Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

Another Turn, and the deadly silver Threads began falling again. So the bold dragonriders took to the air once more and their magnificent flying dragons swirled and swooped, belching flames that destroyed the shimmering strands before they reach the ground.

But F'lar knew he had to find a better way to protect his beloved Pern, and he had to find it before the rebellious Oldtimers could breed anymore dissent... before his brother F'nor would be foolhardy enough to launch another suicide mission... and before those dratted fire-lizards could stir up any more trouble!

I decided to head back to Pern because I wanted something to read on my trip to Fantasy Con in Salt Lake and dragons just seemed appropriate. Reading Anne McCaffrey always makes me revert to being 12 and picking out books from the Science Fiction and Fantasy catalog with my dad. You could call the style a little dated, but I prefer to think of it as a piece out of time.

The Dragonriders of Pern has a lot to do with tradition, change, and consequences. The primary focus of this book is dealing with the consequences of bringing people forward in time, and I think that's a pretty obvious setting for 1971. Everything in Pern is out of alignment and no one can figure out why. Oldtimers cling to tradition in the face of very obvious paradigm shifts. It's a book about coping and ingenuity and dragons. Lots of dragons.

Admittedly, there are some awkward moments (F'nor and Brekke's scene for example) that just don't read right with modern eyes. The book is also much more about F'lar and Lessa becomes a more subservient character. However, I still think she holds her own and the equality of both Weyrleaders is stressed throughout the story even if Lessa isn't the star of the piece. I remember The White Dragon being a personal favorite of my chibi self, so I'm looking forward to this little waltz down memory lane.

I still think I could handle a fire lizard... get on it, science.

Has a great summary of things to-date as the opening chapter so it can stand on its own.

I'm very familiar with the Pern universe so not sure how this would be at portraying the world building on its own. And this is written by Anne McCaffrey alone so the writing is excellent.