This is the story of Robinton from his birth until the day that Jaxom, Lord Holder of Ruatha is born. I loved this book and I hated this book. I loved this book because Robinton is one of my favorite characters in all of Pern. I hated this book because I realized that Robinton is a father and he's not a very good one. He is a better father than his was, but that is not saying much.Robinton's father, Petiron, is an abysmal father and not even that great of a person. He is an incredibly talented composer, but he is also an arrogant, demanding, neglectful, spoiled, jealous, prima donna. Everyone in Harper Hall, especially his wife, do Petiron and everyone else on Pern an extreme disservice by continually making excuses for Petiron's reprehensible behavior in the name of his talent. Everyone is so concerned about his precious ego that no one bothers to tell him that his attitude, behavior, and actions are completely out of line until it is far too late.Robinton's mother, Merelan, is even worse in my opinion. She is portrayed in the story as the loving, all suffering mother torn between the man she loves and her child. To me, that is not a contest. When you give birth to a child, you take on the responsibility of protecting that child from all abuse until that child reaches majority. Petiron was nothing short of emotionally abusive to his son and rather than DO HER JOB and PROTECT HER SON, Merelan makes excuses for Petiron and teaches Robinton to hide his true self from his father. She even goes so far as to insinuate, more than once, that things are better between Petiron and herself when Robinton is not around. That is the worst thing a parent could ever say and I loathed her character for it. In my eyes, Merelan repeatedly FAILED in her most sacred responsibility as a mother and no amount of kind words could make that any different. In spite of this, Robinton grows up a musical genius with a kind, loving and sensitive personality. All his life he had to tiptoe around his father's delicate ego. He was continually told that things would be better between his parents if/when he was not there. I was very disappointed to discover that Robinton was a father. Robinton was not unkind to his own child, but because that child was not what he expected or longed for, he chose to treat the harpers in his hall as his children. He always provided for his child and was always kind, but the attitude of "Oh, my kid is not what I wanted in a kid, so I will make my harpers my children and shunt my biological child off to the side" is so abhorrent to me, that it brought Robinton down a few notches in my eyes.The story itself was superb. It moves rather quickly as there are nearly 50 years covered in it. However, the fast pace makes every twist seem that much more exciting. I gave it 5 stars because I will absolutely read it again.
What do You think about The Masterharper Of Pern (1999)?
I have been reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern books for many years. I discovered them when I was twelve, and over the course of that summer I devoured all that had been written. I adored them. I adore Masterharper Robinton. I have a print of the portrait of Robinton that Robin Wood did for her People of Pern book. I always thought a book about Robinton would be great, and I wanted to like The Masterharper of Pern when it came out. I expected a lot from The Masterharper of Pern, and I was greatly disappointed. Ms. Caffrey seems to have written this book in a vacuum. It does not fit in at all with the impressions of Robinton's early life and life at the Harper Hall at the end of the long interval that she gave in her earlier books. She gives short shrift to story lines and characters she had alluded to in earlier (written) books, while focusing on entirely new characters created for this book. If these other events and people were so integral to Robinton's life--why were they never mentioned later in his life? Ms McCaffrey fell for the same pitfall that many writters of prequels encounter. That said, I am sure Pern fans will still want to read The Masterharper of Pern, but it won't be one of those books to make it into the reread pile. Instead when you get a hankering for Robinton and the Harper Hall, I would suggest listening to the companion CD of the same name recorded by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman. The cd is definitely the best thing to have come out of the book.
—Kat
So good to re-enter the world of Pern. It's been awhile. Rediscovered this while going through boxes to decide which books to offer up at a garage sale. Could not get rid of this one. Read it for the first time many years ago. Delightful side story about Robinton, the Masterharper of Pern. So many familiar characters and story lines visited and reminded of and seeing all of them from Robinton's P.O.V. makes this a wonderful book! I love how McCaffrey was able to do that without it being just a repeat. Surely the specific dialogue sections are repeats but getting into Robinton's head helped me to understand the character's actions and reactions. As a writer myself I can see how cut scenes can be of use when writing subsequent installments of a series. I think that I will reread the entire Pern series from beginning to end and have a better understanding of the entire story line. An enjoyable task to be sure.
—Allynn Riggs
Anne McCaffrey loved this character and it shows here. Robinton is a bright, musical child born in to a family of Harpers who is destined for greatness from the beginning.As with any good story, Robinton has his share of tragedy, from the estrangement of his father, the death of his young wife and best friend, he feels pain like any other person. He takes his pain and makes music of it.McCaffrey does her usual solid job of tying various threads from other stories in to the tale. Most notably at the end is the scene of Lessa helping to bring about the fall of Lord Fax, who has attempted to conquer several holds around his own. The scene and some of the things that lead up to it are told in a short story called "Weyr Search" (found in A Dragon-Lovers Treasury of the Fantastic)The Brilliance Audio version is read by Dick Hill, who does a good job giving the characters distinct voices and vocal mannerisms that make them come alive.
—Matthew
