called "Weyr Search" (found in A Dragon-Lovers Treasury of the Fantastic)The Brilliance Audio version is read by Dick Hill, who does a good job giving the characters distinct voices and vocal mannerisms that make them come alive.
—Matthew

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