At Fort Weyr, Masterhealer Jazon discusses the sickness with S'bor, who sends D'kor to find V'hul and S'lon. Not long afterwards, Zenth informs D'kor that K'tan is ill, and has requested he ask about The Ballad of Moreta's Ride.

Travelling first to Fort Hold, D'kor visits the Healer Hall and discovers that Lamrat hasn't delivered the skin, and has subsequently disappeared. Like Dragonsong, this is a coming of age tale, but this time for young Piemur, a boy gifted with a wondrous voice… until puberty hits. After discovering that a hidden entrance exists in a house in the Ista Village, D'kor gets Sorian — a would-be victim of Hollin — to distract the smugglers so he can gain entry.Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. It seems to be written less to tell a good tale than to show the gradual decline of technology that would lead to the more “fantasy” type setting of the books set later on. In addition to this, detail of some of the more minor quests has been omitted to make the plot summary less confusing. Still, the dolphin/human alliance is a neat concept and I didn’t mind reading it again the second time around.

Of all the books I was looking forward to reading for the first time, this one disappointed me the most. Med tanke på andra böcker från samma (eller tidigare) tid så är det ett gigantisk framsteg att det ens finns kvinnor med som karaktärer. It is an uneven read, very loosely organized by focusing on the “renegades” that don’t live in Holds like most people on Pern do. In time, D'kor discovers that a sickness with similarities to the one chronicled in the Ballad — the main difference being that this strain is more virulent and appears to kill outright — is affecting man and herdbeast; as such, they may all be infected already.The series might take you on a rollercoaster of emotions or provide a steady companion on lazy Sunday afternoons. Fans of the series might find it intriguing to delve into other works by {author name} to see how their writing has evolved or how different themes are explored across their body of work.