''Dragondrums'' is a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by the American-Irish author

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American-Irish writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 19 ...

. Published by

Atheneum Books Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Athen ...

in 1979, it was the sixth to appear in the ''

Dragonriders of Pern ''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. ...

'' series by Anne or her son

Todd McCaffrey Todd J. McCaffrey (born 27 April 1956 as Todd Johnson) is an Irish American author of science fiction best known for continuing the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series in collaboration with his mother Anne McCaffrey. Life Todd Johnson was born 27 Apr ...

.. Retrieved 2011-10-09. ''Dragondrums'' completed the ''Harper Hall of Pern'' trilogy one year after ''The White Dragon'' completed the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' trilogy. Boxed and omnibus editions of both trilogies soon followed.

Plot summary

''Dragondrums'' is the

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

story of Piemur, a small, quick, clever

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

at Harper Hall. When Piemur's clear treble voice changes, his place among the Harpers is no longer certain. He is sent to the

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

towers to learn drumming, the primary method of long-distance communication on Pern for non-dragonriders, while his voice settles. There he has to deal with the jealousy and bullying of the other drumming apprentices. When

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

harper Robinton secretly asks Piemur to be his apprentice, Piemur begins journeying through Pern, gathering information and running discreet errands for the Masterharper. In his adventures throughout Pern, Piemur has only his knowledge and wits to deal with a cruel Lord Holder and rogue dragonriders. He Impresses one of the coveted

fire-lizards ''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. T ...

– a gold he names Farli – as a companion, discovers his place in the world, and earns

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

status among the Harpers. The events in ''Dragondrums'' take place after ''

Dragonsinger ''Dragonsinger'' is a young adult science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. Published by Atheneum Books in 1977, it was the fourth to appear in the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series written by Anne McCaffrey and her son Tod ...

'' and are contiguous with some events in '' The White Dragon'', which discusses characters and events elsewhere on Pern.

Awards

The

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

in 1999 cited these first six Pern books, along with ''

The Ship Who Sang ''The Ship Who Sang'' (1969) is a science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey, a fix-up of five stories published 1961 to 1969. By an alternate reckoning, "The Ship Who Sang" is the earliest of the stories, a novelette, which became ...

'', when McCaffrey received the annual

Margaret A. Edwards Award The Margaret A. Edwards Award is an American Library Association (ALA) literary award that annually recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". It is named afte ...

for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens". ''Dragondrums'' placed eighth for the annual

Locus Award for Best Novel Winners of the Locus Award for Best Novel, awarded by ''Locus'' magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award for Best Novel was presented from 1971 (when the awards began) to 1979. S ...

and it won the annual

Balrog Award The Balrog Awards were a set of awards given annually from 1979 to 1985 for the best works and achievements of speculative fiction in the previous year. The awards were named after the balrog, a fictional creature from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-ear ...

in the Novel class.

Notes

References

External links

{{Pern stories 1979 American novels 1979 science fiction novels Dragonriders of Pern books Novels by Anne McCaffrey Young adult fantasy novels Atheneum Books books