The Dragonriders of Pern (Pern: The Dragonriders of Pern)

Name: The Dragonriders of Pern (Pern: The Dragonriders of Pern)
Price: 13.76 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.7 (5200 reviews)
Author: Anne McCaffrey

by Anne McCaffrey

4.7

Published Mar 28, 2002

About this book

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •Together in one volume—the first three books in the world’s most beloved science-fiction series! DRAGONFLIGHT On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat reemerges, Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon with whom she shares a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Together, dragon and rider will fly, and Pern will be changed forever. DRAGONQUEST Since Lessa and Ramoth, her golden queen dragon, traveled into the past to bring forward a small army of dragons and riders to save their world from deadly alien spores, fear and desperation have spread across the land. But while the dragonriders struggle with threats both human and otherworldly, a young rider named F’nor and his brown dragon, Canth, hatch a bold plan to destroy the alien scourge at its source—the baleful Red Star that fills the heavens and promises doom to all. THE WHITE DRAGON Never in the history of Pern has there been a dragon like Ruth. Mocked by other dragons for his small size and pure white color, Ruth is smart, brave, and loyal—qualities that he shares with his rider, the young Lord Jaxom. Unfortunately, Jaxom is also looked down upon by his fellow lords, and by other riders as well. His dreams of joining the dragonriders in defending Pern are dismissed. What else can Jaxom and Ruth do but strike out on their own, pursuing in secret all they are denied? But in doing so, the two friends will find themselves facing a desperate choice—one that will push their bond to the breaking point . . . and threaten the future of Pern itself.

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What readers are saying

Mary P

Fantastic Journey!

"I started reading The Dragonriders of Pern series back in the 80's. There are like 16 or 17 books to the whole series now and I read them all as they came out. I am reading them all again now. It is hands down the best series and world I have ever been too and I wish I lived there! LOL! The characters are very real and easy to see. Anne McCaffrey is one of the best authors I have ever read. I have read almost all of her books and I cried when she passed because she won't be here to take me to new places and people anymore. The Dragonriders of Pern series makes me want to be a better person, a more caring person. The writing is fast, interesting and involved. I would urge anyone from 12 to 100 to lose themselves in Pern and her dragons and their brave riders. Loved them all. Five star reading all the way! ["

April 21, 2014 Verified Purchase

TKDodo

Don't let Hollywood ruin these books!

"I felt a need to write a review of these books after reading that a movie version is in the works. Please, please do not ruin these wonderful books like SciFi destroyed the fabulous Earthsea series by Ursula K LeGuin a few years back! I first read the novella Dragonrider in a science fiction anthology many years ago in college, and I re-read this trio of books every couple of years and never get tired of it. Anne McCaffrey has created an amazing world of lost technology, deadly Thread, and an interesting cast of characters in a wonderfully drawn society that continues to endure years after its creation. Of course, there are the dragons- both the huge telepathic beasts and the dainty fire lizards. I remember discussing with my fellow geeky college friends how we all wanted our very own fire lizard . For me, these three books and the Harper Hall trilogy were the best. I have not consistently read subsequent books, but I admit that I have not liked the follow up books nearly as much as I liked the aforementioned works. There is a freshness about the first trilogy that seems absent later on, and I think the story of the struggle to find the lost history and technology of the planet while seeking to eliminate Thread was incredibly well written and interesting. I also found the characters of F'lar, Lessa, F'nor , Robinton, Fandarel, Jaxom, etc. and their dragons to be the most appealing to me- I simply couldn't get as involved in some of Ms. McCaffrey's later characters. So, pay attention, Hollywood! These books are classic. They deserve to be adapted to the big screen by someone who appreciates them and will not change the story to be more "Hollywood." I would rather that they never make it into film if they are butchered by some producers lookig to make a quck and cheap buck. Addendum: RIP Anne McCaffrey. Thank you for all the years of entertainment and for making dragons real. You will be missed ["

April 26, 2011 Verified Purchase

John E.

Not as many errors as in the previous single volume

"First off, I have to say that I love Anne McCaffrey's works. I have read almost all of her books, and the "Dragon Riders of Pern" trilogy is right at the top of my list of her best work. I have re-read them so many times that this is actually the 4th copy I have purchased. I have worn out 2 sets of the original, individual paperbacks, and one copy of the first combined volume, which is what this book is. "The Dragon Riders of Pern" is actually a collection of the first 3 novels in a large body of work by Ms. McCaffrey telling the stories of people on the planet Pern. These 3 novels are; "Dragon Flight", "Dragon Quest" and "The White Dragon". Anne McCaffrey knows ... well knew (you are sorely missed, Anne) how to tell a story! Even after reading these books numerous times, she can still make me laugh or bring tears to my eyes or get my heart pumping with excitement. "Dragon Flight" and "Dragon Quest" focus primarily on two Characters; Lessa who is found on "search" and brought to the Weyr to "impress" (to become psychically attached to) the new-hatching Queen dragon. And of F'Lar who is the rider of a Bronze dragon and finds Lessa and brings her to the Weyr. The dragons protect the planet Pern from a periodic "attack" by a mindless spore which drifts to Pern from a red planet that comes around every few hundred years. These spores are called "Thread" and destroy any organic material they come into contact with. "The White Dragon" revolves primarily around the character of Jaxom who inadvertently impresses a small, and rather special, white dragon and how the two of them become pivotal in the battle against Thread. While the story involves the battle against Thread, it is driven by the characters and their stories. There is frustration as Lessa and F'Lar have to wait for Lessa's Golden Queen dragon, Ramoth, to mature before F'Lar can move forward with what he knows must be done. There is ... well, I don't really want to give very much away and there are plenty of synopses available if you want to read them. Instead, I highly recommend getting this book and reading it. As I said in the headline, the printing/typographical errors are not as numerous as the previous single volume book had. The prior release (which shows the original cover art from the individual books) did have quite a few, rather glaring, typos. As I had read the original books several times before I got that one, the errors, while annoying, didn't detract much from the story. This volume seems to have been re-edited to at least some extent and has fixed most the typos. A few remain, but again, don't detract from the story. The typos are are one of the things that brings this book from a 5-star to 4 for me. However, this is an excellent story by a superb writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy and I highly recommend it. ["

April 27, 2021 Verified Purchase

Tchipakkan

Best place to start the Pern series.

"I first started reading Anne McCaffrey in 1969, and read everything she wrote since then, nearly as soon as it came out. My favorites are the Pern books, which I am now adding to my kindle library so I can re-read them more conveniently. (My hard cover of The White Dragon is huge and heavy!) The first book introduces the planet Pern, where Dragons bond telepathically with humans to protect the people from "threads" that fall like a deadly rain from the sky, destroying anything organic; the dragons breathe fire that burns them before they can hit people (plants, or animals). The characters Lessa and F'lar have to meet this "ecological" challenge which is made worse because most of the world isn't prepared to believe in the menace until it starts falling on them. [Don't worry, the parallel to Climate Change is only in modern minds and not close enough to distract readers from the story]. Plot twists abound, to quote from the Princess Bride "fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.". Dragon Quest tells the story of how the solution to the crisis of the first book precipitates a new crisis, and also introduces the Fire Lizards- miniature dragons. The White Dragon continues the story of the Dragon rider characters, but other books, like the first two of the Harper Hall trilogy were published before it the events in the White Dragon, and I'm not entirely certain you shouldn't read some of those before this book. Goodreads includes a chronological list of the books. This is a great favorite of mine. When I say "no sexual content" I mean no sex scenes- except that some of the story does revolve around dragons mating, and that affects the riders with whom they have telepathically bonded. There's nothing explicit, but a general acceptance of the biological reality. The characters are probably the best part of McCaffrey's writing, exceptionally well rounded and believable. Her language is a joy to read. The plots of the books intermingle as she tells the stories of different people in this incredible world. But this trilogy is where the world starts (although one of the prequels actually goes back a couple of millennia to tell the SF type story of how fire breathing dragons came to be. I have no idea if the author knew that when she wrote the first books- they show a more fantasy world, although by the White Dragon that becomes a part of the integrated mythos. ["

October 29, 2015 Verified Purchase