Pern is a land inhabited by humans. Unfortunately, a planet close to Pern gives off deadly spores every couple of years called 'Thread' and these spores fall down onto Pern and destroy everything they come into contact with. Some humans have learned to tame and form a psychic bond with dragons, these people are called dragon riders. It is the dragon riders and their dragons who battle the thread attacks and keep Pern safe from the threat. There have not been any signs of thread for hundreds of years however, and dragon riders have become an anachronism.
The story begins with two prominent dragon riders searching Holds, or different settlements, for young women. A queen egg has been laid and a new Weyrwoman, the female leader of the dragons, must be found to bong with the new queen dragon. They eventually find a young woman pretending to be an old drudge named Lessa, and after dealing the fascist invader controlling their land, the pair take Lessa to their Weyr, the place dragons and dragon riders live. She of course impresses the new dragon queen and so the story begins.
The author paints Lessa as a strong sort of heroine, but in my opinion she spent more time whining and being loudly indignant, which may be considered strength to some, than actually displaying any real strength of character. Her relationship with F'lar, her love interest, was more like that of a defiant child and her disciplinarian. I know this is aimed at teens and they're supposed to be all angsty and everything, but why does romance have to be about a woman defying a man's power over her? There were some other misogynistic messages in the book besides the romance roles which were also somewhat tedious to read through. Then again this was published in the late 60's and that might have been a more popular topic at the time and more widely accepted, or even revolutionary. Remember, this is a science fiction after all. F'lar also displays an exaggerated machismo that almost seems too pig headed to be taken seriously at times. His relationship with Lessa is borderline abusive, which can sometimes be mistaken for romance in romance books directed towards women for some reason. Maybe because of the adrenaline rush caused by the fear that that could happen to you. I really don't know. But there is a lot of yelling and shaking on his part whenever he deals with Lessa as he tried to subdue her. Just something to watch out for.
*Spoiler* If you have yet to read the book don't read this because it will lessen the experience for you. I do have an issue with the time travel aspect of the plot. I like the idea and it was an ingenious plot twist... but the way the author went about incorporating it into the plot doesn't really make sense. Lessa goes back in time to ensure that certain events take place and that just doesn't sit right with me. The idea of traveling back in time goes as follows; a person travels to a point in time that has already occurred. Pretty simple on the surface. The problem in mcCaffery's case is that the past in her story is based on the fact that Lessa discovered that she was supposed to go back in time and change things. So there is no original history that Lessa goes back to change. She gives herself clues in the past that tell her she has to go back in time, which the people there follow because she tells them about the future. The idea of her going back in time might be able to work out... except that the reason she decides to go back isn't because of an organic idea she had based on her evaluating the present and deciding that to save the present she must go back, she comes to the decision to go back in time because of a clue she leaves herself. Even this would be alright if an original, untouched-by-time-travel history is presented, but there isn't one. Despite this flaw I did enjoy the idea, and if it was worked out a bit better it would have been really cool. It was good regardless, but I enjoyed it less because it was illogical. *Spoiler*
Aside from the characters, the plot was actually really well done. It was fast paced, but the author took the time to set up a nice flow. It is definitely a page turner. If you are a fan of fantasy or of dragon lore you will probably enjoy the world McCaffery has created here. It is filled with McCaffery's own lore, which is quite interesting. And if you are a sci fi fan, well there's some time travel in there as well as a bit of outer-worldly threat. Despite it's faults I suggest you pick up this book and give it a go. Aside from the fact that it's a decent read, it's been around long enough to have influenced a lot of today's fantasy/ sci fi writers. Though a bit dry at times, it's a quick read worth the time invested.
