This final book in the Harper Hall trilogy stars Piemur, the young apprentice who became Menolly's first friend at Harper Hall. Unlike Dragonsinger, which took place immediately after Dragonsong, Dragondrums takes place about three years later (it's mentioned that Menolly has had three Turns of instruction from Master Shonagar).

Piemur is looking forward to singing Lessa's part in Master Domick's newest song, but then something horrible happens: his voice breaks. Piemur's voice was the best thing he had going for him, musically, and there's no telling if he'll still sound as good when it finally settles. In the meantime, Masterharper Robinton has a job for him. He wants Piemur to put his natural gossip collection skills to good use and act as his spy, gathering information about the Oldtimers while pretending to be a regular drum apprentice.

Although I've reread both Dragonsong and Dragonsinger several times over the years, I've never once read Dragondrums because, to be honest, Piemur's story didn't interest me. My recent reread of the first two books inspired me to finally finish the trilogy, but I'd still have preferred a third book about Menolly to one starring Piemur.

Dragondrums turned out to be just as readable as the other two books in the trilogy, and in many ways it was more exciting than my favorite of the three books, Dragonsinger. Piemur tried to process the disappointment and uncertainty of his changing voice, learn drum measures, deal with awful bullies, and spy for Robinton without getting caught. I'd have loved a book in which Journeyman Menolly spied for Robinton while composing new songs, but I have to admit that quite a few aspects of this book worked better with Piemur than they would have with Menolly. Piemur was more of a risk-taker and more likely to break rules, whereas Menolly took her biggest risks only after being pushed into a corner.

That said, I didn't like Piemur as much as I liked Menolly. One risk he took was enormous and, as far as I could tell, at least partly inspired by greed. Instead of calling him back to Harper Hall so that he could be properly and rightfully chewed out, Robinton just gave Piemur everything he'd hoped for and wanted. The ending seemed far too easy.

I didn't realize until fairly late in the book that the story's structure was basically

Dragonsong and Dragonsinger told backwards. It was clever (maybe a bit too much so for my tastes), but at the same time it didn't have anywhere near the impact of Menolly's two books, because Piemur wasn't in as precarious a situation. McCaffrey tried to force things by making Piemur's bullies more vicious than Menolly's, and it still didn't feel quite right. At Half-Circle Sea Hold, Menolly was in danger of losing the music she loved more than anything. She was forbidden to play her own songs, she could only compose music in secret, and her own mother saw to it that her hand healed badly so that she'd be physically incapable of playing most instruments. True, Piemur's voice had broken, but there was still a chance he'd sound just as good after it settled. He was doing an excellent job as a drum apprentice, and Robinton himself had given him a job that he was supremely well-suited for. He didn't have the need or desire for a new home that Menolly had had, so the book's ending didn't pack the same emotional punch.

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As for the rest, the various mentions of the Oldtimers and of Mirrim and Path made me wish that it hadn't been so long since I'd read some of the other Pern books. I could follow what was going on well enough to understand the story, but I knew there were “big picture” things I was probably missing.

One thing this book gave me that I'd always wondered about was the story of how Menolly and Sebell became a couple. It was...a bit disappointing. Dragonsinger never gave me the impression that Sebell was interested in Menolly as anything more than maybe a future friend. In Dragondrums, Sebell began to show signs of being attracted to her, but the first (and only?) person who noticed was Piemur. Sebell and Menolly becoming a couple was at least partially a result of their fire lizards (I had no idea that fire lizards had the same effect on their humans that dragons do – that has got to be awkward). What I hadn't realized was that, given the chance, Menolly

would likely have preferred to end up with Robinton rather than Sebell, and that Robinton might possibly have felt the same about Menolly. Here's the quote:

“It wasn't just Kimi's need,” he said in a hurried voice, “you know that, don't you?”

“Of course, I know, dear Sebell.” Her fingers lingered on his cheek, his lips. “But you always stand back and defer to our Master.” She did not hide from Sebell then how much she loved Master Robinton, nor would that have ever come between them since they each loved the man in their separate ways. “...but I have so wished–” (220)

I'm...not sure how I feel about this. I always thought of Robinton as Menolly's idol and surrogate father.

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Anyway, it's tough to say whether I'd have liked this book more if it had had the years of nostalgia attached to it that Dragonsong and Dragonsinger had. I think I'd have still viewed it as the weakest book in the trilogy – still an enjoyable read, but not as good as the other two books.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I think this was the very first Pern book I ever read. A friend let me borrow it during our required reading hour in school (maybe middle school?), and I was hooked. No wonder: the Harper Hall trilogy had a lot of features that I tended to gravitate towards.

In this first book, Menolly is a nearly 15-year-old girl living is an isolated fishing village on the planet Pern. Harper Petiron, her friend, teacher, and the one who most understood her love of music, has just died. Her parents grudgingly allow her to continue teaching the village's children, at least until the new Harper arrives, but they absolutely forbid her to create or sing any of her own songs, fearing that she will disgrace the village and confuse the children into thinking they're real Harper-composed songs. Although Menolly has been told her whole life that girls can't be Harpers, music is so much a part of her that she can't bear to let it go, and life at Half-Circle Sea Hold starts to become more and more unbearable.

I had forgotten that this book began with a foreword explaining the colonization of Pern and the existence of the Thread-producing Red Star. I'm almost certain that Teen Me completely dismissed it and approached several of the Pern books, including this one, as though they were fantasy, rather than sci-fi. At any rate, this was a good book for me at the time, since I was still primarily a fantasy reader and had only recently and warily started reading sci-fi.

Nostalgia rereads don't always work out well for me, but thankfully that wasn't the case here. I enjoyed Dragonsong just as much as I remembered enjoying it when I first read it. I sympathized with Menolly, who managed to come across as being stifled without being annoying about it. I could also understand Menolly's parents' perspectives, even though I didn't agree with their actions. The village's survival depended upon everyone pulling their own weight. Although Harpers were important (they didn't just entertain, they carried news and new teachings, acted as judges when necessary, and more), there had never been a female Harper that they knew of, so Menolly's focus on music seemed like a waste of time and effort to them.

The thing I was really looking forward to was the fire lizards (tiny dragons). They took a bit to show up, which is one of the reasons why I've reread Dragonsinger more than Dragonsong, but they were still just as wonderful as I remembered. I loved reading about Menolly's efforts to try to make a life for herself and her fire lizards outside the Sea Hold, but it was her reentry into civilization that really brought a smile to my face. It was lovely to see her finally get to be around people who didn't constantly dismiss her and tell her that her dreams were both worthless and actively harmful to the people around her. And her first conversations with Master Robinton! I had forgotten how charming he was.

Although this would be a pretty good starting point for Pern newbies, there were a few things that would be confusing: Brekke's situation, and the uproar surrounding Jaxom's Impression of Ruth. Menolly learned some of the background info, but further details weren't really important to her story. To newbie readers whose interest was piqued, I'd say either start from the beginning and read Dragonflight, or try the books that deal more directly with Brekke and Jaxom (I think Dragonquest and The White Dragon, respectively), keeping in mind that those are books 2 and 3 and might bring up further questions. But hey, that's the fun thing about reading a series.

Back to Dragonsong: all in all, this was a quick and enjoyable read that reminded me of what I loved about this series. It could have used more fire lizard scenes and Master Robinton appearances, but that's what Dragonsinger is for. On to the next book!

 

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

You realize that is IMPOSSIBLE right? There's no way to answer that question!

 

So instead here are favorites that I could read again and again without ever getting tired off them.

Warning, blatant spoilers in this one! You are warned.

This is easily the weakest book in the Harper Hall trilogy in my opinion. The shift of main characters was an unwelcome surprise, the story meanders a bit, and there's plot points that just make so little sense that I found myself hurrying to be rid of the book, where I really savored the fun of the first two.

I mean, the guy steals a fire lizard egg. A QUEEN fire lizard egg. And hatches and impresses it. And everyone treats this as a cute boyish prank. No! Why? I get that he wants a fire lizard, I get that it'll probably be given to someone who in the eyes of the hall doesn't deserve it, and was being used as payment in transactions that apparently shouldn't be taking place. But he STOLE it. Stole. Goodness! And while I get that bullying happens everywhere and comes in all forms, our hero's bullying felt like they turned up the heat on Menolly's from the first few books. It's just... all of these kids are unrepentantly horrible? To the point of causing serious harm? And our poor angel, innocent in all this? I feel like maybe this would have appealed to me when I was younger though, ahd these seem to be for younger readers.

It's still a pretty well-written book, like the first two, with an immersive feel and a good look at the unique cultures and worlds of Pern. It's also a very fast-moving, quick read.  I just found it kind of boring.

This is the last book in The Harper Hall Trilogy and is quite different than the first two. The first two books were focused on Menolly, a very musically talented girl from a fisher family whose wildest dream is fulfilled when she comes to Harper Hall to be trained as a Harper. (Think mix of bard, teacher, diplomat.) She brings with her firelizards, the precursors and miniatures of the mighty sentient fighting dragons of Pern who partner with humans to fight "thread," an inimical alien life form that periodically threatens the planet. This "firelizard" young adult trilogy parallels more or less the events of the Dragonrider trilogy, which was (mostly) written first. Although my introduction to this series as a young teen was actually Dragonsong, the first in this trilogy, and I loved it, and Menolly. So I found it disconcerting when the focus on this book was Piermur, who is a minor character in the other books, and Menolly in turn became a minor character in this one. I found that disappointing, and I just can't count this as the favorite the first two books were, but this is still from the time that McCaffrey's Pern was charming and surprising, and certainly is a good read in its own right.