The Masterharper of Pern

The Masterharper of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish writer Anne McCaffrey, first published in 1998. It is the fifteenth book of the Dragonriders of Pern series.

It tells the story of the birth and early life of Robinton, who becomes the MasterHarper of Pern shortly before Lessa becomes Weyrwoman. His father, Petiron, is jealous of him and rejects him, so much of Robinton's childhood is spent with his nurturing mother, and because he grows up in a place so full of music, the people around him all contribute to his progress towards adulthood.

Robinton composes a number of successful songs very early on and is elected Masterharper by acclamation while still relatively young. Later he tries to warn the Lord Holders about what Lord Fax intends to do, and the warning does not take. He is present when Lessa uses her wits to provoke the duel in which Fax is killed by F'lar, one of the turning points of the earlier Pern novels.

The book fills in a character who appears in the other Pern books as an established figure, and it does it by going back to the beginning of his life rather than approaching him from the side.