Dragonsdawn

by ANNE MCCAFFREY

Hardcover, 1988

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Series

Dragonriders of Pern: Chronological Order ({1st Pass 0 - 9 AL (After Landing)} 2)

Dragonriders of Pern: Publication Order (9)

Pern: Renegades of Pern (3)

Genres

Publication

Del Rey (1988), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 431 pages

Description

The beautiful planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists - until unimaginable terror turned it into hell. Suddenly deadly spores were falling like silver threads from the sky, devouring everything - and everyone - in their path. It began to look as if the colony, cut off from Earth and lacking the resources to combat the menace, was doomed. Then some of the colonists noticed that the small, dragonlike lizards that inhabited their new world were joining the fight against Thread, breathing fire on it and teleporting to safety. If only, they thought, the dragonets were big enough for a human to ride and intelligent enough to work as a team with a rider... And so they set their most talented geneticist to work to create the creatures Pern so desperately needed - Dragons!… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member DragonFreak

The fact that this book is science fiction kind of surprised me. A few thousand colonist traveled to Pern and had to adapt their life to this foreign planet. Out of all the books in the series, I would say this is the only one that can be truely called science fiction, the rest fantasy. Even though

the whole series is officially science fiction, the other books don't have enough science in them. But overall, awesome book to start out the chronological order of The Dragonriders of Pern.

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LibraryThing member TadAD

This book is set in the beginning of the human colonization of Pern. It wasn't published first and I don't think it should be read first. Read the dragon rider trilogy from the ninth pass for an introduction to the world.

LibraryThing member Katissima

I think prequels are very difficult to do right (see my review of McCaffrey's Masterharper of Pern). Ms McCaffrey was spot on with this one however! It is especially impressive considering she did not originally plan for Pern to be a colonized world. My one nagging complaint--why are so many holds

named after bad guys(and gals)?

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LibraryThing member maita

Upon the people's arrival on Pern, two friends discovers a nest of Fire-lizards. They will soon become the dragonriders that would lead the people of PErn to Survival.

Nobody expected Thread. Only the fire-lizards. Without the warning they gave, veryone might have been obliterated. It was then the

Pernese thought to make the fire-lizards bigger and thus dragons were born. now, Pern has a fighting chance of survival.

Good read. A real struggle for survival. Make you admire human endurance.

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LibraryThing member jshillingford

This is a fantastic "prequel." Dragonsdawn tells the story of how Pern was colonized and how dragons were genetically engineered from native fire lizards. Readers finally meet the characters for whom all the famous holds and weyrs are named (like Admiral Benden) and how this knowledge was lost to

current Pern citizens. Well written, a great read!

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LibraryThing member librisissimo

Back-fill for dedicated Perners, as witness 15 names in the first 13 pages with no "handles". Aggressively multi-cultural, although in name only (the ultimate melting-pot: everyone in a McCaffrey novel sounds alike). Overly narrative; no dramatic arcs; detail-heavy; romance-genre plotting;

advanced-junior reading level. Contains inconsistencies in jargon (esp. fardling) and insanities in procedure (e.g., the Admiral and Governor both go down on first landing, tbut hen they drop our of the story for awhile, so it wouldn't have mattered if they got killed together). Not her best work.

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LibraryThing member kpolhuis

A fab prequel to the most beloved Dragonriders of Pern series. I know that most folks are critical of this work, but I think that because of the way that it was written. I think that the writing made it new, fresh and raw (the ideal in a creation story).

LibraryThing member Featherfire

This was the first Pern book I'd read, and it will honestly likely be my last. It was an okay read, but none of the characters really grabbed me and I didn't find McCaffrey's writing style all that engaging. I kind of feel like a traitor to the fantasy genre by saying that.

LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

If you're already a fan of Anne McCaffey's Pern, you'll love this book. I don't think it makes a good introduction though if you're not already enchanted by Pern, despite that this story would be the first chronologically. I'd try the original trilogy first, starting with Dragonflight, which I

think has the most appealing characters and engaging plot. But as someone who does love her early Pern books, I loved seeing all the origins for the Pern which I had become so familiar. In this novel, it's the planet and culture around it which McCaffrey created which is the most involving character as we see dragons bred from native fire lizards and the holds take shape. The story also underlines the science fiction underpinnings of Pern with its lost colony plot--the other novels, despite that background, read more like high fantasy. This reads more like space opera.

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LibraryThing member macjest

I kind of felt like going back to the beginning to see again how it all began, so I started re-reading the series. What amazes me is that several of the land holdings in the future are named after some really shady characters from the past. I guess time really does heal all wounds.

LibraryThing member amaraduende

This is the prequel to all of the Pern novels - the story of the first settlers to Pern. This is the one I've enjoyed rereading, although I haven't tried it for quite a long time. Perhaps this novel in particular is good for a more grownup audience.

LibraryThing member comixminx

A reliable re-read.

I'm interested to note on some recent McCaffrey re-reads that she's quite good at presence of diversity - lots of characters from non-white backgrounds, mentions of gay characters, etc - but I'm not convinced she's all that great at following through on that initial promise

(though being a straight white woman I'm not in the best place to judge most of that apart from the range of female characters, which is good in this book and much better than in the earlier ones in publication order).

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LibraryThing member SAGibson

This is an enjoyable read for fans of Dragonriders books. I read a Pern book years ago, and was happy to revisit Pern. This story gives the backstory of the first colonists on Pern. There is detail on how the colonists arrived and slowly lose their advanced science and technology.

I liked the

technology talk about space travel, sled maintenance, and bio-engineering. I had originally picked this book for references to libraries. There is not much talk in the book. But there is communication with the spaceships in orbit and use of high tech.

The book gives a very detailed story of the beginning of the Pern saga. I recommend this for fans of Dragonriders. There is excessive detail at times, but the overall story is interesting.

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