Dragonflight

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: The lively descriptions and fantastic decor are all you need to dive into the world of such amazing creatures, as dragons are. Very realistic! I love it.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining...
Review: I've had this book for years, but it was always one of those books that I'd take down from the bookshelf once in a while, read the first 10 pages of, and then close it and put it back. Finally, I decided to force myself to read the whole thing. After all, with such good reviews, the book has to be good, right? Wrong.
Okay, the book wasn't actually that bad. The story was interesting and original; maybe even good, and the book was entertaining. However, I really don't think that the book lives up to the great reviews everyone has given it. For one thing, the writing isn't what I'd call great. It's not bad, but it's not good either. Maybe I'm just being harsh, but I don't think the writing style in this book really does live up to some of the other professional authors in this genre out there. Then again, there are worse.
I just found that sometimes consecutive paragraphs would not flow together. I'd read one, and then I'd read the second one and I'd pause and be like "uhhh...okay...was there supposed to be a space between these paragraphs or something?"
Other times, I found that things would just happen, and it made no sense. It would just leave me wondering what the hell happened before shrugging it off and reading on.
Lastly, I didn't think there was really much character development. The whole story was about the threads with little side comments about what the charecters were doing. But, I didn't actually feel for the characters at all, and you didn't see them develop or grow in any ways. The characters were just...spontaneous. They'd suddenly be in a bad mood or a good mood and the reader would have no idea why. Sometimes we'd find out later, and sometimes we wouldn't. The reader didn't even know how the characters felt about each other most of the time either.
OH yes, and there were wayyyy too many characters. I'd find myself pausing all the time, trying to remember who certain people were, before frantically flipping to the index trying to find their name. Maybe it was just the fact that so many of the names started with F'___ or K'____ and that was confusing. I don't know...I just thought that should have been more limited. It did get annoying after a while.
This book did have its share of problems, but I don't think the book was terrible. If you have some hours to spare and you want something mildly entertaining to read for a while, then by all means, get this book. Just don't expect it to be the fantastic book that everyone else says it is.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best.
Review: This is one McCaffrey's earlier novels. Her work is best portrayed in "The Dolphins of Pern" or the Freedom Series, after she had a good many years of writing experience. Although this is not a bad book, she had not perfected the fantasy/sci fi novel at the time this was written. Three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Pulls you into the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Review: The first book of this series I read was Dragonsinger. I thought that book was great, but this book was absolutely the best. I have since read it at least four times cover to cover. And I don't usually read books more than once. The characters are warm, funny, and exciting. The plot is an outright adventure. This is by far the best of Anne McCaffrey in the fantasy genre.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: I've always wanted to read some classic fantasy novels - so I consulted some of my friends and mentors. A favorite teacher of mine recommended Dragon flight - and I need to thank her now! It's an excellent story with great indepth descriptions and lengthy words. It manages to have that believable, realistic touch to it while still containing dragons and such. Great, at any age.

Rating:
Summary: You will fly with Dragons in Dragonflight
Review: As soon as i picked up Dragonflight I fell in love with it. Its a story about a young girl named Lessa, who sense she was ten years old, all she thought about was revenge on lord holder Fax who murdered her family. Now with Fax killed by a mysterious dragon rider, who then offers her a chance of a lifetime,to become the sole weyrwoman of pern. Accepting this new challenge and surrendering her hold to the claim of a newborn infent,she sets of on a journy. She impresises a dragon queen Ramoth. The new weyrleader, F'lar,the same man who killed Fax. with the help of Lessa try to convince the people of pern that the red star is falling into position so that a four-hundered turn old threat will come back. The threat of thread, the silver fire that comes from the red star, will return, the sole purpose of the dragonriders,to protect pern from thread. Like the old saying "Dragonmen must fly/when thread is in the sky." When thread returns and the dragons number to low to fight it all Lessa and F'lar must work together to find a way to fight thread and save the beautiful planet pern. This novel will keep you reading with a profound curiousity to this mystical world of Pern!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Sci Fi/Fantasy About Dragons!
Review: Lessa waited 10 long years in hiding for her chance to reclaim her birthright. As the last of the Ruathan blood, she must hide her true identity or be killed by Fax, the usurper who killed all of her kin and claimed Ruatha Hold for his own. When the dragonrider, F'lar, comes on search for some likely candidates to impress dragons, Lessa knew that her time had come. Unfortunately, her plans did not go quite the way she wanted them to and she ends up in Benden Weyr, where she impresses the Queen dragon, the beautiful Ramoth. Even though Lessa is now Weyrwoman and dragonrider, her troubles are far from over. The dragons live to kill thread, deadly spores that fall from the sky and eat every living thing in their paths. But thread have not fallen for over 400 Turns and the people of Pern no longer want to support the dragonriders, of which few are left. F'lar is convinced that the thread will fall again - and soon. Can F'lar and Lessa mobilize the forces of Pern to fight the deadly forces of thread and survive?

Dragonflight is the first book in Anne McCaffrey's highly acclaimed Dragonriders of Pern series. She carefully eases you into the world of Pern and the reader has no trouble visualizing the planet and its people. McCaffrey also has a nice, easy to understand writing style that will make this book popular among young adults and adults alike. Her characters are engaging and anyone will root for the stubborn, opinionated Lessa and her all-too-perfect mate, F'lar. Readers will also love the fact that this book is the start of a long series and that, even though F'lar and Lessa are not the main characters of all of them, they figure into most of them so feel free to get attached to them! If you have not yet read any books by McCaffrey then you are in for a real treat!

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a pretty good thing...
Review: This is a typical coming-of-age SF/fantasy story, where the protaganist must overcome overwhelming odds to triumph over the forces of evil. It's main selling point is that it's a hybrid, giving us dragons and romance in an SF setting (altho the reader isn't necessarily aware that it's SF at first).

Lessa is the Cinderella of the story, working as hard in her hold as the lowliest peasant despite being the heir. The arrival of dragonriders to the hold upsets all of her long-range plans and she eventually ends up 'impressed' to a dragon queen. This opens the way for romance and more adventures as 'thread' (a burning, sometimes fatal thing that falls from the sky like rain) suddenly returns to bedevil the lives of people on Pern.

The story of Lessa is perfectly aimed at the Young Adult audience, with lots of adventure and many chances for the reader to try to figure out what 'thread' is and where the people of Pern are from. I first read it in my 20s and have reread it and the next 3 books in the series many times since (altho after that the series goes down the tubes).

I consider it on the same par as the Foundation series - light SF/fantasy entertainment. It's nowhere near as difficult to read as Tolkien or Cherryh but you don't get the same payoff either.

Rating:
Summary: A Time for Dragons
Review: Dragonflight is the first novel in the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy. The settlers on Pern discovered the hard way that their planet is periodically swept by giant virus-like organisms that fall from the sky and eat away living things like an acid. Since these threads are susceptible to fire, the settlers have developed an organic weapon to defend against the infestations: fire-breathing dragons. However, these threads have not appeared for several centuries and mankind is beginning to lose the hard-earned knowledge and customs that form the core of their defense, to the point of letting the dragons and riders of the weyrs dwindle to a fraction of the necessary muster. Now only Benden Weyr is occupied.

In this novel, Lessa had been the lawful heir of Ruatha Hold, but Lord Fax has conquered this hold and four others and now Lessa is posing as a kitchen drudge. Flightleader F'lar of Benden Weyr has come to the High Reaches searching for candidates to impress a Queen in the next hatching. After visiting Lord Fax's Hold, Crom, and the various guild halls, the dragonriders travel to the other five held by the High Reaches, finally coming to Ruatha. Fax's Lady, Gemma, is about ready to birth another child and, when he becomes disgusted with the vile experience provided to him by the hold and with a little nudging by Lessa, Fax renounces his claim to Ruatha in the favor of Gemma's child, if it is male and lives. Lady Gemma dies in childbirth, but the boy child lives. Moreover, Fax attacks Lessa and F'lar comes to her rescue, killing Fax in a fair duel. Lessa then abdicates her claim to Ruatha and flies with F'Lar to Benden Weyr for the hatching.

Eventually thread begins to fall and the Lord Holders learn first-hand why they must pay duty to the dragonriders. Suddenly, old teaching songs and other records are in great demand and the Master Harper, Robinton, finds his craft's services are urgently needed.

This novel is soft science fiction, bordering on fantasy, but "Weyr Search" was first debuted in Analog. The rationale that allows dragons to fly and breath fire is rather slim, but psionic talents have been admitted to the canon on a speculative basis. Aside from these two issues, the Pern series is a fairly standard story of space pioneers who lose most of their technology due to a disaster. The details are mostly borrowed from the middle ages, but with certain modern concepts retained by the Harpers, who are teachers and philosophers in addition to their function as entertainers.

This novel is considered a modern classic in the SF community. "Weyr Search" created an unusual amount of interest among the rather prosaic Analog readership and the sequels have continued to gain popularity. I was among those who read the original Analog stories and have continued to enjoy the author's works. While the plots are rather simple, the character development is first class. Although very prolific, the author is an exemplary craftsperson who never fails to write a satisfying story.

Highly recommended to McCaffrey fans and anyone who enjoys exotic societies, intelligent animals, and political intrigue in a SF setting.

Rating:
Summary: Crown Jewel of Fantasy
Review: I am an avid fantasy and sci-fi reader and have been transported to other worlds many times. Anne mcCafffrey has created an overwhelmingly enchanting story, excellent for anyone who likes to read fiction. The plot, the characters, the setting, the sheer imagination! makes this book a prized possession in my collection.