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.