i eat my words, Anne - some of them.
Alright, so I just finished The Masterharper of Pern and I must say: I'm sorry, Anne. Robinton has a sappy, sad backstory in which he grows up virtually ignored by his jealous father and his one true love and wife dies soon after their honeymoon. Such tragedy gives him a slightly more genuine feel, rather like an old piece of leather, well-worn by trials and adventure. It might not make up for the classic sci-fi/fantasy sappiness in which no character is ever truly wrong, but it's something.
This book also wrapped up a loose end I couldn't rationalize from the Dragonrider series. In Dragonflight, F'lar kills Fax and I always wondered why there wasn't some kind of retribution for this, considering the rule that the weyrs have no say in Hold matters. Maybe it was mentioned as a footnote somewhere, but Masterharper spells it out: Fax killed F'lon and I guess it seemed only fair that F'lon's son F'lar should avenge his father's death.
