Dragonflight

I devoured this entire series of books when I was a teenager in the 80s, but hadn't reread them for decades. This book was originally published in 1968 I believe. For its time it was hugely imaginative, had a strong heroine, and there was nothing else like it - telepathic dragons! What? I remember adoring the entire series and reading them over and over - I discovered I still remember large parts of the book even after all this time, in particular most of the songs/rhymes.

That said, it's definitely a bit dated to read now. There's internalized misogyny that may have been par for the course in 1968 but is definitely more obvious nowdays. The fast pace of the writing is breathtaking compared to the 900 page epics some authors are writing nowdays; the introduction to Dragonflight is approximately a page an a half. An author like Patrick Rothfuss would barely have introduced a character in that time. The reader fills in many details on their own, rather than the author spelling out everything - which isn't necessarily bad at all, and my teenage self certainly filled in those details with enthusiasm, but it's a different style than currently common.

Anyway, this is a seminal work of fantasy, and worth reading for many reasons, and still a very enjoyable book if you can gloss past the issues above. (Also worth noting that Terry Pratchett's very first Discworld book, The Colour of Magic, is a very clear and deliberate parody of this book in one part.)

As a kid, I heard a lot about the Pern books, but somehow never got around to reading them.

I'm reading through them one by one as part of an omnibus edition, so I'm not sure how much of the foreward information was or is included if you read just Dragonflight on its own.

Pern is an awesome blend of science fiction and fantasy. A red star orbits in the same system as Pern, and when it comes close, these black threads fall to the planet leaching the life out of everything. So the Pernese genetically engineer dragons to fight the threads. Dragons that can tesseract through time and space.

Dragonflight centers around the last haven of dragonriders on Pern following a very long time passing since the last pass of the red star. People are starting to think that the danger that the dragons "protect" them from is just a legend. Even dragonriders are getting a little complacent with how they handle life in the weyr.

The threat returns, luckily just following the installation of new leadership among the dragonriders, and the group must come together to keep the threads from destroying a world that has forgotten the threat.

This is the first novel in a classic series, and various books in the series have own a bucketful of awards. This novel reads like a fantasy, and you think that is what it all is about until later in the series when it becomes a science fiction theme. Dragons in this case are winged beasts who can breathe fire and burn the "thread", a deadly enemy that periodically falls from the sky. Lessa, a young lady, has certain mental powers that she puts to work getting revenge on the people who invaded her family's domain, and tries to use those powers on the Dragonriders when they come around. This brings her to their attention, and she become a Dragonrider herself. While I like it a lot (and so do many others when you look at the awards McCaffrey earned), I would not recommend it to someone who does not enjoy fantasy. The science fiction aspects do not come out until later in the series.

I have this as part of the three-volume set The Dragonriders of Pern which includes the first three novels in the series.

After Anne Mcaffrey died late 2011 I rooted around in my bookshelves for all my old pern paperbacks from the early 80's. I was utterly obsessed with these books when I was a young teenager, and they were extremely formative in my own history as a writer. The first novel I ever wrote -- longhand, in mead spiralbound notebooks -- was a thin knockoff of Dragonflight (I seem to remember it had unicorns, but I'm so embarrassed by that book I haven't managed to actually read enough of it to check).

I reread all three books in the first Pern trilogy because I was curious to see if they held up to my very fond memories of them. Sadly the answer was no. Sometimes its best to let your fond childhood memories remain memories. :(

(I've duplicated this review across all three books).

Dragonflight: The earliest of the Pern books and the most problematic. It's a fast read and an OK story, but...ugh. My memories of the book were that it was one of the few SF books at the time that revolved around a strong female lead, one that I could identify and aspire to when I was 13. I was appalled to discover on reread that the gender politics are solidly prefeminist and really, really icky. And the writing is terrible -- terrible characters, terrible descriptions, too many similar confusing names, to many shift of POV. I was ashamed for my younger self for liking this book so much.

Dragonquest: Similar gender issues in this book to the previous, but better writing and a really compelling plot. I ripped through the book in a few hours. Not great art, but good storytelling. The best of the three.

The White Dragon: I didn't realize that the entire Harper Hall trilogy is supposed to take place in between Dragonquest and TWD, and I should have read those before starting this one. I didn't think much of this book; it felt much more leisurely than the fast-paced plotting of Dragonquest, with many more characters and threads (heh) and not a lot of narrative tensions. Jaxom as a character didn't much appeal to me, and it was just as gross to see the wierd gender politics of Pern from the male point of view. The big reveal as to the origins of Pern seems a sort of deus ex machina letdown (although the extended prologues always explained this, it was never a big part of the plot). It just didn't feel like a satisfying conclusion to me, and after reading this book I just felt all dragonned out.

Also as a side note, everyone is always striding in these books. F'lar strode in to the room! F'nor strode out of the weyr! I mentioned it to my husband about 2/3rds through TWD and then I couldn't help laughing about it every time the word showed up after that. You could make a drinking game out of it and get truly pissed indeed.

From back: After ten long Turns, Lessa is ready to come out of hiding, to reclaim her birthright ... and to Impress the young dragon queen and become Weyrwoman of Benden.
Suddenly the deadly silver Thread once again threatens all Pern with destruction. But the mighty telepathic dragons that had defended Pern for centuries are now few in number, not nearly enough to protect the planet in its hour of greatest peril. So Lessa hatches a daring and dangerous scheme: rally support from people who long go ceased to exist...

I see why this story is historical fantasy akin to reading Tolkien if you are a fantasy reader. How can you not fall in love with the stories of these dragons and their riders?

I love tiny Lessa with her stubborn and defiant ways. This is a character I would have loved as a teenager, and I know I would have loved these books then. It is too bad I did not discover them at that time. The romance part of the novel is a little lacking. I find that Ms. McCaffrey is not the best at writing romances. Certainly her later novels are better than her earlier ones.

I did not manage to read this book first as I thought Dragonsong was a first novel in its own trilogy not related to Pern. That is okay. I actually still had no idea what was really going on in this novel from Dragonsong, only from the excerpt on the back of the book.