Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

It is right before the ninth Pass of the Red Star around Pern, and the world is unprepared. Not only is there only one Weyr left out of six, but most Pernese don’t even believe in Thread anymore, and most Lords think that the dragonriders are parasites and anachronistic. But every day the Red Star grows closer, and some people are starting to take notice. Like Lessa, last of the proud line of Ruatha. Forced into hiding as a child to escape Fax’s murder of her entire family, she has lived only to regain her Hold. Fax’s conquest of Ruatha is a profitless one to him, and Lessa has worked hard that it might be so. But after years of waiting all is coming to fruition. With her powers she incites Fax into a duel with young F’lar, dragonrider of Benden Weyr. This starts a chain of events that Lessa could never have predicted, eventually leading her to become the Queen rider of Benden Weyr after impressing Ramoth. But when the Weyr should be preparing for the next incursion of Thread, it just sinks further and further into decay. For Thread is coming, and Benden Weyr is unprepared, for how can one Weyr do the work of six that once protected Pern? Lessa must solve this riddle before it is too late, for time is running out.

What a dramatic summary. It’s kind of hard not to, sometimes. But that is the basic gist of the plot. It’s rather hard to like Lessa. Yes she is a strong female character, written in a time when there weren’t many, but she’s not very likable. She’s headstrong, spiteful, sometimes childish, and definitely self-centered. She also displays McCaffrey’s weaknesses as a writer, namely that her motivations and emotions aren’t always understandable. She acts or feels a certain way, but the reader never really finds out why she does. You just have to accept the fact that she does, even when it doesn’t make sense. That gets frustrating after a while. But I will defend F’lar and F’nor as some great characters. I like them much more than Lessa. Strong dedicated men worthy of their time. And Robinton! I love reading about him. A Character in all senses of the word.

Oh what fun! I just love dragons. The descriptions of flying, and between, and fighting Thread are just marvelous. The world of Pern is so wonderfully complex, and yet not ridiculously hard to understand. It is different enough to tantalize the imagination, but similar enough in structure. It harkens back a bit to medieval times (which most fantasies like to do) with Lords and Ladies, which gives it a bit of charm. It’s funny that we all love reading books like that, because most all of us would hate to live in a place like that. Unless you’re the top dog, you have no power and life is harsh. But the ideal is what makes it great to imagine.