Online Extra's

One of the best things about a good series is the world building.  Some authors have created such complete worlds that they cannot put all of their ideas and stories into the actual books.  I love it when this happens 'cause now a days they tend to create online sites for all the extras!  To me reading through some of these sites makes the books that much richer and more complete.  Chalk up another plus for technology.  Here are some of my favorite extra's sites.

The Harry Potter Lexicon - This all inclusive website gives us page by page info, extras and links to even more Harry Potter goodness.  There is so many cross links and rabbit hole possibilities that I can (and have) spent almost as much time clicking through the site as reading the books.

Pottermore - Just like the name implies, this site is more of Harry Potter.  More illustrations, more stories, more details, more interactions.  It is a great way for those of us who love the series to continue to explore the rich wizarding universe.

InCryptid Field Guide - This handy little field guide give those of us who want to delve into the varied and rich history of Cryptids in Seanan McGuires IncCryptid world need look no further then her website.  Add to this a great listing and description of the series books and a whole TON of short stories (seriously gonna have to take a sick day to read them all) makes this site a massively cool extension of an awesomly great series.

A Wheel of Time Wiki - Anybody who has read the Wheel of Time series can tell you that as awesome as it is, a guide is definitely needed (unless you have a photographic memory) to try and keep the people, cultures, places and story lines straight.  I had a friend who tried to do this using colored pennies but had to stop after he almost when bankrupt (teeheehee).  This guide is much easier and bit less bulky.

Tolkien Gateway - When Tolkien wrote his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, he intended it to be one piece in a larger mythology...that he then proceeded to write.  If one has the time and enough pots of coffee you can discover on of the most detailed worlds in literary existence, with each story and character linking to each other in fantastic ways.  This wiki helps us keep all the strands of this beautiful tapestry from getting to tangled.

Dragonriders of Pern - One of my first introductions to a series where the world was as important as the story and characters, the books of Anne McCaffery and Pern in particular have inspired my imagination and fueled my devouring of books like no other series.  This wiki gives us just a bit more information, and a bit more time in the world I love so very much.

There are a ton other great sites dedicated to other literary worlds of awesome that I can't wait to explore...so off I go down the rabbit hole, you all start on these and we will meet back here and talk ok?  Happy Reading Everybody!

Parallel Earth Resources Negligable

Today we get to go back to Pern YAY!  The book The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall by Anne McCaffery is a collection of stories giving us a quick history of our beloved Pern.  It takes us from the initial survey of the planet, to the mass exodus to the Northern Continent, to the spreading out of the colonists to one last rescue run.  Here is a quick overview of the stories in the book, as always SPOILER AHEAD!

The Survey of P.E.R.N. - This is the shortest story of the bunch and just gives us a quick overview of the planet before anybody arrived to colonize it.  The survey group is tight on time so they just do enough of a look to declare it habitable.  There are hints of the menace of Thread, but nobody realizes what it is.  This story ends with the suggestion that the planet be colonized.

The Dolphin's Bell - With the double menace of Thread and the volatile seismic activity of the local volcano's the entire colony has to move to the north.  This story follows them through storms, volcano's and the sheer logistics of moving an entire population with dwindling resources.  We see the dolphins which play a roll in later books and meet some of the people that places are named after.  We start to see how the society moves from high tech to survival and the beginnings of the dragon riders becoming their own group.

The Ford of Red Hanrahan - The colonist have all been crowded into Fort Hold and are ready to start expanding to the rest of the continent.  Red, his family and a portion of the colonists go to found the new Ruatha Hold.  This story shows how the colonists make the transition from well colonists to true people of Pern.  They start there own traditions, names, and social structure all while morphing into the Pern we know and love.

The Second Weyr - The dragons are outgrowing their first Weyr, and with the people of Pern spreading further out, the need for more Weyr's has become pressing.  We follow the young dragon riders as they establish new Weyr's, new customs and cement their role as protectors of Pern.  It is cool to see the stuff that is accepted as the norm in later books get developed here.

Rescue Run - A passing space ship picks up an almost 50 year old distress signal sent by an individual when Thread first started falling.  When the crew arrives they find Stev Kimmer and his family the sole survivors of the Southern Continent.  Due to the low level of technology and the thickness of the caves, the Northern contingent are not noticed and it is assumed that they are the only ones.  They (with a few mishaps) are rescued and the planet is marked as dangerous and no other ships come.

The coolest part about this book is if you have read the other ones, it makes thing very clear.  The Pern books tend to start from their present with no more then hints of the history of the people who live there.  This book gives us quick glimpses into the major events that shaped Pern into the form it is now.  It's a pretty straight forward, easy read that is broken up in perfect chunks.  I give it 8 out of 10 air sleds and recommend it to anybody who is a fan of Pern.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Flight Of The White

Hello All.  Last week was a good one for me as far as finishing books go, so many a ramble is in our future.  Let's start with The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey, the third book in the Dragonriders of Pern series.  This finishes the first trilogy in the series and sets up a lot of the future books.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

This book mostly follows young Lord Holder Jaxom and his unusual white dragon Ruth.  Jaxom is frustrated, he and Ruth are not allowed to train as a normal dragon and rider team as he cannot be risked in Thread fall as this would put his Hold in contention and possibly cause more war.  He also is not actually in charge of his own Hold, as his guardian the Warder Lytol is acting as steward until Jaxom is confirmed...which seems to be a really long way off.  After a bit of an outburst, Jaxom is given more responsibility and starts to attend classes outside of his hold.  In frustration Jaxom starts to sneak off under the pretense of visiting a girl (which he does as well) to try and teach Ruth to chew firestone and breathe fire.  He along with ever other dragon are summoned to Benden Weyr when it is discovered that the queen egg has been stolen by the Oldtimers who have been banished to Southern Weyr.  This obviously makes everybody upset, but the angriest is the Weyrwoman Lessa, who vows to get the egg back, even if it means dragon against dragon violence, which is unthinkable.  Jaxom gets a visual of where the egg is from the firelizards and times it to get the egg back to Benden, getting Lessa to calm down a wee bit. Jaxom is allowed to train with the other Werylings and learn to fight Thread...as long as nobody realizes he is actually fighting Thread.   Jaxom and his harper friend 

Menolly are assigned various tasks, some which take them to the Southern continent, where they realize that a trio of stars called the Dawn Sisters do not follow normal star patterns. Jaxom falls ill with a Southern illness and is forced to a long recovery, lucky for him he fell ill at what becomes Cove Hold, a beautiful little bit of land on the Southern Continent.  While he is sick, a mating flight at Ista Weyr almost goes horribly wrong when a couple of the Oldtimers bring their old bronzes to try and fly the new queen dragon.  One of the old bronzes dies in flight and his rider goes mad and is killed by the Benden weyrleader F'lar.  D'ram, one of the reasonable Oldtimers takes over Southern Weyr and restores it to true dragonrider standards.  During this whole mess, Masterharper Robinton suffers a heart attack, and is ordered to rest.  Back at the cove, Jaxom has fallen in love with Shara, the younger sister of the only Holder on Southern, and one of the people to nurse him back to health. A proper hold is built in the cove and Master Robinton is brought down to recover and live in the newly dubbed Cove Hold.  While everybody is down there, they decide to survey the continent on dragon back.  They discover a mountain that shows evidence of being a volcano, and many regular mounds that they assume cover old holds.  They also observe the Dawn Sisters with what they call a far viewer and discover that they are actually metal ships, not stars.  After much digging they discover what is probably the original landing spot of their ancestors before the volcanic activity and Thread drove them to the rockier, stabler and more easily protected North.  The dragon riders secure half the continent for themselves to farm and sustain themselves during intervals, and open the rest for settling.  Jaxom is confirmed as Lord Holder, marrying Shara and letting Lytol go to Cove Hold to help with the excavation project.  Everybody is very hopeful for the future and they all live ever after.

So that was a really long synopsis and I only hit on the big major points.  I think that may be one of my favorite things about these books is the sheer amount of story that is packed in.  Ms. McCaffrey does not spend to much time on angst or lengthy introspection, but keeps the rich story moving.  That is not to say there is not emotion, or growth or introspection, it just means that it happens along with the story instead of grinding it to a halt as we read a chapter on how lonely so and so is.  In this book in particular I like how the personal growth and maturation of Jaxom and Ruth mirror the growth of Pern.  We get a personal story, one we are invested in and tie it into the bigger world history and growth that the author started back in the first book.  I feel this is a good way to tell a big sweeping planet wide story, while still keeping the reader 

invested in a smaller personal story.  I do get a bit sad when they talk of not needing dragon riders anymore, because I feel they are such an integral part of Pern's culture...but I guess eliminating, or at least lessening a deadly menace is a good thing :-)  I also felt that Jaxom and Ruth had a bit of special snowflake syndrome, which is to say, they get to be everything, Lord Holder, dragonrider, favorites of the ruling Weyr, favorites of the Masterharper, friends with all the important people, they are the fastest, the best at timing it, and Ruth is just the most intelligent, well spoken dragon out there.  This is tempered a bit by not having Jaxom, actually be in charge of his own life for most of the book, he is only allowed to do what Lytol  and N'ton, the High Reaches weyrleader allow him to do.  The discovery of the Original Landing, really brings this series into a more sci-fi type of story and less of a pure fantasy one.  I love this rediscovering of Pern's history and the stories that follow.  Again this book sets up more discoveries in future books, and is confirmed in really cool ways in a couple of the authors "prequal" type stories.  Overall this book is a solid entry in the dragonrider series, I give the book 7 out of 10 redfruits.  

What do you think makes a successful blend of sci-fi and fantasy?  Do you prefer epic stories, or more personal stories?  Are you a special snowflake?

Flight Of Sorrow

Hello all, are we ready to continue on our saga of the dragonriders?  I am...sort of.  See this book is one of those books I tend to skip in this series because it is just so darn sad, good, but sad.  What book am I rambling about?  Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey, the second book in the Dragonriders of Pern series.  I remember first reading it a couple months after finishing the Harper Hall trilogy and being both "aha that's what they are talking about" and completely bummed out at the same time, but I'm getting ahead of myself...as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

We start this book about 7 months after we left off on the last one.  We learn very quickly that the Weyrs that were brought forward in time are not fitting in so well 400 turns (years) in the future.  F'lar and Lessa had given up much of their leadership role to the older Weyrs, believing that their vast knowledge and experience in fighting the deadly Thread would make them the natural leaders of the dragonriders.  Alas this is not so, apparently 400 turns changes a lot of things and the Oldtimers (as they have taken to calling the dragonriders from the past) cannot deal with the more independent Holds and Crafthalls.  This all comes to a head when a couple of the dragonriders from an Oldtimer Weyr try and take an expensive knife by force from one of the Crafters.  F'nor, a brown rider from Benden (not an Oldtimer) intervenes and gets an injured shoulder for his trouble.  After it become's clear that the Oldtimer Weyrleaders have not only no intention of not doing anything about this problem, but blame the Crafter for not handing over this valuable knife, F'lar decides to take charge.  Meanwhile down in the newest Weyr, on the Southern Continent the elusive fire lizards are discovered to be Impressionable by just about anybody who is willing to feed them.  Most of the Southern Weyr ends up with at least one of these miniature dragon type creatures (in fact it is from these
creatures that the Pernese ancestors bred the great dragons of Pern) and they are then distributed among the Holds and Crafthalls to ease some of the jealousy of  those who have not, or cannot Impress a dragon.  Also at Southern Weyr, the Queen rider and Weyrwoman Kylara is causing no end of trouble, doing as she pleases and foisting off all her duties onto Brekke, a junior queen rider who is all responsibility.  F'nor and Brekke fall in love while he is convalescing at Southern Weyr and helps her with her various troubles.  Eventually the conflict with the Oldtimers comes to a head, resulting in a duel between F'lar and T'ron, the Oldtimer leader, which results in most of the Oldtimers being banned to the Southern Weyr and the rest of the Weyrs being populated by the current generation.  This leads to F'lar and Lessa being essentially named the leaders of the dragonriders, much to the relief of the Holders and Crafters.  To add to the problems of our poor Weyrleaders, Jaxxom, the boy who took Lessa's spot as Lord Holder of Ruatha has Impressed a runty white dragon...something that may put his Lordship in jeopardy, but that is for the next book.  Also causing...if not trouble, then at least speculation is the discovery of a series of lab like rooms in the older Weyrs, containing mysterious devices and indecipherable records.  From what they can puzzle out they discover that certain grubs can consume Thread, keeping them from burrowing into the ground and destroying the plants.  They also discover a telescope, causing the Lord Holders to try and pressure the dragonriders into getting rid of Thread at it's source, the Red Planet.  Kylara and her people move from the Southern Weyr to High Reaches Weyr to make room for the Oldtimers.  This ends in tragedy when Brekke's dragon rises to mate and Kylara is not there to take her dragon away in time.  This results in a brutal battle between the two queens, ending in both of their deaths.  This is beyond devastating for Brekke and reduces Kylara to a babbling child.  Brekke becomes catatonic with F'nor trying to make her live.  He also decides to quiet the Lord Holders demands by attempting to go to the Red Star with his dragon with near fatal results...turns out there was reason it wasn't done before.  This and the protection of her fire lizard bring Brekke back, sad but back to help nurse F'nor back to health.  The book ends on a slightly hopeful note for a better, more modern future.

Obviously lots of stuff happens in this book, and the information helps the rest of the series make sense, but dang if I don't hate how sad it is.  It is as all Ms. McCaffrey's books, extremely well written and continues on the world she started in the last book.  In fact that is one of the reasons it is so sad.  You come to understand the bond between the dragon and their rider so well, that when Brekke loses hers you feel the pain and agony right along with her.  You leave the last book so hopeful that the Oldtimers will be the answer to saving Pern, and then come to find out that they are in no way adaptable and are in fact way more trouble then they are worth is kind of very upsetting.  When F'nor goes to the Red Star you can feel the heat, the airlessness, the scoring, the heaving mass of Thread...Ugh, no wonder he barely survived!  It's the excellent writing that makes you care about this world that makes this book so hard for me to read.  I am not trying to
dissuade anybody from reading this, I promise.  I think everybody should read it as part of the series.  It is an excellent book that just furthers the amazing story the author started and sets up numerous future stories.  The characters are well written, the world building is as perfect as it gets and the storylines are not only plausible, but compelling.  I do have to admit that this whole series gets to me on a gut level, every time I read any of the Dragonrider of Pern books, I get stuck in that world in my head weeks, I hate being torn out of it and I hate anytime anything bad happens in it...though that is part of what makes it real.   As I'm sure you are sick of hearing words cannot describe the love I have for this series, it is one of the reasons I fell in love with reading as an escape and am so glad I can go back to it anytime I want.  Even this book, a book that if I'm not careful, will actually leave me as sad as if it happened to somebody I know is a treasure to me.  So now that all that babbling is over with, I give it 8 out of 10 cups of klah and recommend it to anybody who is reading this series.
On a side note, my lovely Mamma will be here this week, running me ragged so posting may be a bit spotty, my apologies in advanced.
What book(s) do you both love and hate at the same time?  What book makes you sad on a gut level?  How badly do I need some therapy to remind me that a book is not real?

First Flight

Hello All, how is everybody?  Did you all have a good weekend?  I was at the station for 60 hours hence the lack of post yesterday, I will try and do better having them ready to go in the future.  Today though lets talk about one of my favorite books that starts off one of my favorite series.  Dragonflight is the first book in the amazing Anne McCafferey's Dragon Riders of Pern series and is just awesome.  Considering it was written in 1968 you would think it would be old fashioned, but it is so perfect for any time period.  But enough gushing (for now) as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Pern is a planet that has reverted back to a feudal type system of government consisting of the Lord Holders and their underlings, these are the people who live, farm, work, and do the things you would consider most feudal system people would do.  There are the Crafters who are responsible for the fine work, weaving, beastery, music, healing and so forth.  Then there are the Weyr folk.  These folk are either Dragonriders or people who help take care of the dragons and their riders.  These dragonriders are needed to help protect the planet of Pern from a menace called Thread.  Thread is essentially a crazy hungry spore that devours ANY organic matter at an extreme rate.  The only things that stop thread are metal and stone, and can only be killed by fire or by drowning in water. Thread falls on the planet for 50 years at a time and then stops for 200 giving everybody a break until the next pass of the Red Star (the rouge planet from which the Thread falls).  For more detailed info check here.  At the time the story is set, Thread has not fallen for close to 400 years (or Turns as they call them on Pern) and the Lord Holders are starting to resent the tithe they have to give the Weyr folk.  At this time the normal 6 Weyrs have been reduced to the one Benden Weyr with

nobody knowing where the other five went, the people, the dragons just dissappered, leaving the Weyr's empty. Also at this time Lord Fax has conquered several of his neighbors Holds going against the strict tradition of one Lord one Hold.  One of the holds Fax has captured is Ruatha, a hold famous for producing dragonriders of great renown, especially Queen riders.  Fax has done his best to wipe out all of the Ruathan blood line, but has missed one girl, Lessa who had the good sense to hide.  Lessa has now been living as a drudge, waiting for the day she can overthrow Fax and reclaim her home.  Meanwhile F'lar a bronze dragon rider is going on search to find suitable candidates for the Queen dragon egg, hoping to find somebody strong and able to lead the dragon riders back to their former glory.  See F'lar is one of the few people who not only believe that Thread is real and is returning, but is imminent.  F'lar draws out Lessa by challenging and killing Fax after he attacks the dragonman.  F'lar makes a deal with Lessa to let a newborn boy take over Ruatha, and Lessa can come to the Weyr to hopefully impress the soon to be hatched Queen Dragon and become the Weyrwoman (the leader of the Weyr).  Lessa agrees and all seems to go as planned.  After impressing Ramoth (the queen dragon) Lessa has a crash course in the ways of the Weyr, adding her own brand of fire and chaos to the mix.  F'lar's bronze fly's Ramoth, making him Lessa's Weyrmate and the Weyr leader of the entire Weyr.  After some much needed reminding, the Holds and Crafthalls start preparing for the arrival of Thread, even though most people still don't believe.  This denial is swiftly put to an end as the Thread comes pouring down and the people are saved only by the valiant efforts and sacrifice of the dragons and their riders.  The effort is aided by Lessa and her rare ability to hear and talk to all the dragons, not just her own.  It is painfully apparent that the one understaffed Weyr will not be able to protect the whole of Pern and solutions are sought.  Lessa finds the answer in an unlikely source a teaching ballad called The Question Song.  She discovers the dragons can go between times as well as space and goes back to the end of the last Pass to convince the dragon riders to come to her time to fight Thread.  The Oldtimers as they are called are amiable as the idea of sitting idle does now work for them.  They come forward in time, solving the mystery of the missing Weyr's and saving Pern.  This is the state we leave our beloved planet of Pern, safe for the moment, but ripe for change...which will come in the next book.

I love this book, I love this series, I love this author, I love this mix of fantasy and scifi, I love it all.  So many things work for me.  I love that even though this was written in 1968 (as I mentioned before) that you would not know it from reading it.  It will work for any time period it is read in, which is very hard to do.  I also love that Ms. Mcaffrey seems to have worked out the whole story and timeline out before she ever wrote this first book.  There are things and hints that tie in to later books so well, like the ballad of Moreta's ride or the fertilizer called angenothree, which turns out to be a chemical formula originally called by it's chemical

name HNO3 which the scientific part has been lost.  Eh it's hard to explain how well it is set up without going into later books.  I love the strong, sassy, cranky, touchy Lessa, I love her so much.  I love that she is a spitfire, but she is also kind of extremely touchy, a flaw to be sure, but one that makes her human.  One of my pet peeves is addressed beautifully in this book, I hate when miscommunication is used as a means to further the tension, or create discord if their is no real reason for it, and Lessa calls out the leaders on this type of stupid secrecy in a spectacular fashion.  I still think that the world building in this series is one of the most complete and incredible example I have ever read, this is a place I can fully inhabit long after I put the book down. On a rare downside, their is a bit of proprietary shaking of Lessa by F'lar that irritates me.  I am never ok with any sort of violence against another person, and when it is a big, strong man against a tiny scared woman...well it really makes me mad.  I can never be ok with even minimal violence toward another person, especially when it is done in anger.  Other then that their is not a whole lot for me to complain about.  I don't even mind the ending for once...because it is not a real ending because the story keeps going YAY! My Hubbin is always trying to get me to define why I love this book so much and I have a hard time pinpointing any one thing.  I think over all the feeling of freedom and triumph and working together to achieve a goal while maintaining your own person is just awesome!  I give this book 9 out of 10 Queen Dragon Eggs and recommend it to EVERYBODY!
What color dragon would you ride?  How do you feel about this odd mix of fantasy and scifi?  How obsessed with dragons am I?

A Tale of Two Women

Hello my lovely readers, how are you all this fine morning?  Have you been staying up until all hours watching the Olympics?  I may have been trading sleep for extra Olympic hours so if I seem a little loopy...well I'm always a little loopy so carry on.  So this rambling will be a bit different.  I am going to be combining two books into one big synopsis and rambling because I think they fit together to well and offer way to much comparative goodness to do separately, besides I would be constantly referring to the other book so this will be much easier...I think.  The books are two from my beloved Anne McCaffrey's Pern series.  Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and the companion novelette Nerilka's Story.  I love both of these books for two very different reasons. The first book (which I shall refer to as Moreta) is one of Ms. McCaffery's signature Dragonrider tales, complete with many characters, various places and sweeping story.  The second book, (which is more of a novelette and will be referred to as Nerilka) is about the exact same event/story but told from a much smaller more personal view.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD

We start our story in the past...well the past compared to the first Dragonrider books...well just go with it.  Moreta is the current Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr and is stuck with Sh'gall a capable but humorless Weyrleader.  Moreta is on her way to the Ruathan Gather where she hopes to watch runner races, drink Benden white, and dance the night away in her new dress.  She and her queen dragon Orlith go and do just that with the added bonus of the company of Alessan, the new Lord Holder of Ruatha.  Alessan is a younger man, vigorous, wry and also an avid runnerbeast racer.  He is most known for the tragic death of his young bride Suriana, whom in a world where marriages are usually made for alliance was a rare one of love.  His wife was thrown from an untrained runnerbeast and broke her back, sending Alessan into a deep mourning.  He is finally recovering and is now trying to dodge the numerous attempts at the high-born daughters of his fellow Lord Holders to take her place.  As the races progress, a runnerbeast collapses and dies, apparently from an unknown respiratory illness.  While sad, the runner is cleared away and the Gather continues.  Moreta is meets Oklina, Alessans youngest sister who is in turn introduced to the bronze dragon rider
B'lerion.  After dancing the night away with Alessan, Moreta returns to her Weyr with her dragon who is near to clutching.  They do their duty and fight the menace Thread (which is explained in the start of every book), looking foward to it ending in the next eight turns and a chance at least 200 years of Thread free life to look forward to. Unfortunately a crimp is put into all the happiness when a plague brought up from the Southern Continent threatens all human and runnerbeast life on Pern.  We eventually find out that it is a flue like illness and its initial outbreak kills off a huge percentage of people who catch it.  Hardest hit are the two holds that held gathers, Ista and Ruatha, with Keroon being hard hit as it is an area known for its runnerbeast breeding.  Even worse is that the dragonriders start succumbing to this illness, causing riders to die and their dragons to go between, unable to live without their riders.  This is the biggest calamity possible as it inhibits the ability of the dragonriders to do their first duty which is to protect Pern from the deadly Thread, which is not kind enough to stop falling just because the whole world is sick and dying.  The healthy dragonriders decide to pool resources and miraculously discharge their duty. Eventually it is discovered that a vaccine can be made out of the blood of the people who have recovered from the disease, unfortunately the vaccine has to be given to every living person and runnerbeast on Pern before the next outbreak hits, or they will probably not survive the next wave.  Moreta, Alessan, Olkina, B'lerion, and the healers Capiam and Desdra use a technique called "timing" which is essentially a dragon ability to go between times as well as space.  This is incredibly dangerous and is discouraged for the most part.  They use timing to go to a remote island in the future to gather supplies enough to inoculate all of Pern.  As they do this Moreta and Alessan finally give in to the intense attraction they had been feeling, as do the rest of the party (insert eyebrow waggle here).  They decide the best way to distribute the serum is via dragonback, using a very tight timing schedule.  Plans are put into dissary when on of the Weyrs refuses to help.  Moreta decides to finish of the route, riding the old queen Holth as her Orlith is stuck on the Nesting Grounds with her eggs.  Old Holth and Moreta finish the grueling task and take of one last time...and never come out from between.  The death of Holth and Moreta are a huge loss to the planet,

just as it was getting back on its feet.  Leri (Holth's rider) and Orlith stay until the eggs hatch (with Olkina Impressing the Queen) and then they to go between.  Two year later Nerilka's Story was published here is that story.  Nerilka is the daughter of Lord Tolocamp and his wife Lady Pendra of Fort Hold.  She is tall, ungainly and likes to be useful.  She is left behind when her father, mother and her older (and prettier) sisters go to the gather at Ruatha, presumably to try and get the new Lord Holder Alessan to marry one of them.  While they are there the plague appears and Nerilka does her best to help her brother (who was left in charge while her father was away) maintain the quarantine placed on the planet.  She also offers her help at Healer Hall (which is located in Fort Hold) and any of the over abundance of supplies her Hold has. While they accept the supplies, her help is rejected.  Nerilka's father returns, breaking quarantine...though he holes himself up in his room to "protect" the hold leaving his wife and other daughters in Ruatha where they end up dying.  As as soon as word reaches him of his wife's death, he installs his mistress the simpering and incapable Anella as his wife and Lady Holder.  This young twitty thing (who to add insult to injury is younger then Nerilka) takes control of the Hold.  The Healer Hall applies to Lord Tolocamp for extra supplies as they are running short, and are denied.  They are also denied the ability to help the people in the internment camp that had been set up outside the Hold.  For Nerilka this is the last straw.  She cuts her hair, dresses as a drudge and takes matters into her own hands.  After securing supplies for the Healers Hall, she goes into the camps to work as a nurse (at this point she has been vaccinated).  She eventually ends up in Ruatha where she had dreamed about ever since her foster sister Suriana had married her Lord Alessan.  Nerilka or Rill as she is now known proves how helpful she can be and is asked to stay on and help restore Ruatha.  Rill is as happy as can be and gets right to work.  She is there when news of Moreta's death comes and is the one to attempt to comfort Alessan in his grief.  For Alessan this is one more tragedy in a long string and it is more then he can take, he tells Rill that he just wants to die.  Rill tells him that he can't die, at least not until their is a Ruathan heir, or the hold will fall to another holder.  Alessan (who knew all along that Rill was Nerilka, from Suriana's sketches) makes a deal that he will marry Nerilka and as soon as their is an heir, she has to mix him his cup (his way of committing suicide).  Not knowing what else to do she agrees.  Eventually Oklina impresses her queen, and Nerilka bears Alessan a child, but instead of dying, he decides to live.  Nerilka knows that he will never be the light hearted man Suriana married, or the reckless racer Moreta loved, but he is a good man who loves and cares for his family and readily recognizes Nerilka for her work and effort and that is enough for him.

Whew that was really really really long...you ready for some more?  Good.  I love reading these two books together, not only 'cause they are companion pieces but for the complete and different views you get.  With Moreta you see a strong, older woman who has not only born several children but is in charge of one of the largest Weyrs and is responsible for the care and safety of essentially a whole planet.  She is capable, decisive, fun-loving, and knows how to take responsibility.  I love that she is not some young supple waif of a girl, but a mature woman, who is described at being near the end of her child-bearing years, which puts her in her 30's or 40's, yet she is also described as desirable and fun and lovely...despite the cropped hair and fine lines on her face.  This is not the type of heroine we see a lot, usually it is the young, the new, the virginal, the unattached that the story centers around.  I love that we have a mother, who as much as she loves her

born children, knows she must be more then that, she is a mother figure that is not at all homey or hearth bound.  Then we have Nerilka, who's story is told in the first person, which is one of the few times I have heard this style from this author, but it works for this story.  Nerilka was born and raised in a completely different way then Moreta, she is a high-born Holder, taught to be much more decorous and dainty (even if she is not) she knows that arts of running a household, she knows how important a well run hold is.  She is well aware if costs, supplies and help get out of hand it could spell disaster.  It is her diligence in this sort of "homey" work that not only saves her Hold (which is the biggest and oldest on Pern) but potentially many others as well.  She does things on a smaller scale then Moreta, yet what she does is just as important if not more so to the overall survival of Pern.  Moreta is passionate and free, partly because of her being part of the Weyr (which by virtue of the dragons have to have a different code of conduct) and partly because of her nature.  Nerilka is more aware of her duty and is willing to fulfill it to the point of honor.  Moreta has a passionate, if ill-advised love affair with Alessan while Nerilka does what needs to be done after her death in helping Alessan continue forward.  In Alessan we see three different yet very valid kind of romantic loves.  We here about his first bloom of wild, young love with his wife Suriana, we get a more passionate, plunging love of Moreta, and finally a dutiful, which eventually turns into a mature and deep love for Nerilka.  I like that between these two books we see that not every love has to be a wild flame of desire at first sight with a pretty young unknown yet dangerous factor...you know what I mean.  I also like that these books show you
can have more then one love, that you can move on without being disloyal, or loving somebody any less. The best part is, after all my rambling on love, neither of these books is a love story, in fact in Moreta the page count of Alessan and Moreta together is fairly minimal compared to the rest of the book.  As far as the story there is so much for me to dive into full force.  I love that medicine was a central part of this story as that is one of my personal passions. The science was fairly accurate and the methods well thought out.  I liked learning about the healing aspect of dragons and their riders (this is so what I would do if I lived on Pern!) I also love how this book fits into the history of Pern.  In the original trilogy the song Moreta's Last Ride is sung and is also mentioned several times in the Harper Hall trilogy so to actually read the story is pretty cool, and adding Nerilka to the mix made it even better. The stories also remind us that this is actually a science fiction story when they talk about the Crossing and their ancestors and the old records that talk about influenza, connecting to an even deeper history. So obviously I love these books and think you should read all of them, and will know continue my Anne McCaffery kick 'cause I just LOVE LOVE LOVE reading her stuff! I give this combination of books 9 out of 10 golden queen dragons!

What do you think of companion books?  How do you feel about non-stock characters?  What do you like to see in your stories (e.g. medicine, music, sports)?  How obsessed am I with Anne McCaffrey?

I Think It's The Plauge

Blech blech blech, I've been pretty sick these last couple of days.  To sick to even read, which for me is like being at deaths door!  I am finally starting to feel a bit like a human being and am ready to get back to my reading and rambling.  All of this ickyness got me thinking about books I've read, were illness plays a major role.  I like books that feature a disease, mostly because I am in the medical field and find all of that stuff fascinating.  I like how a disease can be used in many ways, it can be a weapon, an equalizer, a catalyst.  Sometimes the goal of the story is to find a cure for the disease, other times it is trying to make a life after the disease has ravished the world.  Sometimes it is used to bring various people together in tragedy that would never even look at each other before and other times it is used to tear loved ones apart.  I like how different genre's deal with illness, depending on if you are reading fantasy, scifi, historical fiction, etc. there are a ton of different ways to approach it.  Here are a few of my favorite books were sickness, disease and illness play a main role. (I know most of these are part of a series, but they are still really good!)

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern- This book is a stand alone novel in the Dragonriders of Pern series of books.  This book deals with an illness brought over from another part of the world that very few people had immunity to.  The book shows us the progression of the disease from it's first victims all the way to finding a cure in the blood of the few people who have a natural immunity to it.  This is the first major world wide illness to hit this planet in a very long time, and it is awesome to see all of the different and creative things they do to not only find a cure and vaccine, but to figure out how to get it out to the people as well.

Briar's Book- This is one of the books in the Circle of Magic series.  When a plague comes to Summersea, Briar and his friends must use their specific magic to assist the scientists in finding a cure before the whole country dies.  One of my favorite parts of this book is the mixing of magic and science and the feeling that both are just pieces of the same puzzle.  I always felt that magic and science were buddies in real life and this book does a great job showing that.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre-The Grey Death is a fatal disease that is ravaging this imaginary country.  The shy and quiet Princess Addie is content to stay safe in her castle, away from the disease and all it's nasty effects.  When her beloved sister falls ill with this fatal disease, she decides to be the one to try and fulfill an ancient prophecy to try and save her sister.  This book is less about the illness itself and more about the effects it has on the people who are not sick.  The fear they have for themselves vs the fear for their loved ones and the lengths one is willing to go to try and fix it.

Cinder- This retelling of Cinderella has the unusual twist of a plague that is ravishing the home of our heroine. When Cinder's adored stepsister falls ill, she is sent to the futuristic scientists to "volunteer" as a test subject.  This is totally acceptable because Cinder is a cyborg and not seen as fully human.  The implications that a person can be classified as less then human because of certain mechanical body parts, and the ability for this government to condone the often fatal testing of cures on these beings makes a pretty hefty political statement that one is not used to seeing in a fairy tale.  This is a good one for thinking about cost vs benefit in finding a cure for a disease that could kill millions, is it worth it to lose a few lives in the search for a cure?

Star Trek: Double Helix Series-This series of six books set in the Star Trek universe span a whole timeline and touch every piece of the franchise.  It is essentially a series about a tailor made disease that pops up over different times and places.  Over the six books the disease evolves and is meant to do different things, but their are pieces that tie them all together.  These are some of my favorite Star Trek books, not only do they touch on every character in every time period, but they again focus on every aspect of the disease.  Everything from it's origin, to the cure, to the social and class repercussions, to the motive in making and using such a heinous disease, all kinds of cool fun stuff!  I loved all six books and now that I have been talking about them, think that this may be my summer reread series.

What do you think of books about diseases, illness and plague's?  What aspect do you find most intriguing, the scientific, the moral and ethical, the social, the emotional?  How weird am I that I find all this germy stuff to be so fascinating?

Sing A Song Of Dragons

Ahhhh that is much better, I'm in the middle of rereading on of my favorite sets of books The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.  These books always feel like coming home to me, they never ever ever disappoint no matter how many times I've read them.  This is a unique set of books, they are set in the world of Pern during the Dragonriders of Pern series time period.  What makes this set of books so different to me is the sheer normalcy of them, the first two books in the trilogy pretty much sums up a few short months in a young girls life, the third book has a bit of a larger storyline and deals more with a different character.  Overall it feels like Ms. McCaffrey took her big, epic, well developed world that normally features the brave and heroic dragonriders and gave us a series to show us how everyday non-hero people lived.

The first book Dragonsong introduces us to Menolly of Half-Circle seahold.  She is the youngest daughter, quiet and unassuming.  We start with the funeral of the old Harper (who is a musician/messanger/history keeper/teacher/bard type professional).  Menolly is the only person in the hold capable of playing the traditional funeral song, and the only one who knows enough and can be spared from teaching duties to teach the younger children.  This irks Menolly's father because he feels that it is not a girls place to be a Harper.  All Menolly wants to do is play music and be free to invent her "tunings and twiddlings" as her father calls them. This all causes conflict between Menolly and her traditional albeit hard working family.  Once the new Harper arrives Menolly is told to keep to herself, to not let the new Harper know she was the one who taught the children, and to not put herself forward during the nightly singing's.  Menolly injure's her hand while  gutting a fish called packtail and it gets horribly infected, her mother does her best, but the scar heals puckered and she loses the fine motor control in her hand.  Told she will never be able to play with that hand again, Menolly falls into despair.  One morning she decides to head out on her own, with no plan in mind.  She comes to some sea caves where earlier she had helped a creature called a fire-lizard (think miniature dragon) rescue her clutch of eggs from the rising tide.  Up until now these creatures had been a near mythical presence as sightings were rare and one had never been caught.  As she is in the cave Thread (a voracius organism that devours anything organic, the main "nemesis" of most of this series) arrives and to save the hatching fire-lizards she starts feeding them.  This leads to her Impressing nine of them who from then on look to her to take care of them.  Menolly decides if she can survive Thread without a hold (pretty much unheard of) then she is never going back.  She makes a home for herself in the cave with her fire-lizards and is pretty content.  A couple weeks later she is out gathering supplies when Thread arrives again, she starts running for her life and is saved when a dragonrider (the dragons flame the Thread and destroy it so it never reaches the ground) spots her and rescues her.  She is taken to Benden Weyr (where some of the dragons/riders live) and is taken care of. 

Menolly also finds out that a few other people have discovered and Impressed fire-lizards as well (though no where near as many as she has)  She helps them find another nest which results in her being hailed a hero.  Meanwhile the Masterharper Robiton has been searching for the person who wrote several songs that an old Harper sent to him with no name.  He eventually puzzles out that Menolly is responsible for the songs and offers her a place at Harper Hall, despite the fact that she is a girl.  She is taken to start her new life of music and fire-lizards.

This is a very quick read, in fact the first time I read it was out of my English text book in high school.  I was having a really rough time, I wasn't fitting in (I was a really weird kid and hadn't found any other weirdos to hang out with yet).  I remember sitting outside on my rock at lunch and half-heartedly flipping through my English book when the title caught my attention.  I devoured that story, and promptly raced of to the library to find the rest of the series.  Imagine my delight when I found a whole plethora of books by the same author.  To this day every time I am feeling lonely or overwhelmed I just read this book and it helps.  Sweet, simple and to the point, a great start and a great book to get a younger person reading.  I will babble on about the other two books in the series later 'cause they both have very significant meaning to me as well.

What book "fixes" everything for you?  What author did you discover in high school that was all your own? Anybody want to take bets on how dorky a hairstyle I had in high school?

The Upside to Sick Days

This weekend I was pretty sick blech, every time I moved I would cough for like 20 minutes, as you can probably imagine my ribs are pretty sore now. 

The plus side though is I got to spend hours finding activities that required no movement (seriously it was so bad on Friday I even going to the bathroom left me in spasms for a good long while!)  So I figured I could do all my "quiet time" stuff without feeling guilty.
First I finished the whole first Downton Abby series (woohoo I love me some British television) I seriously love this show and wish it were books :-) (note to self, write post on movies/shows I would like to see made into books)
So after that I decided what could make a poor little sick girl like me feel better then a good couple of hours with a good book.  Anybody following my reading list knows that I have plenty of books started, but did I pick one of those up and finish it like a good little girl...nope, I decided to start a whole other book

Dragongirl by Todd McCaffery.
 Not sure why I picked it up, I may have been in a little bit of nostalgia mode and anything set in the world of Pern almost always makes me feel better.  I will say this book is definitely the most, um, different of the dragonrider books I've read and it is more on the tragic side, but hopefully it will end ok.  Anyways I'm starting to feel much better, and glad to have had an excuse to do nothing but read for the weekend as the next couple weeks will be incredibly busy.

What do you like to do when your confined to the couch/bed?  Do you have a favorite book/series/author that you go to when your no feeling good?  Do I make more or less sense when the oxygen flow to my brain is restricted?