In Dragonsong, Petiron, the old harper, has died and only Menolly, the youngest child of Sea Holder Yanus, can properly sing the deathsong to honor him. Yanus is scandalized that a girl should perform the role of a harper, but gives in to the inevitable. Moreover, Menolly is the only one available to instruct the children in the Teaching. When the new harper arrives, however, Yanus and his wife try to keep Menolly from his attention. Disconsolate, Menolly starts taking long walks and finds a fire lizard nest about to be swamped by the tide. She helps save the eggs and returns later to witness the hatching and impresses some of the the hatchlings. Now Menolly has nine young fire lizards attending her.
In Dragonsinger, Menolly and her fair of fire lizards have been called to Harper Hall because of her songwriting. She has been accepted as the Master Harper's apprentice and soon finds several friends there, dull-witted Camo, who is fascinated by her fire lizards, quick-witted Piemur, who is fascinated by everything, but the foremost is Robiton, the Master Harper himself. Nevertheless, she also is the target of jealousy and prejudice from some of the residents.
In Dragondrums, Piemur, who is the pampered lead soprano in the Harper choir, finds that his voice is changing. Moreover, he is no longer the Voice Master's special student. The normally cheerful boy is desolate, but he soon perks up when he is told that he is now apprenticed to the Master Harper himself, working with Sibel and Menolly and maybe even going to the Southern Continent.
This trilogy concentrates on a different segment of Pern society than the previous novels. The Harpers are the teachers and messengers as well as entertainers. Moreover, Robinton uses them to spread new ideas and to spy out problems that haven't been reported by the Holders.
Highly recommended for McCaffrey fans and anyone who enjoys SF tales of young people with a zest for life.
