Dragonflight: Dragonriders of Pern, Book 1

Anne McCaffrey’s world building is second to none. I’m so happy I reread Volume I. The characters—human and dragon—are well developed and the story clever and satisfying.

I won't lie, I grew up on these stories so my opinion is going to be warm and fuzzy so take my rose tinted view with a grain of salt.I read these books as soon as I could get my hands on them and I remember them so fondly.The adventures of the Dragon Riders of Pern will forever hold a place in my heart and I'm more than happy to have bought a copy to hand off to my niece so that she too might have flights of fancy and dream of what it would be like to ride on the back of a dragon and to know that they would always have a life long friend.

Let me start by saying that this was the first Anne McCaffrey novel, and first Dragonriders of Pern novel, I've read in nearly 15 years. I read a few as a schoolchild and they had a notable impact on me, but I hadn't really touched them since. So, having found a new thirst for fantasy, I decided to revisit her series through the eyes of an adult and see if it held up.1) General Impression: - I finished this novel over the course of 4 weeks. Although that isn't quite accurate to how I actually read it. I began reading it in my surgery rotation of medical school and found time in my Family Medicine rotation to finish it. But it does speak to the primary reason why I rated it 4/5 and not 5/5. The beginning starts slow. Very slow. Anne's world is fascinating and incredibly well crafted but she does throw you in the thick of it and explains very little. I actually prefer that, but the dip was pretty powerful here and it made the slow start feel slower. - The lack of plot and generic feel to both protagonists made the first half of the novel rather bland, but there is a huge shift once about 40% into the book when all the elements start to align and there is a course for the reader to see ahead. - Once the elements of the plot settle in, this gives the characters (Lessa and F'lar) real room to breathe and develop. Book got infinitely better. - By the end I was beyond hyped and thoroughly enjoyed the read. At about the 55% mark I couldn't put the book down.2) Characters: - Lessa - Female lead. Very reserved, independent, and dealing with a troubled past while being kept in the squallor of Ruatha, her home Hold. I can't really reveal much more for spoilers sake. As a character she starts off rather generic. She is your prototypical passionate, vengeful, clever female lead. However, when her place in the plot is revealed, she is really given room to show incredible character depth. In fact, I was impressed with Anne's ability to add great levels of nuance. Her romantic relationship, her personal growth, her understanding of her role, her wisdom in knowing when to be overbearing and when to let others lead. It all made for a very unique and memorable character. - F'lar - Male lead. A born leader, big picture thinker, determined, and charismatic. His and Lessa's growth are very interwoven so it is difficult to truly analyze them separately, but he acted as a solid foundation for the story to move forward. His journey from mentor to partner is fascinating to watch and his obssessive drive to defend and lead his people made for a solid reason to root for him. It was relieving to see that his romantic relationship was only a facet of his character, one that very much took a backseat to his true motivation which was saving his people.3) Plot - It takes a while to truly settle in, and even when it does there is a lack of urgency. The plot is essentially that the Red Star circling the planet will release Threads (deadly organisms that devour organic matter) upon Pern, which it hadn't done in 400 years. Only F'lar believes this to come true, everyone else is sceptic. When the events inevitably do come true it felt so sudden after what felt like a long, drawn out "doomsday clock" sort of vibe. It could have been smoother, but honestly, it was fine. There is a nice mystery element and plot twist that adds alot of fun.4) Prose - Anne breaks a lot of rules and writes her world with that "old time" kind of feel, but it is strangely hypnotic and is actually a strong case to her successful series. She really knows how to make deep characters, her vocabulary and seamless transitions make for a steady read, and her clear depiction of perspective decreases confusion. However she does abuse certain adjectives. Be prepared to read "Sardonically" a million times.5) World Building - Incredible. #1 reason I came back to this book. The planet and traditions of Pern honestly feel like another character in itself. Anne put serious work into her world, its history, its cultures, and its mechanisms. There were so many times where I just wanted her to keep describing elements of a new city as opposed to returning to the plot or the main characters.

Anne McCaffrey has created such a believable world and I’m re-reading them now—-can’t wait to read the newer additions by her son and daughter!

This is the first of many tales of the Dragonriders of Pern. This is the greatest dragon series that has been written on fifty years. The characters are believable. The dragons are beautiful, intelligent and the are the reason that Pern still exists.

Anne McCaffrey was an amazing author. Her writing is very detailed. I think in this novel alone, she investigated both our current fire fighting techniques but also our history. Excellence read.

I wish that I could affix ratings to the story and it's rendition as an ebook independently. This novel is great. But don't read this version of it.More than 40 years after its first publication, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight clearly withstands the test of time. A vibrant and compellingly original vision of flaming dragons rising in the skies to combat an ancient foe that returns to menace their home.Dragonflight has justly remained among the most cherished of SciFi & Fantasy classics because it deftly blends both genres, and because it introduced our world to McCaffrey's captivating world of Pern.Unfortunately, this kindle edition makes that experience nearly unreadable. The text clearly wasn't given the most cursory review by a human editor prior to being released into the marketplace. Most notably, this text is rife with missing and incorrect punctuation. Without exaggeration, one has the feeling that on almost every virtual page, there are multiple sentences that run together because the necessary punctuation marks are missing.Making matters worse, character names are at times misused. When characters have names which resemble each other, it's sometimes necessary to take care that they're not mixed up. On more than one occasion though, the reader encounters a name that's simply the result of poor OCR during the original digitization process. Names which are close-but-not-quite-right appear in scenes and are never heard from again.The shoddy quality of this edition truly takes the reader out of the story, because you are forced to try and understand how the text was really meant to be.If this were my first exposure to this novel, I would have had a difficult time understanding what was going on. I would likely have never continued reading the series.I love my Kindle. I have read 100s of Kindle books on it, as well as on phones, tablets and computers. I've read Project Gutenberg works, PDFs and Amazon novels. I've used it for years and this is the first time I've felt compelled to say: don't read this story on your Kindle. It's not worth it.

Hold on tight you are going to love reading this book by Anne McCaffrey! It's the beginning of an adventure that will suck you in and leave you wanting so much more! She really is my favorite author and I have read all of her Dragon Rider series! I suggest this series of books for anyone young and old! It will make you excited to read again! But do yourself a favor by the first 3 books because when you finish the first one you're going to want to jump into the second and then the third! Wonderful fun!

Love this book and the series . I've been reading them in a day or less , can't put down . Although this is more a YA type book ( easy reading ) I highly reccomend to anyone that loves a fantasy style genre book.

A classic and a must read for any one who loves dragons and dragon-riding. Even though some aspects of it didn't age quite as well, it's still a great book that I definitely would recommend.

This is unbelievably beautifully written. It has been many, many a year since I have escaped into an Anne McCaffrey novel and my impression has not changed a single iota. McCaffrey was a giant in the fantasy field; her writing style, her tone, her characterisations, world building, narrative and dialogue, it is all nothing short of spectacular. Whilst there were certainly some niggles - largely in terms of relationships, that only slightly jarred my enjoyment of the novel as a whole.Humanity can forget many things in four hundred years; old ways are left behind and old threats forgotten. Never is that more true than here with the single Weyr battling on with a single queen and mere hundreds of dragons. The threat from Thread, an organism that falls from the sky with the passing of the Red Star, is considered obsolete and the dragons and their riders with it. Preventative measures that were once taken seriously have been forgotten and dismissed, songs and lore reminding people of the debt owed to the dragonriders ignored or punished.Part of the tension is that unnerving fact that Thread could fall at any time, destroying livestock, crops and anyone foolish to be out and not under the cover of stone. The lax indiscipline of the Weyr is infuriating and yet you can empathise both with Lessa's need to try and make things happen and F'lar's inability to act against his Weyrleader. The tensions rise between the holdings and the Weyr, and in the midst of all this tensions are also building within the Weyr itself. It's all deftly managed and the fractious relationships and desperate decisions are depicted exceptionally well.On top of this, the world building is fantastic, both in the traditions steeped in lore and history and what you see in the current. The relationship between dragon and rider is beautifully done, as indeed are the different natures and strengths of different breeds of dragon. I was absolutely enthralled from beginning to end and will certainly be continuing my nostalgic trek into this wonderful series. The book is undeniably dated in terms of some of the themes and relationships, but the writing style is still compulsive, drawing you into this world with great fervour. I love the concept and I mostly love the execution; I particularly enjoyed the snatches of song that you catch at the beginning of each chapter.

Well written book with imaginative settings, a strong heroine and lots of dragons makes it very interesting to read. I am going to read all the books in the series

Ich bin ehrlich:Ich habe eine nette, kindliche Drachengeschichte erwartet. Seichte Unterhaltung. Falsch gedacht.Schon nach den ersten paar Seiten zeigte der Schreibstil, dass es sich keinesfalls um einen Kinderroman handelt.Ich möchte wirklich nicht viel über die Geschichte sprechen, da das zu viel vorwegnehmen würde, aber so viel sei gesagt: Es ist magischer und mystischer als man erwartet.Die Charaktere sind gut ausgearbeitet, Spannung bleibt erhalten.Ich würde es mit der Temeraire-Reihe vergleichen, aber weniger militärisch, aber fantastischer.Klare Kaufempfehlung!