My memory of the original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy was that Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern, was my favorite character, carrying me through parts of the book I found less interesting. So it seemed logical to me that I would eventually read this prequel about the life of the Masterharper.

Well, whatever made Robinton my favorite character in the original books, there's absolutely no trace of it here. Like Menolly and Piemur, Robinton is an obnoxious prodigy, able to compose amazing music from a young age, and basically better at everything than everybody else. And that's it, that's the book! He never seems to struggle, he just is the best at everything he does. I think McCaffrey doesn't really understand excellence; she seems to think it some kind of effortless superiority. Some of the most excellent people you know work the hardest and struggle the most, but you wouldn't know it from reading a McCaffrey novel. And why does Robinton have to be the best composer, the best singer, the best player? Surely the skills required to be Masterharper are not these technical ones, but the skills of leading men and having wisdom? These are skills Robinton never demonstrates in this book. Why is he picked as Masterharper? It's not clear, he just is. How does he adjust to this new role? As boringly effortlessly as he does everything else.

On top of all that, Robinton can hear all dragons talk, which totally contradicts the depiction of Robinton in the original trilogy. Wow, he's just so so special. Actually, a lot of stuff doesn't line up; Menolly's boyfriend Sebell is aged up by a whole generation here, and Robinton's mother was a harper when the Harper Hall trilogy made clear there were no women harpers prior to Menolly. Why write a prequel if you can't make it join up right?

This book was a tedious, awful slog that made me hate a character who had been one of my favorites. I've seen it said that as the Pern series went on, McCaffrey lost sight of what made it work in the original books. For the readers, Pern was an awesome place you'd want to live, but that hadn't been true for the characters. But as it went on, that became true for the characters too. The Pern of the 1990s has had all its rough edges rounded off, and that loses what made Pern work to begin with back in the 1960s.

In a time when no Thread has fallen for centuries - when, indeed, many are beginning to dare to hope that Thread will never fall again - a boy is born to Harper Hall. His name is Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.
It is a perilous time for harpers. They sing of Thread, yet more and more people are beginning to doubt the return of that deadly scourge. They teach reading, writing, history, but Fax - who hates the harpers in general - is determined to keep his growing area of influence free of the learning that might sow unrest. And they extol the dragonriders, whom many view increasingly as a drain on the resources of the Holds. Now harpers are being turned away from the holds; and, worse yet, they are being derided, attacked, even beaten.

It is the climate of unrest that Robinton will come into his own. For despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself . . .so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when it at last returns! ( )

Anne McCaffrey is the quintessential writer of fantasy books pertaining to dragons. These books are always wonderful, well written, and perfectly characterized. All of her series are great but the ones that take place on Pern are the best of all. This book was a bit hard for me to read because it gave one of my favorite fictional characters a bit of clay feet but nevertheless I enjoyed it for all the backstory it gave to the world of Pern. ( )

Robiton is one of my favorite characters. A musician, teacher, politician (or more of a lobbyist) and a man of most uncommon sense. This fills in some holes that don't get explained in the other books. ( )

Found the unabridged audiobook and gave it a listen. I must've read this book at least one dozen, if not two dozen, times in my youth. (Listen, whippersnappers, eBooks weren't a thing and our library was small back then, so re-reading favorites was common.) I loved Pern, I loved dragons, I love Robinton. These are all still true.

Re-reading as a more critical adult, things that I didn't notice, or didn't care about, as a kid are things that irk me now. This book retcons several major Pernese events, plays havoc with the timeline, breaks canon, contradicts itself, and makes Rob even more of a Gary Stu than he was previously. Rob is suddenly involved in situations that have huge implications for Pern and his relationships, but he is never noticed and never discusses it (because he was shoehorned in after the fact rather than having it be a planned, organic thing).

The book stomps all over the Harper Hall trilogy in general and Menolly in particular. Many of the 'firsts' are retroactively first done by Robinton, sometimes down to word-for-word descriptions being pulled from the original trilogy. Part of this is likely the same poor continuity that has plagued the series from its start, part of it is likely due to the fact that the Harper Hall gets the spotlight when the Weyr doesn't, leaving so much ground already covered and making repetition somewhat inevitable (and other crafts/halls/holds woefully under-developed).

Rob's relationship with his mother is decidedly co-dependent and creepy. Its understandable, to an extent, given what they have in common and that they weathered an abusive relationship together. But I can't think of a situation in which saying the feel of a lover in your arms is just like holding your mom is, uh, healthy.

This is a book for the folks die-hard enough to read every Pern novel but not die-hard enough to worship the canon. ( )