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Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:Anne McCaffrey draws the reader back in time to an earlier Pern to tell the story of one of Pern's great and true heroines. An air of pleasant anticipation hung so thickly over the Halls, Holds and Weyrs of Pern that it had affected even the businesslike ways of Moreta, the Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr, where her dragon, Queen Orlith, would soon clutch. Then without warning, a runnerbeast fell ill. Soon myriads of holders, craftsmen, and dragonriders were dying; and the mysterious ailment had spread to all but the most inaccessible holds. Pern was in mortal danger. For, if dragonriders did not rise to char Thread, the parasite would devour any and all organic life it encountered. The future of the planet rested in the hands of Moreta and the other deicated, lelfless Pernese leaders. But of all their problems, the most difficult to overcome was time. . . .… (more)
User reviews
1. I like a happy ending. If it's not going to be a happy ending, I want there to be a good reason why, not just have it happen for shock value (which is what this seemed like to me).
2. I had a hard time putting this one in the context of the world of Pern. This story is set hundreds of years earlier than the first three books, but it was really difficult for me to get that sense of place. A follow-up tie-in to the more "present" earlier books could have helped with this. I also didn't get a sense of how these people tie-in with those who are brought forward in the first book.
3. Some of the characters seemed to be there to be unpleasant for no particular reason, and I had a hard time keeping the unnecessary peripheral characters straight. If you're going to spend that much time talking about a character, let me learn more about him or her other than "they're just really annoying".
I did enjoy the story, and contrary to other reviewers I was fine having the cure found in the middle of the story; there was plenty more to go through and learn after a cure was identified.
In 'Moreta', the people of the
Though it's the sixth book written, the story is set centuries before the original trilogy (starting with Dragonflight), in which time Moreta is a legend of Pern. It is a well written story, with a lot of attention to small details which really set the atmosphere. There are twists in the story (though, since I've read this book a few times over many years, they were no longer a surprise to me) that click into place differently for us, reading from our modern-day perspective (the concept of vaccines, for example), than they do for the characters.
The series in general is well written (especially, I think, the first eight or ten books), with a fairly unique premise of telepathic dragons. It doesn't hurt, either, that there are so many strong female characters - especially with the first story being written as far back as 1967. The dragons of Pern are some of my 'old-reliable, comfort' books.
Moreta is an unintentionally familiar read in the COVID era, a story about a respiratory disease that can kill you, quarantines, defiant leaders, and vaccine distribution. It's fairly effective, mostly because of its main protagonist, the eponymous Moreta. She is an older woman, one who has had children and as Weyrwoman, has had a lover, but has clearly never known love. The scenes between Moreta and Alessan are the emotional core of the book and its most effective. Moreta is a Weyrwoman: she must manage her weyr and assist her Weyrleader. Alessan is a Lord Holder; recently widowed, he needs to remarry to ensure the continuation of his bloodline. The two fall in love over runnerbeast (i.e., horse) racing and dance together, but then duty pulls them as the epidemic worsens across Pern. Yet, they manage to snatch moments together. There's an effective feeling of doom layered across the whole thing, and some decent uses of the time travel abilities dragons were revealed to have in the original trilogy. I like that McCaffrey was trying something a little bit different here, and I overall found it an enjoyable, occasionally moving, read.