The Dolphins of Pern

Dragonriders of Pern, Book 12

By: Anne McCaffrey

Narrated by: Mel Foster

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 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 momentus 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.

More in the Dragonriders of Pern series.©1995 Anne McCaffrey (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

love it

Ss always Anne Maccafrey is a wonderful writer. Her booms sweep up up till the very end.

Fabulous book by Anne McCaffrey

I've always loved The Dragonriders of Pern. I can't wait to relive the story as I did years ago. It's a wonder that someone hasn't made a series of movies about the wonderful world of Pern. But the audiobooks are just as good, if not better.

The Dolphins of Pern

This was such a great addition to the Dragons of Pern series. When the settlers came to Pern, they brought dolphins with them. Once thread began to fall and the settlers had to move north to the caves and as generation after generation came to be on Pern, the dolphins were a forgotten history. When the current Pernese went South and began to unearth their history, the dolphins were once again befriended and utilized. These were bottlenose dolphins that came from earth, or rather their ancestors.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and learning more about the dolphins and their relationships with humans. It is a beautiful story full of so many different events. A fantastic addition to this series. One more to go!

Poor Sing-Song Reading Detracts From Story

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The reader uses a sing-song voice throughout. Though better than a monotone, it has no relationship to the way real people speak, and sounds very artificial. I found it very distracting.

Another Awesome Book by Anne McCaffrey!

I loved this book just as much as I love every other Pern novel. I love how she brought things from Earth to Pern. And how she brought a bit of technology from the past of Pern which was also from the past of Earth to the present of Pern. There is one part that happened in this book, which also happened in All the Weyrs of Pern, that is incredibly sad and I found myself weeping outright, practically sobbing. It is still an excellent book however and a joy to read.

the depiction of the dolphins personalities, speech & generosity of spirit

beautifully crafted, would that we could communicate with dolphins & acknowledge their intelligence in such a way

RIP Anne McCaffrey

I read this long ago. I recently picked up a large collection of McCaffrey hardback (many first edition) novels. I felt somehow in Her presence as I was about halfway through this book when she passed to 'between.'

This is not my favorite book of the Pern novels, but it ranks very high. I am passionate about dolphins and swimming... and dragons. But at times I wished for more of Readis's life than the life of the 'politicians' of the planet. I wished for more science discovery. There was a lot of that, but I wanted more. But I know these are the threads of the next books and the evolving of Pern, so I shouldn't complain.

Though I have the hardback, I now prefer to read on Kindle where it doesn't hurt my eyes. And at times I need the audio version to listen to when my eyes get tired. Since the text to speech tool didn't work on this novel I downloaded the Audible version. Hearing a human voice narrating is always preferable to the computerized versions, anyway.

Mel Foster's interpretation was different than what I expected. I think, knowing that Anne McCaffrey is of Irish descent, I expected a brogue to come from the sea holds rather than what sounded a southern drawl. But that was Mel's interpretation and I soon adjusted. He did a decent job keeping the character's voices dissimilar enough to know who was talking when.

I look forward to 'worming' my way through all of Anne's books, those I have read and those I haven't yet. I hope I can afford to use Audible/Kindle help to do this. R.I.P. to my most favorite author.

Let the all humans, firelizards, dolphins and dragons keen:

Drummer, beat and Piper, blow
Harper, strike and Soldier, go
Free the flame and sear the grasses
As the dawning Red Star passes...

Until eternity passes

For Anne McCaffrey

I am in love with the world of pern

anouther great story of pern. I am addicted. can't wait to start the next book.

excellent read

this is the second time I have listened to this book and I have read it twice as well

loved the story

Great way to wrap up the storyline of the perns dolphin's. I highly recommend this story.