Dragonflight – Reviewing Classics
Ballantine Books, 1968
Fantasy Fiction
ISBN: 0345484266
320 pages
Synopsis
The planet of Pern has been colonized by humans for many centuries. However, for just as long they’ve had a great enemy, the silver “threads” that fall from one of their sister planets. This great enemy falls from the sky and consumes everything that is life in its path. However, throughout many years, scientists developed ways to thwart the threads, the main of which was by creating the dragons. The riders and dragons have a special connection that allows them to speak to each other in their minds.
It’s now been over 400 turns since the last thread has fallen, and people are starting to believe that it will never fall again. However, one rider named F’lar believes otherwise and is training his team to be prepared for an oncoming of thread very soon. He must find a woman worthy of hatching a queen and stage a coup to gain control of all of the riders of Pern, or else it may be too late.
Critique
Almost everyone knows about Pern, even those who aren’t generally interested in fantasy or science fiction novels. I’m surprised that no one has tried to take this series and make it into a movie. At the very least, a Sci-Fi channel original series or an anime treatment of it is due. I’ve included this as part of the classics because I believe that McCaffrey’s ability to create a world and tell a story with lots of layers of conflict is far above and beyond that of most fantasy and science fiction writers. She doesn’t just rely on the fantasy and tension of the storyline as a crutch, but creates realistic characters who are fighting real battles, whether that be against the threads, other people, or even time itself. She’s also so intricately created the politics of Pern that it seems like a real place. A quick warning, though, there are elements of sexuality and murder throughout the text, so it may skew a little higher in age. I recommend this book to readers 14+.
There are many books in the Pern series, but the other two in the initial trilogy specifically are Dragonquest (book 2) and The White Dragon (book 3).
Rating Rubric
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For the Classroom
Since this text operates in a parallel world with separate cultures, societal issues, natural laws and histories than our own, there’s not much to use as a classroom companion.
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