The Dragonriders of Pern

Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels were among the books that I grabbed off of my sister’s bookshelf to read when I was in junior high. Over the past years, I’ve gone back and re-read many of my sister's old books – and it’s shocking how many of them haven’t stood the test of time. For the most part, that doesn’t bother me.

But I loved Pern! If these novels hadn’t stood up, I was going to be very disappointed.

So I’m happy to report that I still love them (the original trilogy, at least) even over a decade later! Some of the interpersonal sexual politics between the characters is bit dated, but that was true even when I was in junior high…

It’s all too easy for people to assume that these books are fantasy novels because show more they’re about dragons. I think that’s what my sister did, as her bookshelf back then was full of Dragonlance and David Eddings books.

These are not fantasy! They’re actually hard SF novels. The world of Pern is extrapolated from scientific premises. The books feature FTL/teleportation, time travel, hostile alien life, genetic engineering, and astronomy is essential to everything about the world and the story – all standards of hard SF, transposed into a pre-technological society with dragons. There’s no magic – everything that people can do in this world is achieved through experimentation, observation, the derivation of general principles: the same kind of scientific method that led to our own Industrial Revolution.

I do have one major complaint about the omnibus edition of the first Pern trilogy. I originally read these novels separately and I remember how delightful it was for the history of this world to be slowly revealed in bits and pieces. The backstory of Pern is the central mystery of these books – as the characters made new discoveries, I as the reader discovered with them.

When they published this omnibus edition, someone (idiotically) decided that it needed a Prelude to introduce it. The Prelude gives away the entire backstory of Pern before you even get to the first line of the first novel! It completely destroys the delight and reward of discovering these things as you go!

If this is your first time reading McCaffrey’s Pern novels, and you’re reading this omnibus – do yourself a tremendous favor and skip the Prelude! You’ll have a far more rewarding reading experience! show less

Comments from the "What are you reading?" thread brought this one back to my attention. It was a favorite of mine in the 70's. A re-read reminded me of the complicated world and character building that appealed to me in the first place, but it also made me wince about a couple of issues. The characters, descended from scientists and space colonists, have devolved--due to a reoccurring environmental threat--into a vaguely medieval society with rigid classes and oppression of women. It also seems to be a completely white society. I miss the diversity that I see in more modern books and SF media.

The trilogy follows the cultural upheaval as the society faces its limitations in the face of a world-wide crises and begins a renaissance in show more science and government. During this evolution, I recognize the elements of feminist striving and cultural transformation that appealed to me when I first read it. Forty years ago, I probably enjoyed the strong women. Today, I appreciate the cultural roots of McCaffrey's writing, as well. It still satisfied from a story and character POV. show less

A real page turner with little literary merit. The world building is enthusiastic but hard to accept --- I kept wondering about the digestive needs of the dragons and fire lizards. Do they go between during those crucial digestive moments? It is _way_ less feminist than the Harper Hall trilogy and the dragon sex gets wearing while the jocularity of the good guys really grates. The later books involve so much time travel and unresolved temporal paradox that they require a special kind of suspension of disbelief.

The bonding for life and telepathic communication ideas resurface in the Golden Compass and its sequels.

I'll be reviewing this in pieces, as it's an omnibus edition:

Dragonflight:

This was never my favorite of the Pern books, and I can see why. But it's not a bad entry into a classic universe - the plot is solid, the politicking is realistic, and the dragons, while not as fully-developed as they get later, are still intriguing. It's just hard for me to see past all the shaking and slapping that the male lead does to the female lead, apparently as a routine way of emphasizing his points.

I have seen a lot of people report being squicked out by the sex scene - I can say with confidence that when I first read this as an adolescent it went entirely over my head, but now I find it a little more problematic. Not the actual mating flight itself - I show more can more or less rationalize the empathic bonding making the question of consent moot (...more or less.) It's the explicit statement later that a) they continued to sleep together afterwards and b) "it might as well have been rape." Wait, WHAT? You have magically-obligatory sex once and then she automatically is required to fuck you whenever you want from then on, whether she's interested or not? Yeah, I'm not so cool with that.

So yeah, I have trouble really getting in to this particular book. I'm curious if some of these appalling gender issues get better in the later volumes - I really can't remember. The "strong female characters" don't really make up for their utter lack of sexual agency (or, the contrast, the slut-shaming for the women who actually like and seek out sex. Kylara is nothing more than a running joke in this book.)

Dragonquest:

Dragonquest is less problematic, but mostly because the women are, for the most part, safely on their pedestals. The psychopathic slut Kylara, the virtuous virgin Brekke, the shrewish but loyal Lessa - they're all pretty cardboard, and the men do all of the acting in this one.

That's not to say it's not solid pulp fantasy. There's some excellent worldbuilding and a couple of engaging subplots. It doesn't really go anywhere in particular, but this is essentially book 2 of 5 or 6 in this plot arc, so that's more or less to be expected.

The White Dragon:

It's easy to see why this one was the one that hit the bestseller lists. Engaging main character, absolutely adorable dragon, and some great adventures. The viewpoint shifts are kind of atrocious - they happen without any warning, and are dreadfully confusing in places - but for the most part this is a quick, fun read.

It's a little unfortunate that it's in this omnibus, as the entire Harper Hall trilogy takes place between Dragonquest and The White Dragon (which I had forgotten) so we meet people for the first time here with references to their various adventures that took place in those books, and it doesn't flow all that well. show less

This is a collection of three novels: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon.

Dragonflight: Dragonflight is a tale of Pern, a distant planet which every 200 years or so is invaded by extraterrestrial spores that the natives call "Threads". Pern is protected by the Dragonriders, men and women who control large, winged, fire-breathing beasts. They burn the Threads in mid-air, preventing them from reaching and destroying the planet's vegetation. As the story opens, Pern has been Thread-free for almost 400 years, the Dragonriders have dwindled in numbers and are no longer held in high respect by most of the people. Few pay attention to the old ballads which recount the threat of the Threads and the valiant deeds of Pern's show more protectors. Even the Dragonriders themselves have gotten lax in respecting the old traditions and their advice and warnings. The dragonman F'lar, however, still believes the old tales and is out on a quest to find a rider for the dragon queen that's about to hatch. He finds Lessa of Ruatha, a lass of royal blood who is hiding from the man who slaughtered her family and conquered their lands. Together the two struggle to restore Pern to some semblance of its former self as the Red Star, which heralds the coming of the Threads, draws ever nearer. How that all works out, of course, is wonderfully written. The characters are interesting and the world and history of Pern is richly developed. (It only makes sense that it has supported a number of sequels.) Oddly enough, however, what struck me most when I started rereading it was parallels to the Christian church in America. Like the dragonriders, the church once held an honored position in the society, but is now seen by many as an anachronism. But the church, too, exists to struggle against a very real threat and has sadly contributed to its own decline. Anyway, the stories soon diverge, and the ending of Dragonflight is far from Biblical. Be that as it may, it is a great read and it's going on my shelf. After all, eventually my girls will be old enough to read it.
--J. show less

I return to this book every few years. The story is fantasy, but the situations are human. On a backdrop of dire danger to the people we watch the characters learn trust – well not all of them, leadership, and love. If you fall in love with this world, there are plenty more books to keep you engrossed.

If you enjoy fantasy that looks at the social norms and how people react under pressure, you’ll enjoy this book.

Most fantasy is trite or cliche when it involved dragons to the point of including them in the title. And if you'd like to know who is to blame for this, look no further than Anne McCaffrey.

Just like how much of modern fantasy that involves Dwarfs, Elves, and Quests is basically a lamprey with a typewriter securely affixed to Tolkien's underbelly (ew), any modern fantasy revolving around dragons owes a whole heck of a lot to McCaffrey.

And in this omnibus edition, you'll find the books that started it all, the three original Pern books, which chronicle the tales of the noble Dragonriders and their more noble dragons.

Dragons, in McCaffrey's canon, talk to their riders telepathically, must eat special stones in order to produce fire, and show more are capable of jumping Between, a limbo place that allows them to emerge in a different place, or even in a different time.

If you've read more modern fantasies involving dragons, and have found yourself wanting, I recommend you pick up this fine collection of books and start reading. After a taste of real dragon-fantasy, you'll almost certainly want to put those other books Between. show less