(Published as Red Star Rising in the UK)

I love Pern. I love the world Anne McCaffrey has created - the dragonriders, the harpers, the holders, and, of course, the dragons. When, as happened this past weekend, I'm not feeling well and am in need of "comfort," I pick out one of my Pern books and reread my favorite parts. It always makes me feel better.

Which is why I was looking forward to this latest book, Dragonseye -- a whole new group of Pern characters to meet, a new time to explore. But I was also hesitant as I have been less than thrilled with McCaffrey's latest offerings. Unfortunately what I feared came to pass, and ultimately I was disappointed in Dragonseye.

McCaffrey has taken us back to the start of the Second Pass of the Red Star (BTW, I'm going to presume anyone reading this has a familiarity with Pern). This is a time of settling and adjustment in Pern's culture. The Earth technology is fading, and the new societal structure has taken hold. New traditions, more appropriate to their way of life, are starting to develop.

There are still "growing pains." Dragonseye focuses on five people/groups who are dealing with these changes, each in their own way: the inexperienced Weyrleader who has taken over shortly before Threadfall begins; a group of teachers who are discovering they have new things to teach; a recalcitrant Lord Holder who is only interested in profit; a young Hold girl who Impresses a green dragon against her father's wishes; and an artist who is trying to find where he fits in the changing world.

These are all interesting characters, but the problem I had was that the focus was too diffuse. We jumped from one character to the other as the story progressed, and I never felt any of the characters was fully developed. I have noticed this tendency to jump in McCaffrey's last few Pern offerings, but in those books we already "knew" most of the characters so development wasn't as necessary. Here I felt the effort to show such a broad picture made the characters flat, in some ways predictable and more like "types" of characters we've seen in previous books. The greedy Lord Holder was done much better with Meron of Nabol; a Weyrleader unsure of what to expect as Threadfall approaches -- F'lar was far more interesting. The most original characters were the artist and the Weyrling green rider girl, but we really weren't given time to explore their characters or relationship.

As for the plot. Well, I wouldn't call it suspenseful <G>. It sufficed, I suppose; it was more of a telling of events. To be honest, I don't read Pern for fascinating plotlines; I read it for the characters.

Still for Pern aficionados, it might be interesting. I liked learning how the Teaching Ballad tradition and harpering developed, why they went from women Impressing green dragons originally to men in later days, how the technology of the original colonists quietly slipped away. But will this be one of my "comfort" books in years to come? No, I'll stick with Lessa, F'lar, Jaxom and Menolly.

A sample chapter is available on the Del Rey website, along with the official Del Rey Year of Pern website, complete with all kinds of goodies for fans of Ann McCaffrey's world of dragonriders..

Barbara Voelkel is one of those rarities -- a southern California native who still lives there. She is a proud drop-out of Bookaholics Anonymous, and her job as a financial analyst enables her to continually buy books to feed her all-consuming habit. She started her journey into the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy 20-odd years ago by opening to the first page of THE HOBBIT. She hasn't stopped since.