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A review by attytheresa
Dragonflight, Book 1 by Brynne Stephens, Anne McCaffrey
5.0
Who knew I'd fall for a scifi series with dragons??? Pern, a planet in a far solar system that was colonized by humans long ago, has eras when the Red Star in its orbit to Pern to endanger it with the Threads - think acid rain or agent orange only these are spores that destory all green life. Dragons, whose fire is the only weapon against the Threads, have all but disappeared and the people of Pern are dismissive about the danger, believing the Threads are gone for good. Yet the Red Star is appearing on the horizon at dawn.
At the center of the story is F'lar, a dragonrider who has steeped himself in the old records and believes without question that the Threads are imminent. Pern is on the cusp of annihilation as the old Queen Dragon is on her deathbed, her Weyrwoman Jora is dead, and a new weyrwoman must be found to imprint on the golden egg (heralding a queen) about to hatch with the new queen. F'lar finds Leesa, a woman exhibiting the powers needed. The rest of the story is how Leesa and F'lar work together with their dragons to unit all and fight against the doom they face.
I enjoyed this so much, I stayed up into the wee hours to finish it! F'lar is arrogant, Leesa is impulsive, both have a lot of growing and compromising to do. Their dragons Mnementh and Ramoth, also have full and flawed personalities. I loved how the plot worked through the problems and solutions; everything happened as it felt it should. Do I have some quibbles? Yes - it would have been nice if the author had truly centered it on Leesa rather than F'lar as the main protagonist but it was written in the 1960s, and while this is a matriarchy (in the wyrs), the Queen is more like a queen bee although Leesa and Ramoth are changing that. In fact, I liked how McCaffrey incorporated some of the social and scientific issues of the day into the narrative: acid rain, agent orange, and women's struggle for equality.
Besides, there's dragon romance and sex.
At the center of the story is F'lar, a dragonrider who has steeped himself in the old records and believes without question that the Threads are imminent. Pern is on the cusp of annihilation as the old Queen Dragon is on her deathbed, her Weyrwoman Jora is dead, and a new weyrwoman must be found to imprint on the golden egg (heralding a queen) about to hatch with the new queen. F'lar finds Leesa, a woman exhibiting the powers needed. The rest of the story is how Leesa and F'lar work together with their dragons to unit all and fight against the doom they face.
I enjoyed this so much, I stayed up into the wee hours to finish it! F'lar is arrogant, Leesa is impulsive, both have a lot of growing and compromising to do. Their dragons Mnementh and Ramoth, also have full and flawed personalities. I loved how the plot worked through the problems and solutions; everything happened as it felt it should. Do I have some quibbles? Yes - it would have been nice if the author had truly centered it on Leesa rather than F'lar as the main protagonist but it was written in the 1960s, and while this is a matriarchy (in the wyrs), the Queen is more like a queen bee although Leesa and Ramoth are changing that. In fact, I liked how McCaffrey incorporated some of the social and scientific issues of the day into the narrative: acid rain, agent orange, and women's struggle for equality.
Besides, there's dragon romance and sex.