The Dolphins of Pern
Written by Anne McCaffrey
Narrated by Mel Foster
4/5
()
About this audiobook
“[Anne] McCaffrey here adds yet another dimension to her colorful and vivid saga by focusing on the attractive dolphins and their highly believable society.”—Publishers Weekly
When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern’s oceans while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists’ dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.
Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern prepare to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T’lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, make contact with the legendary “shipfish.” And as the dragonriders grapple with the end of an era, T’lion, Readis, and the dolphins face the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land- and ocean-dwellers—and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern.
Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey, a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner, was one of the world's most beloved and bestselling science fiction and fantasy writers. She is known for her hugely successful Dragonriders of Pern books, as well as the fantasy series that she cowrote with Elizabeth A. Scarborough that began with Acorna: The Unicorn Girl.
More audiobooks from Anne Mc Caffrey
The Girl Who Heard Dragons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nimisha's Ship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ship Who Won Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus in Flight & To Ride Pegasus: Anne McCaffrey 2-in-1 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Generation Warriors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ship Who Searched Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crystal Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus in Flight Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Petaybee Trilogy: Powers That Be, Power Lines, and Power Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crystal Singer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killashandra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Ride Pegasus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Power Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Powers That Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5PartnerShip Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Dolphins of Pern
Titles in the series (13)
The Renegades of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonsdawn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Weyrs of Pern Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dragonseye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dolphins of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Skies of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Masterharper of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Time Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dragon Harper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Code: Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sky Dragons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related audiobooks
Dragonsdawn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonsong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changelings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5All the Weyrs of Pern Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sky Dragons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Time Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Skies of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon Harper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonseye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Masterharper of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Renegades of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragondrums Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Code: Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dragonsinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Petaybee Trilogy: Powers That Be, Power Lines, and Power Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deluge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Freedom's Challenge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom's Landing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonquest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Damia's Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killashandra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom's Choice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus in Space Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maelstrom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5PartnerShip Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lyon's Pride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Fantasy For You
Good Omens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fourth Wing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hobbit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron Flame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Darker Shade of Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Silver Flames Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Neverwhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anansi Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starling House: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Dolphins of Pern
661 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5After all the exciting things happen--after the settlers land on Pern, and are nearly destroyed by Thread, and discover dragons, and set up Weyrs and Holds and Halls, all the while devolving into a sexist&rigidly hierarchal medieval society, and eventually Jaxom bonds with Ruth, and Menolly finds her firelizards and transforms Harpers, and they rediscover their computer and figure out how to end Thread-fall once and for all, and all manner of social changes start being forced through--after all that, this incredibly prosaic, boring little story takes place.
A number of people realize (practically simultaneously) that the "shipfish" of Pern are actually dolphins who travelled from Earth with the first settlers. They were engineered to have human speech and increased intellects, and even generations after humans stopped remembering them, they still remember humans. They're thrilled to have contact with humans again. One boy, Readis, runs away from home to form a Dolphin Hall. Meanwhile, a Holder is plotting to settle the Southern Continent against the Weyr-leaders' advice. And there's a big storm that doesn't actually do anything. That's pretty much it! Even famous characters like Leesa, Menolly, Mirrim or Jaxom are colorless and personality-free here.
This was easily the most boring Pern book I have ever read in my life. I would much rather read another book about the brave-flame-haired-fiesty-girl fighting against sexist-evil-old-dude and psychically bonding with a dragon; as trite and wish-fullfillment-y as that is, at least there's something there. This was just empty of all inspiration, emotion, plot, or character.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoy this little spin-off tale incorporating intelligent dolphins capable of speech. What I don't enjoy is the character of Aramina, who previous to this book was likeable.
The book centres around Readis and his quest to interact with the dolphins, and ends in the most corny manner that I almost want McCaffrey to do a rewrite. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As with all the Anne McCaffrey Pern books , it is a wonderful tale ... this one on the Dolphins adds another interesting element to the story line.... and only makes you hungry for the next part of the saga..... at 77 my imagination still takes flight when I find this sort of tale....
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very well done. I have loved the Dragon riders since rhey first came out. I am glad it is here.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I didn't like this as much as the others -- I wanted dragons, and couldn't care less about dolphins.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a shorter novel, but explores the sea life that came with the first colonists to come to Pern.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Another view of Pern, starting around the middle of "All the Weyrs of Pern" and ending somewhat later. Short and simple compared to some of the other books, but advances the overall Pern plot. Definitely a rehash of the Menolly tale, but poorly motivated, showing the somewhat appealing protagonists of previous books to be real losers. Also, what all the women mostly seem to do, except for Lessa, is be pregnant, which is not really all that women should be doing in a novel like this. I'll keep on reading, though, just one more to go.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read the early Pern novels but got out of touch with the continuations of the series. This one takes place after the dragonriders have been revived to defeat the Threads and humans are spreading out into regions which had been abandoned. They encounter human-intelligent dolphins who had been part of the original colony from earth and still pass down memories of their earlier cooperation with humans.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Readis of Paradise River, and his Uncle Alemi are rescued when their boat is swamped in a sudden squall by dolphins. The dolphins have long been known as shipfish because of their constant presence around the fishing fleets over many turns. But it is Readis and Alemi who realize that the dolphins can speak and have been trying to lead ships away from dangers and to the best fishing spots.Their story is playing out in the midst of the excitement surrounding the promise of overcoming thread once and for all with the information and technology being provided by Avis, an Artificial Intelligence left behind by the original founders of Pern.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convincing closure to the thread era on Pern. Intriguing storyline at efficient pace.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had been wondering if Anne McCaffrey would write a book about the Ship Fish or Doll fins that appeared occasionally in earlier books and this is the story of the Dolphins creating a relationship again with people in the southern sea hold of Paradise River. It's also the story of Alemi, a young boy with an open mind. It's pretty average for a Pern novel, it really lagged occasionally and sometimes it felt rushed. Ah well it was an interesting revisit.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imagine, two boys bonded together because of dolphins. Through their struggles, they reintroduced the dolphins to the rest of Pern. Readis was fascinated by dolphins the moment he was saved by them. And they talked to him and his uncle Alemi! His dream is to be a Dolphineer, like one of the ancients. T'lion is young. He impressed Bronze Gaddareth when he was only ten. It was too young for Weyr standars but they have no choice. Too young to fly thread, he becomes a taxi driver for important people coming and going to Landing. There, he meets Alemi and the dolphins. He was then acquainted to Readis and his ideas of helping the dolphins.Its a very fascinating story. I actually would understand why the dolphins would want to leave polluted earth. They are the most patient and understanding creatures. I love dolphins.In the end, Readis heads Dolphins Hall with T'lion and Gaddy as Dolphin liaison for the Weyrs.