The Dragonriders of Pern

Anne McCaffrey, for those of you who don't know her,is a brilliant writer who has won both a Hugo and a Nebula. This isn't about her though, this is about the incredible series entitled The Dragonriders of Pern.

It's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy series that takes place in a far off star system far into the future, and spans literally thousand of years in the process. It takes place on a planet known as Pern and deals with a variety of problems the Pernese face, along with the looming threat of Pern's sister planet, the Red Star. The Red Star, in her erratic orbit, passes by Pern every 200 years for 50 years, and during that time life devouring beings called 'Thread' rain down upon the largely defenseless planet. In order to combat Thread, the dragonriders take to the sky, to save all that is precious to them, and to keep the Pernese alive.

The series consists of nearly 20 different books, and can be read chronologically, or randomly depending on the readers whim and the availability of the books. How is this possible? Anne has a way of developing each book's storyline so well that they can proudly stand alone, or work intricately together to develop a grander, more beautiful picture.

She describes characters well, never dragging on for more than half a page with the majority of her vivid details, and brings them to life by displaying them through nearly every emotion known to mankind. I'm not ashamed to say she's made me cry for some of her characters, and has made me so mad with others that I couldn't even read. Along with the characters, she's developed an incredible world with creatures all her own and even a recorded progress of how her cultures developed the way they did.

For those of you wondering, yes, there are actually Dragons. They're gentically engineered beasts that spout flame, teleport from place to place, fly, and can speak telepathically to the human bonded with them. They're magnificent creatures, and I'll let you read the books to find out more.

The stories, as I said, take place over thousands of years and generations. You can experience everything from the first group of explorers checking to see if the planet is inhabitable, to the creation of dragons, to the 50th Pass of the Red Star, and on and on.

With her son, Tod, now joining in to write his own novels, it looks like Pern will continue to be an amazing place to escape to when one really just needs something incredible.

Check it out. Just grab one and read it. I guarantee you'll like it for one reason or another.

-[Tyr Zalo Hawk]

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