Sky Dragons

[Almaron]

I don't think so; it's said in Dragonsdawn that Ted Tubberman was specifically breeding the felines to hunt tunnel-snakes, and I seem to recall they conclude the "Mreeows" are doing as such in Dragon's Time - that's why they randomly leap in during the botched Hatching and attack the tunnel-snakes, and them attacking dragons is presumed to be them assuming a dragon is a large tunnel-snake.

There might be an answer for how they got there in Red Star Rising though...I seem to recall there's something mentioned about felines making it across the Rubicon River, which is quite wide and Piemur had some trouble getting across...perhaps they got across by floating on driftwood like the false story in Moreta? Perhaps gradually being shifted from one island to the next by the weater?

[mara]

Originally Posted by Almaron

I don't think so; it's said in Dragonsdawn that Ted Tubberman was specifically breeding the felines to hunt tunnel-snakes, and I seem to recall they conclude the "Mreeows" are doing as such in Dragon's Time - that's why they randomly leap in during the botched Hatching and attack the tunnel-snakes, and them attacking dragons is presumed to be them assuming a dragon is a large tunnel-snake.

There might be an answer for how they got there in Red Star Rising though...I seem to recall there's something mentioned about felines making it across the Rubicon River, which is quite wide and Piemur had some trouble getting across...perhaps they got across by floating on driftwood like the false story in Moreta? Perhaps gradually being shifted from one island to the next by the weater?

I think you're right. That would explain de tawny color of some of the beasts.

[kindan]

Well how the Mrreows got there will have to be explained in another book, if it is. I read the entire book in about 2-3 sittings. It started off pretty slowly since the recap was folded into the beginning text, but I thought it was a decent enough book overall. The name "Sky Dragons" was explained (and the title was the publisher's choice, not Todd's by the way) and has a nice twist to it. A lot of the third pass plot threads were tied up pretty neatly in this book.

From Todd's blog: it reached #25 on the New York Time Reserve Best Sellers List, so congratulations are due there!

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Almaron

I don't think so; it's said in Dragonsdawn that Ted Tubberman was specifically breeding the felines to hunt tunnel-snakes, and I seem to recall they conclude the "Mreeows" are doing as such in Dragon's Time - that's why they randomly leap in during the botched Hatching and attack the tunnel-snakes, and them attacking dragons is presumed to be them assuming a dragon is a large tunnel-snake.

There might be an answer for how they got there in Red Star Rising though...I seem to recall there's something mentioned about felines making it across the Rubicon River, which is quite wide and Piemur had some trouble getting across...perhaps they got across by floating on driftwood like the false story in Moreta? Perhaps gradually being shifted from one island to the next by the weater?

The big cat in Moreta came across the narrowest distance from the Southern to the Northern continent (and as you say, not actually on a floating log). The Mreeows would have had a much longer sea-passage (possibly up the Western Ring Islands), and probably unaided by humans.

Possible scenario: one of the settlers found some of Tubberman's escaped cheetahs and decided to ranch them for their fur, starting with a motherless litter. In the crossing to the Northern continent, he got caught in a strong current and swept far to the north-west, ending up near the Western Continent. The cats survived, he didn't (maybe they ate him).

[Eriflor]

Originally Posted by Almaron

I don't think so; it's said in Dragonsdawn that Ted Tubberman was specifically breeding the felines to hunt tunnel-snakes . . .
<snipped>

There might be an answer for how they got there in Red Star Rising though...I seem to recall there's something mentioned about felines making it across the Rubicon River, which is quite wide and Piemur had some trouble getting across...perhaps they got across by floating on driftwood like the false story in Moreta? Perhaps gradually being shifted from one island to the next by the weater?

It was the Thread-eating grubs that had reached the Rubicon River, and only the east side of it. It was suggested that they might eventually get to the other side by working their way south above the source of the Rubicon (i.e. in fact south of the Sea of Azov, which is WAY south), or carried as larvae in the digestive tracts of wherries and "some of those sport animals that were let loose" (i.e. Tubberman's felines).

The felines could have crossed the Rubicon at any point where it was shallow enough to wade across, but may also have gone round the south shore of the Sea of Azov. On the whole I prefer my scenario about the fur-farmer, which could have happened any time before the Ierne Islanders moved north, though more likely earlier.

Eriflor.

[Sadi]

is it sad I am not looking forward to this book? I was excited when Todd first came on the scene but after some stuff that happened in the other books I am not impressed and rather bored with them.

[Multi-Facets]

Maybe a little sad, since books should be looked forward to. But after reading what people here have said about Mr. Todd's work, I wasn't impressed either. :-/ So I just won't read 'em. That doesn't mean I don't like hearing what other people have to say, though.

[Almaron]

So...the book's been out for a while now; anyone got anything to say about it?

POTENTIAL SPOILERS!













I think I liked it for the most part, but I feel like it ended just when things were getting started; although it solved the problem of the dragon shortage, there's still plenty of questions that weren't answered; we still don't know what happened to Igen Weyr or how Telgar Weyr solved the leadership problem created by D'gan's return (although it's not hard to assume either T'mar or D'gan will be sent there with several wings to repopulate it) or what happened to Lorana (as I mentioned earlier, the subject of her future death was brought up in several books, but she remained alive and well at the close of Sky Dragons), or many of the other characters (K'dan had very few appearances, and it wasn't really addressed how his new life as a dragonrider would change his life or affect the love tetrahedron he and the other characters were all hooked up in).

One thing I was really glad to see was that the infamous tent peg theory has been canonically debunked once and for all! A paragraph halfway through the book (can't remember the exact wording) confirmed that "the dragon chooses, the rider complies", adding that riders would seek out their ideal choice of partner outside of the mating flights.

I need to reserve it from the library again at some point and read through it again to make up my mind (worse, I didn't manage to finish writing my synopsis in time), but I'll have to wait until the reserve queue dies down.

[Almaron]

And...here's the plot summary for those who haven't read it or need a refresher!

http://pern.wikia.com/wiki/Sky_Dragons

I also started writing a section regarding the retraction of the Tent Peg Theory, and included the paragraph from the book that proved this:

"Green and blue riders, she was discovering, were hard to keep in one category. With browns it was even more so. Only the bronzes and queens were steadfast in their preferences. The rider of a female green could be the dominant partner in a relationship, although that role was more prevalent among blue riders. And while the male riders of greens were more likely to prefer male partners, it wasn't always the case. Based on her experience of the last four Turns, the only thing that seemed certain to Xhinna was that when dragons rose to mate, passions flowed freely, with the controlling passion being that of the dragon's over the rider. At other times, riders were free to follow their own hearts."

[kindan]

Glad you liked it Almaron. Yeah it clarified a lot about the way Dragons act upon hatching, and answered a lot of questions on hatching in general I hadn't thought of. It was a nice end point for this set, and hopefully some of the others will get resolved later. I know Todd's looking to release some of his own (non-pern) concepts soon, and they seem really awesome.

[Lady Maelin]

I haven't bought it yet...but it's on the top of my list, especially since it's the last one that Anne had anything to do with...and it is after all *Pern*...and when it comes right down to it, I know I will read anything officially having to do with Anne's most beloved planet and creatures.

Tonight I am especially missing and mourning our beloved Anne very much indeed.

[Almaron]

I'm waiting for the paperback to come out before I buy it - partly because it's cheaper but also because my Pern bookshelf has barely enough room for another book as it is (if only I had traded in my gigantic copy of Legends II in for that smaller edition)!

[Lady Maelin]

Almaron...perhaps you should try to sell your copy of *LegendsII* on ebay...it used to go for quite a tidy sum.
I have both HUGE editions of Legends, but as a collector I'll put up with the space they take up.

[Hans]

Funny, I ordered the hardback of Sky Dragons just a few days ago on Amazon. The last handful of books Anne used to send me an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC)... so ordering the book gave me yet another sad memory of her not being among us anymore I don't think she had anything to do with the book, but her name is on it as author, so it can't be absent in my collection.

[DragonLady]

I picked up a copy a few weeks ago...I wanted to love this book as I loved the others but it just isn't happening. I've read all of the Pern series, maybe missed the one before this and pretty much all her other series of books too. I know it says she had a hand in this but it's just not her. I found it very disjointed, re reading paragraphs thinking I missed something. I never did that with any book Anne ever wrote. This book almost seems like a young teen book to me. Don't flame me too much please I know I'm new here but I was just really upset after reading this book. To me, unless Todd gets better at writing these books I'll just reread the originals by Anne McCaffrey.

[Bob12]

I agree with you. I quit reading Todd's books one or two ago. I just couldn't continue to think of them as an alternate reality Pern. There are too many concepts that go against the Pern that Anne built. So, like you, I just re-read the ones that bear only her name.

[kindan]

Originally Posted by Bob12

I agree with you. I quit reading Todd's books one or two ago. I just couldn't continue to think of them as an alternate reality Pern. There are too many concepts that go against the Pern that Anne built. So, like you, I just re-read the ones that bear only her name.

Anne did sign off on, approve, or come up with several of the ideas that seemed contrary to her earlier work that Todd wrote into these books. Whereas she hasn't done the physical writing of the books for awhile, nothing that's been published was done without her blessing.

[Bob12]

Originally Posted by kindan

Anne did sign off on, approve, or come up with several of the ideas that seemed contrary to her earlier work that Todd wrote into these books. Whereas she hasn't done the physical writing of the books for awhile, nothing that's been published was done without her blessing.

I realize that, but still do not like Todd's books. Whether Anne signed off or not, there are too many "non-canon" themes and incidents in Todd's books. I finally gave up on them, Pern or not.

[DragonLady]

Bob12 totally agree with you. I'm sure she did have input but he wrote them, and unfortunately at that point Anne was probably not doing very well and he wrote what he wrote. Most times I couldn't wait for the next book to come out and would buy it in hardcover. Now I don't think I'd even buy the soft cover unless it's at a yard sale...sorry. It did't even seem like her series. If there is another writer out there who can do a better job of it we'll never know, but if he doesn't get better alot of people are not going to buy the books. Unless of course you're just hoping his writing is getting better and you get it in hopes that it's a better book.

[Anareth]

I'd love to (but know I will never) see something for Pern like the Valdemar anthologies where other writers can have a crack at even doing short stories. There are some really good stories in those anthologies that are good *Valdemar* stories even if Lackey didn't write them (and she herself seems to agree!)

[Hans]

Originally Posted by Anareth

I'd love to (but know I will never) see something for Pern like the Valdemar anthologies where other writers can have a crack at even doing short stories. There are some really good stories in those anthologies that are good *Valdemar* stories even if Lackey didn't write them (and she herself seems to agree!)

I actually put that to Anne once... the answer was no And as you surmised it'll probably never will be a reality. It was and is a neat idea tho *nods* Some of the stuff in those Valdemar Anthologies is really, really good.


And uh... I'm still waiting for your second book!

[Anareth]

Hey, books take time. (I've got a couple short stories with deadlines coming up fast, but I'd really like to have book two ready in May.)

I really hope Todd (and the publishers, if sales start bleeding) reconsider. Anne's opinion is somewhat beside the point now, and there are a lot of authors out there who would probably have very interesting takes. Todd's stuff has gone far enough afield I'm not sure there's a huge amount of internal consistency to worry about.

And I just like anthologies. I'm a sucker for a good short story collection.

[Hans]

Sprry Anareth, I know it takes time but I really liked the first volume and want to know about what follows

And if May is feasible, that would be great.

[Anareth]

Working on it! Glad to know someone (besides poor Shalyn, who's had to listen to me yammer about my imaginary friends for so long) likes it! I'm shooting for Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May). I hope my laptop makes it that long.

[P'ter]

Try my lappy! I'm fighting it now.

A few days ago I was coming out of the library (where I can get on line for free) with said lappy in its neoprene slip case + it was in a padded rucksack, when some git literally ran into me knocking me over.

My lappy now has its screen in 5 bits; the dvd drive falls out and the battery supply is brangled so that I can only run it off the mains!