Poll
Question:
Have you read any Todd McCaffrey books?
Option 1: Better than Anne McCaffrey books?
votes: 0
Option 2: Worse the Anne McCaffrey books?
votes: 4
Option 3: Different than Anne McCaffrey books?
votes: 4
1. For those waiting on coposts/sending me coposts, I'll be out for most of the day today. I have parent teacher interviews for Aimee today, then playgroup for Cailee. So won't be around until later when most of you will be in bed. (Except Bree coz she doesn't seem to sleep!)
2. What book should I be looking for after Skies of Pern?
I'm almost finished reading, so need something else (apart from all the posts that have come through the list that I printed out to read - I'm getting set to vote/nominate in the Crayons next month).
2 & a bit. There was a number three but I've forgotten it. Regardless - have a good day/night all.
AHH!
3. Have you read any Anne and Todd McCaffrey books? Are they better - worse - the same as Anne on her own?
~Kaysea :)
(If there're no typos in this post, you can blame/thank the sore finger. I am back to typing with only three fingers at the moment. Not broken, but bent dramatically...)
I hated all their cooperative efforts and don't advocate reading them at all. Completely goes against Pern as I saw it, with magical new abilities and canon Sues and ugh.
To be honest, I didn't like Todd's books. At all. I tried reading Dragon's Kin, but I couldn't get through it. And then I gave Dragonsblood a shot, got through it, but barely. Todd bent many of Anne's rules, which confused me, like her /betweening/ time paradox. And he wrote from the POV of some of my favorite Dragonsdawn characters, which I didn't really like because they are *Anne's* characters, you know? And then the young goldrider was a Mary Sue, and the story was fairly predictable.
When I bought the books, it was like I was paying for poor fanfiction and not independent, true Pernese stories, if that makes sense... :oops:
Anyway, that's just my opinion.
I won't lie... I couldn't even read the backs of his books. They just... didn't sound like something I wanted to be putting any effort into.
I didn't much care for "Skies of Pern" either, though. I'm certainly a bit biased towards the earlier works.
Yeah, I liked Anne's earlier books the best too :) But Skies and Weyrs weren't too bad! Though, I did enjoy Weyrs more than Skies...
I really didn't like All the Weyrs or Skies of Pern. Both seemed to just be turning dragons into all powerful perfect creations which just made them seem really boring. And I just wanted to laugh when they discovered all of these powers for the first time. I mean come on. How long had dragons been around and they were JUST not discovering these things?
Yeah, really *g* But I'm willing to cut Anne a bit of slack. :D
They are different. I almost go the impression that Todd doesn't know if he's writing a book for adults or teenagers., I can't seem to work out what level he's pitching at.
Note: I borrowed from the library, couldn't bring myself to buy them
I've read better writing in online Weyrs. Face it, if Todd didn't have a famous mother, he'd probably not have been published. If he had been published, he'd not have a following.
Well I wouldn't go so far as to say they're BAD books. But I did think Lenala from Dragonsblood was a Mary Sueish character. I kind of liked Dragons Kin, but that was it because it was mostly about watch-whers, and I like watch-whers. What I didn't get was if this was discovered this early why didn't people in the 9th Pass know all this? They called their wher's names like Smakie and the like, no sk ending. And I'll say I didn't HATE Dragonsblood but I liked the earlier works better. And especially HER works. What I didn't like was the way the newer ones deviate from the little things that I loved about Pern, the mating flights, the weyrlife, and all the little things.
I wasn't uber partial to Skies, but I liked All the Weyrs ok. I felt that she was over doing the 9th Pass by Skies. Like she'd run out of ideas and was scrambling to make it work.
Quote from: "Patrick"Well I wouldn't go so far as to say they're BAD books. But I did think Lenala from Dragonsblood was a Mary Sueish character. .
:erschreckt: I have a persona with the same name as a character??
No, Bree, I think her name is different, if I remember. But it did start with an "L"
I think they're just different. They aren't as good as the first half of the series, but they're more like her last half (Masterharper, Skies, Renegades). They're fun reads, and I do enjoy the watchweyr stuff, but when I go to pack a book for a drive, they're usually not my pick.
Quote from: "Bree"Quote from: "Patrick"Well I wouldn't go so far as to say they're BAD books. But I did think Lenala from Dragonsblood was a Mary Sueish character. .
:erschreckt: I have a persona with the same name as a character??
No I think I was getting my names confused because YOURS is so much better than her. Maybe it was Lorana or something.
Quote from: "Cali"I think they're just different. They aren't as good as the first half of the series, but they're more like her last half (Masterharper, Skies, Renegades). They're fun reads, and I do enjoy the watchweyr stuff, but when I go to pack a book for a drive, they're usually not my pick.
I like MasterHarper. But I think that one and Dragonseye (Red Star Rising) where the last of her great books. After that she kind of began to struggle for content. To be perfectly honest i liked how Masterharper gave us the inside story of Robinton, which was one of my FAVORITE characters, and actually Dragonseye is my favorite Pern book. Because its so different from Dragonsdawn yet also so different from 9th Pass. Its my happy medium.
Quote from: "Patrick"Quote from: "Cali"I think they're just different. They aren't as good as the first half of the series, but they're more like her last half (Masterharper, Skies, Renegades). They're fun reads, and I do enjoy the watchweyr stuff, but when I go to pack a book for a drive, they're usually not my pick.
I like MasterHarper. But I think that one and Dragonseye (Red Star Rising) where the last of her great books. After that she kind of began to struggle for content. To be perfectly honest i liked how Masterharper gave us the inside story of Robinton, which was one of my FAVORITE characters, and actually Dragonseye is my favorite Pern book. Because its so different from Dragonsdawn yet also so different from 9th Pass. Its my happy medium.
My problem with Masterharper is how it portrays the harperhalls view of females. If you take Masterharper as canon, you have to exclude the Harper Hall trilogy. I prefer to think of Masterharper as the out of canon book and look fondly on it as fanfic only.
Quote from: "Cali"Quote from: "Patrick"Quote from: "Cali"I think they're just different. They aren't as good as the first half of the series, but they're more like her last half (Masterharper, Skies, Renegades). They're fun reads, and I do enjoy the watchweyr stuff, but when I go to pack a book for a drive, they're usually not my pick.
I like MasterHarper. But I think that one and Dragonseye (Red Star Rising) where the last of her great books. After that she kind of began to struggle for content. To be perfectly honest i liked how Masterharper gave us the inside story of Robinton, which was one of my FAVORITE characters, and actually Dragonseye is my favorite Pern book. Because its so different from Dragonsdawn yet also so different from 9th Pass. Its my happy medium.
My problem with Masterharper is how it portrays the harperhalls view of females. If you take Masterharper as canon, you have to exclude the Harper Hall trilogy. I prefer to think of Masterharper as the out of canon book and look fondly on it as fanfic only.
Well I wouldn't say so. Robinton was always for female crafters and it never says Halanna and Maizella were HARPERS just girls they were teaching. And I'm sure that both Robinton AND his predecessor wouldn't want to antagonize the majority and go against them if they wanted to ban female crafters. And Merelan wasn't exactly young when she apprenticed and maybe she's an exception cause she married Petiron so they gave her an honorary mastery, it can happen. And maybe Petiron didn't want to get Menoly's hopes up in Dragonsong. As I mentioned before Masterharper was WAY after the Harper Hall trilogy so Anne may have been sloppy on keeping the lines straight. What bugged me was the MasterHEALER was a woman. One hall mix up ok, two... *shrug*
Personally, I refuse to read Todds books. Actually, after Skies of Pern I gave up on reading Pern altogether. I LOVE the originals, but after a while they just started to go down hill... I still love the whole world she created in general though... I just prefer to pretend that she stopped with the good ones (I think Masterharper of Pern was the last one I really liked). :bounce:
Masterharper. I can honestly say that if I knew how I would burn out the part of my brain that remembers reading this book. It was like Forest Gump for Pern with Robinton retrospectively placed into the history we already knew - and knew well.
I won't go on. Somebody's bound to get offended!
Anyway, crazy at it seems now I'm in a post-Aivas club, I didn't enjoy anything that came chronilogically after The White Dragon, and pretty much stopped following the series after the trauma of reading Masterharper.
Dolphins. That was mostly okay.
Best story Anne ever wrote? The Dolphins' Bell. Just sooooo perfect.
(Clearly I have replied on a very opinionated day!)
Oh that's a good one, Jane. I really liked The Second Weyr, too--out of her short stories :) Novel-wise, I think Dragonflight/Dragonquest/The White Dragon are all my favs. I can't choose between those.
Actually, I think my favorite AM book ever was The Ship Who Sang... Not Pern but a really good series none the less!
My favorites were "To Ride Pegasus" and "The Ship Who Sang", I think. "Dragonsdawn" was my favorite Pern book.
As sad as it is to say, some of AM's writing is very... dry. Dragonsdawn is probably my favorite of the Pern books, and I love the concept of the ship books... The Ship Who Searched (with Misty Lackey) is probably my favorite of those.
Strangely, the Crystal Singer books have grown on me over the years...
Quote from: "Eimi"Actually, I think my favorite AM book ever was The Ship Who Sang... Not Pern but a really good series none the less!
I totally love The Ship Who Sang! I think it ties for my second favorit along with Dragonflight (top on is Moreta). I actually was at a used bookstore and found a signed copy of the Ship Who Sang for a dollar! Its a paperback so it probably isn't worth anything... but I was excited!
I have quite a fondness for Decision at Doona myself :D
I havn't read any of them outside of Pern. But with all these great recommendations I guess I'll have to.
OK, so I guess if I really want to read the TM/AM combined books, I shouldn't waste my money, but go borrow them from the library.
I am actually enjoying the SoP, though.
As you can probably tell, I try not to let too many details interfere with a good story. :D Both in writing and in reading.... (Hence my need for a Mentor!)
Thanks for your comments though!
As for other AM books - Decision at Donna wasn't a bad one, but I love the Generation Warriors books with Lunzi Mespil (sp?) - The Death of Sleep was my intro to this trilogy and its great. If you're after a really good read, try these. They're co-written with Jody Lyn Nye (sp?).
I don't read any others, have tried Mercedes Lackey - blah - just couldn't get into it.
Have a great day all!
~Kaysea
Quote from: "Kaysea"OK, so I guess if I really want to read the TM/AM combined books, I shouldn't waste my money, but go borrow them from the library.
I bought them. But only because I'm such a die hard Pern fan. Its kind of like the Eragon movie. I'm only getting it because I'm too much of a fan to not get it.
Yeah, I'll probably buy the Eragon movie as well -- just because.
Karen, you'd probably like AMC's Freedom series.
I also enjoyed the original Petaybee trilogy with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, though I've not yet purchased any of the new series.
Quote from: "Vix"I also enjoyed the original Petaybee trilogy with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, though I've not yet purchased any of the new series.
I loved these too. Advice for the next series; use the library. I don't think you'll want to own them.
I've never actually read anything AM co-authored with anyone else. I think I started a few of them... but I feel like they come out jumbled in so weird way when there is more than one author... strange, huh? I guess it just comes down to the fact that I am an incredibly picky reader!
Quote from: "Vix"
Karen, you'd probably like AMC's Freedom series.
*thwacks self*
I
have that series... sheesh - can you tell its been a while since I did
any reading.
And yeah, I did/do enjoy them. I bought them out of sequence, but then the last couple of times have read them in sequence. Still trying to get my head around the
others, though. Seems a little like LOST, LOL.
Quote from: "Kaysea"I bought them out of sequence,
Thats how I buy all my books. Or at least the ones that are mostly completed, Like Pern, Redwall, Artemis Fowl, Young Wizards. I pick them up here and there, mostly in thrift stores.
Quote from: "Patrick"Quote from: "Kaysea"I bought them out of sequence,
Thats how I buy all my books. Or at least the ones that are mostly completed, Like Pern, Redwall, Artemis Fowl, Young Wizards. I pick them up here and there, mostly in thrift stores.
That's what I do as well, with four kids and an invalid hubby I can't afford books any other way. Grab them when I see them...
Quote from: "Kaysea"Quote from: "Patrick"Quote from: "Kaysea"I bought them out of sequence,
Thats how I buy all my books. Or at least the ones that are mostly completed, Like Pern, Redwall, Artemis Fowl, Young Wizards. I pick them up here and there, mostly in thrift stores.
That's what I do as well, with four kids and an invalid hubby I can't afford books any other way. Grab them when I see them...
Well I do it because I don't have a job... and therefore have no funds of my own and can't afford to go to the big bookstores every chance I get. But I do have a favorite thrift store which has a HUGE book section. I'm talking entire back of store Huge. I find most of my books there.
Libraries are my best friend! (college student= budget= no money for new books!)