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| Dragon's Blood (Dragons of Pern) | 
 enlarge | Author: Todd Mccaffrey
Publisher: Corgi Books
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.53
You Save: £4.46 (56%)
New (24) from £3.53
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 59612
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 608
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0552152080
EAN: 9780552152082
ASIN: 0552152080
Publication Date: July 3, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW and promptly despatched.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Has Pern lost its spark? July 16, 2008
Todd McCaffrey's continuation of the Pern saga is a convoluted mix of Pern 50 years after Landing and 507 years after mans arrival on Pern. We are introduced to Lorana a master healer, artist and empathetic to the point of hearing all dragons and impressing accidentally two firelizards and a queen dragon. Her father has died from an accident involving a deranged animal and the rest of her family died in the disastrous plague that swept Pern 12 turns before. She befriends a Dragon Rider named J'trel who old and alone after losing his partner sees something special in Lorana and seeks to help her develop her talents by arranging passage for her on a ship so she can be the first to catalogue all the creatures of Pern. But J'trel dies and Lorana finds herself shipwrecked and alone after sending her firelizards away to save them. The riders from Benden Weyr look for Lorana knowing J'trel liked her and offer her the Weyr to stay in. Lorana accidentally impresses a Gold Dragon but it seems that Lorana may be more special than anyone first thought, Dragons have started to become sick and Lorana just may hold the key to the very salvation of Pern.
Meanwhile in the past Wind Blossom in frightened for the future of Perns dragons, there appears to be a problem with their genetics that may incur a plague for future generations. Nearing the end of her life she struggles to find the solution in a society that no longer practices or values science, the old knowledge is being lost, but could the answer lie in two firelizards who miraculously appear and who don't seem to be from their time period?
It's important to say that Todd understands the social aspects of Pern perfectly but that's as far us a can congratulate him, he's a decent enough writer but by no means brilliant, the prose isn't polished enough, the characters not interesting enough. Also he doesn't capture what I love about Pern, I would always find myself giggling at the strange little touches Anne would use to heighten her world, not out of derision but because they were so perfect. She is a very good writer and she developed the series faultlessly. Dragons Blood doesn't fit into this for me for a very simple reason, Anne's sojourns into Pern's history were used very effectively to explore important aspects of that history, using characters and events that had been talked about and some that were almost mythical, like Moreta, humanising their struggles. These were deliberately used to heighten the present day Pern. Todd doesn't do this, considering his other books that come after this, Dragon's Fire and Dragon's Harper, he is milking for all its worth a period in Pern's history that is unimportant and uninteresting, pullulated with characters that are boring and not of note. And yes Dragonheart (Oct 08) will be in this period also. I can see why he has done it, he wants to create his own staple of characters and own playground to utilise them in. That's all well and good but not if it's to the detriment of the series, one that I love, and because of this The Skies of Pern will always the pinnacle for me.
Sigh! May 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have been a fan of the Pern books since the beginning and I was very excited at the prospect of more books in the series. I was hopeful that, as the author of this book is Anne McCaffrey's son, that Todd would write in her style but I didn't find that to be the case. He tried, but didn't come close. Yes, the author knows the Pern universe, but then so do a lot of people and this book reminded me of an ambitious effort in fanfiction.
I am afraid that I found the writing style of this book rather amateurish at best. The author makes errors common to people who write too fast, in a hurry to set the story down. But most authors will then take the time to go back to fix annoying inaccuracies, such as making it clear which character is actually speaking and ensuring that characters are not both standing and seated at the same time. Small things, but very annoying to a reader who likes to be immersed in the story that they are reading and not constantly jolted out of the tale. Todd has not done this and his editors have failed him in this respect I think.
The greatest flaw of the book in my opinion was the main character. I thought that Lorana was a blatant Mary-Sue. For those who don't know the term here is part of the description of a Mary-Sue from Wikipedia:
"Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot on such a scale that suspension of disbelief fails due to the character's traits, skills and abilities being tenuously or inadequately justified. The concept is particularly characterised by overly idealized and cliched mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors. Mary Sues can be either male or female, but male characters are often dubbed "Gary Stu", "Marty Stu", or similar names.
While the label "Mary Sue" itself originates from a parody of this type of character, most characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not intended by authors as such. Another definition of Mary-Sue is a character who is too perfect to be true, i. e. one with too many positive character traits compared to actual character flaws, or being remarkably attractive in comparison to the other characters.
Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters commonly classed as Mary Sues is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful their character is into the face of the audience, which can cause the audience to dislike and even resent the character fairly quickly - kind of an "author's pet" effect."
To me, this description sums up Lorana. (The following comments contain some spoilers) She is heroically orphaned, accidentally Impresses two firelizards, befriended instantaneously by a Dragon Rider even though he was caught up in grief for his weyrmate, skilled beyond belief in drawing skills, can heal animals, can talk to all dragons, accidentally Impresses a queen dragon whilst standing in a corridor away from the Hatching Grounds, practically runs the Weyr shortly after arriving, figures out lost medical technology far beyond her grasp in far too short a time...I could go on and on. Nearly everyone loves her, finds her amazing and is concerned for her well-being, and of course she feels that she doesn't deserve their regard. I think that the author was trying to create a Lessa or a Moreta but left out the qualities that made them human and believable. Lorana is not believable in the least. She is far too talented, noble, and self-effacing to accept as being real, which makes the story come off as unreal.
The other major flaw of this story, to me, was the fortuitous place and time that Lorana's firelizards ended up when she nobly sent them away from her. Why there and then, the exact time and place that they needed to be to set events into motion? I understand that the author needed something to happen to link the two time periods but couldn't see that he explained why it happened.
There are quite a few other inconsistencies that I could quibble about here but I won't. If you read the book they will be just as obvious to you I am sure. Overall I'd say that if you are a fan of Pern do read this book, but approach it as a work of fanfiction rather than as an official book in the series. Then the flaws won't seem as blatant and you'll be able to enjoy it more.
 Not even worth a one star February 10, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Todd does not have Anne's magic. This book is obviously written by someone who has read a lot of Pern stories. The publisher was a bit too optimistic when they wrote that Todd brought fresh ideas to the series because he obviously didn't. This book is a hodge-podge collection of bits and pieces from previously published Pern books that Todd put together and it didn't quite gel. Thereby, for the long-time Pern fans, this book is a disappointment.
I find that Amazon has been a bit sneaky in advertising this book. This same exact book has apparently been published by different publishers. As far as I can tell: one by Bantam Press in April 2005 (hardcover), Del Rey Books in Jun 2006 (mass market) and by Corgi in July 2006 (paperback). Bantam and Del Rey versions of this book have about 2.5 stars with both versions sharing the same reviews like one. Corgi has 4 stars sporting an entirely different group of reviews. When you click this book from the Amazon home page it comes up with Corgi with glowing reviews. From Bantam and Del Rey it seems that this book is "currently unavailable" however you can buy from different individual sellers. However it is not "currently unavailable" from Corgi.
It looks like that Amazon wants to sell this book by dividing the reviews. Putting the low-starred reviews with Bantam/Del Rey while grouping the generally high-starred reviews with Corgi with only one odd one-starred review to make it look unbiased. Then putting Corgi's version in the front lines. That is why I placed my review from Bantam/Del Rey to this Corgi version.
I find that very sneaky indeed! However, I guess its dog eating dog in the publishing business. I recommend to those intending to buy this book to read the reviews in the Bantam/Del Rey version as well.
 Disappointing January 10, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having read a book that Todd had written with Anne I was excited about reading this ... until about half way through when I almost lost the will to continue. Starts well but then deteriorates into scientific detail and loses the plot a bit.
Awful July 24, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
The writing style, if you can call it that, is awful. It is everything that early Anne Mccaffrey was not e.g. clunky, poorly written, & leaving nothing to the imagination. Ms McCaffrey should be ashamed to let her son get away with this. It went in the bin after the first few pages. Not likely to get much for it on e-bay.
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