The Skies of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
This book is at the end of a big binge of comfort reading. I like the way this book intersects with a short story about Runners (foot messangers) which I think is in the Legends Anthology. It also provides a good ending to what role the Dragons play once thread is removed from Pern.
In September 06 I decided to re-read the whole of Anne’s dragon books, so I did starting with Dragonflight, Dragonquest, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger:Harper of Pern, The White Dragon, Dragondrums, Dragonsdawn, The Renegades of Pern, All the Weyres of Pern, The Chronicles of Pern:First Fall, The Dolphins of Pern, Red Star Rising:The Second Chronicles of Pern, The Masterharper of Pern and the Skies of Pern. I even read two of the Todd McCaffrey new books but cant for the life of me remember their titles (DragonsBlood?).
I have to say that I still love the Harper stories best. There is not a harper character you can really dislike - even Petiron has his positives (Menolly’s teacher revealed in a later book). No matter how many times I read Masterharper of Pern I can still get emotional about the death of Robinton’s true love Kasia. I also love the way all of the other characters are filled out and brought to life.
The return to the fantasy world of Pern is something I need to do every couple of years. My cousin Row and I both share this understanding. We know the world and the characters - even the flaws of drinking too much vintage wine skins - Benden of course.