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23rd out of 621 books
—
1,013 voters
Dragonsdawn (Pern (Chronological Order) #1)
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 colonist
...moreHardcover, 384 pages
Published
August 13th 1988
by Ultramarine Publishing Company
(first published 1979)
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This is one of my all time favorite Pern novels. It tells the story of how people came to Pern to colonize the planet, how the first appearance of Thread almost destroyed them and the measures they took to survive. It is a wonderful story that includes the creation of the Dragons from the fire lizards, some of the top people that locations were named after, and a view of how a lot of the culture and traditions began. I love the science that is included in this book, but I don't think it is so "s...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
From Publishers Weekly
...more
Readers who for two decades have been following the fortunes of the dragonriders and other inhabitants of the planet Pern will welcome the latest volume, chronicling the early years. It stands very much on its own, however; knowing about the later history of the planet only adds enjoyment. After 15 years of cold sleep, 6000 colonists land on Pern, seeking a simpler existence, escaping the aftermath of interstellar war and an overly technical society. The colony prospers u
Feb 17, 2009
Liz
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those looking for something a little different in their sci-fi.
When the colonists first landed on the untouched, uninhabited world of Pern, they thought they had finally found the place they sought...a tranquil, serene new world that would allow them to create their own civilization, far away from the reaches of war and corruption that scarred their old worlds. As they threw themselves completely into the creation of the new colony, they were unaware that they were about to face an enemy more sinister than they could have anticipated. Several years after th...more
This is the single most important book in my entire personal library because this is the one that introduced me to Anne McCaffrey's wondrous world of Pern. When I had first picked up this book, it was near the top of a stack of books I had sitting beside my bed. The stack started at books I thought I would find less interesting and proceeded downward to those I thought would be more to my new-to-the-fantasy-genre taste. I could not have been more wrong.
Treasured perhaps above any of my books is...more
Treasured perhaps above any of my books is...more
My mother was always a great Dragonriders of Pern fan and passed the books on to me when I was a teenager. I adored them, likely for the 'immediate best friend' effect of bonding with a dragon (such a friendship was one I yearned for), the simplicity of good and evil, and these sorts of 'special people' that I could aspire to be in my life. I decided to read through them again--leisurely, not all in a row--recently and picked this one up first, as I decided to go chronologically to the universe...more
I actually wanted to like this book. I've heard some good things about the Pern series and Anne McCaffrey over the years. Unfortunately, this prequel to the original Dragonriders of Pern books is nothing if not uninteresting.
The plot is good: it is the story of the early colonists as they land on Pern and their adaptation to the new planet. Sadly, McCaffrey's writing is often plodding, many if not most of the characters are uninteresting and don't rise above two-dimensions, and the few exciting...more
The plot is good: it is the story of the early colonists as they land on Pern and their adaptation to the new planet. Sadly, McCaffrey's writing is often plodding, many if not most of the characters are uninteresting and don't rise above two-dimensions, and the few exciting...more
Confession: this one is a re-read for me. However, I started reading McCaffery in my teens, and I suspect I was about 20 when I read this one. I figure that 20 years or so down the road still counts as "reading". I must say that time gives perspective; I recall thoroughly enjoying McCaffery in my teens, and being entranced by her world of dragons that were more than simply goad-hoarding, fire-breathing monsters. Looking back now, I suspect that on some level, my enjoyment came out of the fact th...more
McCaffrey does her best work, I think, when she strikes a balance between sci-fi and fantasy. Or, as they play out in Pern, the technological legacy of the colony and the feudal state it's shaped into by the exigencies of Thread. Moreta's Ride was the first Pern book I read, and it struck that balance beautifully, (view spoiler) This book is great for the protagonists in it, and because it provides the o...more
This was exactly what I needed for my dragon fix. I loved the new take on dragons; seeing them as the product of the genetic engineering--on an alien species, no less!--was quite brilliant. But despite the fact that the dragons didn't make an appearance for a little while, I was still hooked. Even though it's number six in the series, this book is a prequel to the series as a whole, and having not read any of the others--yet--I can safely say, as a newb, this book operates quite well as a stand-...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is the story of how people came to Pern, the discovery of threadfall, and the genesis of the dragons.
The first 47 pages of this book contained some of the most boring sentences that I have ever read. The entire time they are on the spaceship, I didn't care. I can sum up the first 47 pages for you right now:
A bunch of colonists get in a spaceship and fly far enough away that there is only enough fuel for it to be a one way trip. As they approach Pern they start waking everybody out of hyper...more
The first 47 pages of this book contained some of the most boring sentences that I have ever read. The entire time they are on the spaceship, I didn't care. I can sum up the first 47 pages for you right now:
A bunch of colonists get in a spaceship and fly far enough away that there is only enough fuel for it to be a one way trip. As they approach Pern they start waking everybody out of hyper...more
As the new colonists, self-exiled from Earth, begin to make a life on the world they call Pern, the beautiful planet Pern is a paradise - until it explodes into a hellish existence, with a hostile acid rain plummeting on the planet, destroying plant life and killing the people and animals in horrid ways. These deadly spores fall like thread from a dawn sky, forcing everyone into hiding and panic as they face this new danger on their new home.
Without access to the science of the world they left,...more
Without access to the science of the world they left,...more
A good, solid space opera/new colony story. It's interesting how some of the sci fi still feels fresh, but some of it is so dated (book tapes! Dials on the shuttle!). And introducing Earth flora and fauna seems like a really bad idea, ecology-wise. What if you ruin the planet? You purposefully set it up so there's no way off!
McCaffrey seems to make a point of address many of the issues of the first Pern books (lack of women in positions of authority, sexism, lack of POCs), which makes sense bec...more
McCaffrey seems to make a point of address many of the issues of the first Pern books (lack of women in positions of authority, sexism, lack of POCs), which makes sense bec...more
This might be my favorite Pern book. Anne McCaffrey usually gets three stars from me, for what some people call "a good popcorn read"--something you enjoy and don't expect to get anything of value out of. (And I don't care if the plot's not really crafted the way a plot should be--I read "popcorn" to stave off boredom, not to find out what happens.) But this one on my last re-reading rose a little above that line.
Though her usual flaws (ridiculous villains, Special People, etc) were there, Drago...more
Though her usual flaws (ridiculous villains, Special People, etc) were there, Drago...more
Apr 17, 2011
Paul Baker
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Science fiction and fantasy readers, young adults
Shelves:
science-fiction
Spoiler Alert!
Dragonsdawn is a prequel to the entire Dragonriders of Pern saga. In fact, there is only one story which occurs in the timeline before Dragonsdawn and that is the short story, The Survey: P.E.R.N.c, which covers the brief period of time that the Exploration and Evaluation team discovered and conducted their examination of the planet that came to be called Pern. The short story may be found in The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall, a collection which includes The Survey: P.E.R.N.c, plu...more
Dragonsdawn is a prequel to the entire Dragonriders of Pern saga. In fact, there is only one story which occurs in the timeline before Dragonsdawn and that is the short story, The Survey: P.E.R.N.c, which covers the brief period of time that the Exploration and Evaluation team discovered and conducted their examination of the planet that came to be called Pern. The short story may be found in The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall, a collection which includes The Survey: P.E.R.N.c, plu...more
Having recently finished 'The White Dragon', in which the current residents of Pern have just uncovered an area formerly settled in the distant past, this was a good follow-up. I enjoyed learning why and how the first settlers came to Pern, and to get the back-story filled in. I was disappointed in how many great characters got killed off willy-nilly, often so abruptly whacked and forgotten that it made my head spin. I feel like many of the characters set up to be major ones in subsequent books...more
I read parts of the Dragon series when I was much younger and loved them. When I heard Ms. McCaffrey had died last year I decided it might be nice to go back and read all the books this time around and in chronological order. But, this one was disappointing. Perhaps it's because I'm older now or perhaps because the books are 30yrs old. But, it seemed a bit unrealistic (yeah, I know it's sci-fi), but it didn't really address some issues I would think would be important to first People's on a plan...more
I need a shelf: currently re-reading. I started the Dragon Heart book by Todd McCaffrey and got sort of re-introduced to Pern. So I thought--you know, I can't remember exactly what happens in the later bits when the Pernese find the colonists's computers and technology resurfaces and might make dragons obsolete. So I thought of rereading the "first" book and then the "last" books, starting with Dragonflight (which is really I think the first book published, and the first Pern book I ever read) a...more
Jun 13, 2012
Mary Davis
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who reads
Shelves:
books-read-2012
B&N Synopsis:
"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...more
"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...more
...Dragonsdawn is a prequel of sorts and I guess to an extend is suffers from the problems many of these books almost inevitably run in to. The outcome is known, the solution to the threat the colony faces is obvious, the colonists' loss of their technological base a certainty. I guess that problem is what really tips the scale for me. Compared to Dragonsflight, McCaffrey's writing has matured a lot but with a more or less predictable story and the book's tendency to jump from one character to t...more
Jan 26, 2013
Amanda R
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy-sci-fi,
old-friends
This has always been one of my favorite Pern books. Origin stories in worlds you already love are always lots of fun, and this one is particularly good. A great blend of science fiction and fantasy, and the science isn't hard enough to lose you.
An interesting thing about Anne McCaffrey is that she's very hit-or-miss when it comes to characterization. Some of her characters are wonderful - Sorka, Sean, and Sallah in particular. But then you have people like Avril Bitra, who is so purely awful th...more
An interesting thing about Anne McCaffrey is that she's very hit-or-miss when it comes to characterization. Some of her characters are wonderful - Sorka, Sean, and Sallah in particular. But then you have people like Avril Bitra, who is so purely awful th...more
I have fond memories of the Pern books growing up. In fact reading the short story, The Smallest Dragonboy, in 6th grade was what first got me reading SF. After finding a box of my old books out in the barn I decided to revisit Pern. I decided to read them in chronological rather than published order and I'm afraid, at least this one, doesn't quite live up to my memories. It's still a decent way to pass some time but it's not a great book. I'm hoping as I move forward and get into the original t...more
As Barry Hughart said, sometimes we all need to go back and relive our childhoods. That's the main reason I read this book.
Let's see: Sean is a jerk. I never really noticed this when I was a kid. Very much a Babies Make Everything Better book. Hard not to think the the Renewable Air Force document and cringe. (If you never participated in Pern fandom this won't make any sense. Just ignore it, you'll be happier not knowing.)
It was interesting to get this look at very early Pern. And to think that...more
Let's see: Sean is a jerk. I never really noticed this when I was a kid. Very much a Babies Make Everything Better book. Hard not to think the the Renewable Air Force document and cringe. (If you never participated in Pern fandom this won't make any sense. Just ignore it, you'll be happier not knowing.)
It was interesting to get this look at very early Pern. And to think that...more
67 out of 100 for 2010
If you like 'Dragon' fantasy, Anne McCaffrey is pretty much the gold standard. Her 'Dragonriders of Pern' is one of the longest running, and certainly the most respected, series in this genre.
Dragonsdawn is not the first novel in the series, but is more a prequel, one that shows Earth settlers landing on Pern, the terrible trouble they face from a naturally occurring spaceborne menace, and how the human settlers use genetic engineering to create dragons to fight the menace...more
If you like 'Dragon' fantasy, Anne McCaffrey is pretty much the gold standard. Her 'Dragonriders of Pern' is one of the longest running, and certainly the most respected, series in this genre.
Dragonsdawn is not the first novel in the series, but is more a prequel, one that shows Earth settlers landing on Pern, the terrible trouble they face from a naturally occurring spaceborne menace, and how the human settlers use genetic engineering to create dragons to fight the menace...more
This is a prequel and everything wrong with the book can be traced back to this fact. First the 'red star' is introduced as an oddity that only astronomers are interested in but then a series of different characters view the star as an ill omen, this is clearly done as a call-foward even though it makes no sense in context. Next you have a character with no interest in either animals, genetics or fire-lizards muses on the possibility of producing a man mountable dragon with no prompting, this is...more
Prequel to the original dragonriders trilogy.
The first ship of colonists arrives on Pern, looking for a simple life where they can live off the land and escape the technology-dependent society of Earth.
At first, everything goes smoothly. However, when the voracious, life-consuming "threads" begin to fall, the colonists discover that Pern is not as welcoming as they hoped.
Two children, Sorka Hanrahan and Sean Connell, discover fire lizards, creatures resembling dragons that are able to breathe...more
The first ship of colonists arrives on Pern, looking for a simple life where they can live off the land and escape the technology-dependent society of Earth.
At first, everything goes smoothly. However, when the voracious, life-consuming "threads" begin to fall, the colonists discover that Pern is not as welcoming as they hoped.
Two children, Sorka Hanrahan and Sean Connell, discover fire lizards, creatures resembling dragons that are able to breathe...more
3.5/5
I read this series with great enthusiasm when I was a teen, so I figure that this time around I'm going to read this series in chronilogical order and (hopefully) write a few reviews as I go! Enter book 1...
First off, let's take a looking at my reading progress chart for this book:
So, obviously the first 100 pages or so were a bit of a tough go, and then things picked up significantly. It takes until the Thread starts falling for things to get going... the first hundred odd pages unfortunat...more
I read this series with great enthusiasm when I was a teen, so I figure that this time around I'm going to read this series in chronilogical order and (hopefully) write a few reviews as I go! Enter book 1...
First off, let's take a looking at my reading progress chart for this book:
So, obviously the first 100 pages or so were a bit of a tough go, and then things picked up significantly. It takes until the Thread starts falling for things to get going... the first hundred odd pages unfortunat...more
I'm a bit disappointed.
Sure, it's a good foundation novel, very scifi, with good solid characters.
But there were some themes that were picked up but never really brought to conclusion (What is the red planet, and why did it destroy everything sent to explore it? Does Thread evolves into something, and if it does, in what? How did Tubberman develop the thread resistant grub? Are the last two questions related?), and it was a bit annoying since they weren't really new themes, but unanswered (unans...more
Sure, it's a good foundation novel, very scifi, with good solid characters.
But there were some themes that were picked up but never really brought to conclusion (What is the red planet, and why did it destroy everything sent to explore it? Does Thread evolves into something, and if it does, in what? How did Tubberman develop the thread resistant grub? Are the last two questions related?), and it was a bit annoying since they weren't really new themes, but unanswered (unans...more
Outstanding addition to the Pern saga. More of a prequel and certainly very much SciFi rather than Fantasy. Well I guess all of the Pern books blur the line between SciFi and Fantasy but this one is pure SciFi.
I read the reviews on amazon prior to reading this book and nearly didn't read it at all when I saw it listed as YA. Well that rating is pure bunk. This book is both character and plot driven. The characters are very well developed and interaction between them flows in a self motivated bel...more
I read the reviews on amazon prior to reading this book and nearly didn't read it at all when I saw it listed as YA. Well that rating is pure bunk. This book is both character and plot driven. The characters are very well developed and interaction between them flows in a self motivated bel...more
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Anne McCaffrey was born on April 1st, 1926, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 1:30 p.m., in the hour of the Sheep, year of the Fire Tiger, sun sign Aries with Taurus rising and Leo mid-heaven (which seems to suggest an early interest in the stars).
Her parents were George Herbert McCaffrey, BA, MA PhD (Harvard), Colonel USA Army (retired), and Anne Dorothy McElroy McCaffrey, estate agent. She had two...more
More about Anne McCaffrey...
Her parents were George Herbert McCaffrey, BA, MA PhD (Harvard), Colonel USA Army (retired), and Anne Dorothy McElroy McCaffrey, estate agent. She had two...more
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01. Februar, 16:43 Uhr