The Dragonriders of Pern Series

The Dragonriders of Pern is a series of books written by Anne McCaffrey. Pern is a planet that orbits the star Rukbat, about 170 light years away from Earth. The planet is colonized by a group of people who planned a simple life away from the high-tech civilization that Earth and it's colonies have become. They are pretty much cut off from Earth, and left on their own when disaster strikes.

A few years after the colonists have settled on Pern, a highly destructive life form starts falling down on the colonists from the sky. Because the life form resembles long silvery strings in the sky, it is named Thread. Thread originates on another planet in the system known as the Red Star. The Red Star orbits close enough to Pern to drop Thread for 50 years. There is a 200 year gap between passes while the Red Star is too far away to intersect Pern's orbit, and no Thread falls.

The original colonists have enough technology to alter the genetics of one of Pern's native creatures to combat the threat of Thread. They develop the sentient telepathic race of creatures which they call dragons because of the resemblance to the mythical creatures. These dragons with their riders char Thread from the skies thanks to their ability to breathe fire.

The main story takes place during the beginning of the ninth pass, which is approximately 2500 years after the colonists first arrived on Pern. McCaffrey has also written stories that take place during the second & sixth passes. The Pern series also focus on craftspeople, particularly the musical/teaching craftspeople called the Harpers. Almost all the stories of this series that don't deal with the Dragonriders deal with the Harpers.

Todd McCaffrey, Anne's son, has taken over writing the Pern series during his mother's retirement. They have collaborated on a few books, and Todd has written some on his own. Todd's work runs in a little different vein than does his mother's, but still he's continuing the family tradition really well.

As I'm writing this, just yesterday I finished the last Anne McCaffrey novel that I hadn't read before, Dragonsong, and in a way I'm a little bummed about it. I first started reading this series almost 20 years ago, and the style and character development were honestly a bit beyond me. I kept the books however, and when I reread them in my mid-twenties, I really enjoyed them.

The narrative style is unique, as the chronologies of many of the stories overlap and several key events actually happen in several of the books, however told from different points of view. Much of the conflict in the book arises from the pseudo-feudal system that Pern operates on, and the seeming inequities that this creates. However, in the ninth a cultural renaissance is taking place. Things are changing, and the agents of change deal with very traditional mindsets.

You can pick up reading about anywhere in the series due to the unique way the chronology works, and some of the books can be found in just about any bookstore.