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 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! ( )

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This is the 'original' Science Fiction Book club 3 in one edition of the first 3 (by publishing order) Pern novels. Of these, I like the first and the third best. The first one, without too much explanation, jumps right into the story. Humans and dragons live on Pern and are periodically invaded by 'Thread' falling from space, which will devour all life if not burned to death first. How they survive the experience and how humans got to Pern is further explored in books 2 and especially book 3. I like the action and the characters in these books and the scifi/fantasy feel of them. Very well written and very enjoyable. ( )

Love these

This series is timeless, I love them more now than when I first read them. I will have to collect the rest now. ( )

I've read these several times. Purchased on Kindle because I'm not sure if I still have the paper copies. Best fantasy books I know of. ( )