They make an Impression--Dragonflight: Pern vol. 1

Over the summer, I decided to keep my reading material light, simple and entertaining. With that goal in mind, I decided to revisit Anne McCaffrey's Pern for the first time in over 15 years. While I found more flaws in the writing than I remembered from reading this as a teen, I still found the world introduced in Dragonflight to satisfy my wish for mindless entertainment.

The World
The planet Pern is much like Earth, and is, in fact, populated by humans. The humans share the planet with large, telepathic dragons who can chew a stone which enables them to breathe fire. These fire-breathing friends are especially useful in combating Thread—the showers of deadly, parasitic spores which fall into Pern’s atmosphere at regular intervals.

The Story
As Dragonflight begins, the planet has been free of thread for almost 400 years, twice the length of the usual Interval between Passes. Many people believe that Thread is gone for good, and the Lord Holders have begun to resent the tithe they pay to support the last remaining Weyr, Benden Weyr.

F’lar, a Bronze rider from Benden, and his brother F’nor, a brown rider, are on a Search for a suitable candidate to become the new Weyrwoman. The dying Queen dragon has laid her eggs, and excitement is high over a Queen egg being in the clutch. Their Search takes them to Ruatha Hold, a community which has traditionally supplied excellent candidates for the Weyrs. Hopes for finding a strong candidate are not as high as they could be, though, since all members of the Ruathan family were killed in an invasion by an over-zealous rival holder, Lord Fax, who decided he could rule more than one hold.

Against all odds, the Benden riders find Lessa, a kitchen drudge who, the dragons assure their riders, has the potential to be a powerful Weyrwoman. After she Impresses the hatchling Queen, Ramoth, she begins training to lead the Weyr. Lessa, like F’lar, is convinced that the return of Thread is imminent, and she is dedicated to do anything necessary to help prepare the Weyr to protect the planet and its people.

My thoughts
The above summary seems long to me, considering it covers only about the first third of the book. That’s because Anne McCaffrey’s writing is very dense. She introduces you to all the people involved in the action, gives them all back stories, and shows you the details of how they get to where they get to. For instance, in the first chapter, Lessa awakens just before dawn with an uncertain sense of foreboding. McCaffrey spends 4 pages describing Lessa the drudge going through a mental check-list of all the things that are not the cause of her unease.

The danger was definitely not within the walls of Ruatha Hold. Nor approaching the paved perimeter without the Hold where relentless grass had forced new growth through the ancient mortar, green witness to the deterioration of the once stone-clean Hold. The danger was not advancing up the now little-used causeway from the valley, nor lurking in the craftsmen’s stony holdings at the foot of the Hold’s cliff. It did not scent the wind that blew from Tillek’s cold shores. But still it twanged sharply through her senses, vibrating every nerve in Lessa’s slender frame. Fully roused, she sought to identify it before the prescient mood dissolved. She cast outward, toward the Pass, farther than she had ever pressed. Whatever threatened was not in Ruatha… yet. Nor did it have a familiar flavor. It was not, then, Fax.

The chapter ends with the morning’s first rays sliding over the outer wall of the hold. While other chapters do not necessarily have the same single-minded focus as this first meeting of a main character, the book does move directly from event to event, showing each scene with occasionally excruciating detail.

McCaffrey’s writing is easy to read once you get used to some of the unique Pernese vocabulary. Anyone who can get through Harry Potter’s increasingly long and detailed adventures, will have no trouble following the twists and turns of life for the dragonriders. It is important to note, however, that there are a huge number of minor characters introduced so that it is possible to confuse one made-up name for another. To assist in keeping both people and locations straight, this book—like all Del Rey published Pern novels—contains an index (or Dragondex if you will) listing major people and places along with some Pernese words.

It is also important to note that there is an element of predictability to the story. The dilemma that is set-up seems totally insurmountable to the characters involved—but since there are a bunch more books by McCaffrey, we can guess that the dilemma was surmounted after all. A careful reading of the blurb on the back of the book will give you all the clues you could want should you decide to try to guess the outcome. That being said, it’s my policy not to spoil the ending—even when it’s obvious.

While this book could easily be managed by an average 6th grader—or even a precocious 4th grader—due to adult themes (mainly sexual), I don’t recommend this series for anyone younger than about 15. In fact, I only really suggest this as foundational reading for true lovers of sci-fi and fantasy literature. It’s not exactly Middle Earth, but Pern is definitely on the map of the most well-known fantasy locations, and should be visited by anyone who wants to feel they truly know the genre.

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For a more complete look at life on Pern, check out this brief overview.

For the best written review of this book currently on the site, check here. Slarter surely deserves a Most Helpful (which, with my new status, I have now given him.)

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Books in the Pern collection:

Dragonriders Trilogy
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon


Harper Hall Trilogy
DragonSong
DragonSinger
DragonDrums


Other Pern Novels
Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern
Nerilka’s Story
Dragonsdawn
Renegades of Pern
All the Weyrs of Pern
Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
The Dolphins of Pern
Dragonseye (U.S.), Red Star Rising (U.K)
The Masterharper of Pern
The Skies of Pern
Dragon’s Kin (with Todd McCaffrey)
Dragon’s Blood (by Todd McCaffrey—coming Jan. 2005)

Compilations
The Dragonriders of Pern (Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon)
On Dragonwings (Dragonsdawn, Dragonseye and Moreta)
A Gift of Dragons (short stories)

Related Works
The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern (ed. Jody Lynn Nye / Bill Fawcett)
The Atlas of Pern (by Karen Fonstad)
The People of Pern (a ‘portrait gallery’ by artist Robin Wood)