A little dissapointed

[Shamira]

Hi Everyone. I grabbed a book from the library called "The Girl Who Heard Dragons". (I hadn't noticed the fine print at the bottom that said 24 Other stories.) I was so getting into the 1st chaper when I noticed it just ended and went to another short story. I was upset expecting that the whole book was about the girl who hear dragons. There had to be more to that story. :sad: I skipped alot of the other stories in between and read what interested me. Think the title threw me off. It probably should have stated "Other Stories" in the title rather then all the way at the bottom.

Till next time.... :wave:

[Anareth]

Well, as long as it's on the cover, and of course there's the table of contents.

And yeah, there's more to that story. Unfortunately it's the worst of the Pern books (at least of those Anne's solely responsible for), "Renegades of Pern." If you like Aramine in TGWHD, you'll hate her in Renegades, and LOATHE her in "Dolphins of Pern." She's a weeping, useless dishrag of a damsel in distress in RoP, and in Dolphins she's an utter shrew and you completely understand why her son runs away from home.

[Brenda]

She's a weeping, useless dishrag of a damsel in distress in RoP

I don't think it's unreasonable to break down when you have dragons in your head whether you like it or not, and people trying to capture or kill you because of it, and family shame if you run away.


Give it a little time to get over your disappointment - I did the exact same thing and had the exact same reaction! There are a lot of good stories in there. I like most of them - the only ones I actively dislike are "Velvet Fields" and the two time cave ones - I know the one is called "Flock of Geese". My favorite one is "The Greatest Love".

[Anareth]

Yes, it is unreasonable, especially as her solution is to run away with the first lunkhead to have wet dreams about her and play Suzy Homemaker on the Southern Continent, and then a few years down the road turn into a frothing, raving shrew of a mother. Readis's only mistake is not running away sooner. And speaking of wastes of paper and ink, taking the first INTERESTING villain and turning her into a cartoon character. I won't even go into the possible Freud/Kinsey interpretations of Thella's obsession and the meaning of having Jayge get her with a sword in the end.

"Velvet Fields" is not bad, but it is....urgh. Anne can be really dark when she wants. The time cave things seemed like a book idea that went nowhere. And I didn't like anyone in it. If I'm not confusing it with "Get Off the Unicorn", and I might be as I don't have either one with me, I think my favorite was the story with the 'brainship' and the Hrruban. NOT what either series eventually became, but interesting anyway!

Now I wish I'd brought at one. Sigh. Something to check the library for.

[Bertrand]

I bought the book for the pictures :D :redfruit:

[selket]

i don't like short stories. i like very long books that can really create a world for me. but i like short mysteries.

[I LOVE Dashboard]

Ugh...I hated Velvet Fields...I haven't read it in years ( I was like 12 at the time, so that might have something to do with it) but I was incredibly horrified. But, again, my age may have impacted that a bit.

[granath]

Velvet Fields certainly isn't a story for kids. I thought it was interesting that Anne could write a story bordering on horror. I really liked The Mandalay Cure and the story with the Hrruban.

[Tony]

yeah, there's more to that story. Unfortunately it's the worst of the Pern books - Renegades of Pern.
Hm.....I liked renegades! :irked:

[Weyrwoman Kalina]

Luckily I knew it had other stories in it so wasn't surprised.

:shrug:

I own it.. and am not mad I bought it, but I do agree that some of the stories were hard to get through. I can't name titles however because it has been YEARS since I read it.

[granath]

I liked TGWHD, but not Renegades that much. Aramina annoyed me. :irked:

[Brenda]

Aramina didn't annoy me until Dolphins of Pern.

[Anneli]

Aramina in The Girl Who Heard Dragons was fine :) Aramina in The Renegades of Pern was a wimp :( While Araminia in The Dolphins of Pern was a bitch and -IMHO - an unfit Mother for preventing her child from reaching his potential :D

[persephone]

I was a bit disappointed too when I realized it wasn't a full Pern book, but then, the rest of the stories made up for it a bit. I especially like all the military stories, and the one about surrogate birth.

I don't read Renegades for the Jayge/Aramina story. I read it for Piemur. Dare I say it? He rocks. Also, the book does have some redeaming qualities in that it doesn't focus soley on the antics of the nobility, but rather features the average lives of average people for a good portion of the book, something I think the rest of the series sorely lacks.

[Anareth]

Yep, what Anneli said. Aramina in RoP is a rag doll to get tossed between Jayge and Thella. More than Brekke she's the sort I'd push around because she would make it easy. Brekke at least occasionaly shows some iniative. And in Dolphins...what the frell happened there? She borders on pyschologically abusive.

I can't recall a thing about Renegades now except that Thella was a total waste of a character, Jayge was an ass, Aramina was a rag, and the plot meanders aimlessly for pages and pages. I've read it twice, and am not wasting my time again.

I want more brainship stories! That counts as disappointment. Aren't enough!

[Shani]

Isn't it funny what we like and dislike. The surrogate birth one horrified me, he kidnapped that poor woman and denied her proper hospital care and scared the life out of her. Mind I haven't read the book in a long time.
But then perhaps I'm just projecting here...

Velvet fields didn't do a lot for me either but I liked the rest of them from memory

[persephone]

The surrogate birth one horrified me, he kidnapped that poor woman and denied her proper hospital care and scared the life out of her. Mind I haven't read the book in a long time.
But then perhaps I'm just projecting here...

I think that story you're talking about is actually in Get Off The Unicorn. The one I'm talking about doesn't involve anyone getting kidnapped. Though I suppose the bit where the guy's twin sister is the surrogate mother can be considered a little creepy. The one I'm talking about is called "the Greatest Love."

[Brenda]

Isn't it funny what we like and dislike. The surrogate birth one horrified me, he kidnapped that poor woman and denied her proper hospital care and scared the life out of her. Mind I haven't read the book in a long time.
Shani, that story is "Changeling" from "Get Off the Unicorn" in which apparently the woman is someone who agreed to have a gay man's baby, and then he kidnaps her so he can deliver it himself, which I just don't get.

the one about surrogate birth.
The one I'm talking about doesn't involve anyone getting kidnapped. Though I suppose the bit where the guy's twin sister is the surrogate mother can be considered a little creepy. The one I'm talking about is called "the Greatest Love."This one is in "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" and involves a woman who is physically incapable of carrying a child to term, so they catch some of her eggs and fertilize them, then implant the fertilized egg into her sister-in-law (the husband's twin) who carries them for her. Since the father's name is on the birth certificate and the woman delivering the babies is his sister, a big fuss is made, with the real mother's mother screaming incest.

[skysong]

I thought "the Greatest Love" was a great story and it is amazing that there is now a tv show called "Inconcivable" about a fertlity clinic that has surrogate mothers and other feritliy treatments.
In the Dolphins of Pern, i thought Aramina was just a really overprotective mother and not worth much consideration.

[McClance]

I also bought TGWHD thinking that it was a full Pern book. I noticed that it wasn't as soon as I left the store. For a moment, I even considered selling it back. But then I realized, if I really respected Anne as an author, wouldn't I read more of her works than just Pern?

So far, I've read "Velvet Fields" and "Euterpe on a Fling". "TGWHD" I read in A Gift of Dragons. I'll agree that "Velvet Fields" was rather horror-like, but maybe that was the point. "Euterpe on a Fling" was rather dull for my tastes. I also enjoyed Anne's Introduction and really had a good laugh from her experiences. :laugh:


As for Aramina... Well, she definitely doesn't make it to my favorite character list. And I definitely didn't like her attitude in Dolphins--seemed more like a female version of Yanus, except toward dolphins rather than girls making music.

[granath]

This one is in "The Girl Who Heard Dragons" and involves a woman who is physically incapable of carrying a child to term, so they catch some of her eggs and fertilize them, then implant the fertilized egg into her sister-in-law (the husband's twin) who carries them for her. Since the father's name is on the birth certificate and the woman delivering the babies is his sister, a big fuss is made, with the real mother's mother screaming incest.

I think the most notable thing about that story was the fact it's written in 1956, nearly 30 years before the first IVF baby was born.

[Brenda]

I had assumed that it predated that - and it's interesting that it predicted that. However, there's so much more to the story than that. What I enjoy most about it are the characters and the way that it is narrated.

[Alchemy]

I never bought any of those books, and glad I didn't after the compilation came out. Maybe I should pick them up one day from the library. These stories sound intriguing :)

[Kaoru]

I never bought any of those books, and glad I didn't after the compilation came out. Maybe I should pick them up one day from the library. These stories sound intriguing :)

Same! Though I don't think my local library has Girl Who Heard or Get off the Unicorn.. :sad: