The Dragonriders of Pern series really caught my imagination back in my preteen/early-teen years, when I picked up a library copy of The Renegades of Pern that my mom had put down. I next read All the Weyrs of Pern (thrilling at the brilliant cover art by Michael Whelan) and then started from the beginning, whipping through Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Moreta, Nerilka's Story and the Harper Hall Trilogy.

I recently had the urge to revisit those carefree years of meaningless science fiction I enjoyed, and I picked the first three books up again, only to be shocked at how misogynistic, outdated and just plain badly written they were. I mean, I knew they were pulpy, guilty-pleasure-type stuff, but to create a strong female character like Lessa (psi powers! rides a dragon! stubborn! intelligent(?)!) and then pair her with F'lar, who treats her like a child, shakes her when she displeases him . . . and have them fall in love? What kind of nonsense is this?

The problem is, as viciously sub-par as her prose, characterization and plotting are, McCaffrey's premise still enthralls me. Even though the idea of any number of dragons being able to keep the skies of an entire continent free of what amounts to a corrosive blizzard is thoroughgoing twaddle, I still can't stop thinking about it. Is an unwilling re-reading of Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern in my future??