Dragonflight
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| Dragonflight | |
 Early Whelan Cover |
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| Author | Anne McCaffrey |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dragonriders of Pern |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Publication date | July 1968 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 309 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-24776-0 |
| Followed by | Dragonquest |
Dragonflight is the first book in the long-running Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey.
The first segment of Dragonflight was a 1968 Hugo award–winning novella (called Weyr Search) prior to publication of the entire book.
The second segment (called Dragonrider) received a Nebula Award in 1968.[1]
[edit] Plot introduction
Pern is a planet inhabited by humans. The original colonists were reduced to a low level of technology by periodic onslaughts of deadly Thread raining down from the sky. By harnessing the indigenous flying, fire-breathing dragons (with some genetic alteration to make them larger), humanity finally managed to gain the upper hand. The dragons, with their human riders, destroyed the Thread in the skies over Pern before they were able to burrow into the land and breed. However, an unusually long interval between attacks, centuries in duration, has caused the general population to gradually dismiss the threat and withdraw support from the Weyrs where dragons are bred and trained. By the time of this novel, only one Weyr remains (the other five having mysteriously disappeared at the same time in the last quiet interval), maintaining a precarious hand-to-mouth existence.
Dragons are telepathic; each bonds to a single human being when first hatched. They come in various colors which are generally correlated with their size, blue, green, brown, bronze, and gold queens. Bronzes, as the largest males, are by tradition the only ones who compete to win the queens in their mating flights. Queens, however, are always the largest dragons. As their human counterparts are linked mind-to-mind, they also mate at these times.
[edit] Plot summary
Dragonflight chronicles the story of Lessa, the sole survivor of the noble ruling family of Ruatha Hold on the northern continent of Pern. When the rest of her family was killed by a cruel usurper, Fax, she survived by disguising herself as a drudge (a menial servant).
F'lar, wingleader at Benden Weyr and rider of the bronze dragon Mnementh, finds Lessa while Searching for candidates to Impress the Queen egg that is about to hatch. After defeating Fax in single combat (following the rules of the Pernese code duello), F'lar convinces Lessa to give up her birthright as Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold and join him at Benden Weyr. Lessa Impresses the Queen dragonet Ramoth and becomes the Weyrwoman, the new co-leader of the last active Weyr. On Ramoth's first mating flight, Mnementh is the only dragon able to catch her. By Weyr tradition, this makes F'lar the Weyrleader.
Together, Lessa and F'lar warn a dangerously unprepared Pern of the impending Thread reappearance. The general response is negative, as in the past thread has fallen at ~200 turn intervals. The 200 turn gap was short enough for the population to believe the threat was real, as the last fall was recent enough in history to be believed. Lessa and F'Lar meet a negative response as the last threadfall was 400 years ago, and the stories about threadfall have gone from believable recent history to become myth. Eventually they overcome this lack of belief. They revitalize the Weyr and start working closely with the Lord Holders and the Harpers to prevent the deadly rain of Thread from destroying the Pernese civilization.
However, one Weyr by itself is not enough to defend the planet, as there used to be six. In a desperate attempt to increase their numbers, a new queen, Prideth, and her rider, Kylara, are sent between times (a recently rediscovered skill), back ten turns, giving Prideth time to mature and have Clutches. However, this is still not enough to stem the tide. Stretched to the breaking point, with riders and dragons injured fighting the last Threadfall, Lessa braves death for herself and her dragon by travelling four hundred turns into the past to bring the (missing) five other Weyrs forward to the present. Reinforced, Lessa and F'lar are able to save all of Pern. This explains the the reason the 5 other weyrs were abandoned, as at the end of the last threadfall, they travelled forward in time. They accepted the proposition from Lessa, as seeing a future without thread, they feared being redundant.
[edit] Notes
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