Pern Book reviews

This page has reviews for each book in the Pern series, in order of which ones that I think make the story flow the best. Each review covers the basic outline, and some major events. The purpose of these reviews is to give a general idea of what happens in each book, hopefully enough to give you an idea of what happens, but not enough to spoil the plot if you haven't read it. (This page still needs a lot of work!, will be updated ~~soon~~ eventually.)
The books in the Pern series are available at bookstores everywhere, or you can order on-line at: Barnes&Noble.com, or Amazon.com

Dragonsdawn	The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall	Dragonseye
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern	Nerilka's Story	The Master Harper of Pern
Dragonflight	Dragonquest	The White Dragon
Dragonsong	Dragonsinger	Dragondrums
The Renegades of Pern	All the Weyrs of Pern	The Dolphins of Pern

Dragonsdawn:
If at all possible, you should read just the first chapter of The Chronicles of Pern, then Dragonsdawn, then the rest of The Chronicles of Pern.
This book describes the time when man first came to Pern. It starts out with the colony ships nearing the end of their journey. When they first land, everyone is exited about the prospect of a new home. Everyone, that is, except a small group of people who are along only for the mineral wealth reported by the EEC team. The colony is enjoying growth and peace, until one day when their firelizards (small, dragon looking, semi-intelligent animals kept as pets) start behaving very odd. They indicated that they wanted everyone to go inside by incessantly pulling on their clothing, and even resorted to scratching their human friends. When the colonists started to wonder what was going on, they watched in terror as sliver strands (later called "Thread") fell from the sky and devoured any organic substance. The colonists now learned that by digesting a type of phosphorous rock, the fire-lizards could breath flame, and try to burn the menace to save their human friends. The book goes on to describe the colonists frantic struggle to try to bio-engineer the fire-lizards into something big enough, and intelligent enough to fight the threads. On top of that, a volcanic eruption forces them to frantically relocate to the northern continent.

The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall :
    This is a book of short Pern stories, taking place in various different times, mostly filling in details about events hinted at in different novels.
    The first story is about the EEC team that first surveyed Pern, named it, and declared it fit for human habitation. This chapter in the Pern saga revels many things about some of Pern's earlier history, including the discovery of the lichens that are used in glow baskets. We also find out that "Pern" was originally the designation for the planet, that meant Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible ^c. (With the "C" meaning that the planet was recommended for colonization.)
    The next story is mainly about the dolphins. It tells of their role in the colonization effort, and of some of the first dolphins. It also gives more details on the evacuation from the south to the north, particularly the details of getting all their "stuff" moved safely to the new habitation in the north (Fort hold).
    Third comes the history of the founding of Ruatha hold, followed by the founding of the second (Benden) Weyr.
    The last story is something that is excluded from the rest of Pernese history. It tells of the rescue mission in response to Ted Tubberman's emergency beacon (read Dragonsdawn, for more details).

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