McCaffrey's Muse Chimes Melodiously
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
It's easy to explain the popularity of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series:
* She creates a world where people overcome hardships against a faceless, non-sentient enemy.
* The world is familiar to us even as it is new and interesting.
* Protagonists who are "misunderstood" have telepathic links to dragons, who are always completely empathetic with them and who have "chosen" them (a process called Impressing).
It's the type of world a reader can easily throw himself or herself into. It's the kind of world where we each believe we could be a hero.
In Dragonsong, we meet a hero in an unlikely place. A rough fishing village on the sea harbors a weathered and toughened family. The girls are expected to obey their parents and marry when commanded, and the boys are expected to work hard fishing and building. Schooling and "harping" are optional and viewed as distractions. This poses a problem in a world where "harping" has been the way of survival.
If you've never read anything about Pern before, let me share a little background. Pern is inhabited by settlers from Earth who have long since lost contact and knowledge of their home planet. It is a low technology world that is highly agriculturally based. Life would be pretty serene except that once every 400 years or so, a red star comes closely in orbit with the planet and rains "thread" onto Pern. Thread is a deadly plant that eats everything in its path. It can burrow underground and destroy all vegetation in a matter of hours. A person caught out during Threadfall is likely to die unless shelter is found. Dragons and dragonriders fight thread by flying to meet it and burning it with fire in the air.
Because the planet is low in technology, a guild of harpers was formed to help teach the traditions of Pern so that between Falls, the lessons of how to fight thread are remembered. The harpers are also charged with teaching such things as reading and poetry.
Menolly is the daughter of the Half Circle Sea Holder and wants something more out of her life than what she is getting in the small fishing hold. She wants to sing and learn to harp, but her father tells her that women are not fit to be harpers. Despite the dangers of Thread, Menolly runs away. She manages to Impress nine fire lizards and teach them to sing and then her adventures really begin.
Dragonsong is ultimately a story of a girl who pursues her dream against all opposition. She takes great risks and reaps great rewards. Indeed, in the long run, the faithfulness she shows to her calling will reap benefits for the entire planet-but that is several novels down the series.
This novel is the first in a Harper trilogy within the Pern series. Whereas the other books concentrated on the dragonriders, this explores the craft hall of the Harpers and the important tasks they are charged with. It also explores the sexism inherent in McAffrey's Pern world and the sexism that is found in many agricultural civilizations. It is partly her dealing with this topic that adds to the appeal of her series. McAffrey crafts her characters to be highly sympathetic to her readers. Many of her readers see their own challenges reflected in the Pern novels. This, perhaps, is why Pern mushes and moos are so popular on the Internet.
Overall, the story is a charming one and for me it made a wonderful introduction to the entire Pern series. It remains, in my mind, one of the best in the entire series.
