The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
355937
I enjoy all the books in this series by this author and and have become hooked on her son's books as well.
1255607
Been reading pern novels since I was in Collage.  And was worried that thay were going to stop!  Now in my seventy first year I can go back and start agian!
3177344
What a fun read! I would love to live in Nocturne Falls, this is a great beginning to a fun series. The audible narration is fabulous and adds the perfect accompaniment.
2379025
I'm  new to this writer,  and with this first read , I absolutely  love it. I'm  completely satisfied with my purchase and I'm looking forward to reading book 1. Thank you  Jillian Dodd. :) :)
3861323
Anne McCaffrey never disappointed, and her son Todd is learning the rhthym of Pern.  This book follows Lora a as she moves through time to try to save Pern n and its drogon's from the effects of the plague.  Now that the plague has been eradicated and all the beings of Pern are safe from the illness, a way must be found to bring the number of dragons back up to full fighting strength for they down to less than a full weyer between all the weyers of the planet.
So Lorana goes forward in time to bring back dragons to help in the past.  That doesn't work, so she back only to meet a seer from the traders, then she starts her search for a place to take the young and injured back to grow and heal.
The story itself was good, the jumping time is getting a little old.  When Ms. McCaffrey used it in Dragon Flight it was new and exciting, then it was forbidden because you could lose yourself if not careful.  This generation bounces around time lines so much it is no wonder that they aren't permently muddledvand fuzzy head.  I give Todd points for keeping the story line cohesive enough that you always know 'when you are.  I just hope that it doesn't become a story line crutch for future book.
Good read if you like Pern and want to keep up with old friends in the characters.
4180492
Disollution, is the first book of a planned six book series titled War of the Spider Queen. This, being the first of the series, wastes no time in throwing us into the story right away.

Being that this is the first of the series, Byres is faced with the task of introducing us to a lot of major players and scenes. Yet, even as he's doing this you don't feel overwhelmed int he least. It's a nice steady stream of information, not the flood of information some authors tend to do at the begining of their books.

When I first heard about this series I was really excited as I enjoy reading about the world of the Drow. Yet, when I heard Byres was going to be the first author I was a little aprehensive as I am not a big fan of his. Yet, he surprised me with a well thought out plot line, character development, and overall a fantastic story. I am very pleased I chose to pick this one up.

If you are a fan of R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy, or just a fan of the Forgotten Realms you should do yourself a favor and pick up this wonderful series.
386855
I call the first story a classic because, well, in the McCaffrey Universe in my head it is.  In fact, the Littlest Dragonboy was _the_ story that got me reading Pern in the first place.  I adore this story for that reason and others.  To me, it encompasses all that Pern represents, justice, kindness and simplicity.  It is that simplicity that draws me back to this long lived series time and time again.
The second and third stories are beauties as well.  The Girl Who Heard Dragons is one of my Mother's favorites.  A sweet story with a predicitable, but still sweet ending.  The Runner of Pern is wonderful because it explores a totally new aspect of our beloved Pern, with Ms. McCaffrey's characteristic, opposites- attract romance thrown in.  A story that left me smiling like I had just seen an old friend.
Finally, the last story in the book did not sit well with me at all.  It was just too cozy and sweet.  This may sound hypocritical of me, after all, K'van's story is awfully sweet too, I just couldn't really believe this one. (I won't spoil it for you, but it's extremely predictable) Maybe the horrible event that I have been dreading has happened. Perhaps like so many fantasy readers before me I have become disillusioned with the Dragonlady.  Everyone told be the day would come, but I swore it would not happen to me.  Ah, who knows?  All I can do is cling to my fondness of The White Dragon and hope that I can hold out a little longer.
Anyway, I say buy it, or at least check it out from the library and read the first three if you haven't already.  As for the new one, which I am assuming most of you veterens of Pern are looking for in this book, I'd skip it and read any wannabe's story from one of the hundreds of fan weyrs on the web, it'll be the same thing.
3572592
This book was great way to start the series.  Its an in depth look at an emotional roller coaster that two people share during a huge blizzard. I'm very excited to see where the story goes.
4927897
I have two major weaknesses that I never got to overcome - my stupid sense of direction, and my inability to remember names. Falling Kingdoms has tested me on both.

I have never really been good with remembering names ever, so imagine my struggle to keep up with all the characters. Thank goodness there was a list of them up front. But it was kind of embarrassing to see myself going back and forth whenever I needed to recall who this character was in the first place. As for my sense of direction, well there was a map up front as well but wow, was it hard to picture which was where... I'm telling you, it was embarrassing - complete and utter shame!

Falling Kingdoms was a rather challenging book to read for me because [aside from the above mentioned], the multiple points-of-view were a lot to take in. It was harder to get to know the characters since, well; there was a lot to go around. Some of them were a bit bewildering, and yet some were quite predictable. It was hard for me to find a character that I'd root for. And the one time I actually find a pleasant character... he dies! Crap!

 I was a little impatient about waiting for the action scenes - how long before all hell breaks loose?! And yet, when it finally did, it wasn't as much as I expected and yearned for.

What I enjoyed most about this book were the background stories, the myths and legends that were spurred here and there. These bits and pieces of their history was what kept me reading even though I came to the point that it felt like this wasn't going anywhere anymore.

Falling Kingdoms had a promising story. It was nice and interesting, but it just took too long for anything to unravel, some were still even left unanswered until the end, obviously to be continued in book two, Rebel Spring.
3298897
Neato! I like the first person perspective of zed, caught in the netherworld between infected and immune. I look forward to further adventures.
483628
I really enjoyed this book, as I have all Pern novels. I was a little disappointed at the end however, everything seemed rushed as if the book was done by the deadline whether it was finished or not.  This is still a must read for Pern fans since it does deal with the main "thread" of the Dragonrider saga.  I just wish is had been a little longer in order to go into more detail about some of the characters and their views of the story.
4562657
Can you a imagine being a blamed for killing a friend?  This happened to the main character in Perloo the Bold by Avi.  Perloo got blamed for killing the leader Jolaine by Berwig, her son. Berwig wanted to take over Jolaine's place as granter but Jolaine's last wishes were for Perloo to be the leader of The Central Tribe Burrow.  Perloo has got to find out who killed Jolaine.  Perloo is facing a conflict of person vs person and also person vs. nature.
I did enjoy  It was adventurous and it was also exciting. I did not think that perloo would win and I was thinking how could Perloo survive the blizzard?  enjoy the battle that who won it was cool I could even see it in my head. I think that Perloo is a very cool I would like to meet him. I also think that the setting was good .I like perloo did not kill Berwig he spared his life and perloo left in him peace.
  The  come the battle and they won the war and they stop his bad plan to take over the world and he stop take over the world but berwig was a sacred and he did not want to battle but
He hand no skill he lattes his patter do it for him that's way he always so sacred to battle
1807959
I really enjoyed this book it reminded me of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series but with Magic and alternate god world creation going on. If you like Dragon bonding books, coming of age books, and also how to and physics books, you will like this book.  I have gotten tired recently of some YA books trending towards sullen, temperamental characters.  This is a great coming of age book of a very well mannered very likeable character and his friends.

** Following text has spoilers, so don't read further if you don't want to spoil the book***

I am not a great grammar check person, but I didn't notice any problems in that regard.  So I was never thrown out by that problem that sometimes haunts independent authors.

This book, as I mentioned, is slightly similar to McCaffrey's White Dragon book in the following ways:

1) The dragon knows its name on birth.  However at least it is so far not all the same sounding name and having hard time pronouncing the riders name.  I liked the Dragon's name, Anaya, was so very neat!

2) That the dragons were created to work with humans to defend against a life threatening other life form. In this stories case,  nasty life/magic stealing nahual.

3) Holds are created by a family or group of people "holding" onto an area successfully.  This is similar to the Pern books. However, the way the holds or "Caers" were created are somewhat different.

4) Craft Halls: farmer craft, animal craft, and different but very cool, magic halls!

5) The binding happens at birth.  In this case after feeding.

6) The main character had to help the dragon birth due to a thicker than usual shell.

7) The dragon can talk to mind to mind.

However, there are cool things that are different

Magic is in all animals and humans.  Some have it to lesser or greater degree.
Teenagers are can be sent off to other holds to try apprenticing different areas till they find one they like.
The magic follows alot of physics rules: kinetics, vectors, etc. I found this very fun following the theories on how the magic was applied.  Also that each person saw how to use magic differently.

I also enjoyed the how to's on the other crafts.

The dragon's maternal knowledge inheritance was also very neat.  It made the dragon Anaya very interesting!

As the summary says, there has to be the one who does something first.  This is the story of the first human who is able to link with a dragon to defend against the nahauls (as the trickster creation god intended).

I hope you enjoy this one as well and I am really hoping for a sequel!
324172
This is the first in a five book saga about a colony planet OSE.  It has some unusual properties as do a few sages among the population.  If you liked Anne McCaffreys "Dragonriders of Pern" and "Petabee" sagas, you'll like this series.
3433642
I really loved the first story in the Tornian series. I really loved how both characters grew together and the things they had to learn and overcome. Would definitely recommend. And they do need an editor since they were a good few mistakes but I can try to overlook those
480058
I liked this read except it did take a little to get the story line off the ground; normal with a first book to any new series. Once the book got the foundation it place it moved well and it kept me guessing on who was the villain but it played really well. I liked the factual location as points of reference as I have been to all places mentioned in the book and could see it as it unfolded. This is a good book to start if yu ca give a good solid first hour of reading.
2762381
For the child that loves dragons and stories about dragons, only one book series comes to mind that has successfully created an entire complex world of dragons and the people who love them.  Anne McCaffrey's dragonriders of Pern series has existed since the 1970s and it is still as popular as ever.  Author McCaffrey has written intricate imaginings about Pern and its inhabitants.  At once sci-fi and fantasy, she is an adept writer that fully deserves the popularity she has received.  For the child that wants an easy introduction into this world, there are two options.  They could begin at the very beginning of the series and slowly work their way through all the Pern books.  Or, second option, they could start with a book that is both kid-friendly and a wonderful Intro to McCaffrey 101.  "Dragonsong" was a book that I personally picked up in sixth grade and loved.  It is the perfect way to learn more about the dragons of Pern, their riders, and the people of the planet.

McCaffrey is smart.  She knows that this book series is so complex that it there is no way in which to begin any plot without a recap of past events.  She includes in this tale a map of Pern, a useful character list, and a Forward that deftly explains the history of the planet and its dragons.  Then we meet Menolly.  Born in a small fishing village, the girl is the most talented musician in the village, but she yearns to become a professional Harper and create music as well as sing/play it.  Unfortunately, no woman has ever been a Harper before and her conservatively minded family is determined to squash this dream of Menolly's before she shames them in some way.  When life for Menolly becomes too harsh, she escapes into the wide world and takes shelter in a cave.  There, she discovers a cache of fire lizards, small cousins of the dragons that protect Pern.  By witnessing the birth of nine of these pet sized dragons and tending to them, Menolly acquires nine faithful affectionate companions that will help her as she determines how best to live and survive.

I don't think I've adequately conveyed the plot as well as I would have liked.  Needless to say, long before Tamora Pierce made her name as the primo Heroines-In-Fantasy genre writer, McCaffrey was writing fantastic stories such as this.  Boys reading this book will undoubtedly enjoy it, but I feel that like myself when young, girls will really gravitate towards the reading.  Menolly is incredibly talented, but smothered and unappreciated by her family members.  The fact that she possesses a brilliance with music and nine tiny dragons makes her special and different and you really want people to turn around and cheer her.  When such a thing finally happens in the book, the reader is awash in joy for the character.  McCaffrey is so adept that reading this book is just a delight.  The only real problem with it comes with an odd backstory about the dragonrider Brekke.  Up until that point, the book has mostly been easy to follow and read. Suddenly Menolly is talking with Brekke's step-daughter and the reader, if they haven't read the previous books in the series, is momentarily confused and bewildered by this plot that's flown in from left field.  Otherwise, the text is perfectly good.

If you've a kid who likes fantasy (or heck, an adult for that matter) then you cannot do better than Menolly's series of Pern books, referred to as the Harper's Hall Trilogy by some.  I recommend you start them with either this book or the equally amusing (and well-written) "The White Dragon", another good Intro. to Pern book for the kiddies.  Personally, my heart belongs to "Dragonsong" and I cannot recommend it enough to those who've a love of people, dragons, and a rollicking good yarn.