Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonflight

Many generations ago, humans landed on Pern—a flourishing, Earthlike planet orbiting the yellow star Rakbat in the distant constellation of Sagittarius—and founded a colony, convinced they had found paradise. No one suspected that nearby, along an elongated elliptical orbit, the Red Star wandered— a small red planet that, once every two hundred years, when it draws close to Pern, showers its atmosphere with silvery Threads: spores that destroy all living things. Then paradise turns into a hell that lasts for half a century.

The only defense against disaster coming from the cosmos is the fire: winged lizards capable of spewing flame and burning the deadly Threads. Over time, the descendants of the humans bred these creatures into enormous dragons, which became the planet’s shield; each dragon has a rider—a human bound to their winged partner by a strong mental link.

But there are also long Turns when the Red Star’s orbit passes far away and the Threads do not reach Pern. During one such peaceful period, when life had settled down and memories of past catastrophes had faded, faith in the purpose of riders and dragons begins to wane. And it is then that the skies of Pern are once again lit by the uneasy glow of the approaching Red Star…

This book includes the novel “The Dragonharper’s Journeys.”