Josh says I need to just let this go, but it really irks me that Simon & Schuster chose to print "FANTASY" in big letters on the front of the edition I just read. Ooookay. Letting go.
Dragonsinger picks up almost immediately where Dragonsong left off -- Menolly arrives at Harper Hall with her nine fire lizards to begin her studies as an apprentice Harper.
It's funny -- the first book struck me as likely to be embraced by those on the young end of the Tamora Pierce fandom, whereas this one, with its school setting, fish-out-of-water storyline, nasty rich students, tough professors (including one very mean one) and wonderful headmaster... You do see where I'm going with this, I hope? Yes. There are a lot of Harry Potter-esque aspects.
I do think it's possible to read and enjoy this one without reading the first book, but I wouldn't recommend it. Menolly is annoyingly apologetic about everything even when you know her background, but without having actually witnessed how awful her parents were, her constant apologies might become unbearably irritating. Harry Potter she is not -- she is eager to please and quick to assume that she is at fault, whereas he does a lot of "It's not fair" and blaming others. Interesting, because I like them both so much.
A concordance, readalike, whatever you want to call it: Dragonsinger with the part of The White Dragon where Menolly is teasing Jaxom, saying sure she'll cover for him, etc. You can see how she's really grown as a character - a bit of that in Dragondrums as well.
I'll add to your list of HP comparisons (so true) with: school may be school, but there's a world outside going on too, and our hero(ine) must straddle both, especially when the real world leaks into the school world.
Posted by: Jill | 07 April 2006 at 08:54 AM
Oh, good one.
I have to admit -- I went to Fantastic Fiction and printed out a list of her books -- it's broken down by series and pub date. Horribly geeky and wonderful.
Posted by: Leila | 07 April 2006 at 09:16 AM
As a kid, it's not so much that I ignored the order of series, is that I was constantly without realizing it reading 2nd or 3rd books and then having to backtrack. So, yes, I read Dragonsinger 1st and it remains my favorite Mennolly centered book; I liked Dragonsong; and was disappointed by Dragon Drums. I also prefer the early Dragonrider books. Now I'm in the mood for a good Pern book, I have to see what is on my shelf.
Posted by: Liz B | 07 April 2006 at 01:14 PM
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger are probably my favorite of all the Pern books. It's fun to re-read them and see numerous things going on in the background that were main plots of other books. However, I have issue with Dragondrums because you have followed Menolly's story through 2 books and suddenly the third books isn't about her. I found it disappointing.
Posted by: Chrissy | 07 April 2006 at 01:32 PM
That's why I tend to find the later Pern books less interesting; with a handful of exceptions, they don't focus on the characters I'm interested in. The people I like (Menolly, Lessa) tended to drift to the background in favor of characters I was so so about.
Posted by: Liz B | 09 April 2006 at 09:15 AM
I agree about the "fantasy" label for this - how annoying! These were the books that made me branch out into additional science fiction when I was a kid - I'd always read fantasy, but when I realized that even though there was no magical element and I still loved these books, I had to find more books like that! Great series - I just read the first two to my kids, and it was wonderful to revisit them.
Posted by: darla d | 10 April 2010 at 02:43 PM