Piemur is a famous, celebrated singer, but when his voice begins to break, the MasterHarper takes him under his wing. Sent into dangerous places as a spy, he soon learns he can have a new skill in adulthood.

Another great story in the Pern saga, this time following young harper Piemer as he finds a new role in the Hall after his voice changes and he can no longer sing in the chorus. Recruited by Robinton to help sneak around and find out what is going on in select areas of Pern, he ends up in the Southern Continent by accident, hiding from the Oldtimers and learning to survive in a completely different environment.

I loved this. Piemer is such a great, cheeky character, and McCaffrey throws a lot of challenges in his way to cope with. The whole Menolly-Sebell storyline makes me smile too. This book has more of a major storyline than the other Harper books, expanding the action to include things happening elsewhere in Pern and leading into things that occur in future books.

And why do I always cry reading the Impression scene - McCaffrey adds it to every book and yet I still well up every time!