The Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey

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Read (Dragondrums): 2/1/09

Whole series: 2 stars

I generally like fantasy books with dragons and such, so I did own a couple of Anne McCaffrey books when I was younger. The next time I read her was almost a decade after, when Play Book Tag's tag of the month was Dragons. I had recently bought the complete Harper Hall Trilogy from one of my favorite booksellers, Jasper of avalon.ph. So, I was hoping for one of those series that I could really settle into and would leave me morose after it had ended because there was no more story.

Unfortunately, I didn't get what I hoped for.

Perhaps I've outgrown her, or perhaps I chose the wrong books, but I seriously found that reading the first two books, which I read a few months ago, only slightly better than watching grass grow. Her main character for the first two in the series is Menolly. She seemed an interesting teenager, misunderstood and downtrodden, especially by her family--you know, the stuff of Filipino telenovelas. But the misunderstood adolescent angle got a bit old for me, especially as I thought nothing much happened in the book. She ran away from home, befriended fire lizards, which were also misunderstood creatures, was rescued from a life-threatening situation, and finally recognized for her talent and worth, but all written as an uninteresting pastoral.

The second book wasn't much better. Still reminiscent of the telenovela, especially when Menolly faces peers--jealous girls--who don't like all the attention Menolly is receiving in the Harper Hall because of her talent. And seriously, the whole book revolves around that conflict. I found it a bit self-indulgent.

The third and last book, I read recently, also because of Play Book Tag, though January's tag was music. This time, the protagonist isn't Menolly, but one of her friends, Piemur. What else is different? Not much. The character goes through the same pattern as Menolly, but maybe with a bit more excitement for the espionage thing involved. But it all turns out the same--he finds his niche in the world. What I don't understand is why the same thing has to be repeated in all three books.

In the end, I was glad to finish the series, because I don't think I could've taken any more. I didn't hate it, really, but it did absolutely nothing for me. My apologies to the fans.

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