Dragon's Kin (Hardcover)

What has changed is the novel's focus, rather like the Dolphins of Pern, this novel features not dragons but watch-whers, creatures who were bred from fire-lizards, like dragons, but whose value has been neglected under the glory that dragons receive for protecting Pern. We've seen these creatures mentioned before in the series but this is the first time that we have seen them in any kind of detail.

The book's characters are the usual brave, noble, and admirable lot that we see in the Pern series. They may seem a little two dimensional in their outlook and character development but as usual are endearing. The Pern novels aren't so much about character development as the story being told.

The plot surrounds a small mining camp that has been set up to explore the possibilities of shaft mining. The miners work in the usual danger of the mine, but are helped by a watch-wher, a kind of dragon which cannot fly or breathe fire, or communicate as well as its larger brethren, but can see in the dark and works well in mines. The tale follows events that transpire following a disaster in the mine as the community seeks to rebuild itself.

The book is perhaps one of the more original works to come out of the Pern saga to date, dealing with mining and watch-whers rather than dragons. This works in its favour, as the issues that are dealt with are novel and entertaining. One of the disappointing things about this book, and the main reason why I haven't given it a higher score is its length. There was a lot of good material here that was not thoroughly explored. The ending was rushed, and plot lines tied up neatly but with no post-climax denouement. This book could have been twice as long and would have worked much better.

Sometimes packaging is a bad thing, but here it was necessary in order to be more memorable. I can't help but feel that I've read a good short story - but that's it. A little bit more description, a few longer passages surrounding watch-wher training and this would have been a true re-birth for the Pern series.

In the end, an enjoyable book and I hope the next one is as promising in its scope but better explored.

The story is set in the Natalon mining camp, and this is one of the first times we've had a look at the miners. This is the story of Kindan, a twelve year old boy who seemed older when I read the book. Kindan does not expect anything more out of his life than to follow his father into the mines when he is old enough. All of this changes when there is an accident at the mine and Kindan's father and brothers are all killed. He is left an orphan and he is taken in by the Masterharper, Zist.

What the title of this book refers to is the watch whers (they appear in several of the Pern novels). The watch whers are dragon like, though smaller and nocturnal, and are used typically as a nighttime guard or as the first warning if anything is going wrong. They are kin to dragons (hence the title) from when humans first settled on Pern. Watch whers play a prominent role in this book (though, the watch wher egg does not appear until close to half way through the book).

At times, "Dragon's Kin" did not feel like a Pern novel. Dragons play such a limited role, and this story is such a sub-set off of what became the primary storyline throughout Pern. This was a quick reading story, but none of the characters were as engaging as previous characters. There is no Menolly, or Lessa, or F'lar, or Jaxom, or even any of the characters from "Dragonsdawn". Kindan is too young, and while he may grow into a better character (assuming McCaffrey follows up with these characters), he isn't interesting enough to build a novel around. The minor character, Nuella, she has potential. "Dragon's Kin" is a decent enough Pern novel, but it is nothing to get excited about.

-Joe Sherry

The long version:

I've read and enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's books for a long time now. After the initial (excellent) six books the Pern series rather lost its way with books that felt like the script of a poor TV mini-series rather than a wellcrafted work of fiction as I had come to expect.

This book doesn't even make it as far as the mini-series pilot.

The idea isn't a bad one - watchwhers have been thoroughly ignored other than in Dragonflight where the watchwher sacrifices itself for Lessa and in the Landing books where we understand how they came to be created.

But what is offered is inconsistent. Nothing in the past has given the reader to believe anything more than that they were the equivalent of nocturnal dogs that were vaguely related to dragons. This unveiling of the watchwhers new abilities only for them to be conveniently forgotten again in the future seems a bit too pat.

As do the other Pernese inconsistencies - it's stated inummerable times in previous books that you can't feel anything when the dragon goes between, not even the dragon between your legs. And yet Nuella does feel the dragon whilst going between. It was originally described as so terrifying an experience that as stout a person as Lessa had to stifle a scream as they appeared above Benden weyr for the first time but Nuella "rather enjoyed that". This may seem like a small thing but if you're entrusted to be the new Pern writer how about some sort of consistency with the previous works?

The story is pretty straightforward with an unexplained Master Harper appearing from nowhere to replace a well liked journeyman for a mining camp of 200 people. The standard (of late anyway) large neon signs saying "bad guy" are hung out over Tarik and then we have the plucky resourceful kids of the camp (Kindan and Nuella) in to save the day as things go from bad to worse for the camp. And there was never a point in the book that you ever felt that the day wouldn't be saved.

If you like your fiction sugar coated and loosely based in Pern then buy this book. Otherwise save your money and your fond memories of the decent books written about Pern and avoid this one like the plague.