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Title: Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern - Volume 1)
ISBN: 0345335465
Author:
Anne McCaffrey
Publicate Date: 1986-05-12
Publish: 1986-05-12
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $2.95
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: I just didn't care
Pern has fallen into disrepair. Because there has been no danger from the terrible "threads" that threaten the planet with destruction every few hundred years, traditions are being lost to the wind like dust. The people of Pern no longer understand why they should bother to remove the greenery from their homes, why they should have to give gifts of food to the Dragonriders. They don't do anything except leech. The "threads" are a thing of the past.
One of the leaders of the Bronze dragons feels differently. The Threads have been too long absent, and the death of their useless Wyerwoman, the companion to the queen dragon, leaves room for improvement. A search is called and Lessa, a kitchen maid who had her lands taken from her birthright is spirited away to the Wyer, the home of all dragons to see if she is fit to be companion to a queen.
Ok, you can shoot me now. Get it over with. Because you're going to want to kill me once I say this next sentence: I didn't like "Dragonflight."
I know, I know! It's a classic, the basis of most modern dragon books, blah blah blah. I'm sorry, I STILL didn't like it. I don't know why I just didn't get it. The plot is simple enough: girl becomes bound to a dragon, together they have great powers, must save the world. That part I get. I suppose the plot was a little TOO simple. There was no real adversary. Ok, yeah so the "Threads" have the potential to destroy the world...but essentially the Dragonriders are fighting against nature, not exactly an exciting adversary that you can love to hate.
I also didn't love McCaffery's characters. I tried to like Lessa, I really did, but I just couldn't get over the fact that she was a brat who thought that it should be her way or the highway. She was in no way loveable or relatable, and the main male character left the same things to be desiered.
Towards the end McCaffery jumps off the deep end by messing around with time travel. I had enough to keep straight with all the scheming and mystery going on and then she throws a wrench in the mix by adding in time travel? I was so confused. I still am to tell you the truth. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.
The bottom line is, McCaffery failed to make me CARE at all. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about Pern and its destruction, I didn't care that the space time thingy was going to be messed with. I felt no love or concern for any of "Dragonflight's" characters including the dragons (and I love dragons!). I just didn't get any emotion out of "Dragonflight," and in my book that just doesn't...well...fly.
Two stars.
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2: Poor plot twist
I can't review this without a minor spoiler, so here it is...
I don't like time travel as a plot development. First of all, I find the concept unbelievable, but beyond that you always end up with the same concepts (ooh, look, we have a paradox here). I liked the story at the beginning and think that the ideas of dragons that need to fight interstellar 'threads' was pretty original, but it just gets bogged down with the jumping between times. Also, I didn't find most of the characters very likeable. Maybe I would have liked it a bit more if I had read it closer to when it was written.
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3: It had some interesting ideas, but the story was not that enjoyable.
I wished it would be over. A lot of names were used, almost too many. It was a little stressful trying to keep track of so many different characters, names and places. The author's writing style was wordy making some events hard to follow. I've been spoiled by the writing styles and creativity of J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer, which this book did not have.
Story Brief: Fax fought and took over the Ruath lands and killed all of the ruling family except Lessa who disguised herself as an old dirty woman for about ten years. F'lar comes searching for a woman who could be the Wehrwoman (female ruler). He senses Lessa's power, finds her and brings her to the wehr (home of dragons). When the new queen dragon egg hatches (Ramoth), the dragon chooses Lessa as its partner. F'lar's dragon Mnementh mates with the dragon Ramoth which makes F'lar the new male ruler. Threads are spores which come from another planet about 200 years apart and eat all vegetation on the planet. The dragons kill off the threads. Currently, they are short on dragons. Lessa comes up with a solution.
Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: none. Setting: unknown time on the planet Pern. Copyright: 1968. Genre: fantasy and time travel fiction.
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4: Great start to a beloved series
It's been 400 years since the world of Pern has had to deal with deadly Threads falling from the sky to destroy whatever organic life they come into contact with. Many no longer believe that the threat exists any more and the dragon riders responsible for destroying the threads before they hit the ground have fallen into ill repute. Enter F'lar, the new leader of dragon riders, and Lessa, who bonds with the newborn queen dragon. They struggle to get ready so that humanity can survive when the Threads begin to fall again.
Lessa and F'lar are the main characters in Dragonflight but there is a large supporting cast and nearly all are well portrayed. Lessa's and F'lar's romantic relationship definitely has an adolescent tone to it, but it still makes for an enjoyable read. This is not a long book (less than 300 pages) and the pace moves along smartly as a result. The stakes are high and the story compelling.
I read this book roughly 25 years ago and enjoyed it at the time but wasn't sure that my slightly older self would find it as engaging. I must say that it was a pleasant surprise how well Dragonflight has held up and it was a very enjoyable read. I fully recommend it to established fantasy fans as well as newcomers to the genre.
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5: My Review of Dragonflight
As an avid reader of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Sword and Socery books, I was quite disappointed with this first McCaffrey dragon series tale. This book outlined a story of the planet Pern and its age-old battle with the Threads - material that fell from the sky and would ingest all organic material on Pern. Needless to say, the dragons played a major role in the defense of Pern and there were other interesting human characters; but the bottom line is, the overall story was quite boring, not very interesting, and definitely did not generate enough excitement nor incentive to read the next book in the series.
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