Dragonsinger

Last updated
Dragonsinger
Dragonsinger.jpg
First edition
Author Anne McCaffrey
Cover artist
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series
Genre
Publisher Atheneum Books
Publication date
February 1977
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages264 (first edition)
ISBN 978-0-689-30570-2
OCLC 2425288
LC Class PZ7.M122834 Dp
Preceded by Dragonsong  
Followed by
 

Dragonsinger is a young adult science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published by Atheneum Books in 1977, it was the fourth to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern series written by Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey. [1]

Contents

As the sequel to Dragonsong , it was the second book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy, with a new publisher, editor, and target audience (young adults). The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy was completed after publication of the first two Harper Hall books.

Plot summary

The novel follows Menolly, now apprenticed into the Harper Hall, a type of music conservatory for harpers (minstrels/educators) and other music professionals, as she begins her musical training to become a harper herself one day. The story begins within hours of the final events of Dragonsong , rounding out the tale of Menolly's coming of age.

Menolly arrives at Harper Hall to find herself the center of unwanted attention and conflict, not the least of which are about her nine fire lizards. As the Hall's first female apprentice, the Masters are divided on whether or not she is worth training, causing Menolly to be greeted with various degrees of ambivalence. Due to her gender, she is not allowed to share a dormitory with her fellow all-male apprentices and must be housed with the female students, most of whom are "rank-happy" and few of which are serious musicians and all of whom shun Menolly as an outsider. Conversely, because she dorms with the students, many of the apprentices reject her, claiming she is not truly one of them, and leaving Menolly confused as to her true place in Harper Hall.

In spite of these challenges, Menolly excels at all aspects of her training, becoming Masterharper Robinton's personal apprentice while continuing to compose original tunes. She also becomes helpful to the Dragonriders by teaching them what she knows about fire-lizards, and presents Masterharper Robinton and his Journeyman Sebell with fire-lizards of their own. One night Menolly is woken by her frantic fire-lizards, who show her a terrifying vision of a Dragonrider and his dragon falling from the sky. It is later revealed that the telepathic Dragons actually witnessed this event halfway across the world and transmitted the image to the fire-lizards, who in turn showed Menolly. The incident confirms suspicions that fire-lizards share a telepathic link with dragons and that they may have other undiscovered gifts.

By the end of her first week, all the Masters agree that Menolly has essentially completed her apprenticeship under her Hold's Harper Petiron long before she came to the Harper Hall. Much to her surprise, Menolly is promoted to Journeyman. During all of this, Menolly befriends many people, including Hall servant Camo, fellow apprentice Piemur and student Lady Audiva.

Awards

The American Library Association in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall ), along with The Ship Who Sang , when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens". [2]

Dragonsinger placed ninth for the annual Locus Award for Best Novel. [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Dragonsinger title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database identifies five cover artists for US editions and hosts at least thumbnail images of their front covers: Marcellino, first edition; Elizabeth Malczynski, first paperback; Rowena Morrill, 1986 ppb; Greg Call, 2003 ppb; and Sammy Yuen, 2008 ppb. The first paperback did not credit Malczynski; the database cites her Elizabeth Malczynski Littman gallery  — where (2011-10-18) the first six works present her three paintings for wraparound covers of Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums (the Harper Hall trilogy).
    • Official Pern Art, at the Pern Museum maintained by Hans van der Boom (c) 2008, identifies two cover artists responsible for all three books in French paperback editions, Didier Thimonier (Albin Michel, 1988/1989) and Wojciech Siudmak (Presses Pocket). The former earlier edition is entirely missing from ISFDB. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
    • Those two paragraphs pertain to all three books in the so-called Harper Hall trilogy, for the US and French editions used artists who "covered" all three books.
    • ISFDB identifies only David Roe (The Dragondaze Portfolio at his personal website) among cover artists for UK editions. Official Pern Art identifies Colin Saxton (first UK), Roe (first UK paperback), Steve Weston and Les Edwards (later UK editions) and shows some image of all four front covers or cover paintings. Retrieved 2011-10-19.

Related Research Articles

<i>Dragonflight</i> (novel) 1968 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonflight is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. First published by Ballantine Books in July 1968, it was a fix-up of two novellas which between them had made McCaffrey the first woman writer to win a Hugo and a Nebula Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne McCaffrey</span> Irish science fiction writer (1926–2011)

Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first to win a Nebula Award. Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Dragonriders of Pern is a science fantasy series written primarily by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 24 novels and two collections of short stories. The two novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight, made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for writing fiction as well as the first to win a Nebula Award.

<i>Dragonsong</i> 1976 science fantasy novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsong is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Released by Atheneum Books in March 1976, it was the third to appear set on the world Pern of the Dragonriders of Pern. In its time, however, Dragonsong brought the fictional planet Pern to a new publisher, editor, and target audience of young adults, and soon became the first book in the Harper Hall of Pern trilogy. The original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy with Ballantine Books was not completed until after the publication of Dragonsong and its sequel.

<i>Dragondrums</i> 1979 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragondrums is a young adult science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published by Atheneum Books in 1979, it was the sixth to appear in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>The White Dragon</i> (novel)

The White Dragon is a science fantasy novel by Irish writer Anne McCaffrey. It completes the original Dragonriders trilogy in the Dragonriders of Pern series, seven years after the second book. It was first published by Del Rey Books in June 1978.

<i>Dragonquest</i> 1971 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonquest is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the sequel to Dragonflight, set seven years later and the second book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragonquest was first published by Ballantine Books in May 1971.

<i>All the Weyrs of Pern</i> 1991 novel by Anne McCaffrey

All the Weyrs of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published in 1991, it was the eleventh book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series.

<i>Dragons Kin</i> 2003 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragon's Kin is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey. Published by Del Rey Books in 2003, it is the eighteenth book in the Dragonriders of Pern series and the first with Todd as co-author.

<i>The Ship Who Sang</i> 1969 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Ship Who Sang (1969) is a science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey, a fix-up of five stories published 1961 to 1969. It is also the title of the 1961 novelette which is the first of these stories. The series started by the book, the "Brain & Brawn Ship series", is sometimes called the "Ship Who Sang series".

<i>The Masterharper of Pern</i> 1998 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Masterharper of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the fifteenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>Dragons Fire</i> 2006 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragon's Fire is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey, Published in 2006, it was the twentieth book in the Dragonriders of Pern series that she initiated in 1967.

<i>Dragonsblood</i> 2005 novel by Todd McCaffrey

Dragonsblood is a science fiction novel by Todd McCaffrey in the Dragonriders of Pern series that his mother Anne McCaffrey initiated in 1967. Published in 2005, this was the first with Todd as sole author and the nineteenth in the series.

<i>The Dolphins of Pern</i> 1994 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Dolphins of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the thirteenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.

<i>The Renegades of Pern</i> 1989 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Renegades of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the tenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series. It was first published in 1989.

<i>The Harper Hall Trilogy</i> Science fiction novel series by Anne McCaffrey

The Harper Hall trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. They are part of the Dragonriders of Pern series as it is known today, 26 books by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey or daughter Gigi McCaffrey as of 2018. They were published by Atheneum Books in 1976, 1977, and 1979, alongside the Dragonriders of Pern series. Omnibus editions of the two trilogies were published by the Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club in 1978 and 1984, titled The Dragonriders of Pern and The Harper Hall of Pern respectively.

<i>Dragon Harper</i> 2007 novel by Anne McCaffrey

Dragon Harper is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey, part of the Dragonriders of Pern series that she initiated in 1967. Published forty years later, it was the twenty-first in the series.

Jean Edna Karl was an American book editor who specialized in children's and science fiction titles. She founded and led the children's division and young adult and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books, where she oversaw or edited books that won two Caldecott Medals and five Newbery Medals. One of the Newberys went to the new writer E. L. Konigsburg in 1968 for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

References

  1. ↑ Dragonriders of Pern series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Confirmed 2011-10-09.
  2. ↑ "1999 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winners". Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association. Retrieved 2011-11-13.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ "McCaffrey, Anne". Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
    • The Locus Awards are voted by Locus magazine readers. From any Locus Index entry, select the award name for details of the annual result; then select "About" for general information about the award.

Dragonsinger title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.