Subject: All the Weyrs of Pern

From: [email-masked] (Dani Zweig)
Date: 3 Sep 92 07:04:04 GMT

"All the Weyrs of Pern" isn't a bad book, if you think of it as a
farewell to old friends, rather than as a serious attempt at story-
telling.  Enjoyment of the book depends almost completely on knowing
the characters from previous books, and caring who winds up married
to whom and with how many children.

As weak an understanding of science as McCaffrey's own is also an
advantage.  She got some advice this time round (the problem of the
red star's orbit is partly cleaned up, for example), but it's not
tempered by an understanding of her own.  (Her computers, for example,
are either artificial superintelligences or pc's running DOS.  But
the piece of voodoo pseudo-science I thought most characteristic was
the use of a mixture of liquid helium, liquid hydrogen, liquid neon,
and liquid silicone as a lubricant.  That would be a tough mixture to
achieve at any temperature!)

The actual scheme to rid Pern of thread is fraught with implausibilities,
but that scheme isn't very important.  It's only a mechanism for allowing
McCaffrey's favorite characters to take their final bows.

If you have a sentimental attachment to the Pern novels, you'll want to
read this one as well.  Just don't expect a book that caters to anything
*but* that sentiment.

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]

   If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down.  It's going to be the
   best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills
   you! -- Dorothy Parker