It blew my mind even in high school that she wrote the series ending in All the Weyrs of Pern (1991) and then just . . . kept going. I accepted the existence of the collection The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993) because it was all prequel. And then we hit The Dolphins of Pern (1994) and I tapped out for good.
Nerilka's Story (1986) is effectively a companion to Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983) in that it covers much of the same material from a different character's perspective, hence the titling. The early novels are packed into the same time frame in a way that actually resembles the cast series model: the protagonists of one book are supporting cast in another, the same events affect different groups of characters, there's a lot of crossover but no exactly duplicated perspectives. Dragonsong (1976) and Dragonsinger (1977) are effectively concurrent with Dragonquest (1970). Dragondrums (1979) happens during The White Dragon (1978). I believe The Renegades of Pern (1989) revisits and is interwoven into this period, but it was written sufficiently later than the rest that it doesn't feel quite like the same phenomenon: McCaffrey was writing the two original trilogies at the same time and it shows in how tightly they're linked. [edit] Wikipedia reports that McCaffrey's preferred reading order had the Harper Hall trilogy spliced in between Dragonquest and The White Dragon.
no subject
It blew my mind even in high school that she wrote the series ending in All the Weyrs of Pern (1991) and then just . . . kept going. I accepted the existence of the collection The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993) because it was all prequel. And then we hit The Dolphins of Pern (1994) and I tapped out for good.
Nerilka's Story (1986) is effectively a companion to Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983) in that it covers much of the same material from a different character's perspective, hence the titling. The early novels are packed into the same time frame in a way that actually resembles the cast series model: the protagonists of one book are supporting cast in another, the same events affect different groups of characters, there's a lot of crossover but no exactly duplicated perspectives. Dragonsong (1976) and Dragonsinger (1977) are effectively concurrent with Dragonquest (1970). Dragondrums (1979) happens during The White Dragon (1978). I believe The Renegades of Pern (1989) revisits and is interwoven into this period, but it was written sufficiently later than the rest that it doesn't feel quite like the same phenomenon: McCaffrey was writing the two original trilogies at the same time and it shows in how tightly they're linked. [edit] Wikipedia reports that McCaffrey's preferred reading order had the Harper Hall trilogy spliced in between Dragonquest and The White Dragon.