Dragonsdawn

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of an amazing trilogy
Review: A small group of settlers have risked everything on the information of a survey of Pern a hundred years or more before. They have traveled 15 years in deep sleep on older spaceships to reach the new planet and to start a whole new way of life. Some come because they want the chance to own their own land, others come for the adventure, others come for riches. When they first arrive on Pern, it truly feels like a paradise. The settlers choose a valley at the base of three inactive volcanoes to be their first settlement, which they call Landing. The settlers are eagerly experimenting with seeds and plants brought from other planets and trying to get animals settled and fertilized. Schools to teach children about their new life are quickly organized. Charter members of the group get first pick of land and set out exploring and claiming their small holdings. Others are content to live in Landing and to wait for their turn to spread out. All seems to be perfect...

Eight years later, the settlers notice an unusual cloud formation and think that there is a storm coming in. But when silver thread-like things start falling from the sky and devouring anything organic that can be found, paradise turns into a kind of living hell. The only bright spot that can be found in the whole tragedy is that the fire lizards seemed to know when the thread was coming and warned their owners to get inside where it was safe. The colony hopes that the thread-fall was a one-time occurrence, but then they notice the star with the irregular orbit that has slowly gotten closer to the planet and they realize that the thread is going to keep coming back. Many colonists despair and demand that the leaders send out the homing beacon to bring help from earth, but that could take 10 years or more, if help comes at all. Others turn to the fire lizards for answers. Finally, in one desperate action, they ask a geneticist to manipulate the genes of fire lizards to build something bigger - something more dragon sized that would be more effective against the thread. With time running out, all of Pern's hopes rest on the project of one woman...

This book is a stand-alone in the Pern series in that you don't need to be familiar with any other background before you read it, but there are many things that won't really make sense or won't seem important if you are not familiar with Pern's later history. Dragonsdawn answers questions such as how the dragons came to be, how they got their mental connection with their riders, how watchweyrs are different from dragons and why, how the colonists ended up in caves on the northern continent instead of the southern continent where they first settled, how the grubs were developed that ate thread, where the cat came from that caused a plague that decimated the population during Moreta's time, who the first dragonriders were and why they named the Holds and Weyrs what they did. The only complaint that I had was that the story was told from so many different points of view and contained so many characters that you really had to be on your toes while you read it. At the first part of the book, it wasn't so bad. McCaffrey refered to people by their first and last names and many of them were familiar to me because they had holds, weyrs and natural landmarks named after then such as Paul Benden, Emily Boll, Sallah Telgar, etc. Then the last names were dropped and we were left with the first names. After a while I got used to it, but then we had those long stretches of time where everyone got older all of a sudden and there are children and other people to deal with. Good thing there are plenty of references in the book to help you keep track of everyone! Although this book could technically be considered the first in the Pern series as far as chronology goes, I think that it is helpful to read the books in the order that Anne McCaffrey wrote them so that you can fully appreciate the detail of the world that McCaffrey has so painstakingly created. This book is a wonderful blend of science fiction and fantasy and I think anyone would thoroughly enjoy it as there really is something for everyone!

Rating:
Summary: A great beginning to an awesome series!
Review: After you get past the beginning techno stuff, you will have trouble putting down this book.
Dragonsdawn is about the colonists who came to Pern. They settle in at Landing and start building houses for families and Crafthalls to set up apprentinceship.
Soon young Sorka and Sean find miniature dragons who come to be called firelizards. Their friendship blossoms soon after they get firelizards of their own.
Unexpected danger comes all too soon in the form of mindless silver worms that fall from the sky to eat anything organic in it's path. Thread!
Only fire, water or stone will stop the Thread, but the sleds that the colonists brought with them weren't for often use and soon they weren't adequate to protect the people, but there is one hope. Those little firelizards that Sorka and Sean found can teleport themselves and breathe fire. They protect things from the Thread.
If only they were big enough to hold a rider. Kitti Ping genetically engeneers dragons and her granddaughter tries to keep on where Kitti left of, but fails with breeding a watchwher, a dragonlike animal who is sensitive to the light and is very protective of those it knows.
Soon, the volcano near Landing erupts and everyone is driven out to live elsewhere and leave a lot of technology behind.

This book is the basis for some of the themes in other later books such as The White Dragon and All The Weyrs of Pern.

Rating:
Summary: This is Anne McCaffrey's work at its best
Review: Dragonsdawn is inspiring, heartfelt, and moving. It is the story of how it all happened on Pern: when Thread started, how the dragons were engineered, who the people were behind the original hold names, why they left the southern continent. But McCaffrey also manages to make some wonderful characters and draws the reader into her world by giving views of the bad guys and the good. Sallah Telgar's death was poignant and sad but the budding romance between Sean and Sorka as well as the first dragons give Dragonsdawn warmth and vitality. In short, this is the best Anne McCaffrey book I have ever read

Rating:
Summary: A fabulous prequal!
Review: Ever wonder where the dragons of Pern came from? This book gives a satisfying answer to that question.

Anne McCaffrey goes back to the beginning in this novel, describing not only where the dragons came from, but how the people got to Earth. This book ranks among the best of McCaffrey's Pern series, combining romance and drama, with science fiction and fantasy.

Fans will love it and it's great place for new readers to start. Highly reccomanded!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but Too Many Loose Ends
Review: First, I'm impressed with the technical thought that went into this book. The merging of space technology with a basically primitive planet could not have been easy, and I think it was done well. The plot that's weaved in and among these details, as a group of people from an advanced civilization try to make a new home on a world nothing like the one they left, quickly drew me in and kept me reading.

My biggest problem with this book, though, is the number of things that were started, but never finished. Some of them are important, and some of them aren't, but there are enough to make me wonder. Perhaps they're answered in other books I haven't read; but if so, the author must surely understand that not everyone has read every book in the series.

This book is a must for die-hards, but can be taken or left for others.

Rating:
Summary: Pern with a little more science fiction spin
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It combines the fantasy charm and character development of the best of the other Pern books with more of a standard "Science Fiction" feel due to the higher tech action of the colonists arriving in their space ships. I personally found it a felicitous combination. When I read this, I had already read the Dragonriders and Harper Hall trilogys, as well as Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern, and it was fascinating to go back in time to the original settlers and learn how dragons came to be. However, this could also be a good introduction to Pern for someone who had never read anything in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Only for those who truely love the world of Pern
Review: I fell in love with the first 3 books in the Pern series when I was in high school. Dragonsdawn takes you back to when Pern was first inhabitated and the first encounters with thread and the creation of the dragons. It is and adequate read and certainly anyone who loves the stories of Pern would find it interesting enough. It is just not of the same standard as the first 3 books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: Nothing can top the first six books of the Pern series but this is definitely one of the best after those first six.
Moving and beautfully told, it really shouldn't be read until you have read the first 3 books(Dragonflight, Quest and White Dragon) and then Moreta.
Even though this is a stand alone novel I just can't imagine folks having the same reaction the stories of the founders of McCaffery's wonderful world of dragons, harpers, holds and weyrs if you haven't at least read the four books I mention.
The sacrifices made in this book brought me to tears and at one point sobs. Just simpley well done with wonderful memorable characters, both good and bad and just so well researched so that all the genetics and science sound right but not too tech so that nontech readers like me keep my interest.
Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Some of her Best Work!
Review: This is the story of the original settlers of Pern. They land safely on Pern after a fifteen year space journey and must genetically engineer fire lizards that are large enough to be ridden, because thread is killing of their animals and settlers. This is technically the first book in the series, although it wasn't written first. This is McCaffrey at her best! I have read about fifteen of her books and this is by far my favorite.

Rating:
Summary: A must for all lovers of fantasy, sci-fi, romance & mystery!
Review: This was the first Dangonbook I read. I didn't expect to like it--fantasy is not usually my cup of tea. Not only did I like it, I went straight to the bookstore and bought every one of the series and immersed myself in the world of Pern. By the end of Dragonsdawn, I wanted a dragon so badly that it almost broke my heart. You can lose yourself totally in the fantastic world of the Weyrs and Holds of Pern, and fall head-over- heels for the dashing Holders and Weyrleaders; ache with the young Pernese who wait to be chosen by a dragon; and soar in triumph with the Dragons as they fight their battles against Thread. Please, Anne McCaffrey, don't stop writing about Pern and all the generations that follow the discovery of the original landing!!!! All the books that follow, or precede, Dragonsdawn are just as compelling and fascinating--I'm hooked on Dragons!