Dragonriders of Pern: The White Dragon

Many generations ago, the Terrans settled on Pern—a flourishing, Earthlike planet orbiting the yellow star Rakbat in the far constellation of Sagittarius. The new world seemed like paradise, and the pioneers from Earth founded a colony there.

No one suspected that, along its elongated elliptical orbit around Pern, the Red Star— a small red planet—passes close to Pern once every two hundred years, showering its atmosphere with silvery Threads: spores that destroy all living things. Paradise turns into hell for many half-centuries.

The only defense against a disaster from space is the fire-lizards: winged reptiles capable of breathing flame and burning the deadly Threads. Over time, the descendants of the Terrans bred them into enormous dragons—the planet’s guardians. Each dragon has a rider: a human bound to their winged partner by a strong mental link.

But there are also long Intervals, when the Red Star passes far away and the Threads fail to reach Pern. During one such peaceful period, life begins to fall into place, old terrors are forgotten, and faith in the riders and dragons—the planet’s saviors—grows weaker. And it is then that the sky of Pern flares again with the alarming light of the approaching Red Star…